Y'all seemed to really like Tapik, so I turned more characters into them!
From left to right: Judas by @judas-iscaryot, Seiura by @jillybean7111, Suncat from @jumalanpelko, Machete by @canisalbus, and Luck from Tiger, Tiger, by @pepurika
Spec bio/design notes under the cut:
Tapik have 3 different types of pigments, the gold/brown one that colors their fur, the blue one that colors their skin/eyes (and parts of their fur), and the red one that colors their teeth. These three kinds of pigments are deposited in completely different ways and by different genes, so there's a lot of individual variation!
For instance Machete is an example of an individual who completely lacks the gold/brown pigment, but retains the others... sort of.
The gold/brown pigment is pretty much exclusively controlled by genetics. Environmental factors can effect how it looks (for instance, a good amount of oils in the diet can make the fur appear more vibrant and shiny, wheras malnutrition can make it appear dull and less saturated), but genetics predominantly control the placement of this pigment. Machete has a genetic mutation that inhibits the production and placement of this pigment, so he is purely white. Judas does not have albanism (as you can see with his spots), he just has a really light coloration.
The red pigment is acquired from the diet, as in flamingoes or cardinals, and so usually just reflects someone's diet. Genetics affects it a little bit - for instance, some individuals may have orange teeth no matter how much red pigment they eat, and some individuals may have red teeth even if they only eat a little bit of red pigment. Even so, the general trend is that it's mostly environmental. This is why Machete has such vibrant teeth, despite otherwise having little color! Suncat's teeth are very light partially because she's the host for a supernatural parasite and is kind of malnourished, but also partially because she's just young. Tapik are born with white teeth that gradually get darker as they come into adulthood, and though Suncat is an adult, she's still a young adult. (By this logic my sona's teeth should be a bit lighter than they are, but who cares I do whatever I want. Forever, in fact.)
LASTLY the blue pigment is the same pigment that makes their blood blue (copper, I guess? Idk I haven't thought too hard about exactly what compound it is). It isn't blood - which is why it can still have a lot of variation - but it's made of the same stuff. When a Tapik is anemic (like Machete is), chronically malnourished, stressed or otherwise unwell, their body will retain as much of this within the blood as possible, and their skin, eyes, and fur will be dull - usually silvery or gray. The skin will always retain some color though, because hopefully there's still some blood under there. This is why Machete's colors are so light, and also why Suncat's blue is somewhat dull.
Although I gotta be honest I'm not sure tattoos like the ones Machete has would work on Tapik, but who cares he deserves them.
If you want to learn more about their body language/expressions, you can see some of that in this post (though it might be a bit outdated at this point). The basics are though:
Judas is neutral/confident
Seiura and Suncat are friendly/happy (or at least, Suncat's pretending to be)
Machete is reserved and closed-off, almost aggressive (sort of a don't-talk-to-me expression)
Luck is playfully aggressive, I guess I would say mischievous or cheeky
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Eyes. Tapik have large, acute eyes with good depth perception and low-light vision. The irises are always some shade of blue, unless they lack pigment, in which case they will appear silvery or blue-gray.
Bare skin. Tapik have several small patches of skin bare of (or with little) fur, mainly on the face. Their ears, eyebrows, and undersides of paws are completely bare of fur. There is little fur on the underside of the neck, and there can be thinner fur on the chest and belly.
Teeth. Tapik have very large teeth, especially canines. Sometimes their upper canines can be visible even when the mouth is closed, but not always. The teeth are vivid red or orange.
Trunk. The trunk is highly flexible and expressive. It's used as a sensory organ, being highly sensitive to touch and texture (for example, if they were to meet a human, they could feel the individual ridges on your fingerprint), as well as having a few chemoreceptors here and there, allowing them to have a rudimentary sense of taste with their trunk. The trunk is also used for communication and to aid in eating.
Neck. On the underside of a Tapik's neck the fur is especially thin, revealing the blue skin underneath. The skin is a bit loose and wrinkly here, and is usually quite soft.
Fur. Tapik are covered in a very thin, short coat of colorful fur. It can be short all over, but often can be thicker on the back of the neck, haunches, and tail.
