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WIP Eland Unicorn in WC Pencil

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SO, my little creative mind has been busy comming up with some weird hybridizing of ideas yet again... My decade long obsession with Eland Antelopes, and eventually riding them, has spawned yet another strange new idea. Lets take a walk down the process of evolution of how my mind works for a moment...

First I discovered a couple images, one quite good, of Elands who had for some reason or other lost one or both of their horns, the one horned Eland reminded me of a Unicorn, and got my little mind working...

One Horned Eland hind;
[link]
[link]
[link]

THEN I discovered some of the historical evidence of REAL Unicorns, which historically were goats, and there is a developmental abnormality that causes the horn buds to not seperate properly and fuse together to form a single horn... a famous example was this white Angora Goat with it (some suspect it was surgically altered;

Unicorn Goat:
[link]

Which of course led me to discover this was also done with cows (giving me an idea of forming a Unicorn Dairy, because really, there HAS to be some sort of Niche Market for Unicorn based food products right? and well Goats and Cows both have "Unicorns" so why Not? Along the way I discovered THIS diagram of how to surgically alter a young two horned animal into a Unicorn... theoretically the altering of the skull shape enhances intellegence (according to some authors, but really who knows or cares?)

Unicorn Surgery;
[link]

Then I discovered a small article about WHITE ELANDS, ie a condition called "Leucisism" which is not a true albino (despite the fact that it is often labeled that) and I had a new thought (I had trouble locating DECENT photographs of the Leucistic Eland (the one website which has a photograph of them and sights having several in its herd, only shows a small photograph of a baby walking with normally colored Elands... I DID however find a photo of the closely related KUDU in Leucistic, as well as a "Dilute" color morph of the Eland:


"Albino" (actually Leucistic) Kudu
[link]

Light Eland:
[link]

Now there are all the pieces, put them together...
If you got your hands on a Leucistic (White) Eland calf, and had this Unicorn surgery performed (Basically moving the horn buds together BEFORE they fuse to the skull) Or simply had it loose one of its horns for whatever reason, you could have a large white Unicorn that could be ridden! (while technically you could ride a Unicorn cow... they just are not espeically Elegant or comfortable to ride as cows have these short legs which lead to a very CHOPPY way of going, and Elands are graceful horse-sized animals with long legs and ideal riding conformation if you look at the shapes of the back).

Which of course led me to this idea of seeing a Unicorn Eland running arround an enchanted forrest, and since I have these watercolor pencils here, and I was recently teased about not using color alot (I actually do, just havent put it up on DA) I was sketching out at the pool and this sort of happened... the Unicorn Eland galloping before a waterfall, Wisteria tree, White Datura plants, and Moonflowers.... obviously its a WIP, and unfortunately not espeically well digitized. The subtlty I am getting out of the WC Pencils and blending them is quite fun.

thought Id share...
Image size
1452x1162px 697.04 KB
Make
Apple
Model
iPhone 3G
Aperture
F/2.8
Date Taken
Sep 29, 2009, 6:42:35 AM
© 2009 - 2024 EmpressIllyria
Comments11
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Ferdrimmler's avatar
Interesting, because the pre-heraldric unicorn of the Middle Ages often looked a bit like this, in that it was described as having a deer's body, cloven hoofs, and a lion's tail.  But Elands weren't near any civilization with a unicorn myth, and "Eland" isn't in the index of Lavers' "The Natural History of Unicorns".