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povorot β Painting with Markers
Published: 2009-11-22 18:17:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 42592; Favourites: 696; Downloads: 0
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Description
Some color and concept tests I did with my prismacolors. The idea is that these ten-foot-tall giants communicate like humboldt squid or other cephalopods, using a complex system of specialized chromatophores. Their ancestors originally would have used this feature for camouflage, but these sophonts have specialized this system into something used strictly for communication.The three small examples are meant to be examples of varying stages of social stimulation, going from high-stress/combat at the top to strict formality at the bottom. I also included a coloured sketch of an alien brave in woven armor, because I've been working on the design for a while, and I really liked it.
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Comments: 60
This is so cool, I love this kind of alien concept. It's super refreshing to see an alien something that's not humanoid in any way, but doesn't seem to be the stereotypical "non-human alien villains" (if you know what I mean?). He's just a crab alien who's having fun with his human friend, haha.
Really excellent work on this
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holy shit, this is one of THOSE alien designs that just works, amazing job, you should draw more of these bois
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Β Cool. Are they posing together in front of the camera?Β
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I love this alien concept. It seems very plausible. Evolved from some kind of radially symmetric crab on a low gravity world. Also I love your coloring.Β
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Thanks so much! I think there are some other sketches from that planet in my deviantart - some of said radial crabs
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By a strange coincidence, I have been working on a story for the past 3 or 4 years with aliens surprisingly similar in design to these guys even down to the camouflage turned language and the radial symmetry. They do have differences such as mine being more squat, being quadrisymmetric, having 4 fingers on their hands and 4 toes on feet, a differently positioned mouth, differently positioned ears, as well as a few more eyes not on stalks. But other than those they are VERY similar. (I guess great minds think alike!)
So I was wondering if, while I continue with my world-building, if it would be alright if I could take a few notes from the way you made your Amphorans here, such as the legs and arms being in a single ring around the body except the legs naturally point down and the arms naturally point more up, among other things.
You are an amazing artist btw. I only have a mental picture of my creatures. I once tried drawing them, but it was hideous.
Thank you for any feedback.
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alien reminds me of the hexa-symmetrical martians in that one alternate history novel
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I remember seeing the anatomy detail some time ago, tbh I imagined the amphorans as teeny-tiny.
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I'm trying to get better with my prismacolor pencils. But using the word better suggests that it's acceptable already...
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Wonderfully alien, this creature would feel right at home in H. P. Lovecraft's beastiary.Β
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Incredible visualization and a well thought-out concept. I'm digging it!
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Thanks man - one day these guys will star in their own story, i'm sure of it. As soon as I'm smart enough to write from the point of view of a radially symmetrical hunter gatherer...
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Haha, I'm having a hard time even picturing what the world would look like to them!
Do you ever try to draw or write from your creatures' point of view or do you usually do third person descriptions?
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I really like this concept, and your marker technique. The idea of sentient extraterrestrial species communicating with chromatophores similar to Earth Cephalopods is a really cool idea.
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There's a book called Mother of Demons by Eric Flint with this exact scenario.
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I read up on Eric Flint's Mother of Demons; it sounds quite similar, I agree, but I still really appreciate ~povorot 's artwork and the concept overall. Thank you for the info, though; I'm trying to find a usable link to download the ebook now.
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I love the idea of communication via sight rather than sound. I've wondered a few times if that is what squids or octopi would do if they evolve further. Great work!
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These are the greatest aliens I've ever seen. The ingenuity and creativity in their design is amazing. They look truly alien. I wish I could delete the space of memory for "Avatar" and replace it with a feature length film on the Amphoran species/world, because that would truly be an extraterrestrial experience.
Great stuff.
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How would you react if it turned out that there really was an actual alien out there EXACTLY like the Anphorans you designed here? Because I seriously think it's possible!
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you know what your lucky you can draw people because i shure as hell cant. i can only draw creapy alien things or machines
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Wow! This is the most original intelligent alien I've seen yet! Amazing! Now this is what I call imagination!
It's sad to see how the sci-fi scene is dominated by Human look alikes when it comes to alien species.
I'd guess that this guy'd be a member of some less developed ethnic group, considering he still runs around with spear and arrows (I take it that pouch or basket on his back are arrows), or is his entire species at roughly the same technological level? Also, I take he uses body language in combination with this colour-based form of communication, or?
Again, real good word! You ought to win an award for this.
Instant favourite!
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Because not being able to retract those things would be very dangerous and would not create a stable all-around view.
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Would a covert group of these get really pissed off as they insulted each other in order to camouflage?
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a wild idea: they can have a ideographic or "cromographic" script, for example, they go white when are in combat mode/rage, a ideogram meaning "white" also means "rage" depending of the context,and with added modifiers(dots?)representing the arm-color wording, then are all the tenses and derivations of the ideogram. Other meanings could be added if the ideograms are inked on determinated hues or colors, the species is very good in color discrimination.
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That's actually pretty brilliant. I might just try and work that in, man... thanks.
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I would suggest the main body coloration shows emotional states, while the arm tonalities express words or subtle emotions. In that case, an armor hiding almost all the"trunk" could be advantageous in combat, is not good to show your emotional changes/fear while you are in a melee combat...
Also depend, how adept is this species to singular combats-Iliad-style between champions?
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Yeah, keeping up a good poker-face. I haven't really figured out the culture of these guys yet - I'm just using them to test out different ideas about alien communication. You're a big help, too.
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Cool concept, I'd been thinking about doing something similar myself (though not quite as alien). I love the woven armor!
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Has this warrior taken the eye stalks of killed enemies as trophies?
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Oh yeah. Said eyestalks are also tied onto the warrior's spear, near the blade, to show how many enemies he's slain.
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I really like how this species is developing. personally I'm a fan of Humanoid-Esque Sapient Species, only because it seems, in my mind, that sort of body is generally a more sapience friendly form, but I love seeing others ideas for none humanoid sapient's. You have any plans as to how they converse with other species such as Humans? and any plans to develop them to later stages of Civilisation, I've always been fascinated as to how people portray the Civilisation stages between Hunter Gatherer and Space-Faring.
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Well, I'm working on a few small stories touching on just that - the interaction between human and non-human intelligences, and how non-humans might take advantage of the technology human invaders might bring with them.
Generally, I'm much more intrigued by the non-humanoid alien, as I think it's much more plausible then a human-like form. But it's all make-believe, so I suppose it doesn't matter...
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Awesome, awesome, and then some more awesome after that! I love this so much. The armor/accessory design and the color variations are great.
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Perhaps warriors develop some kind of shorthand or even their own language using just the color patterns on their legs?
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Yeah - I was thinking about having some sort of 'armpit shorthand' - like a simplified language spoken between warriors and between trading tribes who might not share the same visual dialect.
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I was actually going to suggest something similar, or that the primary portion of information could be in the arm chromataphores, and the body color is more analogous to tone of voice in humans, so less important for military or formal purposes.
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Would like to see more involving these aliens. Good job as usual.
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Perhaps the armour could be coloured, painted or dyed, in order to communicate battle-readiness or rank etc?
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I like it. I was kind of uncomfortable with the straight gold armor, so armor dyed in high-contrast colors would work well.
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Not that I'm telling you how to suck eggs...
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wonderful coloring man and i like the concept of skin coloration as communication
I also like the guy in there smiling. proves that he's friendly
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