Alphabestiary - Nby ~eternalsaturn

Digital Art / Drawings / Fantasy

[link]

One of the most fearsome beasts of Scottish folklore, the Nuckelavee was a malevolent sea monster usually depicted as a hybrid of man and horse, with its horse head having a single, firey eye and its human body having disproportionately long arms that dragged the ground and a massive head seemingly too large for its thin neck to hold upright. Its entire body lacked skin, and its muscles and veins could easily be seen, pulsing with thick, black blood.

Both of the Nuckelavee's heads could breath a deadly toxin that could kill crops and livestock instantly, so famine and epidemics were often blamed on the monster's actions. Interestingly, the Nuckelavee's greatest weakness was running fresh water; one tale tells of a man named Tammie who was able to escape the beast simply by crossing a small stream.

---
A lot more accurate than the last time I drew this thing!

I'm not 100% if I really like how this came out... I wanted this fellow to be one of the "standout" monsters in this set but his pose just looks rather boring to me. :/ I don't think it'd walk upright like a normal horse most of the time, though. I like the idea of it scuttling around almost insect-like most of the time a lot more appealing, which is why I tend to draw it hunched over like this.