nikswiftdraws

Bedouin women have worn elaborate tattoos for centuries, each tribe with a different style and tattooing a different part of the body. Inspired by my work in the Kingdom of Jordan I have drawn a woman with the tattoos of the region between Salt and Karak: someone you could have bumped into on the streets of one of the villages of the plateau 150 years ago.

Pazuzu the demon is best-known today as the primary antagonist of the Exorcist franchise. He was not always so evil, however. In the 8th century BCE, in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Pazuzu, king of the demons and commander of wind and plague, was also the protector of pregnant and breastfeeding women. He watched over the homes of young families and warded off other demons with his ferocious appearance. This illustration is of a Pazuzu statue discovered in Iraq and currently on display in the Louvre.

Who doesn't love a crossover between Remarque's anti-war classic "Im Western Nicht Neues" and a modern musical classic about relationships?

I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you! In honour of Taylor Swift continuing her Eras tour while rereleasing Speak Now, during a coincidental renaissance in Dungeons and Dragons content, here is a design that could be considered either Swiftie fanart or just an epic fantasy fearless warrior woman.

"Y'alla" means "Let's go" in Arabic, and is one of the most versatile phrases I have ever encountered. Bedouin women have worn elaborate tattoos for centuries. Inspired by my work in the Kingdom of Jordan I have drawn a woman wearing the tattoos of the region between Salt and Karak: someone you could have bumped into in the streets of a village upon the plateau 150 years ago.

No-one on the island has a better wardrobe for the autumn!

A Neo-Assyrian princess contemplates her unborn child in the 8th century BCE.

Pazuzu the demon is best-known today as the primary antagonist of the Exorcist franchise. He was not always so evil, however. In the 8th century BCE, in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Pazuzu, king of the demons and commander of wind and plague, was also the protector of pregnant and breastfeeding women. He watched over the homes of young families and warded off other demons with his ferocious appearance. This illustration is of a Pazuzu statue discovered in Iraq and currently on display in the Louvre.

The United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP) has operated in Antarctica since 1959, sending teams of scientists down south every Austral Summer to discover new information about the frozen continent. My grandfather was one-such explorer, and he worked in Antarctica throughout the early years of the 1960s. One of the greatest gifts I ever received was his old exploration parka, emblazoned with the logo of the USARP. The logo speaks of adventure, danger and exploration in the most isolated part of the world. Whenever you don one these exploration-inspired pieces of clothing or write in your USARP-styled notebook, you can celebrate the endeavour and the ingenuity of the brave men and women who have made Antarctica their home.

A rogues gallery of some of the greatest predators to have dwelt in our planet's oceans. Seeing how big and toothy life used to be makes one grateful that these creatures are not alive today... though there are those who would claim these monsters still lurk in our seas; it is not like anyone who encountered them would live to tell the tale after all...

Are you a big fan of Taylor Swift and also vintage sci-fi films, and want to show your appreciation for both in an under-stated sort of way? You are? What a very specific person you are, I thought I was the only one. Well this subtle homage to Taylor Swift's song 'Maroon' (from Midnights, 2022) and to the aesthetic of sci-fi film posters from the 1960s is just what you need!

Though less is known about the gladiatrices than their male counterparts, the gladiators, female combatants certainly made their mark in the fighting pits of the Roman Empire from the early Imperial Period until 200 AD. I have based this costume off the clothing of the Murmillo, a famous class of gladiator. Murmillones were famous for being tall and muscular, relying on their strength to overpower lightly-armed but more agile opponents. What little is known about gladiatrices suggests their armour looked no different to the men's. Though a female murmillo is only hypothetical until more archaeological research is done, this is my rendition of a class of warrior that must have existed in the days of the Roman Empire.

The Arabian Peninsula has been home to amazing cultures for thousands of years. From the Neolithic farmers, through the Dadani - the first-ever kingdom in Arabia - and including the Nabateans, who carved entire tomb cities from the rocks of the canyons. Why not buy a bit of merchandise that celebrates the ancient history of this beautiful region?

Anyone else want to start a DnD campaign where your character is based off a Taylor Swift lyric, or is that literally just me? The costumes coming out of the Eras tour are absolutely fantastic. One in particular reminded me a bit of a 1980s fantasy cartoon villain, so I expanded upon that, and here we are...

A Neo-Assyrian princess contemplates her unborn child in the 8th century BCE.

Pazuzu the demon is best-known today as the primary antagonist of the Exorcist franchise. He was not always so evil, however. In the 8th century BCE, in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Pazuzu, king of the demons and commander of wind and plague, was also the protector of pregnant and breastfeeding women. He watched over the homes of young families and warded off other demons with his ferocious appearance.

