Shachi-hoko

Inspiration:
Shachi-hoko is an imaginary creature with a tiger head and fish body, pointing its tail to the sky. You can find them on rooftops of large Japanese buildings including temples and castles. They have the ability to call rain, so they protect the buildings from fire. I've drawn it with red lighting from below (fire) and gray/blue light from the top (rain) to make the scene dramatic.

Medium/software:
I've used pencil to sketch, pen to ink, scanned it in and painted it digitally using Photoshop.

Creative process:
I like to imagine how these imaginary creatures if they existed in real life. I often reference photos of real animals, sketch them a few times before I start putting them together so that the overall look as well as the details look convincing. My hope is to make these creatures come alive to the eyes of the people who see my drawings.