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luciole — Pontianak
Published: 2008-05-14 23:28:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 58972; Favourites: 3027; Downloads: 6216
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Description
A pontianak is a type of Malay ghost of a woman who died during childbirth and becomes the undead.According to the story, the Pontianak resides in banana trees that grow near houses. She appears as a beautiful and seductive woman, usually accompanied with the strong perfume of frangipani, and upon capture of her prey (usually unwary men or pregnant women), she turns into a hideous hag and kills them.
However, if one wishes to capture this beautiful spirit to make her a wife (don't underestimate how desperate some people can be), a red string can be tied or inserted (using needles) into the banana trees's heart/fruit/blossom and the other end tied to the person's window. However, if the string is ever severed, the pontianak will be released and kill her captor.
I wanted to capture the moment when she realized that someone is attempting to capture her. However.. the strings are not tied tightly enough..
This is for pixelbrush.com's Myth contest.
edit: Winner of Pixelbrush's Event #15 Myth contest ^^!!
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Comments: 508
That was a scary story.. XD The picture is flawless though, so beautiful ~
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This painting is amazing. It may not be as pretty as some of your other pieces, but I think it shows how technically sophisticated you're becoming. The single light source of the painting, combined with the wind effects and background, give the piece a wonderfully mysterious atmosphere. I love it!
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wow
perfection, thy name is luciole
really, great work! such nice flowing shapes and colors...
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Beautiful piece. Not scary yet seductive with intent to haunt and kill.
Always hear good scary stories about pontianak from other friends back home.
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hey cool. new knowledge. i guess that might be the origin of what we call here in the philippines - "Tianak" although this one is an undead incarnation of an unborn child, or a child who died during childbirth, or from a mother who died while pregnant. they're really nasty, and lure people by pretending to be abandoned babies... who are naturally adopted by passers-by.... later it turns into a freaky impish thing with sharp teeth and an impressive leap, and kills everyone in the household... after which it pretends to be a baby again to lure new victims.....
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This is extremely awesome. I love the detail you put into it.
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Very mysterious, and airness to it.
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Very interesting story! I also love the picture, she is very beautiful.
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Beautiful! I remember doing a paper in high school on the literary history of vampires and I came across a story similar to this. It's been a long time, so I don't remember the specific name used for the vampire in the legend, but it might have been this.
Very neat.
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If Pontianak THIS BEAUTIFUL,
i'll make her my top favorite Creature beside Mermaid!!
you should make more local ghost beautiful~
its a bit difficult to imagine them beautiful~*+*+
thanks to you*+*+*
She's a Banshee~
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Good job! Even though I'm a Malay myself, I kinda like this version of Pontianak.
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in Indonesian toungue, it's called Kuntilanak..
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I just know that Pontianak is a name of a town in Kalimantan
Hmm.. maybe in Indonesia she called Kuntilanak.
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Oh my god! this is one of the most beautiful drawings i've seen.. you just captured the whole feeling of the story! bravo!
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She looks almost benevolent...almost anyway.
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Oh wow, I've never heard this story before! I looked it up on Wikipedia *gasp* & it's actually quite interesting! Plus your picture grasps the story beautifully. I especially love the red thread & how the flowers in her hair flow endlessly
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Beautiful yet haunting at the same time. 
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lool a lot of times I wanted to do a drawing of a pontianak as well but never got to it haha xD
now you did one lol
hmm but I thought they also said if you tied the redstring to the tree, and lead it to someone's house, usually someone you dont like, and leave it at their doorstep, she'll haunt that person who owns the house xD
but if you drop the string halfway, she'll kill you ._.
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I never heard that before.. but sounds scary D:!!
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lool thats why always make sure no red strings are nearby your house xD
and arent all of this traditional beliefs supposed to be scary?=/
you should make an art based on the toyols as well >w<
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I want to make Mahsuri.. or a chinese ghost next
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D8
I think I'm more scared of a Penggalan....not sure if you heard of them but they creep me out the most @_@ they're those ghosts which is just a head floating around with red eyes and entrails hanging from their necks. They usually hunt for human blood and basically suck the blood out of you after killing you >_> but they prefer babies the most.... ._.
if a chinese ghost, you should do a 'kiong si' xD you know, those jumping corpses? lol I love story behind them, its so tragic T^T if you drew something based on their story, i'd probably cry T_T
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O_O What's the kiong si story?
Actually I was thinking of painting an old chinese temple (they always scare the shit out of me) and ghost brides/marriages.. or women who die in red dresses, I'm sure you know the story!
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lool yea xD why do they scare you though?=/ I particularly dont like praying at temples since I'm agnostic but I visit often since my parents are Buddhist =w=
the kiong si story , well they are said to be people who died far away from home and their families wish to see their bodies again. So taoist priests would reanimate them, hence the talisman on their foreheads, and send them back to their homes. But since they are corpses and bodies usually get stiff after death, they cant walk so they were forced to jump home lol
I suck at story telling so it doesnt seem as touching as when my dad told me it lol
there's a scientific version where if a pregnant cat, especially black , were to jump over their body, it is believed that the cat have a lot of static in their body so when they jump, it causes the corpse to sit back up lool XD
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