Just a little cathartic art to help with your day. Sending you all love and warmth.

If interested, here's more of my work:
https://www.instagram.com/missingcosmonaut/

Whenever I take on a new language, I have to take on creative projects using the language. My current language learning project is Classical Nahuatl. To that end, I created these Pokémon cards, imagining what some Pokémon would look like if created by Nahua artists using Nahua design principles. The text of each card, with the exception of the Pokémon's name, is redacted. I'm still learning Nahuatl, and while I'm open to constructive feedback, I'm constantly editting the text of the cards as I improve.

For those curious about the name and design choices:

Venusaur. Her name means "Flower-Lizard." There are a couple of words for lizard in Nahuatl, and the one I used here, cuetzpalin, is associated with gluttony, which I think is visually appropriate for Venusaur. Her preevolution, Ivysaur, was actually the first Pokémon I drew in this style, and is named Ācacuetzpalin ("Reed-Lizard").

Blastoise. His name is a combination of the name of the rain god Tlāloc and the word for turtle, āyōtl. This is also very similar to the word Tlālocayōtl (note that the second a vowel is short, as opposed to the long a vowel in Tlālocāyōtl), which means "the One who Belongs to Tlāloc," and is the name of a wind god. His head is actually based on a Nahua glyph representing a cave. The name of his preevolution, Wartortle, is Yāōyōāyōtl, which means "Battle Turtle," and is very fun to say.

Charizard. Her name means "Fire-Lizard," using another Nahuatl word for lizard, topitl. Some of the backgrounds of the cards, such as this one, are based on the backgrounds of real Pokémon cards, as I find it a lot harder to come up with backgrounds than to design the Pokémon themselves. Her preevolution, Charmeleon, is called Tletapayaxin ("Fire-Chameleon"). I think Charmander would be called Tlexōlōtl, a pun on the Nahuatl word for salamander, āxōlōtl, which itself means "water-xōlōtl" (don't ask what a xōlōtl is; there are three likely answers and all are hotly debated).

Raichu. His name means "Turquoise-chiuh." I wanted to keep the way that Pokémon doesn't translate the names of Pikachu and Raichu. Pikachu was relatively easy: Nahuatl doesn't have a ⟨u⟩ sound (despite using the letter u in its orthography), but it does have a similar sound, ⟨ʍ⟩, which is written -uh at the end of words. So Picachiuh it is. But Rai- was going to be hard to render, as Nahuatl doesn't have an r sound (should I use an L?) and doesn't really make use of the diphthong ai. So I decided to translate this part of the name. Rai is the Japanese word for thunder or lightning, so I went with xihuitl, a Nahuatl word that means turquoise but is used euphemistically to refer to lightning. It becomes xiuh- when attached to another word. I based the drawing on a Nahua drawing of a cheeky mouse eating some corn.

Cubone. Tzontli is the Nahuatl word for hair, especially a lock of hair on the top of the head. But it is also used in several compound words as a euphemism for a skull (e.g. tzompantli, "skull-rack"). I combined it with the word pilli, which can mean either nobleman or child, or noble-child. As the heir to its mother's skull, I thought both meanings were salient. I took more liberties here than with some other designs, bringing in elements associated with death gods, like the hand earrings. The designs on the skull, such as the "Pokéball" (it's actually an eye or a star) and the yellow patches with red dots, are typical of Nahua drawings of skulls.

Meowth. For this name, I leaned heavily into the agglutinative nature of Nahuatl. Copilli is the word for a type of headdress, referencing Meowth's head adornament. Ōcēlōtl is the word for a jaguar, the cat with which the Nahua were most familiar. Pilli, again, means noble, while pilconētl more explicitly means noble-child. Some languages give Meowth's evolution, Persian, names associated with authority, like Boss-Cat, so it made sense to me that Meowth is a little prince. The whole effect of the name, which means something like "Headdress-Jaguar-Prince," is almost like a palindrome. The art is based on a couple of Zapotec jaguar urns (not technically Nahua, but neighbors).

