Curiosity

I saw you're a graphic designer.

Are you commissionable for creature designs or similar projects?

If not that's OK. Like your art

I’m not currently available for commissions, sorry. I definitely will keep making art though. Glad you like it!

Life in the Low Forest

A relatively dry and sunny climate favors some types of forest over others. The tangled matrix of the fast-growing tube carpet forms the floor along the majority of this habitat. It grows so quickly that other species of photosynthetic creatures find it advantageous to be more mobile, lest they be crowded out and overtaken. The scarcity of water combined with the tendency towards mobility versus upward growth means this forest is relatively short in height - hence its name. There is a rich and varied food web here, with many organisms feeding on the tube carpet, keeping its ravenous growth in check. It also offers a complex labyrinth in which to hide from the many predators working tirelessly for their next meal.

I like your art. It is such a beautiful place and I can see Veteris being a wonderful place to explore in your art and world.

Thank you! I have a world full of ideas to bring to life, it just takes a long time.

Veteris-42820 C

Finally a planet to house (most of) the creatures I've designed so far. A terrestrial planet with about 2/3 the mass of Earth, it orbits its K-type star, Veteris, within the habitable zone. This system is around 8 billion years old - about twice that of ours, hence the name Veteris, which is Latin for "old". It sits at the outskirts of the nebula behind it, which will still be busy birthing star systems for billions of years to come. Veteris is a good analog for earth- it has a similar chemical composition (including its atmosphere, which is slightly more dense - at about 1.5 atm) so it's a good place to begin our journey.

High Above Saturn This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic. This image has not been geometrically corrected for shifts in the spacecraft perspective and still has some camera artifacts.The mosaic was created from 12 image footprints with red, blue and green filters from Cassini’s imaging science subsystem. Ugarkovic used full color sets for 11 of the footprints and red and blue images for one footprint.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic

Luminous Oppugno

Submarinus luminare

Named for the Latin word for 'attack', the Luminous Oppugno is a crafty aquatic predator. Primarily nocturnal, it uses its bioluminescent-tipped rods to attract prey. Once within range, the main grasping appendage shoots out and arrests the unsuspecting victim with vigorous tenacity. Being fully aquatic (dwelling rather deeply at that) as well as nocturnal, the oppugno rarely comes into contact with sunlight, and thus has lost the capability of its ancestors to harness energy from photons. Thus, the creature must rely exclusively on its skill as a predator to meet its energy requirements. An adult oppugno usually tops out at around 5 feet long.

The climate in this region is usually hot and dry, punctuated by sporadic torrential downpours. After such events, the ground flourishes with a dense interconnected web of growth taking advantage of the temporary hydration. Once all the water dissipates, the soil is left to crack in the heat of the day. During these times Ponderosus are on the move, searching for the last remaining vernal pools. They used the times of plenty to fill up on nutrients, but now during a drought they switch primarily to photosynthesis to meet their energy needs. The smaller, dish-faced Lanx are not so lucky. Embedded in the ground unable to move, they must simply go dormant if the rains do not arrive soon enough. For now they point their open frills at the sun and gather energy while they still can. A Stealthspring prowls the scene looking for unfortunate small creatures who may not be faring well in the heat. Their predominant walking style requires a different gait for front and back sets of legs, but if needed their whole body becomes a giant spring, allowing them to burst forward for great distances. In an environment where major features like the ponderosus can move, it can be difficult to navigate from day to day, so the stealthspring must be ready to take flight at any time, should danger come calling.

A common site in these dry rocky areas is the Velumignus. Their immobile bases send tendrils deep underground in search of water, while the photosynthetic flattened upper portions can swivel to accommodate for light and wind direction. Reaching a height of over fifteen feet, these silent sun-catchers often serve as way-finding posts to creatures journeying through the High Desert.

Egg Chamber

In some environments, it's hard to tell the difference between genders and species. Organisms share genetic material more easily on this planet, and that leads to some complicated taxonomy. In this case, we see a group of aquatic creatures acting as nurses for a seemingly endless field of eggs. But the network of underwater chambers in which they reside is in fact another living creature. By some categorizations, it would be considered the female of the species - it produces and to some extent nourishes the field of eggs, some of which mature to be gigantic network-chambers themselves. Whether this is an extreme example of sexual dimorphism, or the result of some sort of horizontal gene transfer is a matter of conjecture at this point.

Codependence

Natural selection breeds competition, but it can also lead to sophisticated cooperation. The Glass Colligatio is what is known as a composite organism—a creature comprised of members of multiple species that share critical biological processes between them. The larger swimmer provides mobility, while its multi-legged symbiont feeds more efficiently than it could alone. Through the interspecies junction—a specialized dual orifice connecting the creatures—they share nutrients and oxygen, each specializing in what it does best while providing for the needs of the whole.