Some subjects of the Ottoman Sultan, gathered for a highly anachronistic group photo. The Ottoman Empire - which I am currently studying - was incredibly diverse, and I have tried to incorporate many of the different costumes and cultures of the Ottoman Empire - from Kurdish warrior to Bedouin nomad to Anatolian soldier - into this illustration.

Rongorongo is the script of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). More-famous for its megalithic Mo'ai heads, Rapa Nui has its share of Polynesian mysteries, and Rongorongo is one of the most enigmatic. The origins of these glyphs are unknown, and if it turns out that Rongorongo was a pre-colonial script, it would be one of the only independent inventions of writing in known human history, unseen elsewhere in the Pacific or South America. Only a handful of priests could ever read the glyphs, and most of these indigenous elite were killed in the Peruvian slaving raids of the 1800s and the subsequent disease epidemics that all but wiped out the indigenous islanders. The tragedy and the loss inflicted cannot be adequately comprehended.

When you're out on the Cretaceous veldt, foraging for your next meal or fighting off roving bands of chrono-bandits, never leave your makeshift shelter (the one made from your crashed time ship) without a 21st Century pistol, a full mag of hollow points, and your loyal, reptilian best friend (the one with the 12,800 PSI bite force).

This is the voice of the Mystorians! A tee-shirt paying homage to the weird history podcast of the same name, the imagery combines all the favourite themes of the Mystorians themselves: the as-yet undeciphered Rongorongo script of Rapa Nui (famous for it's equally mysterious Moai heads), the jade mask of the Olmec culture (the first Mezoamerican civilisation, who were as mysterious to the Aztecs and Maya as they are to us today), and a freaky carnivorous plant (based off a Venus Flytrap, but made a little more... man eating...). All represent the crossover between history and mystery and that is the zone where the Mystorians thrive.

In the cool waters of the Northern Atlantic, two predators stalk their prey, both oblivious of the other. The German Sea Wolf prowls Allied shipping lanes, searching for vessels bringing supplies to besieged Britain that it can sink. The young mosasaur harries Harbor Seal pups, developing the skills it will one day need to hunt whales, sharks, and maybe even those who pilot the submarines...

A hypothetical relic mosasaur, having survived 65 MYA since the K-Pg Extinction Event, hunts Harbor Seals off the Irish Coast. Could such a creature have survived so long without being noticed? Well, there are many witnesses who would say that these sea monsters have certainly been noticed, and continue to be spotted in oceans around the world!

A rogues gallery of some of the greatest predators to have dwelt in our planet's oceans. Seeing how big and toothy life used to be makes one grateful that these creatures are not alive today... though there are those who would claim these monsters still lurk in our seas; it is not like anyone who encountered them would live to tell the tale after all...

In 1915 Georg-Günther Freiherr von Forstner, commander of submarine U-28, saw something unusual off the Irish coast. Shortly after torpedoing the British steamer Iberian, something within the sinking vessel exploded. Along with debris from the doomed Iberian a gigantic marine creature was thrown skywards - an animal which the astounded German captain could only liken to a goliath crocodile, and something that sounds very-much like a prehistoric marine reptile such as the 20 meter-long pliosaur Kronosaurus, which was the wolf of the sea 99 million years before the U-Boat came along. Whether there is any truth in this supposed sighting of a prehistoric monster, it certainly captures the imagination and deserves a teeshirt. And so do you!

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale found in oceans across the world. They feed in polar regions, before migrating to the equator to breed, crossing half the length of the planet each year. From being critically endangered in the early 20th century, their numbers have gradually increased after most countries stopped whaling. Many are still killed each year, however, in collisions with ships and through entanglement in abandoned fishing line. Buy some whale merchandise to show your love and support for these incredible creatures!

In 1915 Georg-Günther Freiherr von Forstner, commander of submarine U-28, saw something unusual off the Irish coast. Shortly after torpedoing the British steamer Iberian, something within the sinking vessel exploded. Along with debris from the doomed Iberian a gigantic marine creature was thrown skywards - an animal which the astounded German captain could only liken to a goliath crocodile, and something that sounds very-much like a prehistoric marine reptile such as the 20 meter-long pliosaur Kronosaurus, which was the wolf of the sea 99 million years before the U-Boat came along. Whether there is any truth in this supposed sighting of a prehistoric monster, it certainly captures the imagination and deserves a teeshirt. And so do you!

