MC: Spider Sisters

These two are sisters based on Japanese spider yokai.

The younger sister is a Jorogumo, or "whore spider"; she likes to take the form of a woman and lure her victims in by flirting with them and playing music. She also draws them in with an alluring "perfume", which is actually a pheromone that attracts spiders; legions of arachnids follow her wherever she goes and happily do her bidding. They stay out of sight while she handles the deception and silently go to work by blocking off escape routes with their webs. If Ms. J's seduction goes well she paralyzes her victim with a venomous kiss and leaves them to be bound up and dragged away by her "children"; if it goes awry she'll just cut to the chase and corner them in her giant spider form.


The older sister is a Tsuchigumo, or "earth spider"; she prefers a more direct approach and only rarely uses her human guise (usually it's to help her sister). While her sister is a petite web-spinner, Ms. T is a powerful, shambling ground spider that chases her victims down and tears them to pieces. She can also hunt from beneath the ground, rapidly tunneling after victims or surprising them like a trapdoor spider.


Same deal with these two as with the Hodag... I really like these monsters from Japanese mythology and want to make em cool, but the designs are giving me a hard time. Finding the right balance between cartoony and creepy is frustratingly difficult, as is making them look like characters and not just blown-up spiders... the Tsuchigumo in particular is really bothering me, neither version looks anything like what I want. So yeah... input welcome. =X

Artwork © Chris Eye, 2012.