BEAST DU JOUR #16: "Stuggrhh"

Back with another Beast du Jour entry!
I wanted to mix things up a bit with this one and get back to a technique I've been meaning to try more of. Sketched and inked on scrap cardboard with white paint highlights. I really like having the tone of the paper act as a shadowy midground once the highlights are painted in. Dove in and finished this without pausing, and managed to finish it at the 60-minute mark. I'll be trying more of this soon.

This handsome fellow is a "Stuggrhh", and it looks like my brain took me in a sort of root-influenced direction with this one. Stuggrhh's have a pretty low mass, though they're hulking brutes, which enable them to climb quickly into the canopy of their forest home and await their prey, which they entangles in their tendril-like fingers and toes, then paralyze with their mouth-stingers so they can begin the slow process of absorption. No one knows how long they live, but it can be measured in the triple digits.

BEAST DU JOUR #13: "Tuberous Squom"

The Tuberous Squom is an organism that has a rather odd life cycle. The offspring are "planted" in the ground and resemble the large seeds of a certain type of plant life favored by an avian species. These winged creatures will swoop down and snatch the fetal Squoms out of the ground, take them back to their nests and store them for food to be eaten by their young once they hatch. The Squom will rapidly develop once in senses it is in the higher altitude of the nest and began feasting on the avian eggs before they hatch, fueling its continued rapid growth. When the mother returns to its nest, a battle begins to determine whether the Squom will survive in it's strength by defeating and consuming the adult avian, or perish in its weakness as the adult avian extracts its vengeance on the young Squom for consuming all of its young. If the Squom begins to overcome the avian in combat, the avian will most likely take flight and flee the nest, whereupon the Squom will latch onto the avian as it attempts to flee. The added weight of the Squom renders flight near impossible, especially in its injured state, and the wounded, burdened avian will glide to the ground, struggling all the while to dislodge its tenacious passenger. This is how the Squom escapes the dangerously high nest and returns to ground. When the two beasts finally make landfall, the Squom will attempt to kill and eat the avian, which by this point is fairly easy given the exhaustion and injuries of its prey.

When the Squom grows to adulthood it becomes a towering, leathery, lumbering mass, moving about with a deceptive lethargy that quickly dissolves once it is threatened or attacking prey. It can hunch down and sort of fold itself up into a rounded, stationary shape, appearing as a large stump or boulder to its land-based prey. The Squom will sit silently and motionless until its prey wanders into close proximity, whereupon the Squom will unfurl itself with lightning speed, snatching its prey with its long arms and grasping fingers, drawing it to the Squom's mouth, where it can be quickly paralyzed with its stinging mouth tentacles, or simply have its neck broken by its powerful arms.

Beast du Jour #12: "Perminous Hoovix"

It being October, I thought I'd steer my Beasts du Jour in a creepier direction to celebrate Halloween and all things spooky!

Perminous Hoovix is on the Smelv system's list of most wanted criminal entities, but he will probably remain there for the foreseeable future as no one seems to be able to devise a method of capturing it. Perminous is a semi-tangible entity from the world of Kraggat who escaped to feed on the brain waves of dreaming children throughout the galaxy -- literally having become the "monster in the closet" for many a fearful tyke. Neither entirely corporeal nor entirely ethereal, Perminous has eluded capture by bounty hunter and ghostbuster alike. There is an entire division of the government on Selinar 6 devoted to the study of Perminous and how he might be captured and contained. Until then, children throughout the Smelv system keep one eye peeled and fixed on their closet doors as they fight to fend off encroaching slumber and the emergence of Perminous Hoovix, come to commandeer their dreams and steer their innocent minds into dark, foreboding waters.

Beast du Jour #11: "Quok"

Quok has come to our dimension for two reasons: A.) To learn the specifics of the English game of cricket ('cause even where he's from, it's a bit fuzzy), and 2.) because he lost a bet with his frat-house buddies. There was another bet that he recently lost, but we won't get into the results of that one, mainly because the criminal case against him is still pending investigation. Either way, clearly he didn't learn his lesson.

What's the worst thing you can do to Quok (besides feed him false information about Cricket rules and regulations)? Hop on his back, grasp his horns like handlebars, and make motorcycle (or perhaps moped) sound effects with your lips as you pretend to crank his horns and pop a wheelie. He. does. not. like. that. at. all. You have been warned.

