October Monster Challenge 2010
A creature from Japanese folklore; a yokai spider that is capable of changing into a seductive woman. Their name means "binding woman" and "whore spider". Think of the Jorogumo as a type of succubus that seduces men and drains their life to feed themselves and their spider babies.
During the Edo period in Japan, stories of the Jorogumo's tactics involve a beautiful woman luring men to a shed while playing the biwa ( a stringed instrument). Distracted, the unsuspecting men is tied up in strings and devoured by the Jorogumo. Others depict her seducing samurai to marry her or a young woman carrying a child (most likely, the eggsac of her babies).
For my depiction, I focused on showing a combination of sensuality and subtle horror.For markings, I used the actual species of spider named after her as a base, while making her arms and feet end in sharp claws. Black Arachnia from Beast wars played anothe part in influence for the clawed hands and feet, but I gave her a spider's head in the vaginal area and the eyes jutted on her abdomen for that Wicked City vibe. On hair, I made it rather short as its become too easy to give her long hair and felt short and playful will do, as well as adding dark eyeshadow and a slight hint of fangs as she has a finger pressed to her lips. And, yes, before anyone asks, I did give it a hint of her appearing to touch herself, its to go with the character of a seductive monster, and I very rarely do much in terms of provocative artwork in my drawing. This was a drawing I've been meaning to do, but wanted to prepare myself in terms of pose and features for it and I'm pretty satisfied with the result.