Everyone has their own favorite mythical monster...which is almost as common as one's favorite color, dinosaur, or day. And as such a person's choice also represent them as an individual as well.
With that said, I for the longest time had trouble deciding upon my favorite mythical races and went through several until only recently. Demons were too evil, werewolves to bias, griffins didn't do too much for me, yokai too strange for me, and dragons...kind of boring when it comes to variety in their stories.
And this around 2001, I realized that giants and related races like cyclops, ogres and titans suit me best! Now giants and their kin are not the most popular of mythical beasts to choose from, probably because their too human even by elf and vampire fan standards. But it was the stories about them that sold me, the common themes of power, strength, anarchy and most of all, offbeat humor that appealed to me immensely. We like to think demons are the masters of chaos, but giants represent that concept better by being something that even angles and humans have difficulty with. Being an individual and uniquely so.
True, giants are the one mythical race that have as many heroes among them as villains, and again the humor aspects are most welcome. For beings who defy gods more openly then demons, they have lots of wonderful character flaws about them, which I relate to better.
In my own works of fiction, which I hope to officially publish in some true form one day, I use giants a lot as characters and recurring stories. And to such a point I kind of created my own mythos behind them, as how they are the living personifications of strength. The kind of pure strength that makes heroes the last ray of hope in times of great darkness. And the makes some villains so horrible that even darkness dare not deal with them. However, this is also very chaotic and make giants better representatives of anarchy then either good or evil. This sadly has made giants outcasts among the younger, more single minded races, who'd rather have demons and vampires kill them, then to have a giant save them, simply because the giant want too on his own individual terms and not by destiny's hand.
This also makes giants rather harsh towards humans, who they see as mostly a weak and cowardly race with few glowing exceptions. To the giants, the courageous boy David and the fierce giant Goliath were the ones that matter, with BOTH the Philistines AND Israelites unworthy of either.
This kind of thinking makes that giants far stranger as individuals and thus as a whole, since humans are only good as a scared herd and not even a well organized one at that. In fact to most giants, humans are only good for three things, confusion, cowardice, and tragedy, with good and evil being merely outlets for the humans to do commit these three things.
Of course being such strong individuals are also a weakness for the giants themselves, who are too chaotic to really work together and rare to find them a large groups as well. But they are survivors, more in tune with the realistic chaos of reality then most races are, and thus that why they keep on going, as one of the better living examples of personal and physical character strength.
Although not as virtually diverse as dragons, dinosaurs and demons, giants still come in a wide variety of shapes and forms. And below are just a small number of such characters from my stories, with image links. I hope you enjoy them and please leave any comments if you can.
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Alliz the Sea Giantess
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-574
Another attractive semi human from the Enshohma workshop. Alliz, octopus-mermaid type giantess, was originally meant to be a supporting player in my Nira based tales (see Keywords below for Nira) way back in 1999. But since then she's become one of those miscellaneous designs that's on tap if I ever find the right story for her. She was for a brief while my most popular female creation online, and although this illustration is outdated for a number of reasons, (chief among them my attempt at doing something outside my usual style) another newer picture of the underwater beauty is perhaps a good idea. Also, if you look closely at her name, you get a sly reference to a more famous giant.
Aso the Grasshopper Giant
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-144
Aso is another monster made for my "Flea-Bitten Sisters" series and some of its possible spin-offs. Basically he's the hybrid offspring of a giantess (female giant) and a grasshopper-like demon, though how exactly that came about, wither through sincere love or anything but, is unknown. The same can be said for the fate of either parent. Aso has since then grown-up completely on his own, shunned by all others and never becoming anything pass an innocent dimwit. Ultimately he finds a surrogate mother figure in the form of Abbanna, a small time criminal and part time belly dancer who also happens to be a werewolf. Despite this less then credible background and some attempts to use him in her schemes, Abbanna does care for Aso and views him as a dear friend.
