30 Monster Girls - 02 - Centaur

Decided to do another 30 (insert topic here) challenge, this time it's the monster girl challenge, and rather than do one a day I'm taking my time with this one so they'll pop up a bit sporadically.

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Second we have the Centaur; another Greek creature. Interestingly enough they were originally depicted with a set of normal human legs and a horse's hind quarters sticking out the back. (basically a horse butt attached to your normal butt) They were later changed to the form we are familiar with, the human upper body attached to the body of a horse.

There are a few versions of how they came to be, from them having been the children of a cloud nymph and the king of a human tribe, to a man named Centaurus mating with a herd of wild horses. The name Centaur in fact is made up of the words for goad and bull, suggesting that they were originally cattle herders. The actual origin of the myth is a bit clouded, from mistaking a group of wandering nomads on horse back to be literally joined with their horses, to a myth involving the origins of another name from Centaurs, Kentauros, the word Tauros meaning "piercing bull stickers", in which a group of mounted archers slay a herd of wild bulls that was plaguing their country. Which may be why Centaurs are most often depicted being extremely skilled with spears and bows.

Female centaurs oddly enough are rarely mentioned in the mythology (though they are depicted surprisingly often on pottery) and are called Kentaurides (or Centaurides)

The version I've drawn doesn't really have anything to do with the myths aside from her skill and appearance. I referenced several animals in her design, primarily horses, deer, and gazelles.

Most obviously I've given her probably odd looking feet, I visualized her tribe living in the woods on perhaps a mountain, and large hooves are not often helpful on such unstable terrain, for their body size deer and mountain goats have small hooves. So with her obviously great size I gave her digit-ed feet allowing for easier movement. I've taken the design to her hands as well (though only one finger is visible so it may be hard to tell) instead of ending with a finger nail her fingers end in small hooves like her feet.

And unlike traditional Centaurs who ate meat (some depicted as eating humans) her species eats almost entirely plant matter, supplementing their massive need for protein with insects and on rare occasions small animals or fish.

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Centaur © Alexandra Schoell (Chaos Child)

Special bg Brushes © obsidiandawn