This year’s issue of Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine is mythology themed, so I wanted the cover critter to be a weird take on an extremely recognizable legendary beast.
The marsupial griffin is my shot at that, a large flying carnivore with a rear-facing pouch like a thylacine. Its unusual front incisors are continuously growing like rodent teeth, but exposed like a beak— nursing young have a gap in between them, but as they wean into sub-adults the gap closes and the teeth grow to a sharp hook for tearing into meat and carrion. Their thumbed hind feet somewhat resemble a primate’s, but with a set of sharp talons for capturing and gripping prey.
Our cover for this volume was illustrated by @ibenkrutt, who really knocked this design out of the park. If you’d like to support our contributing artists and acquire the zine, you can check out the campaign over here!
Here we have: * Grey Horror Baku * Diogenes the Tortoise * The Forgotten Garden (the grey kappa) * Aarti the Elder (the blue kappa) * Golden Eagle Griffin * Earth Tortoises
More photos you’ll find on my Etsy or Bearpile, links are in my profile *** Please remember, if you see the buyer’s fee at Etsy checkout, you can avoid paying it by placing your order on my Bearpile.
