#dirubael

[silverhart-makes-art]

If this week's Bestiary Posting is the creature I think it is, I will be very happy, because it reminded me of a sweet little fairy tale I wrote and illustrated about this critter when I was very young. Even if my guess is wrong, it still made me smile. Gonna do my best to not draw that critter, much as I might want to though.

The Dirubael is described as having horns it uses in fights, and any chance I get to draw an ungulate I will gladly take, so an ungulate it must be. I decided to go with a sable antelope as the base for this critter, partially because it's described as black, but mainly because they're my favorite antelope to draw - I just love their unique proportions. The main trait about the Dirubael is it's horns, which it can move, and I decided to get a bit creative, because when I think of 'movable horns' I think of eye-stalks, like on a slug. So that's what I gave this fellow; movable eye-stalks from which the horns grow. I don't know what the skull of such a creature would look like, but I bet it's insane. I also decided to give them a second pair of horns that grows behind the first, because if these beasts are losing their horns often enough for it to be remarked on, it makes sense to have a couple more backups. Bonus feature, when the first point is damaged, it can move it's second into the position of the old one, just in case it needs to lock horns with another dirubael.

It's jaws are said to be that of a boar's, which probably implies tusks, but I decided to interpret it as the literal jaw of a boar - a big, robust jaw, able to crush tough fruits, tubers and even bone. I also decided to make the neck and body considerably thicker and more swine-like, sort of a boar-antelope hybrid. I was bit worried using boar and antelope might make it look too much like the Dikebael from a previous entry, so I looked at the babirusa for inspiration, rather then a warthog or Eurasian boar, exaggerating the head shape a bit, just to make it even more strange looking (also curious if maybe 'Dikebael' and 'Dirubael' names come from a common root word in this crazy hypothetical world. Maybe 'bael' means something like 'pig' or 'beast' so Dirubael means 'antelope-pig' or 'antelope-beast', and Dikebael means 'desert-pig' or 'desert-beast'. Did not set out to do that, but I kind of dig it now that I've thought of it.) Elephant tail is easy enough to add, but gotta make it a little fluffier for fun.

[coolest-capybara]

I have managed to finish a Maniculum Bestiaryposting Challenge before the very last second for once! This is the Dirubael:

"There is an animal called the Dirubael. It is black, as big as a horse, with the tail of an elephant, the jaws of a boar and unusually long horns, adjustable to any movement the animal might make. For they are not fixed but move as the needs of fighting require; the Dirubael advances one of them as it fights, folding the other back, so that if the tip of the first is damaged by a blow, it is replaced by the point of the second."

So we get a few characteristics and a lot of room for interpretation regarding the rest. It sounds like some kind of goat or antelope, but also seems to be a very combative animal. Hippos and rhinoceroses are notoriously terrifying when provoked, hence the body shape. I combined it with boar-like head shape with tusks and a little bit of Dürers' Rhinoceros. The flowers in the background are based on this illustrated prayer book.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Dirubael

This entry happens to be pretty clear on what the animal looks like, so there's a strong similarity between the different depictions this week -- the main difference is how each artist interprets what the hell is going on with these horns.

If you're not sure what this is about, you can find an explanation and the rest of the series so far at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry people are working from this week can be found here:

And if you want to join in for next week, that creature's entry can be found here:

And now, art in chronological order as it was posted:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has designed an antelope-like creature that almost passes as normal if you're just scrolling past... and then you look at it properly and see that it has horned eyestalks. That is wild and I love it. (Fencing with those horns must be a challenge since its eyes are also moving around, but I assume it's adapted for that kind of thing.) More commentary to be found in the linked post.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) went more of a rhinocerous direction, resulting in this nifty-looking creature. The thick, sturdy build here plus the tusks probably make this one pretty formidable in a fight even if it didn't have long, mobile horns. Dangerous beast. Also take a moment to admire that background, and consider clicking on the linked post for more details on inspiration & sources. (And thank you for providing alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) has another creative interpretation of what these mobile horns might actually be -- they're actually clusters of quills that can tense up into horn-like structures when the creature needs them. I think that's quite clever, and I really like the choice to show it fencing on the left there.

@ectocs (link to post here) has something that looks kind of like a boar and kind of like an ungulate... I'm getting "dog", too, mostly from the legs, but that might just be because that's the type of quadruped I spend the most time around. Solid Nonspecific Mammal either way. Anyway, the stand-out here is the interpretation of its mobile horns -- they're a set of mantis-like forelimbs, which happen to rest against the sides of its head to give the appearance of horns. I like this interpretation a lot. Check out the linked post for more information, sketches, and (I enjoy this) a recreation of this creature in Spore.

