The Gracile Alien

The Gracile Alien is my most elaborate piece of creature design so far. It is byzantine; it is delving so unnecesarily deep that it borders on insanity. And it’s not even entirely mine.

It is based on a sketch of a critter that P.O.Holland had dreamed up in 2009. I found it odd but intriguingly logical, almost compelling in how it was constructed. It almost made biological sense in its quirkiness.

And so I embarked on a quest to invent a biosphere and embryology that would logically produce such a creature. (And add up a few oddities of my own on the way.) I am still inventing bits, from time to time, but I believe I have figured most of the essentials out. Now I need to illustrate it nicely…

These sketches are, mostly, not the polished, choice things I pick for the gallery. These are doodles, and hasty notes, meant for myself. Brainstorming oddities and bits of design that are figured on the way and reworked on the same page. I thought it might be interesting to show the whole "skunkworks" for once.