#norbalia

[mattski44]

Hi guys, just a quick art dump here! The first picture is an initial attempt at re-imagining a creature depicted in an earlier drawing made when I was about five or six years old (the bottom picture). Although this animal, the Nangas, was not originally part of my fantasy setting of 'Norbalia', I have chosen to make it a new edition to the continent's fascinating and interesting ecology. The second picture is the result of a successive attempt at re-drawing the Nangas. I am much happier with this rendition, as I feel that it captures the physiology of the animal depicted in the original picture far better than my first attempt. It will be interesting to see which picture people prefer and why.

The Nangas

Nangas are large, bear-like mammals that inhabit the rocky and hilly terrain of Norbalia's central and southern mountain ranges. With their distinctive colour pattern of white fur with large, black patches, Nangas are easily spotted in the open woodland and dry foothills in which they make their home. This is not a problem for these large carnivores, as Nangas generally gain food through scavenging and intimidating other predators away from their kills, a tactic that has proven to be highly successful against human huntsmen that trek into their domain to hunt the large game that dwells there, far away from human civilisation. Indeed, its striking appearance, along with its natural tendency to be loud and clumsy, is a great help to any that walk the mountains and wish to avoid this fearsome beast, for Nangas are well known for being viciously territorial and naturally belligerent. Well armed, with a set of huge jaws and frighteningly long claws, and deceptively quick in spite of its lumbering, heavy gait, an enraged Nangas can end a man with little effort. Is it any wonder that every year a number of travellers and huntsmen never return from forests and scrubland that are well-known Nangas haunts?

[mattski44]

So, in a recent state of tidying up, I came across two pictures I had drawn when I was rather young (probably around six). Realising I had seen something similar to them before, I looked through a more recent sketch book and realised I had tried to redraw them, but was rather unimpressed with the results. I therefore decided to have another go at redrawing them as seen in the bottom two pictures (seen in the bottom two pictures). I am quite happy with the results, particularly as they now have backgrounds.

The large, dog-like creature with the tiger-like stripes I have named the ‘Great Glann Swamp Dog’, although in form it is much closer to a large creodont. The largest predator in its swampy habitat, it can reach to great sizes, with some old specimens reaching fourteen or fifteen feet from nose-to-tail-tip. With its large, webbed feet, it is more than happy in water and can submerge itself for up to ten minutes, making it an excellent ambush predator.

The ‘Glann Camelk’ is a swamp-dwelling large, antlered camelid that, with its long legs and broad feet, is an excellent wader that can feed on both the tall grasses of the mudflats and the pondweed of the shallow lakes that dot the swamps with equal ease. Both sexes have the mix of horns and antlers upon their heads fore use in defence and finding food, although males also use them in the rut. Glann Camelk are mostly solitary but have been known to briefly form small herds.  

Both animals will inhabit the Glann swamps and highlands of my fantasy setting of Norbalia.

[mattski44]

So, having finally been reunited with my scanner, I can actually update this post, along with my recently finished picture of two Horned Sand Cats fighting. They are probably two males, but is seems to me that ‘two males fighting over a mate’ is a tired trope in natural history pictures, so I am more than welcome for other suggestions. The horn probably serves a number of functions including sexual display, use as a weapon both for hunting and for self-defense and even (seeing as I've always envisioned these big cats as living in an arid environment) using it as a digging tool to find tubers and other water-baring objects hidden underground. 

These animals are part of my ‘Norbalia’ fantasy setting.

[mattski44]

A little series of piece showing the evolution of the horned sand cat (at least, the evolution of the art depicting it). Sorry for the poor quality; I am far away from my scanner at the moment.