Cyfa's art challenges and other bits & bobs

[Cyfa]

It's rather cool and misty here today, so I found myself with a little spare time due to not being busy outside. And some of that spare time was used to sketch something I've had on my mind for about a month now: a "buck-toothed" alien eating.

I've been intrigued with this vertical-mouthed species for some time, and last month had an idea about how they eat - and this sketch is the result. I envisage their mouth opening and dozens of prehensile, worm-like tentacles shooting out to grab whatever food item is next on their stomach's agenda.
Needless to say, many humans (and other species) find sharing lunch with a member of this particular race a horrifyingly fascinating experience!

 

[Michael]

Well, bon appetit!

I always noticed that alien in the background of the Promenade. And wasn't one of them also on those WANTED graphics in Odo's office?

I could really see them animating all those tentacles with the use of CGI in Picard or Discovery.

EDIT: At least the vertical mouth design made more sense than what ever species this guy was supposed to be.

 

[Cyfa]

Fallit Kot and other aliens with partially obscured mouths really drive me crazy - how on Earth (or on DS9) are they supposed to eat? How did they manage to evolve mouths like that? Unless they insert their food somewhere else...?

Edit: Maybe that "face handle" is a removable implant/mask/item of jewellery?

 

[Michael]

Yeah, it could also be some sort of body alteration they do to themselves surgically. Would at least make more sense than it just developing naturally.

 

[Michael]

Another thing: Scrolling through that MA list of unnamed background aliens on Deep Space Nine you linked to above is a good reminder of what an amazing job Michael Westmore and his team did for Star Trek. I have this wonderful coffee table book about Noel Harlow's alien designs for Star Trek Beyond, which features highly detailed photos and sketches of all those background aliens. I wish there was something similar for Michael Westmore.

 

[Cyfa]

Oh, I'd love a MIchael Westmore coffee table book. The closest we've got is the rather flimsy "TNG Make-Up FX Journal".

 

[Finn]

Oh, I'd love a MIchael Westmore coffee table book. The closest we've got is the rather flimsy "TNG Make-Up FX Journal".

If Cosmo Kramer lived in the 24th Century, he would come up a coffee table that looks like a padd.

 

[Cyfa]

If Cosmo Kramer lived in the 24th Century, he would come up a coffee table that looks like a padd.

- I must admit, I had to look up Cosmo Kramer (I never watched Seinfeld), but luckily Wikipedia mentions his coffee table book about celebrities coffee tables (which could also become a coffee table)?

This month's Art Challenge is all about sci-fi other than Star Trek. Farscape instantly popped into my mind when I first saw the theme, then later on while in the bath (where I do all my thinking) I came up with this list:

Ulysses 31, G-Force: Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman), Flight of the Navigator, Asgardians of the Galaxy (because I can't decide between Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy), Transformers (UK G1 comic and toys), Zoids (UK comic and toys), John Carter of Mars (Disney film, because I still haven't got around to reading the books), Jupiter Ascending (Bees! Gravity boots!! That wedding dress and hairpiece!!!), Primeval (Dinosaurs!), Day of the Triffids (the nightmare inducing 1980s BBC TV series), and The Tripods (an even worse nightmare inducing UK TV series - I can't believe this was for kids!).

As Michael said in the Art Challenge thread:

Maybe the idea could be to combine some of them into one piece?

Well, I think that's what I'm going to do. Here's a quick sketch:

While I haven't decided which properties from the above list will make the cut or not, I've "accidentally" thought of a few more (which explains the Trillions and the waterlily homunculi from Les Maître du Temps).

 

[Michael]

^ I like where this is going.

I'm right in the middle of working out what I'm going to do for the contest myself. I hope to post a WIP in the next couple of days.

 

[Cyfa]

After much procrastination and dithering, I finally made a start on my Not Trek Art Challenge piece - and promptly ruined it by hurriedly colouring it in after a couple of G&Ts...
Here's a pre-gin snippet which includes a couple of party-crashers not on the original guest list:

I think I'm going to re-do this but cull some of the "guests" and make it simpler...

 

[Cyfa]

So, I haven't re-done the scene above. Instead, I got distracted after getting my old box of Zoids out to find Hellrunner (the ornitholestes-type Zoid in the sketch from 12th August, above):

I think this might be my entry for this month's art challenge, "Not Trek".

 

[Michael]

Interesting idea! That last photo in particular looks great! I would almost make that your entry, because it's such a nice image.

 

[Cyfa]

That last photo in particular looks great! I would almost make that your entry, because it's such a nice image.

Thank you! I do love how that last photo came out, and I was thinking about just submitting it on its own (or another one that I'd taken a bit more time over), but then I started thinking about how Hellrunner and Spineback met for that "kiss" which is where the other photos came in. Still, I've got a week or so to flail around trying to decide what I'm going to do (which probably won't come to much as I'm hopeless at making decisions!)

 

[Cyfa]

"The Kiss":

Maybe?

 

[Michael]

Just my opinion, of course, but I really like this better, yeah. Great photo! Is the sun a desk lamp or something similar?

 

[Cyfa]

Is the sun a desk lamp or something similar?

- Yep! Atop Mount Bookcase, a heavy growth of blanket softens the footfalls of Hellrunner and Spineback as they kiss before the Lamp Moon

I'm going to set it all up again to try and get another photo with a light flare between the cockpits (and some blanke- I mean, ground under Hellrunner's feet).

 

[Cyfa]

Well, I did set up "The Kiss" again, but just couldn't get a good photo (it didn't help that I was tired and impatient), so I think I'm going to stick with what I've got. I might make a few very minor adjustments, but one of the above Zoid pieces will be my entry for this month's art challenge

And now, on to something completely different: Over in the Lower Decks forum, @Wayne Peters made these awesome little Pop Fold Lower Deckers based on Pop-Fold designs by Calvin Lin - and he thoughtfully shared them. For free!
Now, this was an opportunity too good to pass up so, during my work lunch breaks over the past couple of days, I printed out and put together my own little box fox: Pop Fold Rutherford (just like his cartoon counterpart, he's just so adorable!)

 

[Finn]

Wow. That’s awesome

 

[Cyfa]

Wow. That’s awesome

- Isn't he?! Full credit to Wayne Peters and Calvin Lin for the design and concept, but I'm going to take some because my little fox box Rutherford was quite fiddly to put together (for my giant hands, anyway)

Right. I have made a decision about my entry for this month's Not Trek Art Challenge: sticking with the multiple panels to keep the "story", but embiggening the final panel because I like how it came out:

 

[Cyfa]

I haven't found much time for Trek art lately, but at the beginning of October I was idly playing around with my ever increasing collection of sea-glass and came up with these Glass Starships:

They're not the best of photos - sorry. I was somewhat impatient when I took them (with my crappy old phone camera on a dull day...)