"Cricket"

"So here's a little alien concept for you! I love designing non-bipedal or invertebrate body plans for sentient species. There are a few things you've gotta have if you want a sentient species: senses, the ability to move around in the environment efficiency, a way to manipulate its environment with precision, a large brain (or brain-like thing) and a thing that protects that, and a way to communicate with other species. Now, human bodies can do all that in ways we're familiar with, but how could another species do that? That's what I like to think about and figure out. It's like a puzzle!

Anyway, this critter (who I'm calling Cricket) is based more off of starfish and slugs. They're normally quadrupeds, but can stand up on two legs (or three, if they use their tail as another limb, which they often do). Those antennae up there are for smelling, which these guys do very well, and they can secrete a substance from their tongue that encourages cell growth! How 'bout that. (That last bit might be less than scientifically accurate, but hey, it's cool.)

Forgive the somewhat sketchy line-art in this one, it started out as a sketch and wasn't meant to be colored or shaded. By the time I got to coloring it, I really didn't feel like redrawing the lines to be neater. Or fixing the color overflow. Luckily, since her colors are so light, it's sorta hard to see. But it's there."

 - 2016 Brennan


For the record, I still love doing this.