Alebrije, the walking jumble

It has been a while since I uploaded something here, right? 5 months to be precise. That’s a lot of time between posts ˆ_ˆ;

I could write about my tribulations, issues and other events that delayed or prevented me to work on the Bestiary, but it wouldn’t do any good, as they are things I must deal with and that are of no consequence to anyone. I also know (hope) that my readers will understand and forgive me for lack of updates. I promise I will do my best to provide more pages on a semi-regular basis. Please bear in mind that I have to translate, fix and design the pages; illustrate 2 or 3 accompanying illustrations for each description, get an illustrator for each different creature, pay them, etc. It’s hard for one person to manage all that.

So, the next creature presented is the alebrije. Curiously enough, this fantastic being is also dream-related (as the baku). Now that I’ve checked the texts so far, there are 5 creatures that have to do with dreams just in the first volume. Anyways, I hope you find this new addition interesting. The illustrator for this one had to be Mexican, as they are an unknown creature outside of my country. That is why I selected my very good, old colleague and friend, Bran, to create it. I knew from the beginning that he’d be able to imprint his style with ease on such subject, as we both like Mexican motifs and traditional figures. I’ve always said it and I will repeat it: Bran is one of the most Mexican artists I know. He mixes pop cultural styles and recognizable details to very national themes, from colors to compositions and figures.

He’s worked in a couple of Mexican animated movies and has been published in magazines.

You can check his work on his DA account: http://totopo.deviantart.com/

And read his musings (Spanish only) on his blog: http://lapuercavida.blogspot.com/

Baku, the dream-eater

In the original version of the text, there is an order when presenting the creatures. Of course, Volume I consists only of 25 beings whose descriptions are complete. With this I mean that the bibliography, as well as studies are written fully. The other creatures (187 on my last count) are “broken”: the texts are in fragments that need cohesion, narrative and correction.
There is also a small text preceding some of the main creatures of their respective families (elemental spirits, necrozoos, oneirizoos, etc…). These speak about the nature of said element in a philosophical way. So far the most extensive one is about death, but fortunately for me neither it nor the others will be translated and uploaded here. I do this because it may only be of interest to a very low number of people, and because I’d rather not dedicate my time translating something that will go mostly unread. These are my reasons why I shall go directly to presenting the creatures:

Baku will be the first presented. The main illustration was done by my wonderful friend, FSc. She may be known best by her “Nightmares and Fairy Tales” work with Serena Valentino, but she has many more projects that are worth checking out (delightful Chimney 24 and Muzz for example ;) ).

I could tell you just how excited I was to work with her, or how interesting it was to do so (and the same goes for the artists I’ve worked in this so far), but I prefer you just see the effort and visualization put in her image (much more when you know more details about the Baku itself).

Do check out her works at her website: http://fscwasteland.net/
I do recommend reading her online comic, Muzz –also published by SLG– as it’s one of her most complex, most interesting works :D
Her Etsy account: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mignonmushi
And her blog: http://pallidmor.blogspot.com/