Argus Panotes
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-181
My most favorite monster types from mythology are Giants, the gigantic human relations of great strength who could either be the mightiest of heroes or the most devastating of villains. Argus Panoptes, a giant from Greek / Roman legend could be viewed as either; a warrior covered with one hundred too one thousand eyes, he was a trusted servant to the goddess Hera. And he was sent fourth by her to take prisoner and guard the beautiful Io, one of Hera’s husband Zeus’s mortal affairs. In retaliation, Zeus sent his own champion, Hermes to rescue her and in the process killed the giant, who made the mistake of closing all his eyes instead of his usual half when Hermes lulled him to sleep. When Hera found out that her beloved guardian giant was slain, she carefully gathered up all his eyes and placed them on the tail of the peacock as an internal remembrance. This is my own take on Argus, which is more alien and menacing I might add then a normal man with eyes all over his body. According to various sources, the name of Argus Panoptes literally means “Argus Who Sees Everything”
Sergie the Cruelest
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-169
A truly loathsome character from my Nira based stories. Sergie the Cruelest is as his title states, one of the most sadistic and evil giants Nira has know, a heartless fiend who goes to great lengths in making things worse and as so, the more tragic. His terrible motives began with his early experiences with humans, creatures who disgusted him with how they denied their evil intent. Whereas a villainous giant will openly admit that he / she is scum who should have been murdered the minute they left their mother’s womb, human villains will usually do and say anything to not have to face up to what they truly are. Worse is how humans will be equally hypocritical and embraced their evil sides, but always in doing weak cowardly things that they’ll consider more impressive then the actions of giants. Like the killing of defenseless children over the slaying of multiple God-like entities. This human logic enraged Sergie so much, that he went out and destroyed several human controlled kingdoms single handily in a manner of days and massacring millions of people along with them. Sergie has been both inactive and missing of late in Nira’s modern times, but his reputation as the giant who needed to be the most despicable of all villains just to show off the humans has left its impression in a big way. For many other evil giants still follow in his belief...even if they themselves find him to be a major pain in the...you know.
Boojee the Idiot Invincible
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-337
Finally, a full body picture of one of my fairy tale giants, in this case Boojee the Idiot Invincible. Originally created for my Nira based tales, Boojee, true to his title, is a destructive, nearly unkillable dummy whose origins and past is pretty much unknown, except for the helmet he wears, which his mother made for him. Now giants are not the brightest of beings in existence, but Boojee takes the cake when it comes to low intelligence. How dumb can this creature be? Lets just say he forgets that there's a sun in the sky...and quite often I might add. But the lack of brain power may explain his unstoppable muscle power, as he feels no pain and even with a large log inserted into his eye socket, he just pulls it out and says "IT FUN!!!" Boojee has no concept of right or wrong either, and is always being duped by the forces of evil as their lap dog and because good doesn't have enough patients to do so on their end. Not to say the villains who use Boojee are any safer, for they too usually fall victim to the giant's devastating, stupid nature. Oh, and Boojee's most favorite things to do in the world is smell his own arm pits and chase the sun in hopes he can catch it.
Grenade Princess Gertrude
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-609
Gertrude, or better known by her criminal title of "The Grenade Princess", is another character from my Nira based stories, of which Enshohma and many of my giants are apart of. Despite her human height and appearance, Gertrude is in reality a half-giant, with her unknown father being pure human and mother being the infamous bandit giantess Plum. Like her mother, Gertrude has willingly entered a life of crime, serving as the leader of the Beautiful Bomber Squad.
The Beautiful Bomber Squad are a group young adult woman who serve part time as soldiers of fortune and combat experts with explosives. There most famous weapon, outside their stunning good looks and seductive young charm, are specially made hand held cannons that can shoot a near limitless amount of fire power. This overkill of weaponry, used for almost any mission the gals are paid to do, even the simple baby-sitting of royal children, reflects the never-say-die insanity of Gertrude herself, which obviously comes from her mother's side.
Even more unlikely is that for the lovely leader of such lovely rouges, Gertrude is on the chubby side...but as some of her past still living boyfriends have admitted, she has meat in all the right places.
Although the roster of the Beautiful Bomber Squad changes periodically, sometime due to death, but usually because the girl in question wants to pursue a less destructive career, Gertrude sees herself staying with it for a very long time to come. Even if she has to change her title to "The Grenade Grandmother"! And like all pure giants, she prefers this anarchic existence over any other.
Recently, her and the current Bomber Squad members have come under the willing and long term employment of Lord Lucus Malakite. An ambitious sorcerer and scientist who seeks domination of Nira for ultimately good reasons, but through otherwise ruthless means. The Grenade Princess's tenacious band of cannon carrying sexy teen crazies have become a welcomed addition to his already fearsome forces.