@citrvsdrake (link to post here) has also given us a very solid Nonspecific Mammal that's a kind of of boar / buffalo / horse blend. This one has traditional horns, but the way they are positioned communicates quite clearly that they are mobile. Fairly threatening expression, too, so let's scroll away quickly. (Welcome, Citrvsdrake!)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) notes that their interpretation has ended up going in the direction of "necromantic experiment", which... yeah, it definitely does look like that. We've got a few different animals blended together for the shape of its body, then a boar's skull with some additional spikes for the horns, and a spiky, exposed spine down its back. Honestly, if your necromancers aren't making stuff like this, what are they even doing with their time?

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has joined a general consensus of "boar-like creature with long legs like a horse", which really is a sound interpretation of the text. Traditional horns, and the linked post talks a bit about the difficulty of such an anatomical feature (as well as other things, go check it out). That's a pretty good boar's head, in my opinion. Also impressed by the fact that CheapSweets is doing this with a brush pen.

All right, to the Aberdeen Bestiary:

As I'm sure is completely obvious from this picture, this creature is the Yale.

(Unrelated to the U.S. university as far as I know -- I checked, and the university appears to be named after Iâl in Wales, while the creature's name probably comes from the Hebrew word for "ibex". Though according to Wikipedia, the university does feature some decorative yales in various places, presumably as an obscure pun in a "canting arms" sort of way.)

This is another one of those mythical creatures that didn't quite make it into the modern consciousness -- an ibex that fences with its horns is maybe a bit too low-key to compete with manticores and dragons for attention.

Also, I have to note that I think it's interesting how the medieval artist decided "jaws of a boar" didn't include tusks. The only visual indication I see here is maybe those jowls?

[ectocs]

The Dirubael

What can I say. I think it's enjoyable to interpret things a bit strangely, as if I'm an alien who saw a handful of earth animals and has to guess the rest.

Fast doodles + some bonus stuff (gif warning) below :), plus the usual chatter:

Black, big as a horse, tail of an elephant. Easy-peasy, picturing a big ungulate thing. Jaws of a boar. Okay, huh. A few ways to interpret that, but I'm going with some tusks. Not too out there.

Unusually long horns that it can adjust... now that's something else. I wanted to imagine a reason as to why it could move the horns. This included any number of mechanisms -- literal horns that moved through strange muscle attachments in a socket? Interesting, but not sure how to convey that through art. Maybe 'horns' like a beetle has horns -- either part of their exoskeleton or as mandibles?

The description of how it fights is interesting. It obviously needs to be able to move its horns, then, or at least look like it's moving them.

I did a few very very basic doodles (by my standards), first of cattle... mostly water buffalo... to get a feel for their head shapes. In case you wonder what I'm doing when I'm not making 'decent', more complete sketches, it's this. Consider this extra behind-the-scenes stuff.

With the last one I played around a bit with the horns, but only barely.

At this point I decided to switch to something more boar-like, with a dash of beetle, but I couldn't come up with anything I really liked:

My issue was coming up with anything that could move, or even fake it. I started making that open-mouthed mandible boar, getting basically nowhere, when I had a thought.

What if we expand on that spiky bug limb idea. Bugs love having spiky limbs. More limb, less... uh... mandible or horn.

Inspired by mantids and an OC of mine, I created the first real sketch:

It looks like horns. From a distance -- because who would realistically want to get close to this -- it would look like horns, and like they were moving. Personally I like to imagine that they charge or stab with them, rarely extending their 'arms' save for pulling down vegetation from higher. I mean... trampling things underfoot seems like a better defense mechanism really...

I took a few cracks at drawing it but has struggling to refine it. I drew it once in a basic form, but couldn't do it again. That's when I decided to take things an extra step.

BEHOLD, THE MIGHTY SPORE DIRUBAEL:

Yeah, so. I made them in spore. Modded spore, specifically. No idea if they can appear in my world, but they're in there now, so maybe.

I walked this guy around and took a few screenshots as references before leaving. I did ask for some animated avatars, though. And I'm glad I did. I love this thing.

Here's a failed screenshot where I accidentally whacked my spacebar while moving my meaty hands to the mouse.. truly, a majestic creature, this is.

[wendievergreen]

Dirubael

To make this beast, I (digitally) collaged together some skeleton illustrations and (digitally) painted over them. The skull and most of the spine is a boar, the back end is an elephant, the front legs and human for scale are from this horse.

