Defending the Oasis from Drunks

I made a quintet of monsters from Sega's 1992 Game Gear portable roleplaying video game Defenders of Oasis. Said title takes place in a Middle Eastern setting, a la 1,001 Arabian Nights, although all of the creatures don't necessarily reflect that motif. Speaking of which, if you're interested, you can see all of the enemies from said game, here, at the sprite bestiary I made for said game.

BAROMETZ



The Barometz (a.k.a., "The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary" or "The Scythian Lamb") is a mythological plant creature from Central Asia. Strangely, it bore "fruit" in the form of a lamb that was tethered to the earth by its' root "umbilical cord". Like a normal sheep, the Barometz would devour all of the grass surrounding it, however, because it couldn't move any further than its' root allowed, it would then die of starvation (unless some kind-hearted person brought it fresh food that is). The Barometz creature in the game is clearly a plant, but, sadly, it looks absolutely nothing like a lamb.






CROCOTTA



The Crocotta is a mythical beast of Indian or Ethiopian origin, said to resemble some combination of dog/wolf/hyena/lion. Crocotta was reputed to be immensely strong, swift, and cunning, fond of digging up, and devouring, buried corpses, and capable of imitating the speech of humans (to lure its prey out of the safety of their homes). Leucrotta is another name for the creature (or a separate, but similar, species, depending on the source), which Sega also used for the brown-hued version of the Crocotta sprite.







CYCLOPS



Cyclops are the well-known, single-eyed giants from Greco-Roman mythology. This one has satyr-like legs, but is otherwise unremarkable, design-wise. I've made a lot of one-eyed monsters over the years, but never a proper Greek cyclops, so, this creature fills a hole in my collection in that regard.







MUSHUS



"Mushus" is probably a truncation of Mushussu (once misinterpreted by scholars as "Sirrush"), a monster from ancient Babylonian myth. While Mushussu is sometimes depicted with the tail of a scorpion (or a serpent), it's more of a dragon-like creature, so, like the Barometz, the game's version is significantly off-model. This Mushus sprite, recolored green, is also utilized for the "Pabilsag" enemy, a legendary entity that actually was half-scorpion, which is naturally a much more appropriate choice than Mushus was (I think scorpions look better in red than lime though, which is why I went with the former).






SALWA



What on earth is Salwa, anyway? I doubt that the fiend itself knows. Offhand, I can't think of anything from mythology that matches Salwa's grotesque appearance, but it's a delightfully-disgusting and creative monster design, that's for sure! There was a Salwa Kingdom in ancient India, which would be my guess as to where Sega got the name from.

Unlike the rest of these creatures, Salwa is a "boss" monster, or, more accurately, a "Wizard King", one of several super-powerful enemies that you'll have to confront and defeat on the way to your final opponent, Ahriman, in the game's last dungeon.









*******

And this is a "Beer Rental" silhouette figurine I made for a booze-themed art thing that I participated in. The "Nobody buys beer. You only rent it for a little while." quote is a fairly common saying, but I believe I first read it in one of Stephen King's novels. It's true too: it doesn't take long for your body to process (or reject, if you have a weak stomach or have already had too much) any alcohol that you drink and direct it back out again (preferably through the urethra and not the mouth).



Some process shots:

Great work, as always!

When are you going to get a 3D printer??? I wouldn't mind seeing your work as statues.

A 3D printer is outside my budget, but it'd definitely be cool to have one. I imagine, as time goes by, they'll become more affordable though. I'd also need some kind of realscan technology equipment to convert my physical works into a virtual format for printing though. That, or I'd have to learn how to do 3-modeling, which I don't currently know how to do (I've read that it's relatively easy to learn though).

Eventually, digital sculpture is probably going to all-but-replace traditional forms (it's certainly becoming prevalent in the toy industry, and I know fellow sculptors who have been turned down for jobs because they only work in traditional media and don't do digital). That's sad in a way, but technology marches on and virtual sculpting/modeling does make the art form more accessible to everyone.

I read this review, a while back, of a place in England that does "3D Twins", by scanning real people, and printing them out, which is pretty cool if you've ever wanted a statue of yourself, spouse, significant other, or child:

http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_082813b.htm

Excellent work as usual man, feels like you can make just about anything.

Crocotta is my fave.