Anachronistic Elephant (commission)

Many months ago I was commissioned (again) to make a series of Discord server icons. This is the same client who previously commissioned such gems as Enraptured Athoracophoridae and Erudite Australopithecus, so I knew I was going to be in for something interesting. Just like last time, I was given a list of phrases whose words started with E and A, then asked to illustrate them. I was given minimal direction other than the occasional explanation when I asked what some of the words meant.

This depicts a wooly mammoth with laser eyes shooting stealth bombers that are being commanded by an Ancient Egyptian. This is a totally real thing that happened. You can tell this is a historical record because it’s been written down in hieroglyphs, and historical records never lie.

There was actually an earlier version of this drawing that was more 3D and had less hieroglyphs and was way less cool. I finished it, and having glanced at the old version in my recent files several times, decided that an Egyptian painting would make for a much better concept. Good thing too, because out of the whole commission set, this was the client’s favorite one.

There are only two sets of hieroglyphs that actually mean anything coherent in this drawing: the one above the Egyptian’s head, and the one above the mammoth’s snout.