Wood Spirits

Amazing. Two posts in one week! Setting standards that I'm pretty sure I can't maintain. Anyway since I enjoyed the process and subject matter so much, I felt compelled to do more sketches for the Eredo project. These are two common wood spirits that inhabit the forest of Eredo, referred to by Yoruba people as Oro/Iwin. Also I forgot to mention in the last blog post that I attended a lecture by animation legend Bill Plympton earlier this month at MCA, and got to meet him briefly thanks to my old animation professor. He seemed like an affable person and it was just fantastic learning about his techniques and philosophy.

Oro Iwin: Iya Jijo Imo

Here is an Oro Iwin called Iya Jijo Imo, which literally translates to 'Mysterious Lady.' Well, I knew I wanted lots of calabashes and I had a fairly good idea of her pose and the composition, but the masks came from stray lines that I thought were promising.
She is not based on any existing myth or legend, so the story or understanding of her character that I developed rather is built around the conventional nature of a mystery. The masks of course are an obvious symbol for this and the empty/ full calabashes (you never know) are linked to this key aspect of her character. As with all mysteries, she seeks to confound or trick unsuspecting people in order to better understand the nature of humanity, and many over the centuries have fallen prey to her fancies.

Oro Iwin: Iya Korin

This character was actually done in the 100 demons scroll section, but I decided to redo her with better execution and an actual explanation of who she is. She is the 'singing lady' or Iya Korin (in Yoruba), who was cast out of her village somewhere in old Oyo because of an age old transgression; She gave birth to twins, which according to old Yoruba customs meant that the mother had an affair with a man besides her husband. She was cast out of the village into the forest of Irunmale where she roams to this day, singing an agonizingly dolorous tune trying to allay the perpetual screams of her unfortunate children.

Oro Iwin: Madame Koin Koin

Here is a lady Yoruba Oro Iwin for a change. Her name was Headmistress Ina Kere (small fire) and she stems from an old tale that most Nigerian school kids know, but here is my telling of the old tale.
She was once the headmistress of a prominent school in the old Oyo kingdom in Yoruba land. She was of course very strict and puritanical, as her name implies. So on a hot day the students of her school grew tired of their Headmistress' wrath and hesitantly dared one amongst them to retaliate. It turned out to be the headmistress' little son who was instructed to steal his mother's shoe. Unfortunately, he was successful and all the students knew this when they could hear cries of pain. The hot afternoon ground scorched the Headmistress' feet as she looked for her stolen shoe. It turned out that hearing his mother's cries the headmistress' son fled into the forest nearby for fear of a swift and painful reprimand. In time the boy did not return, and a determined and angry Headmistress Ina Kere followed in search of her lost son all the while calling out.
They never returned, and it was said that hunters and travelers over the years could hear cries of anger slowly turn to cries of sorrow. Till this day kids in Nigerian schools (especially kids in boarding houses in the middle of nowhere) hear the spirit of Headmistress Ina Kere, (which she came to be known as) calling out to her lost son all the while the eerie, paralyzing 'koin koin' sound ringing from her one shoe as she slowly wanders through the night. Today she is popularly known as Madame Koin Koin.

Oro Iwin: Baba Itaniro

Here is the newest edition to my list of Iwin Oro characters. His name is Baba Itaniro (Father of stories or the storyteller). I realized while working on this guy that I'm facing the same dilemma I encountered when I was doing the 100 demons scroll. The demons that were myth- related in the scroll were a great challenge because there is such a lack of visual information on what Yoruba mythological creatures and deities look like and also the literary accounts vary, or are very sparse, however I believe this is why I enjoy creating them so much. I am able to infuse the character and visual identity without much of a preconceived mental fog, I also believe they look a little more unique than say if I would have referenced a design from some established visual source or the other. That said though, when I do look for visual info I look to Yoruba sculpture (Ife, Benin, Nok, Oyo, etc), a lot of character can be derived from those iconic looking sculptures.

Normal blogging resumes: Oro Iwin

Ever since the end of Illustration 3 I've been in Salt Lake City, Utah in a video game company called Sensory Sweep as an art intern... I've been familiarizing, settling in and getting organized, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. I, however, have done some work while in Salt Lake. For instance, here is one image in a set of a creatures I'm working to realize. He is a creature of the Forest of Irunmale called an Oro Iwin (from the book Forest of a Thousand Demons by D. O. Fagunwa) . Oro Iwin are neither deity nor spirit and definitely not human but share characteristics of all of these beings. This particular Oro Iwin enjoys dancing and playing his shekere (maracas) while annoying hunters with the odd ribbit sounds made with his frog-like neck sac. Which is why I called him Opolo Baba (Father of frogs)Expect more soon!