A lot of my alien character designs tend to be nude mostly because I have very little patience for (or skill with) clothing design š
BUT
Realistically: Ventro should have clothes most of the time, and I need to get around to designing both what that looks like and what potential nudity taboos his culture might have.
I think most tellurian cultures wouldnāt have any kind of nudity taboo, but would probably still wear clothing a little more often than Iāve so far depicted.
Space, meanwhile, probably does indeed go nude almost all the time, aside from occasional work gloves, carry packs, & perhaps some insulation when heās ill or starving. He self-regulates temp under most conditions without discomfort, he tends to float whenever shoes might be required for other folk, and the crystals all down his spine at most times make it so that carrying things telekinetically might genuinely be less hassle for him than the straps heād need to use to hold any packs or pockets on his person. (Though perhaps he wears occasionalā¦ gauntlets? Forearm sheathes? For small items?)
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So I sent the (current) first two scenes of Taking the Long Way to a friend to get his rough judgement of where Iām hitting in terms of āsufficient description/worldbuilding to keep from feeling lostā vs. ākeeping things movingā
And having him sum those scenes up in one sentence like this has led me to realize that this story I am telling has just a SLIGHTLY weird tone š¤£
Trying to update Ventroās design! Iāve never been happy with his frill design in the past. Iām notā¦. entirely certain if this quite hits the mark, but itās at least better than it was!
[Backup ID: An illustrated portrait of Ventro, who is a vaguely draconic alien with a bony frill on either side of his head and a broad jaw. The back of his neck is armored in thick plates, the frill is lined with thorny projections, and his throat is folded with loose skin. His primary color is dark brown, with pale cream highlights. End ID.]
Space didnāt understand how someone whoād supposedly grown up waging imperialistic warfare, who hadnāt been given meaningful life choices beyond āfight or be executedā until heād fought his way free, who had slaughtered a dozen alien death-bugs with a berserker laugh and then swept Space up into a biting kiss, bloody hands slick on Spaceās flank and teeth sharp against his throat, could still be so ridiculously, foolishly sweet.
ā
I havenāt had a chance to work on the story idea since I started the new job, sadly.
But! Itās pride month, so have a small excerpt from what has been written. :)
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[Image description: An illustration of Ventro bundled up in cool weather gear. This includes a vest, a coat for his lower body, leg wrappings, and boots. End ID.]
.
I got it into my head a while ago to wonder what clothing for Ventro might look like. I decided that anything designed to keep him warm was, inevitably, going to resemble a horse blanket. xD
Still. Pockets are useful! I think heād wear vests or waist bags fairly regularly.
[Image description:Ā A reference sheet for Ventro, a character from Abime Spire. He is a bulky alien monster with a humanoid upper body, an arthropod lower body, and segmented bat-like wings. Full transcript and description below the cut. End ID.]
Abilities: Flight, subspace, antimatter production, and electroreception.
Skills: Security, search and rescue, combat, and first aid.
Hobbies: Reading (particularly mystery novels), video games, swimming, and flying.
Ventro is still a heck of a lot of fun to draw! Even if his crest gives me troubles when I canāt just scribble out a general impression. xD I... might need to play around with his head design a bit more.
Ventro is a defected soldier turned bodyguard who currently works for a necromancer named Clemcy. Heās happy to leave others be when he thinks he can afford to, but is ruthless about protecting his own.
Ventro is reticent by nature, but he enjoys the power and security that his competence and strength can earn him. Heās perfectly willing to posture and throw his weight around when needed.
He would be happy to retire to a quiet corner of the multiverse with his mate, Space, but he hasnāt managed to talk Space into it yet. Enjoys sparring, basking, mystery novels, and cuddling with Space.
Physiology
Wings fold down at his sides at rest.Ā
.
Mesothermic: Gigantothermy and flight muscles elevate body temperature, circulation through his crest & wing membranes regulates.
.
Wing panels interact with the magic field; Ventro flies more by this interaction than via aerodynamics.Ā
.
Naturally produces antimatter, which is stored in a personal subspace. The subspace can also be used to store normal matter & objects, though separateĀ āpocketsā must be made.
.
Subspace interfaces with normal space throughĀ ābubbles,ā which can be summoned, dismissed, or detonated at range.
Detailed Description:
Ventro is a twelve-limbed monster with a centaur or drider-like body plan. His upper body is shaped like a human from the waist up, with a bulky armored carapace and a triceratops-like head. His lower body is vaguely scorpion-like, with six crab-like legs and a long, segmented tail--though the tail is straight, and does not curve like a scorpionās. He is mostly brown with pale tan highlights, and has a vibrant red underside to his wings.
Ventro's wings have a similar limb-and-webbing structure to that of bats. He has two main wings and two supporting winglets; they are segmented like an arthropod. The main wings attach to his waist near where his humanoid body joins the lower body, and the supporting winglets attach to the back of the crab-like lower body. There are also supporting spines along the length of his tail. All of these limbs and spines support the same unified wing membrane on each side, such that Ventro looks a bit like a Y-shaped kite from above or below.
His subspace interface bubbles look like a perfect sphere of dark void, with red, crackling energy wavering at their rim. When he pulls objects from these bubbles, the object exits with more red energy fizzing at the breach in the bubble.
Iām stuck on a 6 hour car ride, andā¦ my brain has decided to drop Actual Backstory for Space (and Ventro to a lesser degree) on me all in one go slskdjhhf.
Like. Obviously Iāve known their very general backstories for a while?
But that honestly wasnāt in too much more detail than what I put on their reference sheets (Space | Ventro).
Whereas this is full-blown full life story shit, withā¦ plot and drama and How They Met and just.
Goodness. Ok.
I guess I have a story outline now??
I donāt know wtf Iām going to do with it, but it sure is there, hah. š