Beast du Jour #10: "Schmezz"

This guy.. what do I say about Schmezz? I don't know if I care for this guy. I don't trust him. Seems too needy. And those EYES! Gah! And what kind of a fellow wears socks when he doesn't even have FEET!?

Beast du Jour #9: "The Wailing Wronk"

During drawing time with my daughter tonight, The Wailing Wronk came to me, as if in a dream. All I could see was his gaping maw lined with shoepeg teeth and those horrible pop-eyes as his wailing drowned out all sound. Wronks are not satisfied with ANYTHING in life! They constantly find fault with everything that crosses their path, no matter how seemingly pleasant or perfect. Nothing brings them satisfaction and it is physically impossible for them to be content.... or is it? Do they willingly choose such an uncomfortable and insufferable lifestyle? Would anyone? Some say "yes". Of course, as ugly as they are, no one really bothers to address their complaints, out of disgust and a clawing desire to get far out of range of their chilling wails.

Beast du Jour #8: "The Tufted Knubbender"

What a goofy lookin' mug on this guy! Sheesh! Despite their friendly, sappy looking faces and slight resemblance to those cool Landstriders in DARK CRYSTAL, Tufted Knubbenders do not like to be ridden! It hurts their backs, and the only real place to grip them is their ears or their back hair, neither of which gives them a pleasant sensation. They're pretty tall, too, so it'd be a heck of a fall when they shrug you off with a grunt and a huff. Their bad habits include gorging on butter and smoking cigars -- both of which are hard to come by for them.

Beast du Jour #7: "Floppo"

Been a while since I've had time to do a Beast of the Day, but we're back with a rather... hmmm... interesting fellow. Floppo really really likes pie. If you have pie, he's your best friend... or at least he'll follow you around pestering you until he's exhausted every remote shred of possibility that you are in possession of any amount of pie or knowledge of where he might find some pie. If you don't have pie or know the whereabouts of any... well, he can still be pretty nice. He's just that kind of guy.

If you'll excuse me now, I'm really in the mood for some pie.

Beast du Jour #6: "Krakkitt"

This is a half-finished beast cuz I realized I wasn't going to be able to fit him on the page properly. Poor planning. Anyway, he's Krakkitt and he's obviously mantis-inspired. Poor fellow lost one of his "hands" in a brawl (due to a misunderstanding over instructions given to a waiter on how to prepare his food at a very disreputable and seedy restaurant) and now he's forced to wear a much less intimidating hook hand prosthetic. His comrades give him a hard time about it, of course, which doesn't improve his disposition any.

Beast Du Jour #5: "The Whistlin' Spoo"

Eh, it's definitely not one of my best efforts. For some reason, a whistling beast popped into my head, but there's not much interesting about this guy otherwise. Sorry folks. He seems nice, though.

Beast du Jour #4: "Scabbro"

Now, this guy -- he's definitely up to no good. Scabbro here does NOT like you. He told me so himself. Of course, he doesn't like me either, so... I don't know.

Beast du Jour #3: "The Hovering Spenk"!

Welcome to today's Beast of the Day! Today's creature is called The Hovering Spenk. I like this fellow, and I can't really explain why. He seems a bit mischievous -- a bit of a gremlin-type trouble maker. I believe he can utilize small-scale telekinesis with his wiggly little antennae, but I have yet to catch him in the act. I've got my eye on him, though...

Beast du Jour #2: "Knicketty Plasto"!

A rather strange offering today (and accidentally a bit phallic, I know), but hey -- he's got a killer moustache and he seems like a friendly sort of beast... I dunno. Better luck next time.

Beast Du Jour Begins! Presenting "The Kromp"!

I've always wanted to start a "sketch of the day" type thing, as I've seen so many other blogger artists do. As I refocus my efforts, this is going to become a priority of mine -- it's a darn good practice exercise for the ol' creative muscles, plus it's fun! I try to sit down with one or more of the kids and proclaim that it's "Monster-Drawin' Time"! We spread out some paper and pencils and crayons and go to it!
This fellow is the Kromp and he was born from a request by Elijah for me to draw a "stomping monster". Stomping is what the Kromp does best!