The 20-Year Quest for Uyné's Color Palette

 Okay, okay--18 years, not 20. I've been drawing Uyné since 2006. I never thought it would take me so long to settle on its coloration! I gave it mandrill-like facial markings around 2010; the rest of its body was a mystery.

UNTIL NOW!! :D

Uyné's skin is covered in chromatophores; think chameleon or squid! It has a dense, translucent coat of fur, keeping color shifts visible. Its upper lip can fold over its jaw like a gelada baboon's.

 

The new and improved Uyné compared to last year's study.

Uyné's nicknames include The Mouth / Maw and The Devourer of Wrongful Souls; its full name, Uyné'Zhat-no-ej'Mophest, means "One Feared for its Mouth." With its newfound coloration, a new name sparked my imagination: The Sunsetter.

The Mouth takes no pride in its designation as Soul Devourer. Ages ago, it attacked and killed one of its siblings, maimed another; Tretzanis had poisoned it, thinking The Mouth could destroy all of its siblings. With the Faélbè--"The Five" lesser gods--gone, Tretzanis could assume power over his own siblings and sow chaos in their absence. He would have succeeded had Uyné not torn his throat.

Ezthlitofett--a vigilante--stepped in to stop The Mouth from harming anyone else. A lengthy chase and fierce battle ensued. Ez managed to strike The Mouth across the neck with his sword, negating the effects of Tretzanis' poison. As the poison wore off, Uyné, horrorstruck, beseeched Ez to kill it. Ez refused, talking the godling down instead.

With time, they become intimate. It's not a physical relationship until years later. Ez teaches Uyné the Common Tongue (like Esperanto or some kind of pidgin); Uyné offers Ez gentle paralytic bites to ease his chronic pain.

I love them. ;__;

Uyné shares an intimate relationship with Ezthlitofett. <3

(this is facing the right direction!)

I used my little Uyné puppet to keep its proportions consistent.

(this draft made from an older drawing)

Once these lovebirds are properly drafted, I wanna go to town with my markers. I had never attempted stippling with them until this color study! Chromatophores, here I come!!

It's nice to visit my fantasy babies again. Brainsick gets the bulk of my attention, but Fáèlborn is equally precious to me.

TL;DR lololol long time no post :U

January 2017 sketchbook / Creatuanary art!

Sculpey kitty-dog I ended up giving to Mom!  

Day 1: Harpy (Grizelle, from Paradigm Chimera)

Day 2: Hippocampus (whale-based!)

Interlude: Oaxacan Honeybee for my friend, Elsa! It was actually a gift for her beekeeper friends; they give her honey throughout the year. She told me they loved it! 

Final details added with colored pencil.

Visited Mom's work after hanging out with Elsa. Mom has a bunch of my early Sculpey figurines at her cubicle. :D

Finch and I contemplate the meaning of being 29.

Day 3: Stirge (mosquito-bat hybrid from Dungeons and Dragons)

Day 4: Chimera

Day 5: Lamia

Day 6: Hydra

Day 7: Tzika

Day 8: Gryphon (Silverclaw, from Legacy [working title])

Day 9: Mutated T-rex

Sir John Hurt passed away on January 25th. Three of his films had immeasurable impact on me as an artist and person: Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, and The Elephant Man. I drew Hazel, Snitter, and Joseph "John" Merrick, respectively, to represent each film.

Musky, my faithful Smilodon model.

Day 10: Manticore (based off of Musky)

Mass catch-up strikes again!

I jumped on the Creatuanary train a little late. I completed only 10 of 31 prompts, but it was still needed practice! The early months of any given year are when I'm at my most fickle. I like having different things to do, even when I try to complete a drawing challenge.

30 Day (Personal) Monster Girl Challenge (December 2016)

Tiny announcement drawing of my Paradigm Chimera harpy, now named Grizelle.

I love working from printed reference.

I never finished outlining Grizelle's face - oops!

Older sketchbook work and Skully used as reference for Tourniquet.

2006 illustration (framed) and older sketches as reference.

Partial reference for my Moraunx warrior, Plybestra.

I used my Schleich Therizinosaurus toy to help me draw Atriaph's face.

Hurray for different body types! Shika Noriah (left) and Cobra Venom (right) are a couple.

Gavabu (left) and Gesarke (right) are rivals of sorts.

Nique (left) and her daughter Ceruliko (right) have been with me since the early 2000s.

First piece of fan art for the challenge: Demona from Gargoyles! 

More fan art: Lying Cat from Saga.

Hello, 2017. It's about time I started blogging again!

Starting off with some backlogged 30 Day (Personal) Monster Girl Challenge posts. I shared most of them to my Instagram, but I've included some extra progress shots. I certainly kept myself busy during December! I began at home and finished while visiting my family in California.

This was the perfect opportunity to explore my characters' appearances and stories, and to include some fun creature studies and fan art.