Khalkha Wife

I'm studying costumes and cultures in order to improve my character design skills. This here lovely lady is a wealthy member of the Khalkha, a Mongolian people, wearing the traditional clothing of a wife. We know where Iain McCaig got his ideas for Queen Amidala's fancy costumes now, don't we?

Beatific Dragon Sketches

On ConceptArt.org there is an activity called Creature of the Week. As the name suggests, each week a new topic is given, and anyone registered to that site may post their own interpretation of the topic. This week's topic was Beatific Dragon. While jumping from article to article in Wikipedia, as I sometimes do, I came across the Mute Swan, and thought it would make a pretty sweet basis for a holy dragon design.
Here is what I've sketched for it so far.


In addition to swans, I also looked at some dinosaur and iguanid lizard reference. The iguanid reference doesn't really show in the design at all, but it is definitely quite dinosaurian. Someone has already commented that there's quite a bit of Oviraptor to its design.


After choosing which design I liked (which didn't take very long) and roughing in a color scheme, I drew it in the more interesting pose above. And that's as far as I've gotten. I tried a few backgrounds, but they weren't working, so for now there's just a blank white background. Because of schoolwork pressures (next week being finals week), I highly doubt I'll get this done in time for the Monday deadline, but I do intend to finish it. I've found digital painting to be somewhat awkward recently, though, so what I think I'll do is finish a large paper drawing, photograph it, and then colorize it digitally. Or something like that. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day

Parent

As far as personal art goes, this hasn't been a very productive week for me. Here's a little sketch I played with in Photoshop, anyways.

Though you may not realize is by looking at her, this alien is about to give birth. The Gkaz are a strange species in that their lungs double as wombs, for they reproduce by inhaling spores. If fertilization successfully occurs, the zygote will implant itself inside one of its parent's external gas bladders, which will then harden and fill with nourishing amniotic fluids. The individual pictures is unlucky in that her offspring chose to gestate in one of her lateral bladders, rather than the central one; the resulting weight imbalance is a leading cause of lower back pain among the Gkaz. After a comparatively short gestation period of only six weeks, the bladder with rupture, and the infant Gkaz, usually twins, will enter the world. Subsequently, one of the twins must be given away to be raised outside of the family. This is one of the most sacred traditions of the Gkaz, and is in fact wired into their very genes. Many Gkaz are born infertile, and this sharing of offspring proved to be a useful way to share parenting duties and reinforce social connections.
Besides of their strange reproductive habits, there are many more interesting facts about the Gkaz. Their eyes are arranged vertically, rather than horizontally, but still are able to achieve binocular vision. Their efficient respiratory systems, consisting of numerous internal lungs and external gas bladders, allow Gkaz to breath in virtually any atmosphere, as well as hold their breath a lot longer that you can. They communicate via whistling through the many nostrils on their heads. Their hands are actually modified mouths, the "fingers" highly-evolved teeth. They can spit digestive juices out of their hands in self defense, or to show extreme disgust, or even to insult. The mouths on their other limbs have atrophied, and now serve no purpose other than being feet.

I may update this image with some accessories and/or clothing, since this is an intelligent species. I may not, though.

Manticore composition tests

For the past few weeks, I've had the idea of a Manticore in my head, as part of the same universe as my gunslinger magician a few posts down. I finally sketched out a satisfactory version of my Manticore this evening, and I'm now testing out how it should fit into its environment. I have a few basic thumbnails here. The landscape will be based on Theodore Roosevelt National Park.


First thumbnail, very basic. This creature is part of a short story that I'm writing, so elements from that story (an animal skull, and a torn up blanket) will be arranged somehow in the foreground.


This second thumbnail is the same, but the badlands in the background have been moved higher. I prefer the first version, since its flatter landscape is a better match for how I imagine this creature's environment. The human skull in the foreground will also be done away with; too trite, and inappropriate for the story that I'm telling.


A bit more of a drastic change here. The main Manticore has been moved to the right, and a second one, along with some rocky forms, have been added to a shadowy area on the left. I don't like this option. The image works better with a lone Manticore, I think, surveying its vast, bleak territory.
So, I like the first thumb best. I fear that it might not be interesting enough, though. It's a very basic composition, after all.
Input on this would be awesome, those few of you who look at this blog.

