Sunday, September 4, 2011

Creature Parade #7

Hello friends!  I guess it's about time for some more creatures.  These are a few I've finished somewhat recently.  I wanted to start thinking more outside the box with some of these.  I can only hope that they continue to get more obtuse while remaining interesting.  Perhaps more obtuse simply equals interesting, but I suppose that's up to the eye of the beholder.

This first I've named Noxia Luna.  It tends to be a rather noctural creature.  I was thinking about photosynthesis and wondered if moonlight could also be a source of energy.  I suppose the light we see from the moon comes from the sun anyway, yet its easy for one to think that the light is radiating from the moon.  I decided that it might live near the ocean where it can sense changes in the tides ergo the cycles of the moon.  It uses its tongue and antennae to sense these changes in the tides.  They float in the air and as they absorb energy it causes them to emit a blue glow like a lightning bug at night (only its a constant rather than a flicker).  Needless to say it can be a beautiful sight to see a few together at night.



Next we have Avia Lymantriidae.  This one came from considering the camouflage that some caterpillars rely on for protection.  In this case the caterpillar has completely taken this decoration to another level.  Yet I haven't abandoned the idea that this creature could also be a blend of both bird and caterpillar.  I didn't really consider that it might eventually become a butterfly or moth, but I will imagine that later.  Maybe it doesn't go through a change, I don't know.  It spends much of its time up in trees eating leaves.


Another idea I was pondering was the merging of nature with technology.  Technology after all mimics nature in many ways, so perhaps at some point the reverse might happen.  Biomechanical creatures are nothing new but this is my first take on that notion.  I decided that the most "mechanical" of creature in nature probably come from the insect world (ants, bees, locust, etc...).  The creature above I've simply named Locusta Mecha at this point.  It moves in a hopping fashion similar to a locust.  Inside the lip of the head are rows of teeth that it uses to punctures the side of a tree or other plants.  That is how it feeds. And it's feet help it cling to most surfaces.



Next is a creature that is perhaps a little more simple in terms of concept, but maybe not.  I actually saw something like this in a dream.  I was dying in the dream, and lying on the ground.  As I was lying there scared and alone I saw a few of these Spirit Worms approach.  They move like a worm might but while floating in the air.  They had human faces with gentle expressions.  They also glowed.    It was comforting and they calmed my fear.  Then they covered me in a cocoon and that's all I can remember.  I suppose this creature is more celestial in nature.  Moving between worlds.  Gathering the dead and preparing them for transport.


The final creature in this collection is perhaps the strangest yet.  I call it Tachliomera Omega.  I started wanting to create a creature that is a combination of creatures-a chimera.  In this case it would be a creature that appears fairly straight forward (the hooved creature at the base), but when it wanted to feed it would spew out a collection of other creatures.  I had an idea that the creatures were determined by what was in the mothers stomach during the first months of gestation, the DNA being absorbed by the fetus.  But I thought that could get really complicated, so for now its just what you see here.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope to post another soon.  Thank you for being interested and I hope you continue to enjoy.