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JessicaMDouglas — K'i-Lin
Published: 2004-10-15 00:45:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 7663; Favourites: 244; Downloads: 2140
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Original: SoldPrints: Limited Edition still available.
The K'i-Lin, in china. Also known as the Kirin in Japan....
I'd like to say something here... This image was sparked after several people told me things like... "A dragon can't have hair or feathers. A unicorn can't have horse hooves or a curved horn. A naga-type creature can't have six arms." etc.
This is fantasy. The wonderful thing about fantasy is that you can make whatever you feel like making. So... with that in mind... I sat down and researched the K'i-lin. I didn't look at any other artist's rendition of this creature... I simply read page after page after page of descriptions on K'i-lin. Then I drew what my mind's eye told me. This is what *I* see when I think of the K'i-Lin. This is *my* interpretation of the words I read about a mythical (to some) creature.
I'll be doing an entire series... focused mostly on different culture's take on unicorns right now, since my researches lead me in some... interesting directions. Expect the unexpected...
But what I am trying to say is this: Please, take a little time to think before you say that something "can't be". Keep in mind that each time you say that, you are working to surpress an artist's creativity a little more... until they no longer want to express themselves through art. Unfortunately for all the people who have told me I "can't" do something.... I'm afraid that I don't listen very well. Sorry.
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Comments: 236
Wow, this is gorgeous! They're both beautiful and I love the poses and detailing.
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I like the hair and the scaly quality they have.
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That's an excellent idea. And your rendition is so beautiful too! ^_^
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Wow...it looks just like the traditional Asian paintings. I mean, I think you were trying to get that effect, but I think you hit it on the mark. Great job ^^
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wow...that's really gorgeous.... [knows nothing about anything other than Roman and Greek mythology] i KNOW i would never have the will too look up all the information on backrounds for a picture... you're amazing...
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I'm pretty sure it's QI-lin. Not KI-lin.
But nice job.
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actually it's both. It depends on what region you are looking into, and as I said, in japan it's kirin. So many spellings. I chose to go with this spelling, since it really emphasises the fact that the name actually refers to the male *and* female, not just one creature.
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Really...
Well, in Han Yu Pin Yin, it's technically Qi Lin. But I guess the Japanese way works as well.
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okay, let's try this.
I'm just a simple american chick. I didn't study languages, nor will I ever. So for me... I have no choice but to limit myself to texts translated for me by other people. Unfortunately, that means that I am limited in what knowledge I can aquire, and have to deal with the various translations. The sad thing about translations... is that there are many version. Do I know what han yu pin yin is? No clue. All I know is that out of... *counts* 15 books, 12 online sites, the encyclopedia, and the dictionary, I got three spellings, and K'i-lin was the one that used the most frequently for the version of this creature I decided to do.
Thankfully I am not going for linguistical accuracy here, hence my not bothering to study the chinese and japanese languages to read the text directly myself, and know which translation would be considered the most 'correct'. All I cared about, was reading the descriptions and coming up with what my mind told me they looked like.
*phew* that sounded stuffy. Sorry about that.
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Lovely job and nice message. I think this came out very well.
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as though the originators had a book of parameters
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*grin* didn't you know that there's a great guidebook by which all fantasy creatures should be drawn as?
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smile
oh i forgot
i wonderful job (your art)
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Beautiful interpretation of the Kirin, they are very graceful, at heart still an Oriental fantasy creature, yet with the freedom and whimsicalness of Western unicorns. The scroll background is a lovely touch. Well done, I can't wait to see more of this series.
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Thank you m'dear. It was kind of hard, since I (obviously) have no oriental background to draw upon as an influence on the piece. So I was cooooooonstantly fighting myself to keep from falling back into my normal strongly westernized habits. *laughs* I scared the tar out of some poor little oriental imports shop owner by going into his store and *laying* in the middle of it, to try and knock some of my western ideals out of my head *laughs* it didn't work. Ah well.
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You still did well in doing a beautiful combination of both. The only way I can recommend a firmer grasp on Oriental style is to actually *go* to Chinese landmarks like the Forbidden Palace, the Great Wall, etc. Or you can go the easier way and watch movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Emperor and the Assassin. But really, it's fine the way it is, hybrid creations always have the best of both worlds 
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Wtf? "dragon can't have hair of feathers" ...
