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M0AI β€” Scholar

Published: 2009-02-06 00:34:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 24360; Favourites: 493; Downloads: 267
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Description A young Carisapiens, lost in a book. We encountered this fellow in the Ring library. He was shy at first, but we had never had the chance to speak with a Carisapiens before, so I confess that we pressed him until he overcame his reticence.
From the rather smooth texture of his cephalocarapace we can tell that he is fairly young, perhaps between thirty and forty eyears (Earth-years) old, and from the developing roles of fat on his waist we can tell that he is male. Mature males need plenty of extra body fat to provide nourishment for their parasitic young. As with all Carisapiens, one of his arms is shorter than the other, a relic of their evolutionary past, in which one of their arms was oversized and used for dominance battles. He wears a brace on this arm, we learned, due to a sports-related injury. He cradles a human-style book in his hands, and with both eyes fixed on opposite pages, he reads both pages simultaneously. He told us that Carisapiens find human-language books irritating, as they are designed to be read only one page at a time. We questioned him about his cap, and he told us that it designated him as a member of the scholarly caste of his race. This of course interested us greatly, but he had difficulty explaining the nature of his studies in our language, so our curiosity went mostly unsatisfied in that subject, I'm afraid. Despite this, we greatly enjoyed meeting him, and promptly invited him to dinner. Luckily, his eating cycles coincided with ours, as did his taste. We had a delicious meal of pineapple juice, seaweed, and guinea pig at the Ring cafe. Before we parted ways, he allowed us to take this holoprint of him.
Charming lad, once we got to know him. I hope we meet him again sometime, but considering the size and layout of the Ring, it is quite unlikely. Shame, but M'Sshaila and I always meet someone new and interesting when we go out. Why, about a quarter-revolution ago we even met an old-style human! Now that's an interesting story! I'll pour us some pineapple juice and tell you about it.

***

A fairly quick and loose sketch, done in pencil then colorized and rendered in Photoshop. It was quite fun to do. I'm making a conscious effort to include more artifacts and accessories when I draw intelligent creatures, rather than just having them be naked animals.
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Comments: 52

TheLexinomicon [2019-11-14 07:48:47 +0000 UTC]

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12monkehs [2019-02-21 19:41:03 +0000 UTC]

This boy must watch a lot of Rick and Morty marathons on Adult Swim.

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Jeschterka [2015-12-24 13:55:46 +0000 UTC]

I don't know why, but this reminds me a game called Spore.

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M0AI In reply to Jeschterka [2016-02-09 02:22:01 +0000 UTC]

It does have that look about it.

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thaumh [2015-09-11 10:11:03 +0000 UTC]

He looks like you made him in SPORE first, then thought "I can do better art than that."

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M0AI In reply to thaumh [2016-02-09 02:33:08 +0000 UTC]

A few people have made a SPORE comment about this one. I think it's because he's such a round and friendly-looking alien.

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darachusi [2015-04-23 12:37:49 +0000 UTC]

Nice twist at the end..!

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Tarturus [2014-11-25 05:22:47 +0000 UTC]

Fascinating short story. The Carisapiens alien seems like quite a well designed and well thought out concept, and I quite like how the story was basically about humans and aliens getting along in an ordinary everyday manner.

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RocCenere [2013-04-07 12:29:04 +0000 UTC]

Oh this one's my favourite :3

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M0AI In reply to RocCenere [2013-04-13 23:25:02 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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OblivionJunkey94 [2012-07-19 03:38:41 +0000 UTC]

I really enjoy the design and the shirt stiry this is a very cool guy in my book

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M0AI In reply to OblivionJunkey94 [2012-08-05 05:41:43 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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OblivionJunkey94 In reply to M0AI [2012-08-05 12:26:05 +0000 UTC]

Youre welcome

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RadioactiveSpine [2011-09-04 20:10:47 +0000 UTC]

Parasitic young? You know it's not too often these days in popular culture that we get aliens that look like.... umm aliens! For monsters they just seem to cut and paste what looks good together without putting any practical design into the thought process and with races we elves and imps that are just too human for my tastes.

I like seeing actual characters that don't at all resemble people. It makes it more interesting to identify with them and I like the biology of this one. The style reminds me of Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials also reading two pages at a time is a very interesting trait. Any inspiration taken from Daniel Tammet or other such people with savant status?

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M0AI In reply to RadioactiveSpine [2011-09-08 00:00:20 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much! Yeah, I always try to make my aliens look legitimately otherworldly. I also try to make them make at least some biological sense, but honestly I make up most of that stuff afterwards as 'rationalizations' for what I'd already drawn. The bit about him reading both pages at once, for example, I came up with after noticing how his eyes would be looking at opposing pages. No inspiration from Daniel Tammet, though such people would probably be good inspiration for possible alien thinking patterns!

