The Nine-tailed fox - 九尾狐

In Japanese folklore it is believed that foxes -or 'kitsune' as they are also called- are intelligent beings and possess magical abilities.

The more tails a kitsune has the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. In some folktales it is said that a kitsune will only grow an additional tail when it has lived for 1000 years. When a kitsune grows its ninth tail, its fur becomes golden or white. These nine-tailed foxes gain the abilities to see and hear anything happening anywhere in the world. Other tales attribute them infinite wisdom.

Most notably they are known for their ability to take on human forms –an ability learned when it reaches a certain age (usually 100 years). Foxes are particularly renowned for impersonating beautiful women. Common belief in medieval Japan was that any woman encountered alone, especially at dusk or night, could be a fox.

Other supernatural abilities commonly attributed to the kitsune include possession, mouths or tails that generate fire or lightning (known as kitsune-bi; literally, fox-fire), wilful manifestation in the dreams of others, flight, invisibility and the creation of illusions so elaborate as to be almost indistinguishable from reality.

The Nine-tailed fox was a suggestion/request made by ~BBoyWonder A big thanks to him for this cool idea I've never seriously painted or drawn one before, but it was a lot of fun to paint I just hope it doesn't look too much like the one from Okami... Oh and here's the Progression piece for it: [link]

Anyway, I hope you like it!

~Vyrilien

Medium: Corel Painter Essentials 2, Photoshop CS2, Intuos 2

Time Taken: Ermmm, say 10 hours?

P.S. I tried giving it a BG, but in the end it proved best to leave it as it was. I hope it's not disappointing...