First off, Dragons has goatees
Second off, DINOSAURS had FEATHERS. I know it sounds odd after what ppl said for years, but over the last 4 years it was discovered that they did, and they were more birds than we thought
also, ppl like that are too clsoe minded. Keep up with all the fantastic fantasy
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This is beautiful, I love the detail on the scales and their pretty manes.
I also like the scroll in the background, it looks very nice.
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you're welcome...its nice to be able to respond...*blaaaaaaah*
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wow that is SO beautiful! i love everything about it, especially the hair!
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yeah I'm kind of fond of the hair myself. Thank you very much!
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you are welcome. you know, that is the one of things i like most about your artwork...the hair, and when you color wings, it has such a soft but realistic quality to it!
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see, it's things like that which make me glad that even when someone with that in mind looks at a picture I do they don't feel like like commenting that I'm wrong about how whatever should look XD
The detailing you've done in the flowing hair and scales is beautiful.
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*grin* well if you *really* want me to... I could always sit there and send all those people your way. Then you can experience the glory of "That's not a dragon! They don't look like that!" for yourself.
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I need to think of something clever and otherwise meaning 'STFU, you're delusional!" before you do that XD
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Fight the power sweetie! 
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*.* so many emoticons *blink*
*laughs* well thank you.
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Now there is an image where the original is going to be always remembered and connected with your style and your genius. Totally needs a hand carved bamboo frame with museum mounting and archival mats, sealed and hung in the National Gallery.
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You're such a nut lovey. Though I think I'll take your suggestion and dig up one of my bamboo frames for it.
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O.o wow. I literally have no idea what to say *blink* you groped A k'i-lin? Tsk tsk, such disrespect. Shame on you. *grin*
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Considering the nature of imaginary beasts, I find it incredibly annoying that anyone would try to pin them down to one shape or form. It's almost like someone telling you that you shouldn't be you.
That aside, I like your version of the k'i-lin/kirin (the other ones I've seen all seem to follow this formula dictated by some obscure East Asian painting that I can't recall the name of at the moment), especially since the mane reminds me of Chinese art-deco-ish clouds. Is that black on green mottling I see on the rightmost k'i-lin?
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and I forgot Light Umber
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I really wanted to try and avoid seeing other's drawings (though I couldn't avoid it completely, I did my best) just so that I could keep from doing the 'standard' image of a kilin. *grin* i'm sure some influences seeped in. Plus I wanted to try with a new style a little, with the outline in the coloring, etc.
As for colors used, I actually used the same colors on both of them, just in different variations. Prismacolors, and these are the colors on the scales:
Dark Umber
Sienna Brown
Beige
Dark Green
Marine Green
Grass Green
Limepeel
True Green
Apple Green
White
..... as you can probably guess, the scan lost a lot of the details in the scales.
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Sales.... I never would have imagined scales. Wonderful concept. I like how you left the eyes white.. gives them an unearthly feel.
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actually, scales were one of the *few* things that the books agreed on with their appearance. This is because according to some myths, the K'i-lin carried the chinese written language on their scales, each one had symbols... anyway I won't go into it, but I tried to put little symbols on the scales and it was too cluttered. I might make a white one later and have it covered with writting. That'd be fun.
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Oooo, that would be fun. =^.^=
I do remember in my ancient world history class... in many cultures there was much that had writing on scales, bones and shells. It was often involved in requests to the gods. With the mythological of these creatures, it rather makes sense how that ties in. Hmm
Very interesting.. thank you
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OMG dude, those are rilly werd lookin unikorns. o0
*ahem* Yes, I understand where you're coming from. I can't stand it when peopel try to cut fantasy into their own choppy limited versions of it. -.-*
But hot damn, nice work! I love the fluffy curly manes! And fantastic job with the scales! Absolutely lovely. ^^
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Weird looking unicorns with fluffy/curly manes is good for you *beams*
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I can't believe people would say that! I think what you're doing here is awesome. I know you're a strong enough artist that you don't listen to losers who think they know what fantasy really is, but some others might not be, and I think showing different interpretations of fantasy creatures can only inspire more artistic expression and experimentation. Very cool!
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Exactly! *I* am a stubborn, pigheaded person who gets cranky when I'm told no... and does it anyway, but most artists are actually very sensitive and rather fragile! So having such negativity (no matter how you phrase it, telling someone their imagination is wrong is negative) thrown at them makes them give up! I've watched it happen! *flails*
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Ah! The scales! I admire you so much for the detail you put into things. I tend to just color the scales in a gradient and call it good....... Perrrrrrrrttttttty......
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