Illustration

[Lester Curtis]

A sketch of one of my main-character-species aliens . . . now I need to work on these some more . . . lemme know what you think.

[Robert_Moriyama]

Hmm. The eye positioning / direction of gaze indicates binocular vision -- i.e., depth perception, found in primates and predators on Earth. The nose is a bit beak-like (in fact, the shape of the head looks bird-like), but I can't tell if it would be an actual beak, or just the lip overhanging a mouth with teeth or other tearing / grinding apparatus. Ears look like they could be swiveled / tilted for scanning / location of sound sources.

Can't tell anything about the body -- biped, quadruped, hexaped?

Have you worked out a full "bestiary"-type description?

[Lester Curtis]

She needs more detail -- the fur, in particular, though this example may be a short-hair. The adult males have a narrow, stiff mane, a bit like that of a zebra. Fur length and color are variable, as are size and build.

Species name is Eesah. Here's the description -- this is the entire first chapter of the story:


MINUS THREE MONTHS

The man called Sammy straightened the limp body of the unconscious alien and began his examination. "Okay, let's see what we got here . . . " He clipped a recorder to his shirt collar. "Subject, uh . . . " he looked around the hindquarters, lifted the tail, then a leg. "Female. Mammalian, bipedal, digitigrade, fur-bearing . . . bilaterally symmetric, two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, all the same shit we got two of . . . one bushy tail, very long, thick at the root. Seems to have a really deep pelvis . . . with a pronounced keel. Mmm, two mammary glands, small, located -- below the navel, I'm guessing." He brushed back her coat. "Fur is long and silky, with a thick undercoat, nice for the chilly climate -- reddish in color on back and sides, kinda tan on the belly and most of the face -- dark brown above the eyes and over the top of the head." Prying an eyelid up, "Eyes -- green. Yellow. Yellow-green. Kinda cute for a -- whatever it is." He fished a tape measure from his pocket and stretched it out. "Length, ah, one hundred forty-two centimeters. Weight . . . hey, you guys bring the scale?"

The pilot snorted. "No. You think we got room in here for everything?"

"Well, Roy, you got your ego through the hatch . . . aaah, I'll just guess at it -- weight is, say, forty-five kilos, give or take, she's a little plump."

The copilot said, "You're s'posed to call it 'it,' not 'she.' "

"Well, that works fine for you, Red, since you don't know what a female of any species looks like anyway . . . "

"Ha . . . ha."

"Yeah. Uh, what else . . . feet -- four toes each, first and fourth are notably shorter than the other two -- like a dog's, pretty much, but on the large side . . . heavy, blunt claws . . . a little webbing between the toes. Umm, looks like a rudimentary heel pad on the hocks. Hands -- three fingers, one thumb, located same as ours -- slightly leathery skin on the palms and -- callused, if I'm not mistaken; looks like our girl did some work. Fingers are long and fine. Nails, curved, not too thick, extending slightly beyond the fingertips . . . looks like they may have been trimmed."

"Sammy, you really suck at that, y'know?"

"Yeah, well, I took art classes, not medical -- whatever. The Colonel just wanted a physical description, and I got the job. Now, where was I . . . ribcage, rather deep and narrow . . . shoulders are narrow; not prominent, and slightly forward on the body. Mm, no backpack for you, honey, it'd slide right off . . . fairly long arms, slender wrists. Ehh, she's got a scrape on her left elbow." He swabbed the wound with an alcohol pad, followed by ointment.

"Head . . . longish . . . uh, binocular vision . . . ears are pointed and erect, not too prominent, maybe about six centimeters above the top of the head . . . mmm, not much of a forehead, but I suspect a reasonable cranial volume. Mild facial notch . . . uh, the muzzle slopes down in a bit of a curve forward of the eyes -- mouth is somewhat V-shaped at the front. The line of the jaw is curved down . . . Nostrils . . . uh, inverted L-shape, no nose leather. The lips close, but they're a little thin . . . " He pried them open on one side. "Teeth . . . uh, some blunt ones in the back -- molars, I guess -- canines, fairly sharp but not too long -- smaller teeth at the front, uppers only slightly larger than lowers. All slightly yellowish, look like they're in decent shape. Gums are pink, with a few dark spots that I take to be normal coloring." Opening the jaw farther, "Tongue . . . slightly narrow, pink, a little thin, looks like it has taste buds on it."

He pocketed the tape measure and picked up a handheld medical scanner. "Now, to the inside . . . see whatcha got here . . . pulse, eighty-eight -- it's got a funny sort of an echo, though, maybe some extra chambers in there. Respiration thirty-three, temperature, thirty-eight. Mmm, internal organs, yeah, they're in there . . . don't know what they are, but they're in there . . . heart, lungs, digestive system, some other stuff -- waitaminute, what's this? Wha, hooo -- hey, guys, we got a bonus! I though she looked funny; it's 'cause she's preggers! Man, the Colonel is gonna be so happy, he won't even shoot us for bein' late!"

"What?"

"A twofer?"

"Fuckin'-A hamburger, I got two heartbeats! Hang on here, lemme see if I can dial this in . . . aaaah, if my eyes don't deceive me, I think it's a boy. Congratulations, Roy, whattaya gonna name him?"

"I think 'Sammy' has a nice ring to it . . . "

Sammy laughed. "You bastard . . . all right, enough of this shit." He pulled the recorder off and dropped it in his pocket. "Red, come help me get her in the cage."

