#inbox chatter

[aeriona]

pleaaase please please upload the project file for the minecraft centaur model i dont care how much of a hassle it is i would love to play as that weird horse 🙏

Wish granted >:)

(You can download it from this folder!)

Sorry for the wait, there were a few animation bugs I had to squash before I felt comfortable releasing it into the wild lmao

for the record in case some people don’t understand what to do with this; the folder contains a project file which you’ll need to load with the Customisable player Models mod and then export into a usable model.

If what i just said makes 0 sense to you, just watch this video and skip to around 6 minutes in (or just watch the whole thing), it should hopefully clear things up.

And for those who ARE familiar with CPM, almost all the cube textures have custom per-face UVs so they might be a little confusing to read/edit lol sorry!

scaling is also enabled for this model you you might wanna turn that on too lol

[aeriona]

Is your centaur minecraft model made for figura? (Also, is it something you’d consider uploading a template for? It looks incredible!)

thank you for the kind words :)

Unfortunately it’s not for figura, I’ve made it in Cpm (Customisable player models)!

I could potentially upload the project file but i will warn you CPM is an absolute disaster to work with lmao, i really do need to try figura sometime i think it’d save me a considerable amount of stress haha

[aeriona]

Do you have tips for drawing/designing Xeno styled inkfish? They’re so shaped

of course!

Generally when I draw xenos, I try to emphasise non-human traits as much as possible by incorporating in real-life cephalopod biology. Basically I try to make it extremely obvious that what you're looking at isn't human, but actually something else entirely.

A good start is to do away with joints/bones entirely, and to add spots/patterns to the skin to make it appear less mammalian. Suckers on the fingers and faintly-pigmented skin also help as well.

The eyes are also another important thing! Most pelagic squids have round pupils in real life, but I tend to draw inklings with horizontal pupils anyway as it helps achieve that creaturely effect I'm going for.

Of course everyone has their own unique approach to xeno inkfish, these are merely suggestions and not a ruleset or anything haha. It’s taken me a while to find a style I’ve found most comfortable, and even then I regularly change stuff as I learn more about cephalopods. The beauty of xeno designs is that it's entirely up to you where you decide to go with it. You don’t even have to be realistic, literally the only baseline is creature!

I hope this was helpful to you!

[aeriona]

Hey, I noticed that Inklings/Cuttleling/Octolings all have both a Syrinx and a Larynx, what does that means for their voices?

they all garbly like in the games :)

Having two vocal organs (link to that post in case anyone else is confused, it's old but still holds up) allows inkfish access to a much greater vocal range than with just one organ, like humans have.

As a result not only are inkfish languages operating on an additional layer of complexity (i explain that in the post link it's a long story lmao), but the language itself is physically impossible for a human (and many other extant species, sadly) to pronounce.

They are also excellent mimics! bird calls, other people's voices, annoying phone ringtones are all their specialty :).

SO yeah, their voices/language sound just like they do in the games; a distinct, typically high-pitched warble with a bassy, garbled undertone for additional contextual meaning.

[aeriona]

completely not forced at all!!! but would you ever consider sharing the brush? :OOO

of course :D

Granted they’re kinda crappy quality as i’m not an experienced brush-maker (the big chromatophore brush doesn’t loop seamlessly), but they work when i need them to lol.

Now i’m not entirely sure how useful these files will be to you, as i’ve discovered .brush files are only readable by procreate which is why i’ve shared a .zip version with both a .brush file and a .png of the spotty patterns themselves lol. So at the very least hopefully you can use the image files to make brushes in whatever program is applicable :).

[aeriona]

There is a question that's been on my head for a little while..

Does your xeno inklings only have rectangular pupils? Or does it variates with species?

But also, why is it recutangular? Considering most squids have round shaped pupils

A couple reasons, actually!

It definitely varies quite a lot, there's all sorts of different pupil and eye shapes not only dependent on species but on mutations too!

Here’s an example I threw together from a drawing I had on hand.

For most “typical” inkling species (common, flying, shortfin, firefly) the pupil is a roundish-oval shape or completely circular. But once you get to the reef, pygmy or bobtail squid species things start to get a little funky.

the “star-shaped” pupil is also a pretty common mutation, you tend to see it more in Myopsid squids (common, reef and pencil squids), but it’s not entirely impossible for others to have it. In a lot of places the shape is considered trendy as many idols have it.

Also keep in mind the pupil can dilate when it’s dark out, or as an aggressive display. Inklings actually have remarkable night vision!

The main reason I gave inklings horizontal pupils is mainly because I thought it looked cool lmao. horizontal pupils more effectively get across the "non-human" aspect of their appearance that I was looking for when I initially got into making xeno designs. I’ve been doing it for so long that round pupils in my art look odd to me haha.

[aeriona]

Hey! Just wondering, what do the Xeno Squid sisters look like?

I actually posted an artwork of them a couple months back, but I’ve since made a lot of changes to my xeno design so it’s pretty old haha.

If i were to draw them now, that’d probably look something like this? Callie is a a Bigfin Reef squid, and Marie is a Bigfin/Firefly hybrid!

Also bonus funny:

[aeriona]

hii i love your splatoon speculative biology stuff! since you've done stuff for inklings, octolings & nautili, i was wondering if you've thought of anything for cuttlefish? thanks in advance! love your stuff sm!!

Sure!

Maybe something like this? It’s kind of hard to say, as Nintendo hasn't given us much to work with in terms of cuttlefish.

While cuttlefish are more closely related to squids (they are both decapodiformes), they'd likely more closely resemble a striped, particularly frilly-finned octopus.