Saturday, October 13, 2012

Wargs

I love wolves, and I love monstrous demon wolves. So Wargs are just fantastic. These creatures originate from the Norse mythological legends of Fenrisulfr, Hati and Skoll. The Norse and old English word for wolf is warg or vargr. They appear as well in Tolkein's Middle-Earth, and so though I have a great love for Smaug, I chose to redesign the Wargs for The Hobbit's Middle-Earth design contest. (John Howe already painted the perfect Smaug anyway). 

I prefer my Wargs hairier than the hyena-inspired creatures from the Lord of the Rings movies, and was inspired specifically by the old illustrations of  Dorothy Hardy and John Bauer.


Odin and Fenrir, (1909) by Dorothy Hardy


Tyr and Fenrir, (1911) by John Bauer


Prowling Wargs
The contest entry can be found here: http://www.thehobbitdesigncontest.com/entry/5773

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Wargs and Spikey Things

Some critters and Warg concepts. First one is a creature for the Aerie, an omnivorous descendant of wyrms .