Spec Evo - Blog Posts

had another go at drawing these guys :)

btw I like speculative evolution and biology so I once tried making up a little species of guy like I've seen other artists do.. they don't have a name yet and I don't know if they make a ton of sense but I thought someone would like to see them:) they're also not very developed or anything but yeah.. if ur more experienced with this stuff lmk if there's anything that can be improved:3

btw I like speculative evolution and biology so I once tried making up a little species of guy like I've seen other artists do.. they don't have a name yet and I don't know if they make a ton of sense but I thought someone would like to see them:) they're also not very developed or anything but yeah.. if ur more experienced with this stuff lmk if there's anything that can be improved:3

Another sophont I've been working on. I've been trying to design these guys for a while. They've had a lot of iterations figured it was time to post them here.

Anyway, here are the Ah'Chikiri, reptile like aliens from a dying world.

The Ah'Chikiri home-world is a little bit like mars, it orbits a red giant and the majority of their worlds oceans evaporated a long time ago. Water still exists on the surface, but its isolated to lakes and aquifers. Rain is rare and generally unpredictable.

Their civilization is actually quite old, and predates the Imsee, by thousands of years. They used to be an FLT-capable civilization as well but at some point in their history their interstellar civilization collapsed and only the populations isolated on their home-world survived. Most of what remains of their civilization prior to contact with aliens in the modern era are a bunch of city states warring over the remains of their ancient technology, what they call "Earth-Eaters", Many millennia old autonomous machines created to terraform their dying world.

The Ah'chikri reproduction system is somewhat unique in that they have androdioecy, so their two most commonly occurring sexes are males and hermaphrodites. The hermaphrodite sex is generally larger than their counterparts.

Ah'Chikiri eggs are hatched in water and can under go two forms of metamorphosis either into a nymph and develop into a type of tadpole where they later grow into juvenile Ah'Chikiri or into a barnacle form and become filter feeders, during this state they can produce more Ah'Chikiri larva through budding. So a single egg can reproduce a ton of Ah'Chikiri.

Young Ah'Chikiri don't really need their parents to survive, and will generally form small nomadic troops among themselves. I'm still working on their social structures as it varies a lot more by culture than it does with other sophonts.

The Dram

A slight redesign of one of an older design, in color this time. These are the Dram, a mammal-like sophonts from an very earth like planet. On the left is a female and the right a male. They're the closets your going to get to a "humanoid" alien in the known galaxy.

Some bits on Biology

I call them mammal like but their not like placental mammals, they're really more akin to marsupials and monotremes in that young are hatched very underdeveloped and are nurtured in a pouch. While not depicted accurately here male dram are considerably larger than their female counterparts, and are around 2x times their size on average. They're feathers are display features which are used to express mood, and in mate selection. Oh and they're also venomous, they've got two fangs in their mandibles which in ancient times they'd use on their prey. They're aren't exactly immune to their own venom, but they are resistant to it.

The average global temperature on the dram home-world is considerably cooler than earth is while they are capable of regulating their own body temperature they do terribly in temps greater than 80 degrees fahrenheit, and often find room temp uncomfortable. When working in environments of other sophonts they tend to wear refrigerated chill suits.

Some bits on Culture

Dram family structures are similar to lions, so polygamy is the norm and their societies tend to be matriarchal. Their home-world is currently in its glacial maximum stage of their ice age so the northern hemisphere is largely covered in permanent ice sheets. Due to over industrialization by nations in the south their planet is unfortunately dealing with gradual global warming. The effects of which were much more intense and immediate due to their planets larger axial tilt than that of earth, so as you can imagine they're dealing with a lot of issues as a result. They were contacted by aliens , ~20 years ago and interacting with the wider galaxy has only added to their list of political and socio-economic problems.

In terms of tech, they're a little more advanced in some aspects and behind in others but they've got a comparable tech level to 21th century humans. (so us right now!) And they've already made crewed missions to other neighboring planets in their star system.

I really like the idea of the sort of role reversal, where instead of humans getting contacted by aliens its the other way around. Like I can imagine the dram equivalent of SETI discovering human ship or message and all the shenanigans that would cause. Would be a cool story i think.

Imsee Dancer

Imsee don't usually wear clothes most of the time, (its a hassle in the water) but when they do, its for the holidays. Dresses with long ribbons and bells are popular. Much like dolphins Imsee are adept at aquatic acrobatics and the bands and ribbons are designed to produce memorizing matters when twirled and spun.

Mix that in with some nifty anti-grav technology and you've got quite dazzling the display of dancers jumping from floating pools of waters.

Going to start designing some better clothes for my aliens.

Thinking of some ideas for what a vreem language might look like. I figured since they have crab claws they would have a hard time using cylindrical writing tools so i came up with a stamp like pen instead. This is an example of Khlhk and is one of many vreem languages in my setting. It uses a vertical script of lines and dots and is an agglutination heavy language, so an entire sentence or phrase is also a single word.

Also an example of some graffiti with a stylized version of the script.

