Ammut: Devourer of Hearts

Ammut: Devourer of Hearts
June 21, 2011
No. 2, 2B and 4B pencils on drawing paper
Added texture and color in GIMP

Entry for Egyptian Goddesses contest.

Why Ammut? Actually I've been wanting to draw Ammut for awhile--I love mythological chimeras! Actually I wasn't planning on entering this contest because it's a goddesses contest and I'm not that great at drawing women . Then I read through the list of figures and saw Ammut was included (even though Wikipedia says she is a "demon" and wasn't really worshipped [link]). Despite the fact that there are already so many fantastic entries in the contest, I guessed that it couldn't hurt to contribute some of my work.

I wanted Ammut to look semi-realistic so I started the drawing by searching on Google for a photo of a hippo sitting. Since the best photo I could find of that was at an interesting angle, I thought of having Ammut twisting around like she caught you sneaking up on her. I found a really awesome photo of a croc's head here on dA that was at the perfect angle, but I couldn't find a good reference for the lion paws so I fudged them. A lot. I wasn't too sure about adding the headdress, but I couldn't figure out how to make the lion mane (I don't care if Ammut is female, she has a lion mane ) mesh with the crocodile scales, so the headdress was nice to disguise that area.

I added the scales in attempt to balance the composition (hehehee, scales? Balance? ...it's a pun. Oh, well. ) The scarab is because I like Egyptian scarabs and the scales were boring without it, and the bright colors of the scarab are supposed to balance out with the bright colors of the headdress. And I thought it would be interesting to showing the scales as unbalanced, because Ammut was fed the hearts that tipped the scales...

CREDITS
Crocodile face reference: [link] by
Papyrus texture: [link] by
Hippo butt reference: [link]
Heart reference: [link]
No reference used for the scarab, scales, or lion (I'll probably regret that...)

(Oh, and P.S.: the required Eye of Horus is on the base of the scales. Hooray for reading all the rules! )

Comments and constructive critiques are welcome!