Serpents, Cocks and Looks That Can Kill

This is the first redo we’ve ever done, hopefully it doesn’t offend, and I’m sure I’ll hear quickly if it does, but a few of these old beasts seem worthy of raising up from the old “office only” versions to official online beasts so I’ve included a quick gallery of the old drawings for reference and we’re giving it a try.

So long ago there was a beast called a Basilisk, that was simply a reptile/snake with a crested head, that could kill not only with his venom, but with a touch, a breath and as the legends grew, eventually just a glance. Now for the sake of having two differing beasts to draw on two different weeks, we are holding the Basilisk as unique. But I feel it important that you know the back story and that the Cockatrice evolved from exaggeration of the Basilisk tale.

According to my reading Chaucer was the first to add the rooster head to the Basilisk, first coining it the Basilcock. But time went on and through numerous tellings the legend continued to evolve and its abilities and additional appendages were refined. Now, along with it’s serpentine body, it carried additional rooster parts, like legs claws and neck, it gained bat or dragon’s wings, the ability to spit fire, turn people to stone like a gorgon and eventually earned its own name and the Cockatrice was born

Oh and Cockatrices absolutely hate Weasels! Here’s what we came up with round about three years ago:

Our judge this week was Lyndsey Brockman, occasional beast draw-er and a damn fine Python developer! When I asked if she had anything to promote she went with two simple statements: I like cats: http://www.treehouseanimals.org and I also think lady developers are awesome: http://www.cwdevs.com/… And pretty sure there’s no arguing either of those, so thanks Lindsey!