I'm reading a China Mieville novel at the moment - full of descriptions of horrible yet wonderful "Remades" (people physiologically combined with animals in a factory, as a punishment - and then used as slaves).
And it set me to thinking....

I am ultimately working towards reproducing work from the Mira Calligraphae Monumenta, which presents the Gothic and Italic scripts and illuminations/illustrations of fruit and insects.

but what if I were to create my own creatures? My own grotesqueries? I don't mean normal sorts of 'monsters', but actual grotesqueries - each one unique, and consisting of elements of man and beast (and insect) combined together?

That certainly appeals to my tastes, and gives me more design/creative outlet.
And it will be my own unique work.

My brain must have been building up to this - I've been thinking lately how good it would be if there was a book that was a collection of grotesques to look at. They are only 'cartoons' that were produced as one-offs in the margins of gothic mss, but they are so popular and appealing - and so many different styles, even just in (what .... 1300 - 1500?) - never mind all the other creatures imagined up over the centuries that would fit the description of an amalgamated creature.
Maybe I'd do the anthology myself ... along the way. It gives me a good excuse to collect pictures of grotesques, anyway.