Alien scholar

A young Carisapiens, lost in a book. We encountered this fellow in the Ring library. He was shy at first, but we had never had the chance to speak with a Carisapiens before, so I confess that we pressed him until he overcame his reticence.
From the rather smooth texture of his cephalocarapace we can tell that he is fairly young, perhaps between thirty and forty eyears (Earth-years) old, and from the developing roles of fat on his waist we can tell that he is male. Mature males need plenty of extra body fat to provide nourishment for their parasitic young. As with all Carisapiens, one of his arms is shorter than the other, a relic of their evolutionary past, in which one of their arms was oversized and used for dominance battles. He wears a brace on this arm, we learned, due to a sports-related injury. He cradles a human-style book in his hands, and with both eyes fixed on opposite pages, he reads both pages simultaneously. He told us that Carisapiens find human-language books irritating, as they are designed to be read only one page at a time. We questioned him about his cap, and he told is that it designated him as a member of the scholarly caste of his race. This of course interested us greatly, but he had difficulty explaining the nature of his studies in our language, so our curiosity went mostly unsatisfied in that subject, I'm afraid. Despite this, we greatly enjoyed meeting him, and promptly invited him to dinner. Luckily, his eating cycles coincided with ours, as did his taste. We had a delicious meal of pineapple juice, seaweed, and guinea pig at the Ring cafe. Before we parted ways, he allowed us to take this holoprint of him.
Charming lad, once we got to know him. I hope we meet him again sometime, but considering the size and layout of the Ring, it is quite unlikely. Shame, but M'Sshaila and I always meet someone new and interesting when we go out. Why, about a quarter-revolution ago we even met an old-style human! Now that's an interesting story! I'll pour us some pineapple juice and tell you about it.

***

A fairly quick and loose sketch, done in pencil then colorized and rendered in Photoshop. It was quite fun to do. I'm making a conscious effort to include more artifacts and accessories when I draw intelligent creatures, rather than just having them be naked animals.

Gunslinger magician concepts

A world is slowly taking shape in my head. It began with the Sonagama, and was fleshed out in the Shadow, and has taken further shape in a short story that I'm working on. In this world, magic exists, but unlike so many fantasy and sword-and-sorcery type worlds, it exists as a natural, observable phenomenon, and is the subject of scientific study. Many animals have evolved magical adaptations. I am attaching a "magic world" label to each of my posts that deal with this imagined universe.

Now, to this concept, the first human character that I've drawn for this world. As in our world, Europeans colonized North America, and in doing so nearly wiped out the indigenous cultures. This man is a descendant of one of those cultures, living in the "Old West" period of this world, and has undertaken a one-man campaign of vengeance. He practices an art called Guncraft, which combines firearms with Vocal powers (as magic is typically called in this world), and is feared far and wide for his deadliness. He wears the traditional garb of a warrior/shaman/chieftain, with the skulls and jawbones of his ancestors tied to the thick hair of his headdress. Potent war chants are stitched into his clothing. The skulls of his spirit animals hang from loops, guiding him on his way.

The right sketch is the one I did first, and is very exploratory. Virtually none of the elements of this version of his design will remain unchanged. While drawing him, I got the idea of having one or more cloth ribbons spiraling down his legs. I think it's a cool idea, but it would be tremendously impractical in practice (tripping over danging bits of your costume tends to go against the desired frightening effect). So, I'll keep the ribbon, but have it tied loosely around his waist. It is on this ribbon that his "potent war chants" are stitched.
The left sketch is a refined version, but by no means the final design. I really like the designs of the guns, but their ornamental spiral designs are rather cliched, and I don't know if they are consistent with the rest of his design, which is more Native American in theme. Hanging animal skulls from the barrels of his guns is impractical, so those will have to go somewhere else. I like the square, hanging poncho, but I may reduce it in size.

I will explore this design further in future sketches.

Also, my buddy Metal Snail has just started a blog. Check it out!

Narakan Snapper Field Sketches

Here are some more sketches of the group of alien creatures I call Arthrognathans ("jointed jaws"). This shows various species, as well as parts of the Arthrognathan mating ritual and life cycle.
To read more in depth about these creatures, go here.