Paws. With 5 digits on all four paws, Tapik are very nimble climbers and extremely dexterous. Additionally, their paws are very expressive, and all toes have a retractable claw.
Tail. The Tapik's tail is very long and agile, aiding in communication and balance. It is not truly prehensile, but can loosely wrap around things to further aid in balance - especially while climbing. It is also quite durable, and as babies Tapik can be picked up by it without damage or pain (though, once they get bigger it starts to hurt).
Blood. Tapik blood is a vivid blue, coloring their skin a similar vibrant shade.
Locomotion/Ambulation
Tapik are predominantly arboreal*, and are generally deft climbers. They are capable of moving quite quickly, but only in short bursts.
(*Tapik don't live in trees, as they don't really have those on their homeworld, but they inhabit a similar niche to arboreal Earth animals.)
Tapik are also mostly quadrupedal, but can stand and walk around on their hind legs, though their bipedal movement is quite limited. They cannot balance as well on two legs, and standing or walking like this for extended periods of time can cause back pain. Throughout one's lifespan, this can even cause permanent damage to the spine resulting in chronic pain and limited mobility.
The Tapik's primary manipulators are their front paws, but even an untrained Tapik can pick things up and do simple tasks with their hind paws. With practice, their hind paws can be just as dextrous as their fore paws - though, they have to rely on touch more than sight to use them. The trunk is another manipulator, and a highly dextrous one at that. In some cases, the trunk has even more dexterity than the paws. However, which one is appropriate to use in any given situation is often very strict. It is considered unhygienic to handle food or other things that need to be clean with the paws, as they are more difficult to keep clean (what with Tapik being quadrupedal most of the time). Similarly, it's seen as very gross to touch something that could be dirty with the trunk.
Coloration and Markings
Tapik have 3 different types of pigments within their bodies, the one that primarily colors their fur (gold, brown, russet), the blue one that colors their skin/eyes (and parts of their fur), and the red one that colors their teeth. These three kinds of pigments are deposited in completely different ways and by different genes, so there's a lot of individual variation!
The gold pigment is pretty much exclusively controlled by genetics. Environmental factors can effect how it looks (for instance, a good amount of oils in the diet can make the fur appear more vibrant and shiny, wheras malnutrition can make it appear dull and less saturated), but genetics predominantly control the placement of this pigment. Genetic mutations can inhibit the production and placement of this pigment, causing individuals to have mostly white fur.
The red pigment is acquired from the diet, as in flamingoes or cardinals, and so usually just reflects an individual's diet. Genetics affects it a little bit - for instance, some individuals may have orange teeth no matter how much red pigment they consume, and some individuals may have red teeth even if they only consume a little bit of red pigment. Even so, the general trend is that it's mostly environmental. Tapik are born with white teeth that gradually get darker as they come into adulthood. Additionally, the teeth get less pigmented the further back in the mouth they are, with the canines usually being the darkest.
Lastly, the blue pigment is the same pigment that makes their blood blue. It isn't blood - which is why it can still have a lot of variation in tone - but it's made of the same stuff. When a Tapik is anemic, chronically malnourished, stressed or otherwise unwell, their body will retain as much of this within the blood as possible, and their skin, eyes, and fur will be dull - usually silvery or gray. The skin will always retain some color though, because hopefully there's still some blood under there.
Tapik usually have stripes, banding, marbling/mottled stripes, or spots on their fur. In addition, they often have small patches of blue on their fur. Most commonly, these form within spots or between stripes (somewhat similar to a jaguar's spots). Blue pigment is fairly scant on the fur, and usually only forms fairly small markings.
There are a few color mutations shown above: the rightmost 3 on the bottom row. At the end of the row is an albino with no gold pigment. Notably, they still have vivid blue skin and a few blue markings. The one to the left of that is aceladonic, meaning they don't have any blue pigment. The markings where the blue would be are instead white, and the skin and eyes has only a faint silvery color caused by the blood beneath. To the left of that is a hyperceladonic individual. These individuals have an abundance of blue pigment in their fur, resulting in large patches of blue markings. This can even cause the blue to appear in strands alongside the gold pigment, causing the fur to appear darker and purpleish.