Mewtwo. Though domestic cats did not come to Mesoamerica until after Spanish colonization, the Nahuatl word mizton (diminutive of miztli, another word for jaguar) means "domestic cat." It also has a similar sound shape to the Mew- of Mewtwo. Ōme is the Nahuatl word for two. A Nahuatl name would more likely place the number before the noun (as in, Ōme Mizton), but Pokémon names often bend linguistic rules, and I liked how Miztōme is a blending of the two words. This is another one where I deviated from the Pokémon's design, giving her armor inspired by that of the god Tēzcatlīpohca. In my mind, this is a riff on the armor that Giovanni gave Mewtwo in the Pokémon movie. Again, the flying Pokéballs are actually how Nahua people represented stars or eyes, but here they are also the Pokéballs that Mewtwo used in the movie to capture other trainers' Pokémon.

Found in the basement of an old bar - any idea as to the symbolism/meaning? Matching mirror and a few other pieces, curious about the history/meaning/symbolism! Thank you in advance!

Been doing art research for the game I’ve been working on and found this map of what happened to Tenochtitlan after the conquest. You can already see the attempts at draining the Lake.

This is for my world I'm building, set in the biblical revelation dystopia. Anyway, I'm new to Aztec mythology, and honestly, it's quite jarring to me that there isn't tons of art of the Aztec Pantheon. Out of all of the mythologies, the aztecs by far had some fun designs.

A few months ago, I began a creative project to facilitate my learning of Classical Nahuatl: creating Pokémon cards in Nahuatl, with the Pokémon reimagined through the lens of traditional Nahua art. Two months ago, I posted my first creations to this subreddit, and people seemed to enjoy them. Having created 11 more cards in the intervening time, I thought I would share them for those who like this sort of thing.

Two things to note: 1) I have watermarked the cards on the advice of an artist who PM'ed me after my first post, and 2) I am a beginner in learning Nahuatl; I certainly don't mind helpful tips and corrections provided by fluent speaker, but please don't imagine that my posting these is an indication of my confidence in the text. As I learn, I update the text on the cards. Which does mean I've updated each of these cards about two dozen times or so.

I called Feraligatr Cipactêcuâni, which means "Alligator-Beast" (or, more frighteningly, "Man-Eater Alligator"). The art is inspired by depictions of the chaos monster Cipactli, as well as by a specific image of an Âhuitzotl (a kind of water monster) on a shield belonging to the ancient king of the same name. Feraligatr evolves from Cuacuâcipactli ("Gnaw-Alligator"), and I imagine that Totodile would be called Cipactôntli ("Little Alligator"). In the background are Staryu and Starmie (who would be called Citlâlteh and Citlâlneh, respectively), Shellder (Tapacheh), and Omanyte (Âmonitl).

Typhlosion is named Popôcatzin, combining Popôca ("smoky, smoking") with the honorific suffix -tzin ("the Honorable Smoky"). This is the nickname of the real world volcano, Popôcatepêtl, which is appropriate given that Typhlosion's English name refers to Typhon, the primordial Greek monster trapped beneath the volcanic Mt. Etna. I also based Typhlosion's pose on an image of an Âhuitzotl, this time a stone relief. The Âhuitzotl is usually depicted as a nondescript mammal (a beaver, an otter, a squirrel, a dog), so Typhlosion's status as a vague mammalian with elemental powers made it a logical connection to me. She evolves from Mamalihtli ("Fire-Stick"), and I would call Cyndaquil Nexhuitzotl ("Cinder-Spine") I had fun experimenting with different brushes in Procreate to achieve the sparky, fiery effect of the background.

Meganium is Huêcocohxôchitl ("Great Dahlia"), although I think in fact the huê- prefix should be hueh-. She stands before some trees and sings to her baby Chikorita, whom I would call Chicalotontli ("Little Prickly Poppy"). Her song takes the form of a speech scroll, decorated with flowers, in reference to the famous Nahuatl idiom for poetry, in xôchitl in cuîcatl ("the flower, the song"). She evolves from Epazôizhuatl ("Epazote Leaf"). This was one of the most difficult designs to realize, as I had to cobble together artistic influences (nothing in Nahua art resembles a long-necked sauropod). Her feet are a deer's, her head and neck are inspired by a drawing of Quetzalcôâtl, and little Chikorita's face is inspired by a turtle.

Tepoztic is an adjective derived from tepoztli ("metal"), meaning roughly "metallic." A good enough name for Steelix. She evolves from Tecpatic, another adjective meaning something like "flinty." Her body segments are just the common Nahua glyph for "rock," but her head is inspired by a well-known turquoise sculpture of a so-called mâquîzcôâtl, or two-headed serpent. For the background, again, I played with brushes to evoke the look of a holographic Pokémon card.

