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GENZOMAN — Wendigo

Published: 2014-06-03 19:23:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 168326; Favourites: 8219; Downloads: 3269
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Description Hi guys! this is an image done time ago for National Geographic Kids: Everything Mytology! It was a very fun project to work here I draw a lot of creatures I hope you like it!
If you want to know more abut this awesome book, check this link!
www.amazon.com/National-Geogra…

PSCS/Bamboo/6hours/music: Espers - Flowery Noontide
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYnPiQ…
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LETS WIKIATTACK!

The Wendigo (also known as windigo, weendigo, windago, windiga, witiko, wihtikow, and numerous other variants including manaha)is a demonic half-beast creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian peoples along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The creature or spirit could either possess characteristics of a human or a monster that had physically transformed from a person. It is particularly associated with cannibalism. The Algonquian believed those who indulged in eating human flesh were at particular risk;  the legend appears to have reinforced the taboo of the practice of cannibalism. It is often described in Algonquian mythology as a balance of nature. 

  The Wendigo is part of the traditional belief systems of various Algonquian-speaking tribes in the northern United States and Canada, most notably the Ojibwe and Saulteaux, the Cree, the Naskapi, and the Innu people. Although descriptions varied somewhat, common to all these cultures was the conception of Wendigos as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings (manitous) of great spiritual power. They were strongly associated with the winter, the north, and coldness, as well as with famine and starvation. Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives one description of how wendigos were viewed:

"The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody. Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption" 

At the same time, Wendigos were embodiments of gluttony, greed, and excess: never satisfied after killing and consuming one person, they were constantly searching for new victims. In some traditions, humans who became overpowered by greed could turn into Wendigos; the Wendigo myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation.

Among the Ojibwe, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, Naskapi, and Innu, Wendigos were said to be giants, many times larger than human beings (a characteristic absent from the Wendigo myth in the other Algonquian cultures). Whenever a Wendigo ate another person, it would grow in proportion to the meal it had just eaten, so that it could never be full. Therefore, Wendigos were portrayed as simultaneously gluttonous and emaciated from starvation.

All cultures in which the Wendigo myth appeared shared the belief that human beings could turn into Wendigos if they ever resorted to cannibalism, or, alternatively, become possessed by the demonic spirit of a Wendigo, often in a dream. Once transformed, a person would become violent and obsessed with eating human flesh. The most frequent cause of transformation into a Wendigo was if a person had resorted to cannibalism, consuming the body of another human in order to keep from starving to death during a time of extreme hardship, for example in hard winters, or famine. Among northern Algonquian cultures, cannibalism, even to save one's own life, was viewed as a serious taboo; the proper response to famine was suicide or resignation to death. On one level, the Wendigo myth thus worked as a deterrent and a warning against resorting to cannibalism; those who did would become wendigo monsters themselves.

Among the Assiniboine, the Cree and the Ojibwe, a satirical ceremonial dance originally was performed during times of famine to reinforce the seriousness of the Wendigo taboo. The ceremonial dance, known as a wiindigookaanzhimowin in Ojibwe and today performed as part of the last day activities of the Sun Dance, involves wearing a mask and dancing about the drum backward.
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Comments: 269

Howejam [2014-06-04 21:45:27 +0000 UTC]

rockn

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Doctor-Why-Designs [2014-06-04 21:18:45 +0000 UTC]

Y'know to me the description of wendigoes sounds more like zombies than werewolves...

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Azureai [2014-06-04 21:17:43 +0000 UTC]

Pure awesome!  Your work is always so stylish.

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DCWyverx [2014-06-04 20:22:36 +0000 UTC]

I love the Wendigo myth, and the drawing really suits it. Awesome stuff!

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CrystalSabre [2014-06-04 19:48:29 +0000 UTC]

grizzly story, but good art.

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RandoMultiverse In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 19:47:17 +0000 UTC]

i freakin love it

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gillspar [2014-06-04 19:37:31 +0000 UTC]

Wait, a lot of the description makes it sound like a politician.   

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GlitteringStars In reply to gillspar [2014-06-05 01:10:50 +0000 UTC]

Agreed!

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Lacus999 [2014-06-04 19:22:43 +0000 UTC]

Really great work!

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Sketchyfinch [2014-06-04 19:20:12 +0000 UTC]

I love this story so much. I find the story very interesting.

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Noelagaman [2014-06-04 19:14:34 +0000 UTC]

Amazing!!

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MJMSTUDIOS2020 [2014-06-04 19:11:56 +0000 UTC]

YES!!! A modern-day Wendigo picture.

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F-I-R-E-M-O-N-G-E-R [2014-06-04 19:11:04 +0000 UTC]

This is freaking amazing. I love you design of a wendigo, it's so unique

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Emraldal [2014-06-04 19:06:44 +0000 UTC]

Your artwork is amazing, I love the detail, but call me dorky, because the first thing that came to my mind
was Ben 10 either first or second series.

