October Monster Challenge 2010
The thunderbird is a creature of various Native American tribes with various names. It is called the thunderbird for its beating wings are said to sound like thunder and stir the wind. The Lakota call it Wakiya (Sacred Winged), the Ojibwa call it animikii or a large one, binesi, and the Nootka call it Kw-uhnx-wa. The bird's description varies, but is often described as a great bird with a tremendous wingspan with two horns, teeth within its beak, and the ability to shoot lightining from its eyes and ability to summon storms with its beating wings. There are many stories about the Thunderbird, either being a protector or capable of transforming into humans and raising families which therefore, many groups trace their ancestry within the Thunderbird.
In my depiction of the Thunderbird, I used a description I read in Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which described the Thunderbird as an amorphous combination of bird and storm cloud with lightning coursing through it. I used it as my base for my creation and made the bid with metallic features as I wanted to make it a conductor as well as a stormbreaker. I started with drawing a fully detailed form of it, then erasing it al to fill it in with non-descript clouds and electricity coursing around it.