Mythical beasts appear in many forms across multiple cultures throughout human history. Their narratives and visual designs express important beliefs and desires of a given culture. By focusing on the aesthetics and history of the nine-tailed fox, a Chinese mythological, this thesis will explore the constructions and artistic techniques that have given shape to the myth. This thesis will also discuss my thesis project named Classic of Mountains and Seas. The ultimate aim of my creative project has been to develop an animation of new mythical beasts, and this paper situates my creations within the much broader history that has inspired them.

As a classic mythical beast, the nine-tailed fox is a popular and culturally significant one in East Asian art and literature. Through out the ages, the nine-tailed fox has been depicted in a large number of artworks across a wide variety of media, including painting, sculpture, fabric, and crafts. Additionally, there is a rich archive of records about the nine-tailed fox, indicating how pervasive this figure has been throughout history. It is precisely because of how its popularity and power have been maintained over such a long period of time that the nine-tailed fox will be regarded as an important reference for my own artistic practice as an animator.