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lyoth737 [2014-06-04 18:39:45 +0000 UTC]

Yesterday I learned of the existance of Wendigos - and today I see this picture on the deviantArt main page.
coincidence??

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TashasStuff [2014-06-04 18:21:47 +0000 UTC]

Neato! I just got finished taking mythology class and during it I learned about this demon.
Later on 2 kids in my class used the Wendigo in their final projects, so this really caught my eye.
Thanks to that class I can probably appreciate WAY more of your art now lol as well as infuse more mythology into my own art, yay!

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benstott [2014-06-04 18:08:36 +0000 UTC]

wow brilliant artwork

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Josh-the-pitbull In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 18:07:47 +0000 UTC]

That's pretty sick...

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yarizui In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 17:47:53 +0000 UTC]

holy crap

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NyghtPrism In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 17:32:55 +0000 UTC]

I want to hug it!  

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yarizui In reply to NyghtPrism [2014-06-04 17:49:02 +0000 UTC]

really. holy crap x.x

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NyghtPrism In reply to yarizui [2014-06-04 19:20:55 +0000 UTC]

x3 Im crazy, I love all animals and if I saw something like that I would still hug it.

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yarizui In reply to NyghtPrism [2014-06-05 17:06:55 +0000 UTC]

omg lol XD the ribs.... i love animals too .. maybe you would rather like to cast a spell and control this thing as one of your own... hugging it.. you'd end up in the hospital babe

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NyghtPrism In reply to yarizui [2014-06-05 22:28:39 +0000 UTC]

xD Your right those ribs might cause an accident... well... poo. Hrmmm maybe not control but keep it as a pet sure. x3

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yarizui In reply to NyghtPrism [2014-06-06 02:12:28 +0000 UTC]

lol a pet... while not controlling him?? thats a risk you know

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NyghtPrism In reply to yarizui [2014-06-06 17:11:10 +0000 UTC]

EH, I like the challenge

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yarizui In reply to NyghtPrism [2014-06-06 18:19:44 +0000 UTC]

lol

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dragon-vine [2014-06-04 17:28:47 +0000 UTC]

Very interesting, I assume you meant "Everything Mythology", not "Everything Mytology" at the top line.

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SapphireCityMedia [2014-06-04 17:17:10 +0000 UTC]

Awesome. 

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KaijuDuke [2014-06-04 17:12:32 +0000 UTC]

Very cool design and great info! However, did Wendigos usually look like wolves with antlers?

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graciegra [2014-06-04 16:45:15 +0000 UTC]

Supernatural...

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mangamax7 [2014-06-04 16:25:20 +0000 UTC]

this is cool.

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KolKolCat [2014-06-04 16:21:06 +0000 UTC]

Wendigo??? I'm almost sure they appeared in the book 'Here There Be Dragons'... Hmm

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Taqresu650 [2014-06-04 16:13:17 +0000 UTC]

Stunning Artwork. I never heard of a Wendigo before. The description is interesting too.

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FenrisUltra [2014-06-04 16:00:46 +0000 UTC]

Come closer people, I shall make a  meal out of you!

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13ShadowBlood [2014-06-04 15:57:25 +0000 UTC]

Amazing art ~
And incredible interesting.
...the only thing I could think of while reading through that informative text though was 'Hannibal'.

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MightyMorphinPower4 [2014-06-04 15:56:11 +0000 UTC]

Awesome

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GreenFalcon13 [2014-06-04 15:53:43 +0000 UTC]

Sick

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Lucio1995 [2014-06-04 15:25:08 +0000 UTC]

Kids are gonna look at skulls and an open ribcage? :3

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Kerunou [2014-06-04 15:22:36 +0000 UTC]

Very interesting!

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SupaFlow [2014-06-04 15:17:45 +0000 UTC]

Interesting design! Thanks for the "lecture"

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alucardserasfangirl [2014-06-04 15:14:21 +0000 UTC]

OMG amazing XD

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CookieCruise [2014-06-04 14:56:36 +0000 UTC]

wow.... its amazing!! c:

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hypn0s-sama [2014-06-04 14:39:55 +0000 UTC]

Another amazing work. I loved his head, so agressive and beautiful...

You are an great artist. Congrats on another beautiful pic

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Adamrjw [2014-06-04 14:23:14 +0000 UTC]

Really like this style, great stuff!.

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TokiWartoothGirl In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 14:05:15 +0000 UTC]

I love it except for one major innacuracy in your Wendigo's physical build.

Wendigo, following the oldest legends, are very tall, and emaciated. Yours if tall, but his build deviates too much from the legends.

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Wesdaaman In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 14:04:42 +0000 UTC]

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EchoChaser In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 13:58:40 +0000 UTC]

That is pretty awesome, I find the Wendigo mythology to be very interesting

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T-tothe-K In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 13:56:47 +0000 UTC]

Oh my gosh....I LOVE THIS!

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CrashValentine In reply to ??? [2014-06-04 13:50:10 +0000 UTC]

Hell, If Shin Megami Tensei have this Wendigo, that's awesome.

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