06: Space Wraith

Character Name: 
Space Wraith

Brief Bio/Description:
The space wraith is not, in fact, a ghost. It is a living creature that floats throughout the vacuum of space. The method of reproduction is unknown. They have been observed hurtling through space, with unchecked momentum, and bursting into tiny gelatinous blobs upon impact with space debris. Each bit of the space wraith’s flesh will independently develop its own primitive appendages, until it consumes enough organic space dust to grow, or until it manages to reconnect with other small space wraith flesh bits. Due to their ability to split and merge, they exist in a great range of sizes – from mere molecules to the size of a gas giant. The most common size is between ten and twenty meters in length. While they look menacing, most space wraiths are material scavengers and do not actually consume meats or many plants. Recorded encounters between space wraiths and humans have been remarkably uneventful and boring.

Style Commentary:
Honestly, I got really wrapped up in that persistent Galactic Overseer idea again. Today, though, I realized my image for it is too humanized for me to be happy drawing it right now. But now that I’ve settled on that, I was perfectly comfortable doing another space alien thing! I had a great deal of fun with the background (found myself a new, gargantuan pack of really neat Photoshop brushes) and worked the character on top of it. First I blocked in a shape/rough silhouette, to shake things up. Then I roughed in a white pencil sketch on top of and around the silhouette to fill in details and help refine and define the creature’s body. Once I had a good visual and solid mental image, I laid down a clean black pencil line layer, scrapped the silhouette and white pencils, and made a new base color layer within the confines of the clean lines. I decided at that point that I wanted the creature to be slightly transparent. I worked at 100% fill and used a single clipping mask, and once I was done, brought everything down to 67% and got exactly the result I was looking for!

Category: 2013, Fantasy, Scifi