5 ms·

An Artist’s Mission to Illustrate All the World’s Mythical Beasts

99 points by prismatic 9y ago

Torai 9y ago
As in the article about the origin of the wold "yes", the world ignores basques again. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16448770 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16448770 Not that I mind. We have a wonderful and cool life here. So maybe it's better to be ignored. But we have an ancient language and culture. Just saying. I pick my favorite mythical creature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akerbeltz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akerbeltz
- gkya 9y ago
  Word "yes" in romance languages. Basque is not a romance language.
  - Torai 9y ago
    So you didn't read the article. Is Gaulish language a romance language?
    - gkya 9y ago
      Gaulish is the language the French spoke before early French started happening, so its inclusion seems normal to me. And I indeed skimmed the article.
- SubiculumCode 9y ago
  From the article: Atlas Obscura spoke with El Shami-Mader about her project, the challenges of depicting mythical creatures, and the appeal of the lovable Squonk. If you’d like to suggest a creature, email her at mythical.creaturologist@gmail.com. Judging from: https://www.instagram.com/alch.imi/ https://www.instagram.com/alch.imi/ I'd say that she still has a way to go before depicting all mythical creatures.
aresant 9y ago
Reminds me of Barlows Guide to Extraterrestrials which is an awesome sci-fi companion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/940230.Barlowe_s_Guide_to_Extraterrestrials https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/940230.Barlowe_s_Guide_t...
mtts 9y ago
Love this stuff. It's like an illustrated version of Jorge Luis Borges' Book Of Imaginary Beings, which is likewise a wonderful catalog of all the strange things the human mind can dream up.
- schoen 9y ago
  You might also like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Imaginary_Places https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Imaginary_Pl...
  - mtts 9y ago
    Fantastic! Didn't know about this one. Will add it to my list. Thanks!
    - twic 9y ago
      In which case you might also like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Cities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Cities Calvino is certainly a different writer to Borges, but they were both plugged into the same circuit, somehow.
11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
Would like to see Tikoloshe (Tokoloshe) from Zulu culture: "In Zulu mythology, Tikoloshe, Tokoloshe or Hili is a dwarf-like water sprite. It is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by drinking water. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness or even the death of the victim. The creature might be banished by a n'anga (spiritual healer), who has the power to expel it from the area." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikoloshe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikoloshe
- schoen 9y ago
  The article gives an e-mail address where you can submit suggestions to the artist!
  - 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
    Done, thanks!
JasonFruit 9y ago
Bad news for the artist: seeing her pictures excited my daughter so much that she promptly invented two new creatures. This may be an intrinsic flaw in the project concept.
bfung 9y ago
She's got the catalog of beasts - maybe she can partner w/J.K. Rowling to tell us where to find them. =P FYI, the Chinese stamp of her name had someone Cantonese phonetically put her name together, it doesn't like her name right when pronounced in Mandarin.
Tade0 9y ago
I wondered if I could recognize any of those creatures taken from slavic mythology and, surprisingly, I could. The Ovinnik is called "Gumiennik" in Poland, but I know this only because back when we were teenagers my sister brought a book about slavic mythology with her on a trip to the mountains and read it aloud. "Zmey" in turn is spelled "żmij" in Polish and this is the term my grandmother used exclusively to describe a snake(any proper snake) even though there are many more words, specifically e.g. "żmija", which means "viper". Anyway, nice project. Brought back some childhood memories.
pwagland 9y ago
Reminds me of a fun book from my childhood: The Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were (https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0140100083 https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/d...) Turns out that people have been fascinated by the things that didn't exist for quite a while!

99 points by prismatic 9y ago

As in the article about the origin of the wold "yes", the world ignores basques again. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16448770 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16448770 Not that I mind. We have a wonderful and cool life here. So maybe it's better to be ignored. But we have an ancient language and culture. Just saying. I pick my favorite mythical creature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akerbeltz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akerbeltz

gkya 9y ago
Word "yes" in romance languages. Basque is not a romance language.
- Torai 9y ago
  So you didn't read the article. Is Gaulish language a romance language?
  - gkya 9y ago
    Gaulish is the language the French spoke before early French started happening, so its inclusion seems normal to me. And I indeed skimmed the article.
SubiculumCode 9y ago
From the article: Atlas Obscura spoke with El Shami-Mader about her project, the challenges of depicting mythical creatures, and the appeal of the lovable Squonk. If you’d like to suggest a creature, email her at mythical.creaturologist@gmail.com. Judging from: https://www.instagram.com/alch.imi/ https://www.instagram.com/alch.imi/ I'd say that she still has a way to go before depicting all mythical creatures.

aresant 9y ago

Reminds me of Barlows Guide to Extraterrestrials which is an awesome sci-fi companion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/940230.Barlowe_s_Guide_to_Extraterrestrials https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/940230.Barlowe_s_Guide_t...

mtts 9y ago

Love this stuff. It's like an illustrated version of Jorge Luis Borges' Book Of Imaginary Beings, which is likewise a wonderful catalog of all the strange things the human mind can dream up.

schoen 9y ago
You might also like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Imaginary_Places https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Imaginary_Pl...
- mtts 9y ago
  Fantastic! Didn't know about this one. Will add it to my list. Thanks!
  - twic 9y ago
    In which case you might also like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Cities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Cities Calvino is certainly a different writer to Borges, but they were both plugged into the same circuit, somehow.

11thEarlOfMar 9y ago

Would like to see Tikoloshe (Tokoloshe) from Zulu culture: "In Zulu mythology, Tikoloshe, Tokoloshe or Hili is a dwarf-like water sprite. It is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by drinking water. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness or even the death of the victim. The creature might be banished by a n'anga (spiritual healer), who has the power to expel it from the area." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikoloshe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikoloshe

schoen 9y ago
The article gives an e-mail address where you can submit suggestions to the artist!
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
  Done, thanks!

JasonFruit 9y ago

Bad news for the artist: seeing her pictures excited my daughter so much that she promptly invented two new creatures. This may be an intrinsic flaw in the project concept.

bfung 9y ago

She's got the catalog of beasts - maybe she can partner w/J.K. Rowling to tell us where to find them. =P FYI, the Chinese stamp of her name had someone Cantonese phonetically put her name together, it doesn't like her name right when pronounced in Mandarin.

Tade0 9y ago

I wondered if I could recognize any of those creatures taken from slavic mythology and, surprisingly, I could. The Ovinnik is called "Gumiennik" in Poland, but I know this only because back when we were teenagers my sister brought a book about slavic mythology with her on a trip to the mountains and read it aloud. "Zmey" in turn is spelled "żmij" in Polish and this is the term my grandmother used exclusively to describe a snake(any proper snake) even though there are many more words, specifically e.g. "żmija", which means "viper". Anyway, nice project. Brought back some childhood memories.

pwagland 9y ago

Reminds me of a fun book from my childhood: The Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were (https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0140100083 https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/d...) Turns out that people have been fascinated by the things that didn't exist for quite a while!