I definitely went pretty far afield on this one. My initial idea was a beast with a series of blades like a chainsaw down the spine, but I was inspired by the shape of the boar vertebrae to leave the back open and extend the spikes from the bone. I was originally going for a cyborg vibe, but landed on necromancy experiment.

I think if I added roughly 8 million more spikes this could be a Warhammer mini

[cheapsweets]

The agonistic Dirubael

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge, from @maniculum

Pencil sketch, then lines in Pentel brush pen. Trying something a little different again, trying to work out the best way to draw fur with a thick pen. I feel like I still don't have the level of control I'd like with the brush pen (in terms of getting the lines the right thickness), but it's still fun to use.

Reasoning below the cut…

"There is an animal called the Dirubael. It is black, as big as a horse, with the tail of an elephant, the jaws of a boar and unusually long horns, adjustable to any movement the animal might make. For they are not fixed but move as the needs of fighting require; the Dirubael advances one of them as it fights, folding the other back, so that if the tip of the first is damaged by a blow, it is replaced by the point of the second."

Didn't have a lot of time this week, so a relatively quick sketch. All the references make me think this is some manner of ungulate, probably related to pigs given that is the most distinctive thing mentioned, so that is where we ended up.

The head is distinctly based off of wild boars (with a bit of influence from prehistoric relatives, of which more below), same with the body, but given that we know it is as big as a horse, I assumed that it had a similar kind of profile, so we have some longer, more gracile legs (though still covered in thick fur).

Now, there were actually prehistoric relatives of pigs that had horns... namely Kubanochoerus sp. It doesn't quite work with the description we have been given (namely mobile horns, and multiples of them) but still pretty cool. I also took some inflience from the extinct giant warthog Metridiochoerus.

The horns... I couldn't think of any clever ways to make this work, so I assumed there was thick muscle around the base of each of the horns, which allows a degree of movement. I imagine that there might be a slot or nodule in the skull where the horn can brace while facing forwards, and while the other horn is tucked back out of the way.

The tail is taken pretty much directly from elephants; I had a image in my head of what I expected them to look like (mostly like a naked cow tail), but on doing a little research it ended up quite different. They are actually quite blunt at the end, and the hair tends to be on the left and right edges which normally ends up with a distinct tuft on either side of the end, rather than a fluffy tip to the tail. Elephant tails are also a lot longer than I imagine them to be!

[citrvsdrake]

Dirubael

Wanted to test my skills in guessing what animal it might be! Challenge by @maniculum

In my opinion, the description is very similar to African buffalo, but they don't have jaws of a boar. (I think?) So I mixed boar and buffalo features :PP

Anyway, here is the description:

"There is an animal called the Dirubael. It is black, as big as a horse, with the tail of an elephant, the jaws of a boar and unusually long horns, adjustable to any movement the animal might make. For they are not fixed but move as the needs of fighting require; the Dirubael advances one of them as it fights, folding the other back, so that if the tip of the first is damaged by a blow, it is replaced by the point of the second."

[pomrania]

Here's my rendition of the dirubael, from @maniculum's Bestiaryposting. My progress thread is here.

The main thing in the description is its "horns", which can move on their own. I decided that they were actually ears, then decided those ears had hairs like quills on them, and normally were relaxed but could be tensed and gathered to create something which could be used to fight with. I refused to look up what a boar looks like, so I just gave it tusks; for everything else, my first instinct is to default to "ungulate, mostly horse-like" and I didn't have any better ideas.

The human figure was a late addition; I wanted to add something more, like for scale, then the idea came to me. And if it seems out of proportion, I'm invoking the fact an horses come in a range of heights, so "as big as a horse" means whatever size horse would be necessary for this to work.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting -- Dirubael

As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting .

Hm -- this one's nonce-name is only two letters off from one we posted earlier. I'm going to say that's probably fine, mostly because Google really doesn't like it when I keep searching randomly-generated nonsense words until I get one with no results, and I don't want to see what happens if I eventually trip something.

There is an animal called the Dirubael. It is black, as big as a horse, with the tail of an elephant, the jaws of a boar and unusually long horns, adjustable to any movement the animal might make. For they are not fixed but move as the needs of fighting require; the Dirubael advances one of them as it fights, folding the other back, so that if the tip of the first is damaged by a blow, it is replaced by the point of the second.

Remember to tag posts with #Dirubael so folks can find them.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Wimchlat

Very similar art this week, which kind of can't be helped because the entry does specifically say that it looks like a wolf with spots. There's some range here, though.

If you're not sure what this is about, you can find an explanation and previous posts here: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The entry artists are working from this week can be found here:

And if you want to participate in the next round, here's that entry:

...huh. I didn't realize which one was up next until I went looking for the link just now. That'll be an interesting artistic experience, I'm sure.

