#meao

Meao-ixuí character doodles! some old, some fresh out of the oven :)

edited an old 3d meao head model i had to show the difference between xatpan meaos (flat faced) and ixuí meaos (long faced)

looks a bit funny from above hehe

this is done in sculptris so i cant really move those around freely... when im a lil better at blender i'll be making some poseable meaos for sure.

A lil headworld lore bit: Xatpan meao live in colder areas than ixuí meao and call themselves irqi! This affects how other tribes call meao too... in their region meaos would be known as irqi ixuí and irqi xatpan.

Also my current blender situation: I'm trying to use what I learnt and remember of all those isometric bedroom blender tutorials to make a lil guy... this what i came up with!

i thought it might be nice to give it a mouth... truly a learning experience lol

heres it with some smoothening on.

Hello!! Yeah sure! Jiji is a meao-ixuí! They're those guys:

Jiji being the white one here:

Meao-ixuí are a species I'm revamping from some really old concepts I used to draw. I LOVED long eared, flat faced creatures and I made a thousand of them - some were their own species, some not. Heres some ideas from 2008/2009:

They're more recognisable as meaos in 2010:

Since they weren't really a single species but a set of features I enjoyed drawing, I never really wrapped them up as a single thing. So back last year 2019 or so I decided to turn those concepts I been drawing for over a decade into a species, the name being "meao" which is a silly way of writing "miau" (meow in portuguese) because thats what me and @mirtiloart called everything in our teens. So I'm kinda honouring my teenager self with that name. Theres more than one way to draw meaos - long and flat faced, and thats where the -ixuí suffix comes. Meao-ixuí are long faced ones, and meao-xatpan are flat faced ones. Heres a flat faced one from 2009 btw:

So! Their current design and lore isn't fully developed yet. I have thought a lot of little things about their culture and species, but its not a complete puzzle yet. I can for sure say so far is that they're from the tropics, are sentient, they're from a world with multiple sentient species and they're kinda the oddball there for being the only one around whos gynandropmorphic. They're marsupial-like, having pouches, and have some cool thylacoleo-like teeth:

This one is from 2019 and I've since then tuned the teeth a bit down but its still a fun way to draw it! (I've also noticed I didn't post this here which I will do after this ask) They're not very widespread in their world and often keep close to their traditional territories. Traveling around the world is a bit dangerous for them as certain things that are common in sentient communities is toxic to them - mostly things other species like to smoke so they can't really avoid it. Jiji travels as a nomad merchant with that yellow xoywren in the chibi picture, his name can be either Little Bee, Igutsak or Mayanga. Jiji is very skilled with weaving and embroidery, and since certain gatherings are dangerous for her health, its often Igutsak doing the negotiations. Personality wise, Jiji is a very chill meao. Shes often observing things in the background, but will jump in any conversation - invited or not - if she finds an opportunity for profit. Shes often the one giving ideas while Igutsak executes them. She and Igutsak adopt a human kid in their story (which is a very fun way to develop how different species deal with their offspring), and she was the one who noticed an abandoned baby hidden in a dense forest area. Igutsak is the one who nurses the kid, so heres again she being the brains while hes the action. Oh also, their world doesn't has currency. Negotiations are done by trading time, services and items. Jiji is often carrying a thousand things around in her basket backpack, which is what she is wearing in the chibi. Also the red markings on her are make-up! Meaos do that to protect bare skin areas from the sun, and also to look cool.

Xoy guy & Jiji minis