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Description
Spooky scary skeletons...

--Mictecacihuatl, Aztec goddess of the dead------------------------------------------------------------
In Aztec mythology, the goddess who rules over as queen of Mictlan, the Aztec underworld,
alongside her husband, Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead. Her name can be translated as
"The Lady of the Dead", as some legends state that she was sacrificed as an infant and
matured in the underworld as a skeleton, becoming known as "the living death". She was
usually portrayed as a skull-headed woman or as a complete skeleton decorated with jewelry
made from human skulls and hands. Together with her husband, she lived in a palace of
darkness with no windows or doors, and both were considered opposite and
complementary entities to the creator gods of life, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. Her main
job was to protect the bones of the dead from other gods and spirits, as they were used
(in fact, stolen from her) to create the first humans of this world, and will probably be
needed to create the new humans of the next world after this one gets destroyed.
She usually stayed with her husband in the underworld, but also came frequently to the world
of the living to deal with matters related to the dead. In ancient times, festivals honoring the
departed were presided by her, the same festivals which evolved into the Day of the Dead
festivities celebrated in Mexico today, of which she still is technically presiding over. In popular
culture, Santa Muerte and La Calavera Catrina are considered to have taken Mictecacihuatl's
place as her modern counterparts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...I haven't posted anything myth-related since July you say? Nonsense! Can't hear you! La la la~

As you guys can probably imagine, this was supposed to be uploaded back on the Day of the Dead,
but I took my time with it so I wouldn't rush it just to meet an arbitrary deadline.

But well, Mictecacihuatl. Even though she's more usually depicted as a skull-headed woman, I wanted to
portray her as a complete skeleton to play with the fact that she protects the bones of the dead and create
a design almost entirely made out of bones. Huge Capela dos Ossos inspirations for this one, in fact, for her
arms I practically just copied the church's chandelier . I'll admit I'm not the most knowledgeable about Aztec
culture in general, I struggled with creating appropriated clothing and jewelry for her, so I tried to make the design
stick closer to the Day of the Dead aesthetics than anything else. They ended up looking a bit generic though,
but I hope they do the job.

There's not much to say about the design itself though. As mentioned, it's all Day of the Dead themed. Her flower scarf
is made out of cempasúchil, also known as the mexican marigold, a sacred flower to the Aztecs and a modern symbol of
the Day of the Dead. The bones of the dead she protects are held underneath her dress in a prison-like fashion,
from which they will never escape.

Funnily enough, those "horns" on her head (actually these were supposed to replace a feathered headdress, only made
out of bones) ended up greatly resembling the design of Hela from the Thor franchise. I'm not a Marvel fan or anything,
but considering Thor Ragnarok was just going to be released, and both of them were goddesses of the dead, I thought
it was funny enough to leave it as is.
If anyone here has played Odin Sphere before, yes, big inspirations from Queen Odette design-wise.

The thing I'm not entirely happy with is how the colorful upper body contrasting with the dark skeletons underneath ended
up looking too much like my previous design for Astarte ... Seems like I just repeated the same concept with a new coat of paint
over it to call it new. I hadn't noticed it before in the concept phase, but now this is all I can see looking at this.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to pay better attention in the future. Don't want to end up as a half-a-dozen trick pony.

Well, that's it from me, hope you all liked it!
See you all next time!

Description
Spooky scary skeletons...

--Mictecacihuatl, Aztec goddess of the dead------------------------------------------------------------
In Aztec mythology, the goddess who rules over as queen of Mictlan, the Aztec underworld,
alongside her husband, Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead. Her name can be translated as
"The Lady of the Dead", as some legends state that she was sacrificed as an infant and
matured in the underworld as a skeleton, becoming known as "the living death". She was
usually portrayed as a skull-headed woman or as a complete skeleton decorated with jewelry
made from human skulls and hands. Together with her husband, she lived in a palace of
darkness with no windows or doors, and both were considered opposite and
complementary entities to the creator gods of life, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. Her main
job was to protect the bones of the dead from other gods and spirits, as they were used
(in fact, stolen from her) to create the first humans of this world, and will probably be
needed to create the new humans of the next world after this one gets destroyed.
She usually stayed with her husband in the underworld, but also came frequently to the world
of the living to deal with matters related to the dead. In ancient times, festivals honoring the
departed were presided by her, the same festivals which evolved into the Day of the Dead
festivities celebrated in Mexico today, of which she still is technically presiding over. In popular
culture, Santa Muerte and La Calavera Catrina are considered to have taken Mictecacihuatl's
place as her modern counterparts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...I haven't posted anything myth-related since July you say? Nonsense! Can't hear you! La la la~

As you guys can probably imagine, this was supposed to be uploaded back on the Day of the Dead,
but I took my time with it so I wouldn't rush it just to meet an arbitrary deadline.

But well, Mictecacihuatl. Even though she's more usually depicted as a skull-headed woman, I wanted to
portray her as a complete skeleton to play with the fact that she protects the bones of the dead and create
a design almost entirely made out of bones. Huge Capela dos Ossos inspirations for this one, in fact, for her
arms I practically just copied the church's chandelier . I'll admit I'm not the most knowledgeable about Aztec
culture in general, I struggled with creating appropriated clothing and jewelry for her, so I tried to make the design
stick closer to the Day of the Dead aesthetics than anything else. They ended up looking a bit generic though,
but I hope they do the job.

There's not much to say about the design itself though. As mentioned, it's all Day of the Dead themed. Her flower scarf
is made out of cempasúchil, also known as the mexican marigold, a sacred flower to the Aztecs and a modern symbol of
the Day of the Dead. The bones of the dead she protects are held underneath her dress in a prison-like fashion,
from which they will never escape.

Funnily enough, those "horns" on her head (actually these were supposed to replace a feathered headdress, only made
out of bones) ended up greatly resembling the design of Hela from the Thor franchise. I'm not a Marvel fan or anything,
but considering Thor Ragnarok was just going to be released, and both of them were goddesses of the dead, I thought
it was funny enough to leave it as is.
If anyone here has played Odin Sphere before, yes, big inspirations from Queen Odette design-wise.

The thing I'm not entirely happy with is how the colorful upper body contrasting with the dark skeletons underneath ended
up looking too much like my previous design for Astarte ... Seems like I just repeated the same concept with a new coat of paint
over it to call it new. I hadn't noticed it before in the concept phase, but now this is all I can see looking at this.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to pay better attention in the future. Don't want to end up as a half-a-dozen trick pony.

Well, that's it from me, hope you all liked it!
See you all next time!