SOURCES and ILLUSTRATION REFERENCES.This was tremendous fun - good luck to all competing.
Astaroth is a demon of the First Hierarchy and is a Crowned Prince of Hell. He is referred to in The Lesser Key of Solomon as a very powerful demon. He also has very underdeveloped social skills and bad breath!
As this image evolved into its finished form it reminded me of the line in the Christopher Marlowe play Doctor Faustus when Lucifer says: In hell is all manner of delight.Sources
We all have demons from our past that reappear once in a while or we are carrying some sort of burden that we just can't seem to shake.It can be at times, like a rotting bird that is hung from our neck, a personal demon. This is an adaptation from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.("Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the albatross About my neck was hung").Please remember- all types of work are accepted and the painterly rule is waived.Good luck to all of the other demon presenters.SourcesFrom sxc.hu andszekePlus my own photos.Thanks to marymagdalyne for her encouragement, critique and suggestions.
He met Gwen at a club. It seemed that every time he looked up, he could see her staring at him-her piercing eyes cutting through the alternate gloom and glare of the flashing lights. She had black hair, lipstick and fingernails and was dressed equally as dark. He wasn't really into goth chicks but his friends convinced him to give it a go. He finally got the courage to approach her and she smirked as he approached. He figured she would shoot him down but after just a few moments of small talk, she asked if he'd come home with her. His buddies gave him the thumbs up as he left the club with her. She said they could walk as she just lived a short way away. The neighborhood was somewhat dangerous-lots of abandoned warehouses and he began to suspect that maybe she was setting him up for a mugging. When they reached the doorway of an old building, she turned and kissed him deeply-any fears he had were overcome by the promise of the situation. "You live here?" he asked as they entered a dark room. "Are they converting these old factories into lofts?" "My sisters and I hang out here" she answered as she led him down some steps. They emerged into a darkly lit basement room where there were twelve other woman equally as beautiful and dark. He began to feel very uneasy and made up an excuse about having to go. "Just one drink?" Gwen pouted. To save face he accepted and one of the women brought him an ornate goblet filled with what he guessed was red wine. He downed it in a gulp-it wasn't wine. It burned too much and had an herbal taste to it. He immediately felt at ease. The woman closed in around him and began to kiss and tug at him. "Not so bad" he thought to himself. They led him into an adjoining room and he noticed the pentagram on the floor and the inverted crucifix. Surely, those skulls were fake. He noticed for the first time that he was naked but he didn't care. The room was beginning to spin. They sat him on the floor in the middle of the pentagram. Gwen turned to him with a long dagger in her hand. Panic managed to break through his haze and he pleaded, "Don't kill me." "Don't be silly", Gwen assured him. "We have no intention of killing you-we're going to honor you. It's just a ceremony." He knelt before her and she had him hold the blade in his hands while she held the hilt. She spoke in a strange language and the other twelve chanted along. "Now hold the blade as tight as you can." When he did she quickly pulled the knife back cutting deeply into his palms. The pain snapped him back into clarity and he struggled to his feet but immediately stumbled into the wall-his legs were like jelly. The women sat him back down in the center of the pentagram. "I'm sorry lover", Gwen teased. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" he shouted. "Exactly", she replied. "What?" he said puzzled. "Hell" she repeated "is what is going on. We needed your blood to call him. You are the vessel-the portal into this world. It is a great honor." The pentagram burst into light and flame. The smell of brimstone filled his nostrils. A searing pain wracked his body as he felt like he was being filled with burning liquid. His brain endured stabs of agony as he felt another consciousness invading his mind. "I know it hurts but don't fight it. It will be over soon. You probably don't realize it but you were born for this purpose. We've waited a long time for you Damien."SourcesSpecial thanks to Tasastock for permission to use her image as the basis of my demon.On a final note: the use of the crucifix is not meant to demean Christianity. Growing up Catholic, I found many of them to be a bit lurid and creepy. Inverted crosses seem to be a mainstay in Satanism but I chopped a more realistic face onto it as if it becoming animated and expressing horror at what is now unleashed on Earth.
SourcesDevientArt source Links:Arshad-Art-Conceptmmad-sscientistMihraystockDella-Stockdisscordia
He sends out his minions to engage and distract his prey, enabling him to sneak up on them unawares.PLEASE view full. The devil is in the details (har har)SourcesI have a model release for the little girls.
These are my own little demons :)(I even got their own permission to use them for this work)
With thanks to my son William, my very own special demon.Good luck everyone :)
Apocryphal Jewish Demon Queen.A demon of the night notorious for snatching newborn babies.Also a seducer of men to propagate Demon Sons.Model - Thankyou to Lisajen-stock Deviant resources.Wings - Thankyou to solarka-stock Deviant ResourcesOther resources from istock