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DougDougmann In reply to aintn0body [2010-05-22 04:24:20 +0000 UTC]

[link]

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a bobbly ritual stick used for bludgeoning jaguars during the sacred hunts.

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aintn0body In reply to DougDougmann [2010-05-23 03:05:48 +0000 UTC]

Oh, that! That's actually supposed to be the bone awl priests would use to ritually let blood from their ears, tongues, and genitalia. As Quetzalcoatl was the the god that supposedly invented sacrifice (including self-sacrifice) this bone needle was one of this god's primary emblems.

Though truth be told, the drawings from the old Borgia Group Codices aren't exactly to scale

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DougDougmann In reply to aintn0body [2010-05-24 13:00:02 +0000 UTC]

Gotcha!

We may be reading different versions of the myths, but if I remember right Quetzalcoatl wasn't about sacrifice, but was tricked into becoming drunk, sleeping with his sister, and then he killed himself out of shame. The god who tricked him (I forget the name) then was in charge and started the sacrifices. I'm trying to remember this off the top of my head so I may have gotten it wrong...

Also- the Borgia drawings are just really fun to try translating into more realistic illustrations.

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aintn0body In reply to DougDougmann [2010-05-25 02:28:36 +0000 UTC]

Ah, well technically your heard right. However, that is only a small element of a larger mythic framework. The Aztecs believed that the world had been created and destroyed four times before. Each time, one of two gods was appointed to rule over the mortal world, and every time that world was destroyed power would shift back to the previous god. These gods were Tezcatlipoca (literally "smoking mirror") and Quetzalcoatl. [link]

Tezcatlipoca, like Quetzalcoatl was something of a renaissance god: he had numerous domains and avatars at his disposal. While I don't currently have the time to cover all the intricacies of the Lord of the Smoking Mirror, suffice it to say that he was a trickster, a manipulator of fate, and patron of prophecies and omens. There are several versions of the story you likely heard, but I doubt the version you heard made mention of the many dark omens (a giant with long fingers, a man with a tiny boy dancing in his hand, a corpse in the marketplace that could not be moved, etc.) that appeared over Mexico prior to Quetzalcoatl's shame. Each of those was Tezcatlipoca, foretelling the end of the fourth age (albeit in a sort of roundabout way). On top of that, Tezcatlipoca misplaced many of Quetzalcoatl's things, got him drunk, and tricked him into sleeping with his sister. Aztec priests were celibate, and Quetzalcoatl was supposedly the first priest; add incest and you can imagine the scandal that would create.

It was also during the fourth age that Quetzalcoatl invented sacrifice (blood-letting, animals, humans, etc.), just as Tezcatlipoca invented music in a previous age; both were ways for mortals to worship the gods.

Heh, I never looked at it like that Suffice it to say though, autosacrificial needles were usually only a few inches long.

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DougDougmann In reply to aintn0body [2010-05-25 04:08:01 +0000 UTC]

I see! A bit of that I'd read, but a lot of it is new- especially the omens. I think the version I was reading glossed over the 4x creation/destruction of the world as well, it strikes a bell but I don't remember it being really emphasized.

I love this kind of stuff, though the only myth cycle I'm really well versed in is Norse. Do you know of any books or whatnot that I could order online on this topic? I'd like to read more.

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aintn0body In reply to DougDougmann [2010-05-25 18:05:30 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I've noticed that most mainstream sources just focus on Quetzalcoatl's humiliation.

As for information, I'd recommend "Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca, 'Lord of the Smoking Mirror'" by Guilhem Olivier. It's where I got most of my information on Tezcatlipoca, and it's an enthralling read.

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DougDougmann In reply to aintn0body [2010-05-25 19:56:48 +0000 UTC]

Nice, found it on Amazon. I'll likely be ordering it when I get out of work.

Also, I think I want to do one of these illustrations using the cover image as a reference. That would be insane.

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aintn0body In reply to DougDougmann [2010-05-25 21:40:49 +0000 UTC]

Heh, well if you're gonna do that, I could tell you what some of the symbols mean or represent.

For example, that circular symbol replacing his right foot (in this case, with a jaguar pelt attached) is an obsidian mirror. This was Tezcatlipoca's primary emblem, and here acts as a replacement foot for the one that was bitten off during his battle with the earth monster Tlaltecuhtli. Another mirror hangs on his chest as a pectoral, here shown with a superimposed flint knife.

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DougDougmann In reply to Sighter [2010-03-13 05:31:12 +0000 UTC]

That's just how all my illustrations start, it'll end up looking more like that other aztec guy I did. The only benefit I've gotten out of my office job is finding that I like drawing with highlighters, hahah.

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Sighter In reply to DougDougmann [2010-03-15 18:38:40 +0000 UTC]

Hmm. Highlighters. The sad side effect of which is a disturbed fascination with their smell.

Ahem.

Good bit to know about your technique. I like learning how others arrive at the end of their pieces- helps me to figure out how to better the way I do things. Or merely entertains me for five minutes or so.

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DougDougmann In reply to LadyCat17 [2010-03-09 01:36:49 +0000 UTC]

Haha I wasn't going to upload it, but I don't know how long it'll take me to finish it. Hopefully soon though!

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LadyCat17 In reply to DougDougmann [2010-03-09 01:43:28 +0000 UTC]

Ah don't worry

Hmmm if this sketch is awesome, I know teh final result will be more

heh heh

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