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Description
So uh... There's a lot to this sketch... I don't know whether I want it to be, or not to be, Medusa. It obviously isn't an accurate portrayal if it is... but it does have some of the major elements, if somewhat... modified... For instance she does have 'the body of a snake' and 'snakes in her hair,' only not in the same way as they are described traditionally...

If it IS Medusa, then I'm taking the "Monster of circumstance" concept with this character... as she is obviously not the happiest looking person. Of course, going on the various tellings I've been researching, Medusa's myth leads me to a single conclusion: Her life story is a tragedy greater than that of the main characters' in Greek myth. I mean depending on which version you source, Medusa was either so beautiful she was cursed by a jealous goddess, or, she was cursed as punishment for -get this- being raped in the temple of (the same) goddess...'

I don't know yet whether I want this to be Medusa however.
I will also say that I took some design inspiration from Final Fantasy IX... but it comes in an odd form;

There is a character model in FFIX that appears on the screen, behind heavy amounts of obstruction, and is never seen from the front, nor does it ever appear again after it's 3 second debut. The character it represents is seen later, but in a much different form. That, my friends, is Malirith. The first time she appears, almost completely hidden, from behind, says only 2-3 lines of dialog (on a timer, not even player input based) and then the scene cuts to a different place.

Being that I like looking around in things, I happened upon this model, and it really made an impression on me. Frankly I think it is the coolest thing that appears in the game, and ironically, it is also the shortest appearing thing in the game. I appreciated the design, and I liked how the snake was not only part of her body, but was in fact an extension of her hair, rather than her pelvis.

That said, I modified the concept (slightly) by making my character more human in appearance (Malirith is full-on reptile, has pupiless eyes, cyan skin, and no facial features like mouth or nose) and making the snake body (already substantial on Malirith) much larger (albeit not fully shown)...

And the pose is mine... For some reason I like the concept of my character actually being able to recline on her own body.

Arguments for this being Medusa:
-Medusa was a man-eater... I can reason that this is necessity with a massive body like this... Obviously she would exhaust her supply of islandic food quite quickly, and would have to rely on whatever large creatures made their way to her den as a meal... this includes foolish 'heroes.'
This doesn't mean she'd have to enjoy it mind you...

-Her melancholic nature fits in with a somewhat reworked version of her story that's been stewing in my mind (which should be obvious by now).

-I drew her clothing not dissimilar to how Greek characters are often clothed... at least from what I can tell...

Arguments against:
-She's obviously quite different from tradition, even with as much self contradiction different tellings of the same 'traditional' story have...

and well... that being as big as a reason as any, it weighs easily as much as any argument for Medusa.

I do have one other possible character she might be... which fits even less than Medusa... and that's the Midgardsormr, Jormungandr... the Norse serpent that encircles the entire world, and was really just nothing like this person I've drawn... and I spend enough time on Norse already... I need to add some other cultural myths to my repertoire...

Now, I said this is unfinished... there's a reason for that; I actually plan on inking and digitally painting this...

Now, if anyone made it to this point... What are your thoughts... Medusa or not Medusa?
(Oh and those legs I mentioned in my tutorial? Yeah, that's them, covered in all that loose white cloth glory and completely unseeable...)

Description
So uh... There's a lot to this sketch... I don't know whether I want it to be, or not to be, Medusa. It obviously isn't an accurate portrayal if it is... but it does have some of the major elements, if somewhat... modified... For instance she does have 'the body of a snake' and 'snakes in her hair,' only not in the same way as they are described traditionally...

If it IS Medusa, then I'm taking the "Monster of circumstance" concept with this character... as she is obviously not the happiest looking person. Of course, going on the various tellings I've been researching, Medusa's myth leads me to a single conclusion: Her life story is a tragedy greater than that of the main characters' in Greek myth. I mean depending on which version you source, Medusa was either so beautiful she was cursed by a jealous goddess, or, she was cursed as punishment for -get this- being raped in the temple of (the same) goddess...'

I don't know yet whether I want this to be Medusa however.
I will also say that I took some design inspiration from Final Fantasy IX... but it comes in an odd form;

There is a character model in FFIX that appears on the screen, behind heavy amounts of obstruction, and is never seen from the front, nor does it ever appear again after it's 3 second debut. The character it represents is seen later, but in a much different form. That, my friends, is Malirith. The first time she appears, almost completely hidden, from behind, says only 2-3 lines of dialog (on a timer, not even player input based) and then the scene cuts to a different place.

Being that I like looking around in things, I happened upon this model, and it really made an impression on me. Frankly I think it is the coolest thing that appears in the game, and ironically, it is also the shortest appearing thing in the game. I appreciated the design, and I liked how the snake was not only part of her body, but was in fact an extension of her hair, rather than her pelvis.

That said, I modified the concept (slightly) by making my character more human in appearance (Malirith is full-on reptile, has pupiless eyes, cyan skin, and no facial features like mouth or nose) and making the snake body (already substantial on Malirith) much larger (albeit not fully shown)...

And the pose is mine... For some reason I like the concept of my character actually being able to recline on her own body.

Arguments for this being Medusa:
-Medusa was a man-eater... I can reason that this is necessity with a massive body like this... Obviously she would exhaust her supply of islandic food quite quickly, and would have to rely on whatever large creatures made their way to her den as a meal... this includes foolish 'heroes.'
This doesn't mean she'd have to enjoy it mind you...

-Her melancholic nature fits in with a somewhat reworked version of her story that's been stewing in my mind (which should be obvious by now).

-I drew her clothing not dissimilar to how Greek characters are often clothed... at least from what I can tell...

Arguments against:
-She's obviously quite different from tradition, even with as much self contradiction different tellings of the same 'traditional' story have...

and well... that being as big as a reason as any, it weighs easily as much as any argument for Medusa.

I do have one other possible character she might be... which fits even less than Medusa... and that's the Midgardsormr, Jormungandr... the Norse serpent that encircles the entire world, and was really just nothing like this person I've drawn... and I spend enough time on Norse already... I need to add some other cultural myths to my repertoire...

Now, I said this is unfinished... there's a reason for that; I actually plan on inking and digitally painting this...

Now, if anyone made it to this point... What are your thoughts... Medusa or not Medusa?
(Oh and those legs I mentioned in my tutorial? Yeah, that's them, covered in all that loose white cloth glory and completely unseeable...)