The H'awauahoua is a beast from Algerian folklore it is made from an amalgamation of different animals and has flaming spit for eyes, It wears a coat made from the skin of his young victims. I was really interested in this monster as it sounded so extreme, too extreme for anyone in our society to actually use this creature as a story to tell children, it sounds psychotic and terrifying.
I started by drawing various animals that can be found in Algeria, there was a huge amount but I wanted to get a good understanding of what could be used to create this monster. I then starting combining different animals together to experiment with different form, I settled with using an image similar to that of a boar as I feel that they are seen as generally dirty and undesirable animals that are also aggressive, I personally like them but in popular culture unless it is a micro-pig or cooked, pigs and boars are generally seen as unpleasant. I wanted to create a creature that looked somewhat stitched together which creates a comparison to his cloak which he had stitched out of skin from children, To create this effect I made him look very top-heavy and uneven with the idea of making him seem as if he would lumber about drunkenly. I gave him tiny bird legs because I thought it would add humor to his design as well as his fin like hands as I could not find an alternative method of including marine life without just tacking on dorsal fins which I feel looks cheap as a design method. Overall i'm really pleased with my design on this myth.
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