sometimes youre fatally clobbered by a really good podcast and you drop everything to design a cool bug. serant is the best
i posted that first one on twitter a while back, feeling very sure of myself that serant didnt have wings. i was on episode 26 when i uploaded it. then episode 40 hit me like a freight train and it led to me studying bug wings for a frankly embarrassing amount of time. paid off in the end though because serant is even cooler with wings. posted this second picture today and then remembered that this account exists and that maybe i should keep it more updated hahah
the leaf in the background is from unsplash! credit where credit is due.
here are my design notes directly transplanted from twitter but without the character limit lmao
first image:
love that these aliens are just "tall celebi" and wanted to go a lil wild with it so i chose some other bugs to throw into her design. serant in particular has wasp & mantis traits, which i decided on BEFORE i knew her ship was called the dragonfly. oops
i didnt realize until AFTER i gave her digitigrade legs that wearing normal jeans would by physically impossible without really specific alterations that i dont think i have the skill to draw, so jorts it is!!!!!
i actually had a lot of fun coming up with how to make clothes fit her. thats what the belts on her sleeves are for, otherwise she wouldnt be able to get her forearms through the arm holes lmao
its the same w the jorts except its an invisible zipper hidden in a seam so that i dont have to draw it. but it’s still fun to think about!
I threw in the turtleneck on a whim and im SO GLAD I DID for reasons i’ll get into later.
i poured a truly ludicrous amount of time into figuring out how bug mandibles work so that i could give her a more buglike face that could still smile!! it’s still pretty difficult but im getting the hang of it
i imagine there exist shoes that accommodate clawed feet, but the image of her destroying a perfectly good pair of boots so her claws arent cramped is kinda funny. or maybe the boots are just Like that and thats just how Boots For Bug People look.
before i get into notes on the second image please look at this tragedy. in hindsight this is so goddamn funny and it’s the best possible outcome but in the moment my soul was flung violently from my body
anyway, second image:
i wish i had the words to describe the full intensity of the anguished "NO!" that echoed through my kitchen as i listened to ep 40 while washing dishes.
thankfully the anguish was temporary because?? serant with wings??? when i thought she couldnt POSSIBLY get any cooler??
im sure its clear now why im so glad i gave her a turtleneck under her jacket that first time hahahah.
sleeveless turtlenecks are a favorite of mine to begin and it was so convenient that i could also make it an open-back turtleneck to accommodate her wings. everyone say thank you to sleeveless backless turtlenecks.
its delightful to think about serant dramatically whipping her jacket to the side and launching herself into the air
it took ~2.5 weeks to figure out wings. i tried to put random lines in her wings for simplicity but it just didnt look right, so i had to study why insect wings look like that in the first place
as a result i now know more about insect wing venation than i had ever planned on knowing. it was actually pretty frustrating until i sat down and did some reading about why insect wings look the way they do. turns out all the veins have names , and the way they’re placed and where they branch can tell you which species are related to each other.
serant’s wing pattern is mostly based off of european hornets. this website, DrawWing was super helpful!! it’s really cool, do take a look if its something youre interested in!
wasps and their relatives usually have two sets of wings, and the back set latches onto the front set to be more aerodynamic. i was already struggling with one set of wings so i just fused the front and back ones together. its aliens. its fine!!!
early on, i was agonizing about how the hell serant could even fit her wings under her jacket but then i learned about wing folding. it’s the most impressive and intricate in beetles, but insects without elytra (beetle shells) can do it too. did you know earwigs have HUGE WINGS?? youre welcome!!!
im so glad i found out that serant and melas have wings BEFORE i finished designing melas. the bugs i based him on are a little tougher for me to work with and i would have had to make a lot more changes and do more backtracking. im really hoping to have something concrete of melas done soon, but i got distracted by a fun idea for oh’eler . oops . in the meantime heres a messy little doodle i put on twitter as well as an alt background for serant. i wound up going with the copper one instead because it made her wings stand out more.
if you read all this, wow thank you! i hope you enjoyed.
While Raptor’s story is just an excuse to blow things up, it also paints your actions as morally ambiguous. Areas like this though, make it seem like you’re targeting really shady groups. There aren’t many legitimate groups that stockpile equipment and weaponry in the middle of the jungle.