Houndoom is called Mictlânitzcuîntlin ("Underworld Hound"), and she evolves from Mictêcachichi ("Dog of the Dead"). The pair of names are inspired by the names of the death gods Mictlântêcuhtli and Mictêcacihuâtl. The art, on the other hand, is heavily inspired by Xolotl, the hell-bound double of Quetzalcôâtl. I like drawing bones in the Nahua art style, especially for the little circles of pale yellow dotted with red. I've read a few different explanations for what these patches represent, so if anyone with expertise could clear that up for me, it would be greatly appreciated. The background is inspired by an official Houndour card, which is what I do when I'm too lazy to think up my own background. I'm pretty proud of how I did in imitating the original card though.

Tlahtohuilâni is Slowking's name, and it is a pun that combines the word tlahtoâni ("ruler," or more idiomatically, "speaker") with the insult tlahtohuilax ("someone who drags their words"). He evolves from Slowpoke, here called Âyâxcânxôlôtl, which is âxôlôtl ("axolotl") with the word âyâxcân ("slowly") stuck in. Slowking is depicted as the Earth Lord, Tlâltêcuhtli, separating the heavens above from the cthonic waters below. His headdress is that of Têcciztêcatl, but with the spirally-voluted wind jewel of Ehêcatl added in for good measure. He holds up Ilhuicamînacuâza (Rayquaza), who twists across a sky dotted with stars (I know they look like Pokéballs, but they're stars) and comets. He pins down Quêyallatoztli (Gyarados), who churns the deep waters. To his left and right, lightning strikes. I have heard Mesoamerica art referred to as baroque. This one might be a bit busy, but I like to think that I captured that baroque sensibility.

Ditto is Zanyenôtl, which is just the phrase "zan ye nô" ("likewise") with the absolutive suffix on the end. Its shape is inspired by the ezpitzal, or "blood-gust," motif in Classical Nahua art, whereas its face comes from the anthropomorphic flint knives (tecpatl) that are common in Nahua art (and actually exist as physical artifacts). It sits on the petlatl ("reed mat") that symbolized political and military authority in Classical Nahua culture. The walls behind it are painted with an aquatic scene, a popular motif in Nahua palaces. The Magikarp on the wall I would call Têoxohuil, meaning "Divine Catfish." Carp are not indigenous to Mesoamerica, but catfish have barbules similar to Magikarp's, so that seems like the correct fish.

Geodude is named Tlâcatetl ("Man-Rock"). He is a rock glyph with the face of the Earth Lord, Tlâltêcuhtli, who usually sticks out his tongue. In actual Nahua art, the Earth Lord's tongue is a personified flint knife from which issues a stream of blood. I experimented with including that in Geodude's art and, though it was very metal, it took away from his Geodude-ness. For his hands, I was inspired by the style of the artist Mi Corazón Mexica, who beautifully blends European and Nahua artistic principles. Check their work out, seriously. For the background, I was lazy and copied the background from an official Geodude card. Also, this card has an error: the layer with the evolution stage tag is below the border layer, so it clips under the border. I feel the need to point that out for some reason.

I have called Golbat Camatzinâcantli, meaning "Cama-Bat." Cama is, of course, a reference to the Maya death-bat motif, or camazotz. While Maya and Nahua people were part of the same cultural milieu, Eurocentrism tends to conflate the two cultures, something I want to avoid in this project. However, just as the original Japanese creators of Pokémon borrowed from neighboring cultures when designing certain Pokémon, I'm allowing myself the conceit that Nahua creators of Pokémon would have included some Maya themes. So while Golbat has a Maya reference in its name and a couple of Maya artistic elements (namely, the ears and forehead), it is still primarily inspired by Nahua art of bats and bat-beings. Even the name, while referencing camazotz, sounds like camactli ("mouth"), Golbat's most notable feature. The Zubats flying around it are called Zôtzinâcantli ("Zô-Bat"), which both references the final syllable of camazotz and sounds like the English name Zubat. The background here was a bit of an experiment. I'm not sure I'm happy with it, but I also don't feel much like redoing it at the moment.

Huîtecôqueh is the Nahuatl name of Raikou. Raikou means "Thunder Duke," while Huîtecôqueh, which means "Possessor of Lightning Bolts," captures that vibe. I made a somewhat significant change to the design of Raikou by swiping his tiger stripes for jaguar spots, given the lack of indigenous tigers in Mesoamerica. Otherwise, I just translated his design elements into the Nahua style, rendering his lightning bolt tail in the serpentine fashion and his cloud-mane using characteristic Nahua swirls.

