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Description
Morning Dew
~Tiny but fierce, this species lives inside plant stems during the heat of day but creeps out in the morning dew and foggy weather to prey on insects that feed on the leaves of their host plant.~

Tiny mermaid with a shiv. This is not a drill.

Not so much an actual environmental niche, but more of a "hey, it's water - what kind of mermaid could live here?) concept. There will be a few of those this month.

I designed the tail similar to a caterpillar body (and wanted the pose to mimic this), only instead having the sticky 'feet' all the way around her to help her stick to the plant. I know she's got a thorn shiv, but her actual weapon (and what she'd use to cut the hole in the stem to get through) is a bladed tail (yes, this is a blatant Andalite reference ). They prefer caterpillars due to the soft bodies but won't shy away from tackling armoured insects. Even when they're not hungry they'll still defend their host plant, so long as there's enough moisture in the air to sustain them from dew drop to dew drop. They can store a bit of food in the stem with them in case of dry weather spells, but for the most part they avoid living in areas with long dry spells anyway.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I feel like I drew too much background and not enough mermaid, but on the other hand it helps to show the scale: these things are TINY. There could be thousands in a patch of grass but you'd never know unless you're looking with a magnifying glass. (Think of that next time you mow the lawn. ) The background didn't turn out how I was hoping, but it's not terrible? I definitely prefer the scan over the physical version; there are a lot of different textures (flat ink wash, shiny white ink, waxy pencil crayon), and the scan gets rid of that distraction. I DEFINITELY wish I'd gone with a different colour scheme for her, but c'est la vie.

Done with Marabu aqua inks and Polychromos pencil crayons. Also some Speedball white ink throughout.

Description
Morning Dew
~Tiny but fierce, this species lives inside plant stems during the heat of day but creeps out in the morning dew and foggy weather to prey on insects that feed on the leaves of their host plant.~

Tiny mermaid with a shiv. This is not a drill.

Not so much an actual environmental niche, but more of a "hey, it's water - what kind of mermaid could live here?) concept. There will be a few of those this month.

I designed the tail similar to a caterpillar body (and wanted the pose to mimic this), only instead having the sticky 'feet' all the way around her to help her stick to the plant. I know she's got a thorn shiv, but her actual weapon (and what she'd use to cut the hole in the stem to get through) is a bladed tail (yes, this is a blatant Andalite reference ). They prefer caterpillars due to the soft bodies but won't shy away from tackling armoured insects. Even when they're not hungry they'll still defend their host plant, so long as there's enough moisture in the air to sustain them from dew drop to dew drop. They can store a bit of food in the stem with them in case of dry weather spells, but for the most part they avoid living in areas with long dry spells anyway.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I feel like I drew too much background and not enough mermaid, but on the other hand it helps to show the scale: these things are TINY. There could be thousands in a patch of grass but you'd never know unless you're looking with a magnifying glass. (Think of that next time you mow the lawn. ) The background didn't turn out how I was hoping, but it's not terrible? I definitely prefer the scan over the physical version; there are a lot of different textures (flat ink wash, shiny white ink, waxy pencil crayon), and the scan gets rid of that distraction. I DEFINITELY wish I'd gone with a different colour scheme for her, but c'est la vie.

Done with Marabu aqua inks and Polychromos pencil crayons. Also some Speedball white ink throughout.