#vaschel

Do not use, copy, edit, or repost without my express permission. Not for use in ANY roleplays.

Really?

Really really.

Do not use, copy, edit, or repost without my express permission. Not for use in ANY roleplays.

[ ignore the random torso - I kinda hit that point where I felt like I was starting to forget how to draw human anatomy, so that wound up on the page ]

Oh look, my anthropomorphic violin mantis character Vaschel is receiving a makeover! Right now it's only his head I've worked on, but that's the area that really needed the most revision.

Back when he was first invented, he was basically inspired by the insect look from A Monster In Paris. I've since and added some things to make him look more.. insect-like. Than he did before. Before he had a pretty fleshy-looking face, as was the spirit of the look of the insect character featured in said movie.

Also, it gave me an excuse to try and at least scribble down his lower jaw works! Basically, when the mandibles are together it all sits like what appears to be a normal lower human jaw. Even has a ridge along the top of the mandibles that act like a dental arcade that fits with the other ridge that mimics the upper dental arcade. But look out because those aren't actually his jaws. Also, can I say how infuriating it is to try and find decent references of insect jaws? Especially disarticulated ones that don't belong to crickets or grasshoppers?

The "freckles" seen here are holes that are a sort of hybrid between tracheoles and the scent-detecting capabilities found in antennae. He can still smell with his antennae but he has smell with his general nose region too. 

Vaschel as a kid..? The colors are based off of these two images, though I don't know exactly what instar they are. All I can say is they're fairly early on. With a lot of mantids, their colors when they're younger are different from their colors when they're in their final adult stage - and I wanted to mess with that for Vaschel. For the most part his markings and things are the same; the only real difference is the color palette that is expressed. That and he has tiny antennae and no wings. Another thing with hemimetabolous insects is that they look very similar to their adult stage from the instant they hatch but one of the most telling features that discerns them from adults is the presence of wings. When they're babies they have no trace, and with each molt you can see the developing wing bugs getting bigger and bigger, until their final molt when their wings are fully formed.

I would have posted this last night, but I was cold and tired and wanted to go to bed more than anything. So here it is now.

I was looking through the sketchbook I had prior to my current one, which was very recent, and found a bunch of sketches that I apparently intended to scan or finish at some point but completely forgot about. 

This is one of the bunches.

 I remember back when I was still working out Vaschel's appearance, I toyed with him wearing a coat that simulated a violin mantis' body shape, and not having any spines on his arms at all - the wide part of the forearm being just part of the sleeve. I still kinda like it but with Vaschel's current design, there's no way it would work without him shredding the sleeve trying to get it on. And the coattails would just get in the way if he ever needed to do anything involving his wings. This was also before I decided to turn the first pair of legs past the raptorial forelegs into a second set of arms - I think I was going to have him have four legs similar to the two he has, but have them closely placed together and with similar enough movements that he might as well have had just two legs. Also, if I went with this it would be possible for him to wear normal pants without much of a problem.

Just something I did of Vaschel and a cup of red tea.

Red tea - more properly known as roobios tea - is my favorite tea. Specifically a sub-type I adore known as honeybush caramel red tea. This tea is autumn to me. Its red-orange color, the way it warms me up on cold days, how it seems to soothe the sore throats and stuffy noses I get this time of year, and the smell it has. I'll be walking outside and catch the aroma of the fall leaves, and that smell is almost exactly the scent that my tea has - the only difference is the tea smells a little sweeter. Being able to taste it in drink form is amazing.