All three of the founding species of my setting together with their initial concept sketches and their current final art. The veem changed the most as i felt that too many of the aliens I've drawn so far were too mammalian like. I've got two more alien I'd like to add but I'm still working working on coming up with a better design for them.

alright, finally finished the vreem page. Just a little side note, smart-plants aren't actually plants in the traditional plants. They have more in common with animals and fungi physiology wise than they to to most terrestrial earth plants. So they have a rudimentary nervous system. I'll get around to drawing them eventually once i get a better idea of what the vreem homeworld is like.

"They seemed very tired and lacked the desire to move this cycle. Today, this one felt no desire to feed themselves. The rest of the colony is in the same state. My friends, the brakken, are falling very ill and we do not yet know why" - Starmaker , They Who Drinks Deeply of the Clear Waters

The Imsee and their first encounter with BWD, or Brakken Wasting Disease.

The Brakken are unique uplift case in locale space as unlike other sophonts as when the Imsee came across the Brakken weren't originally sapient but were close to it. They were the Imsee's first attempt at genetically engineering an entire alien species and while for the most part the process was a success it did come at a cost.

Brakken wasting disease is the result of the slow breakdown of their cellular structure that first starts in the nervous system and spreads through out the body. The mechanisms of the disease isn't entirely understood as there isn't a viral agent but appears to spread through pheromones and results in the incomplete formation of many important proteins and metabolic enzymes. Its a very slow disease that is difficult to detect and often times when it is, its already too late.

It's first appearance among the brakken completely took the Imsee off guard and nearly whipped out the brakken species, but in modern times, while they still lack the technology to cure it they've significantly increased the lifespans of those who have it and their quality of life.

Work in progress illustration,

I'm slowly working on trying to get better at drawing backgrounds and i want to get in the practice of making more illustrations. There's a little story here, which i wont talk to much here other than its not a particularly happy one.

A rough sketch of the Dram, another alien species from my worldbuilding project. I wanted another group of aliens which can be considered the closet to humans in terms of biology and body plan. They're built a bit like bears, but are comfortable walking on either four or two legs. They're sort of the new comers to the setting as they haven't spent much time in space and are supposed to have a sort of modern tech aesthetic.

Although I'm not sure if i should make them even more alien in appearance with out moving to far away from the "like-bipedal-humanoid-alien-but-also-not-really" vibe they have at the moment.

A slight update from my old sketch, I wasn't particularly happy about the head. A little too mammalian but i wanted to maintain a a few recognizable bits from the old design. Out of all of my alien designs they've changed the most from their initial concept sketches.

Another sketch WIP

Still have more aliens to draw, this one is for the Vreem. A diminutive species of alien only slightly larger than a mouse. They have an interesting symbiotic relationship with a species of plants collectively called the Tyreem. The plants are not sapient themselves, but they they are able to pass as intelligent very well, at least to the Vreem and have evolutionary co-opted vreem intelligence into cultivate themselves. Its an idea I'm still in the process of work-shopping but in the meantime I've been redesigning these guys

Sketch WIP

Imsee Recorder with adopted child

I've been thinking a little bit how the Imsee relate to their intelligent constructs. I'm a bit hesitant to call them robots since I think its a very human-centric term that probably doesn't translate well to other sophonts. The idea of the mechanical servant, just wasn't really prevalent among their kind and they had more of a tendency to view technology as either tools or direct extensions of themselves. Mix that in with their propensity to cybernetics and you essentially have a species who finds the concept of an intelligent machine kind of absurd.

So why do they have sapient robots anyway? , you may ask. Well Imsee have incredibly long and well detailed memories and due to the nature of their language can communicate amongst their kind much quicker and in far greater detail than humans. And so, for a long time, most information was retained though oral traditions and the death of a storyteller or a record keeper was a pretty big deal. For the Imsee, intelligent machines were not workers but instead a unique way retain life past death. Its kind of a soma situation, recorders retain the memories of Imsee who've pasted on, and are seen as an aspect of the individual which created them.

Another page of space encyclopedia completed, this time the Brakken.

"The creation of the Brakken was a point of contention among the Imsee, as some argued that by intervening in the natural evolutionary process they were upsetting the consciousness within the cosmic intellect and that any knowledge gleamed from their work with the brakken is obscured and illegitimate. Eventually Imsee curiosity overrode any moral quandaries they may have had." - Sagan-V

I'm honestly sort of happy with how this one came out in the end, I've got a few more alien species I want to make introductory pages for, so I've got some cooking to do.

Slight redesign of the brakken, working on making another info-graph for space-encyclopedia but a few bits I'll share now, unlike a few other sophont species, the Brakken weren't originally a space fairing species in-fact they weren't even sapient. A few centuries prior they were genetically modified by the Imsee and uplifted further by them. So compared to other species in locale space, their societal history is incredibly short. They may look a bit like cats, but their social structure is similar to eusocial insects.

A bit more on the Imsee

Yet another species from my extra-firm sci-fi setting.

These are the Qoati an now-extinct species of sophonts who used to hold a rather large civilization across most of locale space, and were highly technologically advanced. Biologically they are colonial organisms, similar to siphonophores and are comprised of multiple smaller semi-independent organisms called zooids all of which are held together in a shell/skeleton made out of a material structurally similar to dried balsa wood. While the exact location of their homeworld is unknown, they did have a preference for high gravity terrestrial worlds.

