Weekly Contest: Sluagh Creature

Sketches 1-4 for ConceptArt.org Weekly contest:
"Sluagh"

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the Sluagh (Irish /sɫuə/; Scottish Gaelic /sɫuaɣ/) were the spirits of the restless dead. Sometimes they were seen as sinners, or generally evil people who were welcome in neither heaven nor hell, nor in the Pagan Otherworld, who had also been rejected by the Pagan deities and the earth itself. Whichever the underlying belief, they are almost always depicted as troublesome and destructive. They were seen to fly in groups like flocks of birds, coming from the west, and were known to try to enter the house of a dying person in an effort to carry the soul away with them. West-facing windows were sometimes kept closed to keep them out. Some consider the Sluagh to also carry with them the souls of innocent people who were kidnapped by these destructive spirits. The Sluagh are considered by some to be an Irish manifestation of the Wild Hunt.

Weekly contest: draw a member of the Sluagh and a variation.

So these were a few done in a few hours... I progressed from something fluid and graceful to something a bit more gangly, with each one becoming increasingly insect-like.... probably reflects my fear of insects. Or my admiration for H R Giger's alien designs with a touch of Francis Bacon.

Either way the sketches tended to get messier and more frightening... I think my favourites so far are no. 2-3, and they also clearly carry on the insect-demon theme so they're clearly variations.

Anyway, I'll post these and see what comments I get!

(More sketches to come!)