"What, you can't do that by yourself?'

Sammy's voice turned frosty. "Red, the Colonel said, 'handle with care,' and if we put any scratches or dents in this used model, he'll be makin' a pair of boots out of our asses. Now, move it."

"All right, all right . . . " Red came aft.

"Okay, make sure you got a good grip . . . watch your step . . . easy, now, slide her in there . . . good." Sammy tucked the tail in and then closed the cage door and padlocked it, then covered the cage with a small tarp.

"All right. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna grab a snack and hit the rack." He rummaged in a carton of assorted ration bars. "Dammit, I don't know why they give these things different names; they all taste like cardboard . . . "

"Yeah, except for the ones that taste like sawdust . . . "

"Or shit . . . "

Sammy unwrapped one, chewed and swallowed a bite. "I'll tell you what -- next time I go to qualify, I'm takin' a case of these to the range for targets, and I'm gonna shoot every goddamn last one of 'em."

[Lester Curtis]

And now, the colorized version . . . let me know if you like it better. I know, I need to figure out a better way to render fur.

[Robert_Moriyama]

And now, the colorized version . . . let me know if you like it better. I know, I need to figure out a better way to render fur.

Rendering, rendering ... um, place in large cauldron of boiling water, and ... no, that's whale blubber. Are you drawing by hand and scanning the image, or using a paint or illustrator program?

[Lester Curtis]

Done by hand, Robert. First with a mechanical pencil (PaperMate Titanium 0.5mm -- which has THE best eraser I've ever seen) -- followed by Derwent watercolor pencil, which is what I just happened to have handy.

I did hit the "Enhance" button in iPhoto while I was doing a file change from .tiff to .jpg -- it seemed to make the colors a bit more rich.

I think the one thing I could have done to most improve the color image would have been to erase the outlines of most of the head and neck before putting the color on. Too late for that on the original, but I might toy with a printout. I need to start working on the rest of the body, though.

I do have a truly delightful computer art program, called Scribbles, and I've thought about working in that, but I'm usually too clumsy with the mouse. I have a set of oil pastels which would give me much better colors, but I'd have to work up the nerve to make the drawings quite a bit larger.

[Robert_Moriyama]

You might consider investing in a graphics tablet...

The fantasy comic strip "Pibgorn" is done entirely on a computer and it features a quite impressive blend of line-drawing and painted effects, so anything is possible.

[Lester Curtis]

You might consider investing in a graphics tablet...

The fantasy comic strip "Pibgorn" is done entirely on a computer and it features a quite impressive blend of line-drawing and painted effects, so anything is possible.

I did think about a graphics tablet . . . I don't draw often enough to excuse one, and definitely don't have the space for it on or near my desk.

I went and looked up "Pibgorn" . . . I recognized the style from "9 Chickweed Lane." He likes to drop in those gradient backgrounds. Scribbles has no such conveniences, (it won't even draw circles) but it does do this, among other things:

mntn lake small.jpg (12.45 KiB) Viewed 9978 times

Very flexible and expressive in its way.

I spent a little time with my oil pastels a couple hours ago . . . decided to put them away and go back to pencils.

[Lester Curtis]

"It's so cute, let's make it a pet!".

Funny you should say that, Tao . . . in the story, this species becomes the object of a slaving operation, and one of the end-markets is the illegal pet trade.

This is not the only alien species inhabiting my universe, and they aren't all this cute. For that matter, not all the members of this species are, either. But the aesthetic appeal is deliberate. Hell, they even smell nice (to humans, anyway). So, thanks.

[Lester Curtis]

Forget about the alien authenticity...it's cute! It gets a pass from 95% of the readers and future viewers of the sci fi show it will be on!

Thank you, Mark! It's nice to know I have fans -- even if Tao isn't one of 'em! He shouldn't judge a book by its illustration, though -- or even its first chapter. The story isn't about being cute.

[Megawatts]

It's a nice creature at first glance, and very interesting because it appears as a motley being centered around creatures past and present on Earth. Its tones are domestic--pet like and friendly-- its expression is sincere, and its eyes radiate a natural intelligence that one could interpret as indigenous to an alien world.

We don’t know yet what aliens will look like---but I’m sure we will in the not too distant future---and you picture is a very good attempt at capturing one using imagination based on observation. That is all we can do about alien features now.

I like it!

[Megawatts]

It's a nice creature at first glance, and very interesting because it appears as a motley being centered around creatures past and present on Earth. Its tones are domestic--pet like and friendly-- its expression is sincere, and its eyes radiate a natural intelligence that one could interpret as indigenous to an alien world.

We don’t know yet what aliens will look like---but I’m sure we will in the not too distant future---and your picture is a very good attempt at capturing one using imagination based on observation. That is all we can do about alien features now.

I like it!

[Lester Curtis]

Just FYI, for those who may have missed it in my second post above -- this is a female. She came out looking cute by way of a couple of unplanned, accidental pencil strokes. I'm actually thinking she's too cute. Not sure how to fix that; I have to work on other things, like drawing the rest of the body, and then learning to show it from other angles.

It's just a break from typing on the story, anyway.

[Lester Curtis]

So is "Ketenn" the character name or the species name?

And is she related to the Emperor?

No relation to the Emperor . . . the species name is Eesah. Ketenn is her given name; it means "snow-flower."

[Lester Curtis]

Thank you, Sergio . . . as much of this kind of stuff as you look at, your opinion matters!