The Darkness Dominator
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... hp?pos=-77
This villainous giant's origins lie in a magical world called Nira and although obscure, he still possesses an extremely fearsome and unbelievable power, along with equally outrageous motives. As if he was the universe's ironic answer to overtly powerful masters of evil like Satan of Earth, the Darkness Dominator has the ability to summon demons and lesser servants of darkness with absolute brutal force. For example, he'll summon a fire breathing Hell Serpent, a terrible monstrosity in its own right. But then he'll grab the serpent from the tail, whisk it around, bash its head against the ground with awesome force, killing it, then uses the flaming corpse like a whip against opponents. And that's just the beginning, as the Darkness Dominator can paralyzed all beings of evil, even humans with cruel intent, with his mare presence. Luckily, this presence only extends a half a mile in diameter and the forces of good or his fellow giants are still free to battle him. He's also a wandering rouge, one who never stays in one world for long and dose what he do more out of sadistic enjoyment then anything else. Even more insane, and something that both he and his unwilling slaves hate to admit, is the Darkness Dominator's true name...Elvis...and no, its not deliberate, just simple coincidence.
Note: a new design for this character can be viewed in the next item...
Darkness Dominator Revised Sketch
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-571
I like the concept of the Darkness Dominator, but still had some major doubts on his overly simple design. For a Giant who can subjugate the most horrifying of Hell Beasts with his mere presence alone, he's under-whelming appearance wise and this sketch was an attempt to make his design worthy to his name. The idea behind this revision was that he would take on the characteristics of the demons he has used and killed over countless millennia. I must say this version of the Darkness Dominator is the strongest so far and please leave your opinions on the two designs wither you agree with me or not.
RELATED ART AND CHARACTERS
Miki the Sphinx
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-267
Miki, the giant sphinx girl, is one of those characters I made and hadn’t found a use for them until long after their creation. Originally she was a Nira based character (see Flea-Bitten Sisters Cover) and then a miscellaneous monster much like Drawa and Triassic Blue. Today, I’ve found a home for her in a stand-alone tale called ‘Thundunce and the Armor of Darkness’ about the title giant who seeks out revenge against a another giant named General Tagert for the destruction of his beloved garden. But in the process, gets involved in a war between various giants over the possession of the legendary Armor of Darkness, which is said to give the warier the power to control all the forces of Hell, Satan included. Among the combatants is Miki, a young, charming, and spoiled sphinx who merely wants the armor to add to her already expansive collection. She and Thundunce form an uneasy alliance to get what they want. Like any sphinx, she has all the fighting and killing abilities of humans, lions and eagles combined
Miki the Sphinx: Early Photoshop Picture
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-557
My first experiment with photoshop and a scanned sketch was of that adorable winged feline giantess destroyer Miki the Sphinx. This sketch itself was from years ago, when I use to have a problem drawing feminine characters. The face is good, but no woman has ever had shoulders more clunky and massive then any man’s. I’ve been hesitant to post this picture for a long while, and may take it down once again, but for completes reasons, its presented here for now.
Flea-Bitten Sisters; Featuring Jakku
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... p?pos=-139
The full colored cover image for a 68 page comic I completed last year entitled "Flea-Bitten Sisters" about a sergeant family's adventure across a fantasy world named Nira. This first story involved them surviving the destruction of their village at the hands of Jakku, an iron clad 35 foot tall ogre seen looming in the background. He has a less then pleasant disposition and sadistic sense of humor. Giants like Jakku and other mythical monstrosities (as well as some purely made up stuff) were to appear often throughout the series and menace our four heroes, but time will tell if I'm able to make more comics. A quick introduction to the regular sized characters; Kate Marnita, a redheaded hell rising nekojin (humanoid cat relation) whose extremely cynical, but ultimately a good friend and fighter to the group. Tabitha, Kate's younger blue haired sister, a sort of book worm and lover of dragons whose always being eyed by men for her beauty and bust size. Jessica Raymond, the calm and stern blond human leader and 27 year old mother of the group, with her son Joey, a quiet, somewhat odd child who hangs out with Kate a lot and takes after his father, Brad. Why is Brad absent from the picture you ask? Let's just say we have Jakku to thank for that
Giants, mine and others
My creations along with similar film characters.
http://www.kaijuphile.com/fannest/galle ... rch=Giants
More Giants coming soon