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Quilsnap [2011-06-06 21:13:47 +0000 UTC]

fantastic jobby

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M0AI In reply to Quilsnap [2011-09-07 23:50:24 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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Lordwormm [2011-04-17 17:10:00 +0000 UTC]

You are a genius, your works are insanely amazing!

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M0AI In reply to Lordwormm [2011-04-18 03:24:20 +0000 UTC]

Wow, thank you!

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SimonAEM [2009-10-05 19:57:11 +0000 UTC]

I love the story!!

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M0AI In reply to SimonAEM [2009-10-08 08:26:36 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Simon!

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beastofoblivion [2009-07-24 04:14:27 +0000 UTC]

This guy is way too cool! And damn your concepts have gotten so tight!

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M0AI In reply to beastofoblivion [2009-07-24 05:07:43 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! This guy was very fun, both in the drawing and the writing. This piece led to a whole new universe of mine, in fact.

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NDean [2009-02-07 13:11:47 +0000 UTC]

I have a feeling you may be an Iain Banks fan...?

Beautifully created creature

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M0AI In reply to NDean [2009-02-08 03:13:17 +0000 UTC]

You know, I've read about Iain Banks' Culture universe, and that certainly influenced me for the writing portion of this piece, but I've never actually read any of his books. I'll have to add them to my list.
Thanks for the comment! There's more to come!

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NDean In reply to M0AI [2009-02-08 14:45:09 +0000 UTC]

they are excellent novels. I dont understand alot of the history hes created - its so in depth you just cant get your head round every bit in one go - but the detail is just mesmerising.

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RobertLaszloKiss [2009-02-07 12:28:09 +0000 UTC]

Really cool character man. Love the story, i like how they bigger hand got smaller but still not equal.

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M0AI In reply to RobertLaszloKiss [2009-02-08 03:12:10 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! It gives him quite a formidable handshake.

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El-Moppo [2009-02-06 19:08:40 +0000 UTC]

Right. So... They read both pages at the same time? This sounds interesting! I would love to make up and create some sort off of a writing sytem for them though! I think... Obviously... I think that that is awesome though! Keep up the good work Though!I love it!

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M0AI In reply to El-Moppo [2009-02-07 02:47:58 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, man! The idea for that came when I noticed that both of his eyes would be looking at opposite pages, so I thought it would be cool if he could read both pages simultaneously.

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El-Moppo In reply to M0AI [2009-02-07 15:56:19 +0000 UTC]

lol. Wow! Great ideas allways seem to come from accidents or unintentionally though! I love it when that happens though!

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M0AI In reply to El-Moppo [2009-02-08 03:14:00 +0000 UTC]

Happy accidents are the best!

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El-Moppo In reply to M0AI [2009-02-08 16:17:08 +0000 UTC]

It'll be our little secret!

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kingacer [2009-02-06 10:09:12 +0000 UTC]

Great work! I like how his hands are posed, you donΒ΄t see that alot, eventhough it would make sence that an alien would have very different 'hands' than us. And by putting those different artifacts on him, like the braces for example, you make it easier for me to imagine him as a real character, great job on that.
And again, great story! I love your stories, they enhance your pictures, because they really make your characters come to live.
Often when I see a drawing of a character I think 'ok, nice picture', but you really make me think about what the characters life would look like and how he/she/it would behave.

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M0AI In reply to kingacer [2009-02-07 02:43:53 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much! That's the effect that I try to go for when I design characters, so I'm very glad that you think that.

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NeuStrasbourg [2009-02-06 08:29:32 +0000 UTC]

"Luckily, his eating cycles coincided with ours, as did his taste."

lol, for one second I was afraid they were going to eat HIM.

great character design (+description) by the way.

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M0AI In reply to NeuStrasbourg [2009-02-06 08:49:37 +0000 UTC]

Yikes! I didn't think of that. Should I change the wording of that sentence, do you think?

Thanks for the comment!

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MetalSnail [2009-02-06 07:31:50 +0000 UTC]

Nice work, I really love the skin colours and the awkward way hes holding the book, as for the story you should just write and illustrate a book...I'm sure it would sell.
seriously check out blurb.com you can make them for a decent price!

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M0AI In reply to MetalSnail [2009-02-06 08:49:07 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Snail. I'm glad you noticed how he was holding the book. So many aliens you see have hands pretty much like ours, and have no trouble handling human objects. I wanted to give this guy a more alien anatomy.
I'm glad you enjoy my writing as well. I've always liked writing, and lately I've come to realize that writing is one of the things I want to spend my life doing, in addition to art. I'll see where those interests lead me.
I'll look at blurb.com, too.