(Pursuant to some previous speculation on the "-bael" morpheme in the Dikebael and Dirubael, now I'm wondering if the "-at" morpheme in our randomly-generated words might have something to do with bodily waste.)

Anyway, this week's art is below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) notes that their version ended up quite fluffy, which I have also noted and enjoyed. For some additional detail, which includes some interesting animal facts, click on the linked post.

@doodlebethel (link to post here) is joining us for the first time, and has drawn an excellent not-quite-a-wolf. I feel the depiction of it aggressively guarding that sparkly sand is very well-executed.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has made the decision that the urine in question solidifies into a jewel basically immediately, which I think raises a lot of interesting questions (complimentary). Also, thank you for providing alt text.

@citrvsdrake (link to post here) observes that the creature hiding its urine sounds like cat behavior, so they leaned a little harder towards the leopard side than the wolf one. I think it came out well; an animal that is both relatively wolf-shaped and clearly feline has an interesting look to it.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) decided to base theirs on the maned wolf, which I think came out really well in this art style. I also like the decision to make the spots look like eyes -- together with the color scheme and the long limbs, it really has a fascinating (and slightly sinister?) effect. I kind of love this design, really. I want to know more about this creature. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) also decided to mix it up a bit animal-wise, and also landed on the maned wolf as an interesting non-wolf wolf option. It's also got ocelot features rather than leopard. I just really like the vibes here -- something about this art style is very charming to me. I'm not an art critic, so I can't elaborate on that. I would recommend clicking on the linked post, which has more information and also some tags I find quite funny.

On to the Aberdeen Bestiary!

... or not, actually. This is one of the folios missing from that manuscript, so the text actually came from Bodley MS 764, and we'll be taking the illustration from the Ashmole Bestiary.

That illustration doesn't help a whole lot, though it does also lean more feline, so we can get something there -- but I saw a number of comments saying that people had recognized it in the process of drawing, so it's probably no surprise that this is the lynx.

No, I don't know why people thought its urine turned into gemstones. Ask Pliny the Elder. (The supposed gemstone in question is called ligurius, by the way.)

I also don't know why the lynx in the Ashmole illustration appears to be having a staring contest with a ram... hold on, let me see something...

... okay, bestiary.ca doesn't have anything that explains that. It might just be an artistic decision. Things I did learn from bestiary.ca just now, though:

Ovid (yes, that Ovid) specified that the lynx's urine solidifies on contact with air, which means that those interesting questions (mostly along the lines of what is in that stuff) raised by CheapSweets's drawing are definitely still on the table.

Thomas of Cantimpre also says that the lynx has the hilarious combination of comic-book-style x-ray vision and a total inability to remember anything it's not currently looking at. So it can see through walls but just immediately forgets what it saw. I love that.

[coolest-capybara]

Not a lot of time this (and next) week, so I drew this one on the go! In this Maniculum Bestiaryposting Challenge, we get to interpret the Yagstong:

"There is an animal called in Latin [redacted], because it chooses to live in rugged places; some call it [redacted]. These are the tame Yagstongs which the Greeks called [redacted], because they have very sharp sight. They live in high mountains and can tell if men approaching a long way off are hunters or travellers. The Yagstong has these characteristics: when grazing, it moves from high to even higher pastures. It picks out good grass from bad by the sharpness of its eyes. It feeds by chewing the grass. When wounded, it hurries to find the herb dittany and, by touching it, is healed. [The following appears in a separate entry on the same animal for some reason] The male Yagstong is a wanton and frisky animal, always longing for sex; as a result of its lustfulness its eyes look sideways — from which it has derived its name. [Etymology redacted] Its nature is so very heated that its blood alone will dissolve a diamond, against which the properties of neither fire nor iron can prevail. Young Yagstongs take their name from the word for eating, for the young ones are very fat and taste delicious."

The main points I got from this is that a) it lives on mountains and grazes, b) it can see well and c) acid blood?

Grazing on mountains made me think of goats, but the emphasis on its eyesight and how the eyes "look sideways" interested me. I looked up which animals have the best eyesight, and apparently, sharks are pretty far up there! So I borrowed some features from hammerhead sharks to really ...hammer home the eye positioning.

The acid blood reminded me of hippos. They sweat out a red acid that was once thought to be blood. Of course, I already drew a hippo for the Dirubael entry, but one of the many perks of being a bestiary illustrator is that you can just redraw aspects of your favorite creature for every entry that sort of matches (think of all all the very similar birds we've seen so far) and mix and match features as you go. Like adding some giant mountain goat horns and hooves.