Qoati drivers, are specialized zooid which have senses, such as eyes that help to navigate the colony, but they aren't the actual brains of the qoati. Those are instead a collection of worm-like zooids which act as the main cognitive group of the colony. In truth the Qoati sense of self is rather fluid, as while they do have a central brain, they also technically think with their entire body, and can share their zooids with other members of their species.

I had an idea, of a sort of mecha / vehicle that my race of aliens the Imsee might use. Sort of their version of a chicken walker. I'm still figuring out what their tech looks like, but i want it to look very organic.

The Imsee are a race of aliens, I've been working on for a little while now for a world-building project called Union Station, an extra-firm scifi setting which is a lot of things, but is strongly inspired by DS9, and among other things. The Imsee are one of the core founding species of the setting and are essentially responsible for uplifting multiple alien races prior to encountering humans.

Just a painting study of alien, trying to remember digital art

Trying to come up with a design for some aliens, these guys are the Imsee, or squid whales as humans like to call them. They have a space-fairing civilization and are responsible for uplifting many alien species.

Slowly working on developing some aliens for a extra-firm scifi setting. These guys are the brakken (wip name). They were uplifted by another alien race and evolved from a species which originally had radial symmetry. I took some inspiration for their colors from manuls.

Bio-Angel design that was send to me by the power of shower.

Thought proces was driven by ,,If I were an ancient shepard, what features could I descirbe as the ones in Bible (and later art)?", also I love stained glass in churches and wanted to include the same feelings they gave me.

Notes but in text +fallen angel notes v

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Angelymph- holy, glowing gas that allows angels to levitate in the air. On great heights angelymph fills entire body, making it glow like an alive star, near erath's surface special halo-shaped organs compress gas around ribs and edges of umbrellas.

Beak, no teeth, proved great method of air exchange during flight and making very wide range of sounds

Angels’ skin is very flexible, covered in soft scales and almost translucent (in areas where it’s thicker white color is visible)

Umbrellas (3x on head) are used for jellyfish-like motion while leg-wings make direction change easier

Muscle and bone tissue is blue,

Leg-wings work in way analog to bat wings, many people had mistaken them for white gown

No reproductive system and reduced pelvis (among many other bones), angels never fully stand on earth, they are delicate in struture

God’s eye, always open, the brightest element, looking at it could multiply human vision or induce hallucinations (especially among sinners)

Around 2.5 meters tall and 5 meters "wingspawn"

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Falling: the only way to trully disobey God is by intentionally removing the All-Seeing Eye (works sort of like eating forbidden fruit for humanity). This gives angel (hereinafter referred to as demon) free will, but also quickly deprives angelymph, causing physicall fall.

Horns: are remains of umbrellas, soft membrane easily tears apart on surface and dies off. The same thing happens to leg-wings. This althought painfull is actually beneficial, allowing them to walk on bonetips.

Injures (marked red) never fully heal, causing neverending burning pain sensation. Most of the body tightness and hardens during healing, leaving demons small compared to their former selfs. Under 1.6 meters.

Body fluids: Abscence of angelymph is slowly replaced by normal blood , this mixed with blue organs and scales (it hardens like in exosceleton after molting) makes demon skin purplish-ash color.

Behaviour and look: Demons are way more eager to interact with humans, hence more close to reality depictions. This also caused them to adapt human clothing and fashion. Demons like modyfying their body, buying bodyparts from humans (they suprisingly match, and take demon colorations) or making metalic upgrades.

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Human forms: Angels can disguise perfectly as anyone, delicate pulsating can be felt under forehead if you touch it in right spot.

Demons are easier to spot, they human skin is weirdly dead-looking and pale (compared to population, not necessarily white) And largest horn pair is not fully hidden.

Species Name: Pyroclan

The Pyroclan are an intelligent, humanoid species native to a planet with an environment significantly hotter than Earth's, due in part to the presence of two suns. One of these stars is comparable in size to Earth's Sun, while the other, smaller in size, is more akin to Earth's Moon. This dual-star system creates a climate with consistently elevated temperatures, necessitating unique adaptations in the Pyroclan species.

The Pyroclan possess an extraordinary physiological trait: the ability to generate fire from various parts of their bodies, most prominently from their heads. This flame is not merely a physical phenomenon but also serves as an indicator of their emotional state. For instance, a Pyroclan's flames will intensify and rise when experiencing heightened emotions such as anger or panic. Conversely, in states of sadness, fear, or emotional suppression, the flame diminishes in intensity or lowers.

To mitigate the potential hazards of their flame-generating abilities, particularly when interacting with off-world environments, the Pyroclan often wear specialized, heat-resistant suits. These suits serve both as a protective measure and as a means to manage their inherent fire hazard, allowing safer interaction with other species and worlds.

Swampy aliens.

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I carried 2 alien species by AI.

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The Wolf man.

I'm making some little doodles about these alien flying creatures.👽🪽

My own interpretation would a humanoid alien look like.

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That's a doodle of an alien eye draw