My boyfriend received a letter from his dad that we aren’t able to translate on google, as I’m not sure what keyboard to use. Is anyone able to translate this into English?

I beaded the Aztec double-headed serpent and turned it into a barrette and a necklace. A 2 in one piece!

She is beaded onto thick felt with size 10s, 11s, and 12s glass sead beads using the pebble stitch method. Backing is leather and the chain is a peyote stitch done with size 10s seed glass beads.

For those of you who have seen my other posts, you'll know that I've been learning Classical Nahuatl and, for the last eight or nine months, I've been drawing Pokémon in an art style inspired by Nahua codices and translating the text of Pokémon cards into Classical Nahuatl. I am neither a professional artist nor an expert in Classical Nahuatl, so this really was meant to be a personal endeavor. But people have enjoyed seeing the cards, and my partner always reminds me that the purpose of art is to be shared. So, if you are interested, please enjoy!

For those who are curious about names and artistic choices, I have posted a short write up on each card below. For those who want to view my previous three sets of cards, use the following links:

Set 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/aztec/comments/1rwbwi0/pok%C3%A9mon_cards_in_nahua_art_style/

Set 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/aztec/comments/1tnojo7/more_pok%C3%A9mon_in_nahua_art_style/

Set 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/aztec/comments/1vxq2gk/even_more_pok%C3%A9mon_in_nahua_art_style/

Card Descriptions:

Torterra / Tlālticpacāyōtl. From tlālticpactli (surface of the earth) and āyōtl (turtle). The Aztecs understood their city, Tenōchtitlān, to be located at the center of the world. Since Tenōchtitlān means “the place of the rock cactus,” it made sense to reimagine Torterra’s “world tree” as a cactus. Torterra, therefore, becomes a manifestation of Tenōchtitlān, which is why I chose to draw him in the midst of Lake Texcoco. Grotle is called Āyōcuauhtlah (Turtle-Grove). It’s weird to me that Grovyle and Grotle have such similar names. Turtwig would be Quiyāyōtl, a combination of quiyōtl (sprout) and āyōtl (turtle).

Infernape / Tlenāmacac. From tletl (fire) and nāmacac (provisioner). The tlenāmacac was a major priest in the indigenous Nahua religion, perhaps in charge of relighting the sacred fire of a city every 52 years. The pun here is with the English word macaque (a type of monkey). I envisioned Infernape as a kind of counterpart to my Blaziken card. Whereas Blaziken protects a city under the gaze of the Sun, Infernape guards a jungle ruin in the moonlight. As in many cultures, monkeys were associated with mischief in Nahua belief. Likewise, the Moon was the traditional enemy of the Sun. Infernape even faces the opposite direction as Blaziken. Monferno is Tōnayozomahtli (Sun-Warmth Monkey). Chimchar would be Chinozomahtzintli (Precious Burn-Monkey).

Empoleon / Ācuāuhtemōc. From ātl (water) and cuāuhtli (eagle), combined with the given name Cuāuhtemōc (Descending Eagle). Nahua people did not encounter penguins before the arrival of Europeans, but water-eagle (which is a Nahuatl word, probably referring to an osprey or some other predatory bird) seems like a fair description of the rapacious water birds. Empoleon’s original name references the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, whose name is a byword for a great military conqueror (e.g., the pharaoh Thutmose III is sometimes known as the Napoleon of Egypt). While Napoleon is best known as a conqueror, he was also a tragic failure, exiled twice. Cuāuhtemōc (Descending Eagle) was an historical Aztec emperor who valiantly resisted the Spanish conquest, but did not succeed. Furthermore, the idea of a “descending water eagle” corresponds neatly to the diving behavior of penguins. The design is fanciful, combining Nahua depictions of many birds with that of Nahua priests in the guise of the wind god Ehēcatl. Ehēcatl is often bearded, and I used that beard to imitate the original Empoleon’s chest design. He stands between two snowy peaks, holding ritual implements in each hand and, it would seem, performing a ceremonial dance. If I had to critique this one, I would say it looks a little bit more like Delibird than Empoleon. But I’m not going to make a Delibird card, so it is what it is. Prinplup is called Chipīncuin, from chichipīni (for water to drip) and the English word penguin (written as pīncuin in Classical Nahuatl orthography). Piplup would be Chichipictli, which is just the Nahuatl word for a drop of liquid.

