Blukbluk gets my vote

Have they got to be based in reality or can i let my imagination run free? (caution may be dangerous)

Hmmm, something that might be a challenge......

What about a goddess of the sea? Standing on a cliff edge backed by a raging storm and violent seas. Maybe a ship in the distance is seconds from being wrecked on the rocky cliffs because the light house near the goddess has failed to keep it's light lit. (mysteriously) Colours could be all grays and dark blues reflecting the harshness of the environment.

You could either have the goddess be the only source of colour in the scene or have her almost blending in with the background, maybe the sea is the star of this scene.

Her dress could be flowing material like the seas she commands.


See told you that could be dangerous letting my imagination run free, i suck at names though......call her.....Bob

Maybe you should explore different cultures. You could do Egyptian, or Indian (India Indian). Those could prove interesting.
As for Celtic inspirations. Have you done Queen Mabb yet? She is a fairy, but I can never remember if she's young, or an older lady. I know she influences dreams, and commands spiders and other small creatures. She is drawn around in a basket made of web drawn by mice (she's tiny).

Here's the wiki "origin" info:
Mab's origins are uncertain. Shakespeare may have borrowed her name from a Celtic goddess, the Irish Medb or her Welsh counterpart Mabb. It is also possible to draw comparisons between her and Mara from Scandinavian folklore, since both Mara and Queen Mab are said to influence dreams. She is supposedly a tiny fairy who comes to people when they sleep. Then she haunts their dreams by making the person dream of what they want and cannot have. (that last part I put in bold cause I think you could do an awesome pic with that.

Anyway, it may not have been poetic like: Blukbluk, gold green and spider web encrusted hair. Dress made of gossamer spider silk. Beautiful black mice draw her through your dreams.....
Etc... But I gave you a good place to start.

Hel, of Norse mythology, daughter of Loki and goddess of the underworld. Has been described as half beautiful, and half disgusting [rotting corpse from the waist down]. Enjoys sucking marrow from the bones of the dead with her long tongue. Has a blood red rooster, and demon-dog. Red and purple.

demon dog = hell hound.
there isn't much about her online - I read about her in a book - so she's really open to your interpretation.

Firstly, a list for idea's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o.....dary_creatures

Second, my personal suggestion--the Dullahan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dullahan

"The Irish Dullahan (also Durahan, Gan Ceann) is a type of unseelie faerie. It is headless, usually seen riding a headless black horse and carrying his head under one arm. The head's eyes are massive and constantly dart about like flies, while the mouth is constantly in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese. The dullahan's whip is actually a human corpse's spine, and the wagons they sometimes use are made of similarly funereal objects (e.g. candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels made from thigh bones, the wagon's covering made from a worm-chewn pall). When the dullahan stops riding, it is at where a person due to die is. The dullahan calls out their name, at which point they immediately perish."

Damn, I have only game suggestions :<

I'm very fond of Ursula Le Guin's representation of Coyote in the short story 'Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight?'. She's just a human woman most of the time (with amber eyes? I forget) who is very manic and enjoys life greatly. The image I remember is her standing (clothed, wearing a skirt) over a campfire and laughing while urinating on it to put it out. :)

I have a few of my own...

Vayro, also called "The Masked", "The Quiet Muse", and "The Hand that Slaps" is a goddess of common sense, hard work, and frustration. She was originally a muse of poets, playwrights, and (on singular occasions) sculptors, but her tendency to become exasperated with followers who fell into lazy or excessively silly/impractical living patterns lead to her change in domain. She is typically depicted as a violet- or ebony-skinned female with four arms, dressed in loose bone-white robes. She is always seen wearing a mask over her face, and it is common knowledge that she has a copy of every mask that was ever made, including many, many wondrous masks that were made specifically for her. Why she wears them is still a mystery - some myths hold that she has no face, or that she was terribly scarred by her brother, Ksen, when she aided her other siblings in casting him from the Highest Place. Still others maintain that she just likes the air of mystery they give her, or that she is saving the sight of her true face for the one that will take her heart... only she knows for sure.

A Glaistig from Scottish mythology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaistig

Said to appear as beautiful women, they have goatlike legs that they sometimes keep hidden under dresses or robes. Depending on the source, they either lure their prey (people, basically) away to caves in which they suck their blood, or they are protectors of cattle and herders. A mix of the two, I think, would be interesting :p

How about Queen Maeve the lusty goddess of intoxication.

Sitting on the edge of her winged bed with arms outstretched her perfectly sized boosoms pressed together heaving forwards. With open upturned palms she offers you the gifts of meade, mushrooms, marijuana, and many other delightful pleasures.

Oh yeah. She also wants you to get on that hot bod of hers.

Giggidy Giggidy
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Maybe you could draw a Huldra from Scandanavian myth? They essentially appear as beautiful long-haired women, with a couple of oddities: first, their backs are covered in bark, and are sometimes hollow like the inside of an old tree. Second, they have tails of some kind, usually like either a cow or a fox. In a few myths they are wicked, seducing and killing men, but in most they're pretty nice, so that if you treat them politely then they may help you, especially with your hunting and fishing. They sometimes fall in love with men and marry them, which may cause their tail to fall off; the occasional husband may later take them for granted and mistreat them, but since the Huldra can bend iron with her bare hands the men don't usually do that for long ;)

Considering the cow tail and bark-back, they'd probably be mostly tan and brown, especially if you add in some plain farm-woman's clothing for a married Huldra (come to think of it, I'm not sure how clothing would work with a hollow back).

Their wiki page is here, with lots more stuff in it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulder I initially read about them in a short story, 'The Monarch of the Glen' by Neil Gaiman.

Celtic feel, eh? Then I nominate The Morrigan, a Celtic goddess of prophecy, war, and death. She's often associated with carrion-feeding crows that fly over the battlefield, but also with eels, wolves, and cows. She transforms a lot, and is sometimes said to be a bunch of goddesses, and so there's lots of options for illustrating her. I personally would like to see a battlefield with her form towering ghostly over it, perhaps with a crow flying through her semi-transparent hair. :) Here's more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morr%C3%ADgan

In other morbidity, Baba Yaga would be a great choice. She's a Slavic myth character, an evil hag who kidnaps and eats people. She also has a lot of stuff that would be fun to illustrate, like the giant mortar and pestle she flies around in, or her weird house that walks around on a single giant chicken leg. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_yaga

Finally, I think Pele would be a good one. She's a Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, dance, and fire, and she's basically too badass. She had a ton of adventures, dug giant craters all over Hawaii, battled with her sister the sea, died, was reborn even more badass, and supposedly still travels around Hawaii being sighted today. She's just too cool. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele_(deity)