"V" is for Vampire...

...and I don't mean the kind that sparkle in the sun! According to Wikipedia Vampires are "mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person." For my illustration today I decided to go with a more iconic, old fashioned look at vampires...somehow a heartthrob with golden eyes just doesn't scream Vampire for me. :P

"U" is for Unicorn...

Who didn't see that one coming? According to wikipedia "A unicorn (from Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn') is a mythological creature described as having a long, straight horn extending from its forehead." Well, really who doesn't know that? Something I didn't know however was that Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology...they are found in Greek natural history, because the Greeks were absolutely convinced Unicorns were real and living in India.

"T" is for Troll

For T I resisted the temptation to make T for Teresa and instead made a Troll. According to Wikipedia "Numerous tales about trolls are recorded, in which they are frequently described as being extremely old, very strong, but slow and dim-witted. They are sometimes described as man-eaters and as turning to stone upon contact with sunlight." Growing up one of my favorite cartoons was "David the Gnome" so my interpretation of trolls is heavily influenced by that, which is actually very close to the Scandinavian style, I'm quite happy with the result.

"S" is for Satyr

For today's letter I chose Satyr, but I took some liberties...namely I chose to go with the Roman adaptation of Satyrs into more faun like creatures rather than the original more horse like Satyrs from the Greeks....mainly because it is the more popular version and I have already drawn a Centaur.

"R" is for Roc

A Roc is an enormous legendary bird of prey, often white.

"Q" is for Quetzalcoatl

Yeah, I kinda had to reach for this one....you may be surprised to know there are not many mythical creatures starting with the letter Q.   Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered-serpent".

"P" is for Phoenix

A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit it has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.