Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 22 - Gargoyles

Nov 10, 200918 min read

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Published: Nov 10, 2009

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Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 22 - Gargoyles

Welcome to the twenty-second issue of my weekly news article! I hope you enjoy it, and please, show the featured artists some love and recognition through pageviews,

's and

's!
If you like this article, please show support by clicking the heart icon on the left to add it to your favorites. Thanks!

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This week's creature feature is: Gargoyles

Thanks to

for suggesting this week's theme! ^_^

From Wikipedia :

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building
The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet" and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, "throat"; Spanish gárgola, "gargoyle").
A chimera, or a grotesque figure, is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. These are also usually called gargoyles in layman's terminology, although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.
Gargoyles are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits.
Many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles and chimeras. The most famous examples are those of Notre Dame de Paris. Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, or combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous. Unusual animal mixtures, or chimeras, did not act as rainspouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve more as ornamentation, but are now synonymous with gargoyles.
In contemporary fiction, gargoyles are typically depicted as a (generally) winged humanoid race with demonic features: generally horns, a tail, and talons. They are said to be guardians of the building on which they reside. These fictional gargoyles can generally use their wings to fly or glide, and are often depicted as having a rocky hide, or being capable of turning into stone in one way or another.

Now, for the features! Works are featured from various categories, in no particular order:

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Furcadia - Argoyle Gargoyle by invadernez

:thumb60917868: :thumb135073800:

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L.R.H. esthetics - LSG Pepe by blackpaperbag

Gargoyle Pony for AeraCura by TickledPinkOpossum

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. Ayumi . Hasegawa . by Gryffindorwolfeh

NOTICE: I NEED YOUR IDEAS!
Do you know of an artist with amazing fantasy art (or are you one)? Read on!
I've been having some health issues over the last few weeks, and I haven't had as much time as I'd like to work on these articles. So here's the deal: I'm planning on doing a "Reader's Pick" article, with a bunch of fantasy or mythical creatures combined into one feature. The only rules are these: No nudity (just no naughty bits showing), no excessive blood or gore, and they MUST COME FROM A CATEGORY I'VE ALREADY DONE. These should be the ones I've "missed", if you will. All visual media. Just leave a comment on this article with a link to your favorite deviation or deviant, and I'll pick out the ones that really stand out to me to feature next week! Of course, if I don't have enough, I'll wait until I do.
Also, do you have a favorite fantasy creature that I haven't covered yet? Leave a comment suggesting which ones you would like to see!

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Thank you so much for viewing, and come back next week for a different inhabitant of the Realms of Fantasy and Myth!