CHAPTER 1 | MYTHICAL CREATURES

In 1806, German illustrator Friedrich Bertuch created a children’s picture book in which he illustrated mythical creatures such as the griffin, the phoenix, the unicorn, the dragon and the mermaid. Mythical creatures always evoke exciting or romantic stories! Look how most creatures are composed out of several animals, even half human.

Exercise: Find/choose a mythical creature to draw, or create your own. A mythical creature almost always consists of a combination of different animals, sometimes even half-human, half-animal, like the mermaid. A mythical creature can therefore have different types of skin within a single body: smooth, scaled, hairy, spiky, and/or feathered. If desired, write the name of the mythical creature in decorative letters at the bottom of your drawing or create an elegant border.

Anyone who thought mythical creatures like dragons only appeared in ancient stories is mistaken. The Shoyrus, for example, are small dragons that fly around in Neopia, a digital world. Mythical creatures appear in all eras and cultures.

Less cute is the African/Asian dragon below, eating an elephant

Exercise: Find/choose a mythical creature to draw, or compose one yourself. You can also write the creature’s name in decorative letters at the bottom of your drawing, or create an elegant border like in the example above.