The Ninth CircleNext entry in my Bird Omens series, we’ve got the Dukes of Hazard(pay): Hastur

The Ninth Circle

Next entry in my Bird Omens series, we’ve got the Dukes of Hazard(pay): Hastur, Dagon, and Ligur in the form of a black-backed seagull, an egyptian vulture, and a magnificent frigatebird. When I was talking to Kyu about possible bird options we knew Hastur had to be a gull because He Scream At Own Ass, but they suggested that Dagon had to be a fellow “bin chicken” to go with Beez which I LOVED, and Ligur is just fabulous. Frigatebirds have MONSTER BIG wings its amazing.

I wanted to do another mega constellation for the Dukes of Hell to match their Archangel counterparts, and I chose to go with Draco, for its obvious double-connotation; draco/dragon/drakes being able to breathe fire, but also the regality of Dukes. 

All are crowned with infernal pearlescent red halos. I also created something I’ve affectionally named ‘Bastard Ink’ — I had pearlescent shellacs that were almost dead from my model kit paints and I thinned them out (heavily, so I didn’t just eat through the paper) into an ink I could use to make Dagon’s scales pop, and rather like its subtle sheen that is pretty amazing in person. 

This piece also was an exercise in effectively utilising alternate greys. Also, man, hell should invest in laser printers look at all that running ink from all the leaks… And mould. And heaven knows what else. 

There are three (planned) pieces left to go now for this series of Bird Omens: Adam & the Them, The Horse[birds], and Shadwell & Madame Tracy, all with some very fun birds picked for them! 

It’s super fun and rewarding doing this series and I’m incredibly honoured by the comments and tags I’ve seen — I hope you all will enjoy the next ones too! All of these are planned to make a single horizontal pan image with how they flow, and I am also looking into possible metallic print runs for some of the individual characters as I’ve had a few people ask about it

Others in the series:
Aziraphale|Beelzebub & Gabriel|Crowley|Anathema & Newt |Michael, Uriel, & Sandalphon