Medieval Animal Alphabet

(wrist still sore. siiiiiigh)

Z is for Zebra

… fin …

Y is for Yale

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. Simply put, the yale is one wicked-cool animal. It has horns that can move any which way it wants!

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

I’m a bit nervous as I post this, for in less than 12 hours I will be off for some ‘minor’ wrist surgery. It’ll be a little while before I can draw again, so I’m feeling pretty sad. Only one more medieval letter to go then who knows what I’ll post!

X is for Xerus

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. Alright, so I cheated a little bit on this one, seeing as there are very few animals starting with X and fewer still that would have appeared in a medieval bestiary. So hopefully these African ground squirrels (genus Xerus) won’t get too angry, as squirrels can die of rage.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

W is for Wolf

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. If a man sees a wolf (before the wolf can see him), the wolf will lose his ferocity. But if the wolf sees the man first, the man will lose his voice.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

V is for Vulture

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. The vulture follows armies to feast on the bodies that will fall, knowing precisely just how many will be slain. Today’s letter is brought to you by ‘Vampire’.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

U is for Unicorn

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. Sigh. The poor unicorn. Always being captured or killed.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

T is for Tiger

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. It’s quite possible to steal a tiger’s cub – you need only to thwart the mother by throwing a glass sphere or mirror at her and she will think her reflection is her cub.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.

S is for Sawfish

Watercolours, pencil crayon and markers on watercolour paper. The sawfish…the sawfish… for this series I’ve been doing for a while now, I have not only drawn the animals in a medieval-illustration style (with my own ‘twist’) but the portrayal of the animals has been based on descriptions and images from manuscripts. So, to mention one animal, this is my dolphin looks more like a fish than what we know as a dolphin. The medieval descriptions and illustrations of the sawfish were just too fantastic to merge with modern knowledge of a ‘real’ sawfish. And so…the sawfish is a sea monster with giant wings.

For more info on all your favorite medieval beasts, visit The Medieval Bestiary or your local library.