My CGChallenge entry...
Cúchulainn was a fearsome warrior in Irish mythology. Here he's shown facing against Queen Maedbh's army in the great battle for possession of the Bull of Cooley.
The entire story is here, in case anyone's interested:
http://www.celtic-twilight.com/ireland/tain/tain.htm
Everyone who grows up in Ireland is initiated early in this legend- the epic tale of Cúchulainn the hero (the name means Hound of Culainn) who battles his best friend Ferdiad at a ford- this comes as the ultimate battle after Cuchulainn has spent all the days from Samháin (Halloween) until the first day of Spring in fighting the men from Queen Medbh's army.
Why is he doing this? Medbh is a jealous queen and the story starts with her stocking up all her possessions against her husbands'. When she discovers their possessions are equal, save one bull- a white one- that her husband owns, she vows to get her hands upon the greatest bull in all of Ireland- the great Brown Bull of Cooley, who belongs to the king of Ulster. She brings her army up to Ulster, only to discover that the way is blocked with Cuchulainn. In enquiring about him, she hears about the heroic stories of his youth and childhood.
Can anyone beat him? The one man who grew up with Cúchulainn is his equal-Ferdiad. The Queen then invites Ferdiad to her castle, gets him drunk and, while he is in his bragging state, shames him into agreeing to the battle. Afterwards, his gillie (sort of like a squire?) tries to convince him not to fight his best friend- but his sense of pride is too great.
In this image you see the moment where Cúchulainn and his gillie are scoping out the area around the ford, with the army of Medbh behind. I tried to make the bull as imposing as possible, to show its status in Irish legend and also because giant bulls are fun to depict.
I'd like to thank everyone on the forums for their help, particularly those who criticised constructively- you know who you are!- and helped me to push myself a bit further. I learned a lot in this challenge. Thank you to everyone!
