Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and sculptures depict creatures that are half-human, half-beast. Centuries later, artists are still fascinated by Manimals - man animal hybrids.
Ancient history, myths, legends, science fiction and fantasy stories abound with tales of half man, half animal creatures. Werewolves, centaurs and even the world famous Egyptian Sphinx are common composite creatures formed from the merging of two species.
Centaurs
In ancient Greek mythology, centaurs are hybrid animals that consist of a human torso attached to a horse's body, replacing the horse's head. Centaurs have been featured in a number of fantasy books and movies, including Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Mermaids and Mermen
Mermaids are aquatic mythological creatures that are a hybrid of a human and a fish. In old English, the word'mere' meant 'sea', so a mer-maid is a sea maiden. Mermaids are popular creatures in folk lore and children's stories. These marine manimals have been popularised in modern culture by movies like Disney's The Little Mermaid and Splash.
Photoshop Man Animal Hybrids
For digital artists, imaging software programs like Adobe Photoshop and ZBrush open up a world of possibilities. Photographs of two different creatures, man or animal, can be merged to create entirely new creatures, animals that roam the realm of fantasy and imagination.
Hybrid creatures of myths and legends are traditionally half-human and half-animal, with a distinct point of joining between the two creatures, as seen earlier with centaurs and mermaids. Modern artists have taken this hybridization a step further, combining several areas of the two species' bodies to create a complete creature composition. In the picture above, the artist has combined the goat's hooves with the human hands, along with the bone structure of the face. Coarse hair and wiry muscles add to the half-man, half-goat design. In Greek mythology, this creature would be called a satyr.
Even though the artist has kept the original shape of the owl's eyes, pictured above, the eyes have a strangely human appeal. The most human part of this digital art piece is the nose that replaces the beak, though even this human characteristic has been successfully merged into the owl's features.
The human eye is drawn to the most recognizable features of a face; the eyes, nose and mouth. By superimposing these human features on an animal's face, digital artists can create an image that elicits an emotional response from the viewer, such as humor, through personification - portraying human emotions on a non-human creature or object.
The best Photoshop man animal hybrids are those which capture the perceived character of an animal. In the picture above, the artist has portrayed the regal, proud nature of a lion through posing the human features to reflect these character traits.
Primates and humans share a number of physical features, making these animals an ideal choice for using in CG human animal hybrids. In the picture above, the artist has replaced the human head and hand with that of an ape. The human objects used in this picture - clothing and a gun - complete the hybrid image.
The idea of using animal heads on a human body has been used since antiquity, often appearing in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek and Roman mythology. Almost every ancient culture in the world created images of human bodies with animals heads or animal masks. The concept of hybridizing human and swine characteristics also appeared in
George Orwell's Animal Farm.
Man animal hybrids can use a number of different creature characteristics, as seen above. This creature has crab legs and octopus tentacles with facial features that resemble a human's. Many comic and cartoon character designs incorporate animal physiology with human characteristics.
This picture is reminiscent of an Anne Geddes photograph, except that the human baby has a monkey's head and tail. As mentioned above, humans primates share a number of physical traits. The artist has used this to his advantage while adding to the human feel of the picture by giving the character human hair characteristics over the hairy features of a monkey.
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