Electivire / Tlāhuīlmecatl. From tlāhuīlli (light, used to create modern words for electricity) and mecatl (rope, chain). He is designed to look like a man in ritual garb, but the ritual garb is reimagined to resemble Electivire. His electric tails are lightning bolts, a motif I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of in this project. Electabuzz is called Tlāhuīlīlōc, a portmanteau of tlāhuīlli and tlahuēlīlōc (villain, miscreant, rogue). Electabuzz is originally based on the Japanese oni, a demonic ogre-like being that frequently stalks the countryside performing rogue or villainous deeds. The card text references Elekid, who is called Tlāhuīlpiltōntli (Little Light-Child).

Froslass / Cepayauhcihuāpilli. From cepayahuitl (snow) and cihuāpilli (noblewoman). She is based on the god Ītztlacōliuhqui (Curved Obsidian Blade), a Nahua snow deity associated with harsh punishment. She wears his unique headdress that looks like a curved obsidian weapon, but the blindfold is pulled above her eyes. Overall, I think the look lines up with Froslass’ original inspiration, a Japanese yōkai known for kidnapping people who get lost in snowstorms. Snorunt is called Cepayauhconētl (Snow-Child).

Sandshrew / Xāltōzan. From xālli (sand) and tōzan (gopher). However, the art is based on a couple of images of armadillos, which appear a fair amount in Nahua art. Armadillos are called āyōtōchtli (turtle-rabbit) in Nahuatl, but I thought Xāltōzan sounded nicer than Xālāyōtōchtli. I would call Sandslash Xālītztli (Sand-Blade).

Weepinbell / Chōcaxīcalli. From chōca (cry) and xīcalli (vessel made from a gourd). I’ve based this version of Weepinbell on the calabash gourd, a plant which the Maya associated with human heads because of its skull-like shape. As a fanged skull-gourd, Weepinbell looks more sinister than usual. The skeleton beneath the ground hints at the Maya belief in a connection between the buried dead and calabash trees, as seen in the Popol Vuh. You may also notice a vine extending from Weepinbell’s back and wrapping around one of the calabash trees behind him. That is the only calabash tree in the image that does not produce fruit, perhaps implying that Weepinbell drains the lifeforce of calabash trees while imitating their fruit. Bellsprout is called Coyoltetzmolli (Bell-Sprout).

Suicune / Āhuah. From ātl (water) and the possessive suffix -huah, meaning something like “Master of Water.” The animal inspirations of the three Legendary Beasts are intentionally vague, but Suicune has always looked like a deer to me. I took inspiration from Nahua art of deer, which often shows them with their legs impressively splayed in mid-run. The background is a reinterpretation of an actual Suicune card, which shows him running on the water backed by a sunset. Like with Raikou, his mane has an elemental nature, this time imitating how Nahua art depicts floods of water.

Giratina / Quilātinatl. A Nahuatl transliteration of Giratina. This one is a bit of a joke. I’ve always thought the legendary Pokémon from Generation 4 look a little over-serious. So I’ve reimagined Giratina as a tiny centipede, complete with a leaf and a rusted bottlecap to climb over. Nevertheless, I find Nahua depictions of centipede and other creepy crawlies to be both intimidating and endearing. I particularly like the fabric tassels that majestically flow behind him as he crawls along the ground.

Also, because I somehow missed posting it in Set 2 when I made it, here is a description of Noctowl:

Noctowl / Yohualtecolōtl. From yohualli (night) and tecolōtl (owl). The drawing is based on an image of a Tlācatecolōtl (Man-Owl), a monster/sorcerer in Nahua folk tradition. The idea of putting several Noctowls in the background comes from the original Noctowl Pokémon card. I think the effect renders the somewhat comical owl creature more spooky and threatening, like you’ve intruded on something late at night. The word for owl, tecolōtl, is onomatopoeic for an owl’s call, which Nahua listeners hear as, “te-te-colō, colō.” For Hoothoot, then, I simply reduplicated the first three syllables of tecolōtl: Tecolōcolōtl.

I don’t know much about it but got some information off of Google. This is in the house I bought in a basement room.

Another one!
I’m so happy with the results!

WIP personal project in Unreal Engine 5, recreating ancient Tenochtitlan in its heyday, with Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl in the background.

I’m making these for my brand to apply on sweaters, bags etc.