In 1845 two of the most modern ships in the British Navy, the Terror and the Erebus, sailed north on a journey to seek the Northwest Passage. They carried a crew of 200 men under the command of Captains Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames, under the overall command of Sir John Franklin. They were last seen by whalers crossing Baffin Bay in good weather, all seeming well. They were never seen again. Recent marine archaeology, combined with the collection of indigenous Inuit oral histories, has pieced together the tragedy which befell these men. The two ships apparently became ice-bound off the coast of King William Island, and the entire crew succumbed to hypothermia, scurvy, lead poisoning, madness and cannibalism.

Though racism was as prevalent in Imperial Roman society as it is today (which is to say terribly so), the Empire was in theory built upon the precept of diversity with a caveat: all were equal, so long as it was under the banner of the Pax Romana. There were Libyan emperors with Syrian wives and Ethiopian army officers, some serving in places as distant from their Sub-Saharan homelands as north of Hadrian's Wall in Britannia. The written, archaeological and genetic evidence is extensive as to the broad multi-culturalism that was the Roman Empire.

The manta ray is a giant of the deep, with fearsome-looking horn-shaped cephalic fins around its mouth, which once saw this creature named the 'devil fish.' Sailors feared them and believed these alien-looking apparitions were capable of sinking boats by pulling down their anchors. But despite their strange appearance and the demonic connotations of their name, these winged chondrichthyans are entirely harmless, living exclusively off plankton - like many of the biggest creatures of the world's oceans, they live off the smallest. The patterning on the back of a manta ray is unique to that animal, and those painted here are all based off real manta rays currently swimming the world's oceans.

A Classical Grecian hoplite from the city of Argos, wearing a more plausible panoply than the Spartans of the film 300, breaks from the phalanx to deliver a mortal blow at the battle of the Hot Gates, 480 BC.

Adventure is out there! Never travel without some merchandise that truly captures the mid-20th century's spirit of adventure! This variant features a Dornier Wal seaplane - the same aircraft that Roald Amundsen flew in his unsuccessful attempt to reach to North Pole in 1925 and the unfortunate (and fictional) men of Miskatonic University flew to the Antarctic Mountains of Madness in 1930. I hope your adventures are more successful than those of these explorers!

Adventure is out there! Never travel without some merchandise that truly captures the mid-20th century's spirit of adventure! This variant features a Rohrbach Roland airliner. For the 1920s this aircraft, with its enclosed passenger lounge, bar with free-flowing alcohol and cigarette smoke heavy in the air, was how one traveled in style - be it for business, pleasure, or to search lost cities for relics of unnatural power. Grab your bullwhip and get aboard!

Adventure is out there! Never travel without some merchandise that truly captures the mid-20th century's spirit of adventure! This variant features a Junkers 52. Nicknamed the 'flying boxcar' by the Canadians, this plane was used to supply mining and forestry operations in the isolated interior of North America, landing on wheels, skis or floats if it had to. May this merchandise serve you as reliably as the plane served the intrepid frontiersmen of the Great White North!

I have used as inspiration for this painting the famous fossil of 'Big Mamma', an oviraptor unearthed in the Ukhaa Tolgod of the Gobi Desert, who died trying to protect her nest. Truly, these small bird-like dinosaurs are inspirations to us all. First described in 1923 by Roy Chapman Andrews, director of the New York Natural History Museum and real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, the name of this dinosaur literally means 'egg thief', as the fossilised animal was found close to a nest of prehistoric eggs. In the years since we have realised that these Mongolian dinosaurs were not thieves at all, and the eggs they were found lying upon were their own.

Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus was one of the largest predatory dinosaurs to have ever walked - or swam - the earth. Our perceptions of this huge reptile have changed numerous times since its discovery in 1912. Despite the original fossil being destroyed in the Second World War, we are beginning to piece this dinosaur back together. Recent discoveries have revealed that this Cretaceous terror may have been entirely aquatic. Using the latest discoveries as a guide, as well as skeletons of crocodiles and other modern aquatic reptiles, I have reconstructed the Spinosaurus here with its tiny limbs pressed to its side as it propels itself through the water with its wide oar-like tail.

Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus was one of the largest predatory dinosaurs to have ever walked - or swam - the earth. Our perceptions of this huge reptile have changed numerous times since its discovery in 1912. Despite the original fossil being destroyed in the Second World War, we are beginning to piece this dinosaur back together. Recent discoveries have revealed that this Cretaceous terror may have been entirely aquatic. Using the latest discoveries as a guide, as well as skeletons of crocodiles and other modern aquatic reptiles, I have reconstructed the Spinosaurus here with its tiny limbs pressed to its side as it propels itself through the water with its wide oar-like tail.