Reproduction
Tapik have two primary sexes, male and female. They are not very sexually dimorphic. The trend is that males are slightly larger and have more blue markings, but these traits are present in both sexes.
Of course there are exceptions, as in intersex individuals, and the whole mess that is gender.
Tapik largely have a rather segregated society, where males and females form different social groups. Whether this is a biological inclination or a cultural effect has been under heavy debate practically forever.
Expressions
Tapik are extremely expressive creatures. Their paws and tails enable a lot of body language and gestural expression, aided by their fur which can puff up to display fear, aggression, or overstimulation.
Tapik faces are very expressive too. Their trunks can be manipulated in a great deal of ways to form complex, nuanced expressions that can be dizzying for other species to try to make sense of. Beyond this, the mouth, ears, and eyes are very expressive as well. Additionally, the skin on the face and neck can flush with blood to appear darker and more vibrant. Typically this is associated with aggression.
I don't even play Pokemon. But consider: OEH creatures as Pokemon
Bit of rambling:
I've never been a Pokemon fan, but I am not immune to cute little guys. I've been watching Fakemon artist on youtube lately (TrueGreen and Subjectively) because I like to watch character/creature design videos, which is ultimately what inspired me to draw these guys!
I also just really like the design philosophy of Pokemon, which I've heard summed up as: every Pokemon has to look like it could be someone's friend/companion. And honestly that is so cute. I love it. I can totally see it looking at just about any Pokemon, even the weird or ugly ones :3
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I made a Tapik :D wanted to bring him in and check if he was accurate for the species :)
I also was wondering about naming conventions!
Awww he's so cutee!!!! Adorable round boy, love him. Yeah, he looks good! I don't think you need to change anything to be accurate, but if you want suggestions here are a few:
Tapik typically have mottley spots or stripes like genets, linsangs, margays or clouded leopards (examples below). While very common, this isn't necessary, some Tapik just have freckles or no spots at all.
Accompanying these markings are usually similar blue markings (often within leopard-like stripes). The vast majority of tapik have at least a little bit of blue fur! Not all, though - so, once again, not necessary, but it is more common to have these blue markings.
To get a little more nit-picky: Tapik have long bodies with proportionally shorter legs (a lot like cats). Also, they have longer, more dextrous digits for climbing, so their paws look a bit more like a squirrel or rodent's paws than the more round cat paw. So, if you want to be 100% accurate you could extrude that boy, but you can totally just write these off as a stylistic choice too (I also draw them very squart when simplifying lol)
And just to be clear these are just suggestions! I can't control how you design your characters and I certainly don't care to try.
As for names, I actually haven't fully ironed out their naming conventions yet. However, Tapik joined the Interstellar Neighborhood very recently and are currently going through a lot of social change. So, it's increasingly common for individuals to have names outside of convention. "Runner" could totally work!
Here's those marking examples for ya:
I find a bunch of signatures kind of obnoxious buuut this looks a lot like an adopt sheet so I just wanna stay on the safe side with this one lol
These are a bunch of design tests I did a while back when figuring out Tapik colors & markings! Hence why some are crossed out - those ones are no longer accurate. The colors are a little wack, but I'd still consider them canon.
The starred ones all have some sort of mutation. From left to right, up to down:
Piebaldism
Aceladony (Lacking all blue pigment except in blood, making the skin still blue. This results in white patches where the blue pigment would otherwise have been. It's different than just not having blue markings.)
Hyperceladony (Having a whole lot of extra blue pigmentation. Technically this isn't really an accurate depiction of it, but you get the idea)
Part 7(?) of drawing my sona as different aliens - Tapik edition
No special notes here. They're just a little guy. On the darker side as far as Tapik go, but not unusually so.
Except, what's that? Spooky teefers jumpscare!
Adult Tapik have highly pigmented teeth, usually ranging from orange to red. The canines are the most vivid, and the teeth generally get less pigmented the further back in the mouth they are.
