CRYPTOLINK: Mystical creatures star on tourism posters

LA artist Fernando Riza has created travel posters like this one, inviting tourists to check out mythical creatures all over the world. Picture: Fernando Riza

IF REGULAR, touristy sight-seeing isn't your thing, then these posters might just entice you.

Los Angeles-based artist Fernando Reza has produced these whimsical, retro-style travel posters enticing travellers to seek out some of the world's most-talked about mythical creatures.

Featuring Big Foot, the alligators of New York's sewers and the Loch Ness monster, Reza says the photos were born of his childhood fascination with these mystical stories.

"As a kid I was pretty fascinated by urban legends and mythic beasts," he said. "I think most kids are. "Specifically, I loved the feeling that anything could be out there. Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, they made the world feel really big, and mysterious. When you grow up that feeling becomes a bit harder to tap into."

Reza says he used the style of old-world travel posters to capture that feeling of emotion and excitement.
"I thought a good way to capture that would be through the aesthetic of old travel posters that were made specifically to give that feeling to people, that the world is big and exciting," he says.

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The legendary chubacabra is rumoured to live in parts of the Americas, and English children have been told for generations that fairies live at the bottom of their gardens.

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