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whalewithlegs [2009-02-06 05:14:21 +0000 UTC]

cute hat ... shiny .. pineapple juice! As always, i love your written details nearly as much as the drawings themselves! My favorite part: asymmetrical arms!

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M0AI In reply to whalewithlegs [2009-02-06 08:44:43 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Whale! I'm glad you appreciate the little details in my stories, such as that pineapple juice.

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thomastapir [2009-02-06 02:58:21 +0000 UTC]

My favorite part of this? The reflected light on the top of the head! And he's wearing a fez--what's not to love??

I almost cringe to say this because I hate to always be comparing everybody to Barlowe, but man, this looks like it could have come straight out of Barlowe's Guide! It's not just the lovingly rendered texture of the skin or the semi-dramatic lighting (that's another thing I love, the way the entire neck is cast in shadow) but also the cultural acoutrements and the thoughtful pose, as if he's having his portrait taken. Even the color scheme...It's just beautiful.

I know I'm all over the board here (sorry, I'm writing this from work on a quick break), but I also love the articulation of the mouthparts. It makes me wonder about the interior arrangement of the dentition, if any. I can see him with a little pink tongue. Along with that waxy skin texture, it reinforces that alien and disparate mix of arthropod and, well, non-arthropod traits. And I noted a Bloodchild reference in the parasitic young.

--EEEEEEeeeee, he's so cute I just want to squeeze him!! Sorry, couldn't resist.

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M0AI In reply to thomastapir [2009-02-06 04:29:35 +0000 UTC]

Hehe! Cuteness was something I was going for here, both in the image itself and in the description (his shyness, for example). So I'm glad you saw that.
You're the second person to mention a Barlowe's Guide feel. I agree that it's the cultural acoutrements that do it; I mentioned to Michael Jaecks down below that the strap I gave him was a very Barlowesque one. The plain white background, too.
I don't mind the Barlowe comparison, especially since, besides that strap, there's nothing about the being's features that remind me specifically of Barlowe (and I have many, many stock creature features that I use that came directly from Barlowe). It seems to be more of a general feel, and that's fine with me. What is annoying is when I find out that I've accidentally drawn a daggerwrist, when I was trying to draw a unique creature!
Good job catching the Bloodchild reference. Since coming to Deviantart and becoming a part of our little speculative evolution community, and since I started seriously reading science fiction again, I've felt like I've been surrounded by so many great ideas. It's been great being influenced by it all.

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thomastapir In reply to M0AI [2009-02-06 19:55:38 +0000 UTC]

What's most impressive to me is that you communicated that sense of cuteness without resorting to any of the stereotypical "cuteness hot buttons"--big eyes, engaging smile, child-like proportions, fur, etc. And yet he still has this inarguably lovable quality...

Yeah, the white background! That's another Guide-like element. I've gotten a lot of flak (not here, where I probably deserve it, but in other venues such as classroom critiques) about lack of backgrounds, but it's certainly an effective way of drawing attention to the central figure.

I know what you mean about the Daggerwrist--I drew a dinosaur with three horns a while back, and somebody called it a Triceratops or something!
:ducking:

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Konjur [2009-02-06 01:49:32 +0000 UTC]

nice...ever read any Iain M. Banks? would love to see your interpretation of his Dwellers from The Algebraist.

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M0AI In reply to Konjur [2009-02-06 02:31:18 +0000 UTC]

I've never actually read anything by him, but I've read about his novels. I can definitely see how you might get a Culture vibe from this, with the friendly and outgoing characters and the implications that they live on a ring-shaped space habitat.
Thanks for the comment!

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MichaelJaecks [2009-02-06 00:53:03 +0000 UTC]

That may be your most Barlowesque yet. With the book it has the quality of some of the more humorous entries in the Guide to ET's

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M0AI In reply to MichaelJaecks [2009-02-06 02:27:43 +0000 UTC]

I think it's the blank white background and the strap that's doing it. That strap is a very Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials type of accessory.
Thanks for the comment!

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MichaelJaecks In reply to M0AI [2009-02-06 03:22:10 +0000 UTC]

I think you're right about the strap.

Have you ever noticed an uptick in response when you post something like this on a strong white background? I think it helps one stand out in a crowd of thumbnails. Note to self (and you) re: internet forum networking.

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M0AI In reply to MichaelJaecks [2009-02-07 02:40:54 +0000 UTC]

I haven't noticed that effect, but I must admit that plain white backgrounds are one of my guilty pleasures. I know it's often more effective and respectable if you do an environment, or at least put some abstract color and texture in the background, but I love the white. And it's easy.

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