Alien Portrait

The intricate skin of a corn snakelet (Pantherophis guttatus) shot in Somerset in Britain using ultraviolet light. Scientifically proven, snakeskin exhibits a glowing effect under ultraviolet light, a phenomenon that herpetologists have utilized since the late 20th century to locate snakes in the dark.

Photograph: Irina Petrova Adamatzky

Classical Portraits of the Future • Mea

A selection of alien portrait commissions I did at conventions this past year!  It’s basically a character design challenge where I take a photo of the customer, ask for three things that describe them as a person (favorite food, favorite animal, favorite hobby, etc), and combine all that into an alien character.  It’s a fun way to keep my brain stimulated, looking for visual connections between the different elements I’ve been given.

(click to de-blur!)

Here’s the result of my second (and far more sucessful) attempt to learn how to use sai! I still can’t decide whether I love or hate it yet, but I have learnt Aspicia is probably my favourite of my ocs to draw so far =w= 

Mini speedpaint:

I finally imported (re: figured out how to import) about two years’ worth of photos from my mobile devices, so here’s a smattering of alien commissions I’ve done at conventions in that time!  I’d take a photo of the customer, they’d tell me three things that described them (their hobby, their favorite animal, their favorite food, whatever), and I’d whip up a typically weird character design combining those elements with their likeness.

It’s a really mentally stimulating exercise cus it forces me to look for visual connections between the list items and the person’s appearance.  It can also be stressful if I’m having trouble thinking something up, but that usually results in extra-weird designs like the “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” kinda skateboard/pizza/sunglasses guy up there, so make of that what you will, haha...