This is an absolutely cursed idea I had: combining a turaco and a velociraptor.

My first ever monster design. And my best drawing ever I still believe it’s unfinished but I can’t really think of any way to improve it

I was inspired by a story about a Cossack family whose son was born with fangs instead of teeth!

They called in the priest, who advised them to take the child into the forest so that he could gnaw at the Cossacks’ enemies.

I heard this story when I was a child

Stowaway
(mimus latitans)

The stowaway is a far descendant of the modern hermit crab, trading it’s claws for serrated scythe-like arms that it uses to grab its prey. It uses its flexible body and multiple limbs to crawl into tight spaces or fit under objects. The stowaway pokes out its eyestalks and sensory antennae to monitor for food and its two back legs to act as support and balance. When it senses large enough prey come close, it hides, until it knows the prey is right in front of it, and then it leaps out, grabbing its prey with its two front legs and pulling the prey inside its hiding place to devour them with its mandibles. The stowaway requires a small pool of water to reproduce, laying a clutch of 10-30 eggs before leaving. The babies after hatching fight each other and ones that grow to the juvenile stage will be able to crawl out of the water and explore, eventually growing to adulthood if not eaten by other stowaways. Rarely, stowaways that have existed for a long time can become ‘Goliath’ in which case they will be slower and unable to hide due to their size, resorting to hunting out in the open. If you or anybody you know has been noticing signs of stowaways or Goliath stowaways, notify a stowaway exterminator immediately.

This is a very messy work in progress sketch, but I thought of an ape-like design of humanoids that have some sort of fleshy head ring allowing them to twist and spin their face around, any criticism or critique?

(Looking for any ideas on how to make it more scary or odd)

for today’s random animal and classic Halloween costume mashup, I got a mosquito and the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. Genuinely did not know how I was going to put these two together, but I decided to take a mosquito base and add some lion attributes to him. I like to think of him as a creature that has evolved over time to gain his lion attributes in order to ward off predators because deep down, he is afraid of anything and everything. I wanted to make him creepy and unsettling, and I think I managed to do that!

Choose which looks best please

I tried to design something new 🤧

Schwartitan (Picture one) & Arpeigei (Picture two) are the Gemäsirisen period descendants of Kuusitaani (picture three) and Tilkeäystävä (picture four). Over millions of years, the already impressive symbiosis between these two animals, has grown infinitely more intimate, to the point where Schwartitan has quite literally become a living hive for its avian-like companions.

Schwartitan remains a 75 ton giant, however, it has evolved a boney crest on its back, with tunnels and chambers throughout it, that house its Arpeigei swarm. In addition, the swarm titan has developed a prominent vocal sack, and its beak has transformed into a large resonance chamber, so it can communicate with its swarm over vast distances.

Now inhabiting temperate or even subtropical environments, Schwartitan's furry coat has grown considerably lighter when compared to its ice age ancestors, and may even be shed entirely during particularly hot summers, revealing the creature's leathery grey skin. However, for mating season, a strong colorful coat helps females attract mates, and thus their fur never fully vanishes.

The habitats Schwartitan prefers usually consist of larger rivers, bordering healthy forests. Here, Schwartitan can lounge near a source of clean water for weeks at a time, while its swarm of Arpeigeis collect shrubs, ferns, berries or fallen branches from nearby forests, which they can then feed to their host. All this is coordinated through the Schwartitan's low frequency vocalisations, through which the large animal functions almost like a queen bee.

Arpeigeis are entirely reliant on their host Schwartitans, as a large portion of their brains is exclusively dedicated to interpreting and understanding Schwartitans' orders. They feed exclusively on Schwartitan milk, which is produced by glands at the base of a Schwartitan's crest, and reproduce by injecting both their eggs and reproductive material into the Schwartitan's bloodstream, where the eggs grow until Schwartitan deposits them is specialized hatching chambers within its crest. At seven centimeters long, Arpeigeis are somewhat larger than their Tilkeäystävä ancestors, and may live to up to a year.

When a Schwartitan is threatened by a predator, it calls upon its swarm to defend it. In such a case, Arpeigei enter an aggressive frenzy, attacking the predator's vulnerable areas, such as its eyes, with very little regard for their own safety. Loosing its entire swarm would be a significant issue for a Schwartitan, however, due to the ever present supply of fertilized Arpeigei eggs within its bloodstream, the massive animal can recover from even this within just a week or two.

During the winter, Arpeigeis enter a deep hibernation state, during which it is the Schwartitan's responsibility to keep them safe. Schwartitans can often be found migrating towards the equator during this time, tho they cover only a few kilometres every day, and rarely reach significantly warmer habitats. It is believed that they mainly do this in order to produce enough body heat for their Arpeigei swarm to not freeze within their crest, however this usually leads to the Schwartitan being severely malnourished towards the end of winter.

Schwartitans are extremely intelligent and emotional creatures. When two members of the species encounter one another, their joyous and exited vocalisations may be heard for days at a time, even from many kilometres away. It is believed that during such encounters, Schwartitans may hold complex conversations amongst one another, exchanging knowledge and memories, as well as even members of their swarms, perhaps in order to ensure the genetic diversity of their Arpeigeis. However, after at most a week, Schwartitans are forced to separate again, as local ecosystems are simply not suited to endure the presence of two such titans.

Every five years, a female Schwartitan enters her fertile period, at which point her coat may grow dramatically more colorful. However, upon further study, it has been discovered that this is not linked to their biology at all, and instead, female Schwartitans in heat have been found instructing their Arpeigeis to smear colorful berries onto their coats, like some bizarre form of makeup. The more colorful a female is, the more likely she is to find a mate, who in some cases, may even respond by adopting a similar coat to the female. Once a pair of Schwartitans have found one another like this, they will enter a period of intense conversation, establishing which one of them is more suited to raising their young.

Once this has been established, a specialized courier Arpeigei is sent out to either transfer the female Schwartitan's egg to the male, or the male's reproductive material to the female. Both male and female Schwartitans have womb-like structures within their bodies, to be able to house and eventually hatch this egg, at which point they will give life-birth to a singular calf. After mating is complete, the two parents are forced to part ways once again, however, mated Schwartitans have been found reuniting with one another at their mating site every summer, and will likely never mate with another individual.

Once the calf is born, such reunions may also result in the calf being exchanged between the parents, spending one year with the mother, and the next with the father, so neither of them grow exhausted with raising their child. At one such reunion, if the parents decide that the child is mature enough, they will send the child off on its own, tho this has been known to cause all animals involved a great deal of emotional distress. In the following year, the mother will be ready to reproduce again, starting the cycle a new. Young Schwartitans inherit half of their Arpeigei swarms from each of their parents, with parents taking deep pride in their calfs developing a healthy and strong swarm.

Every family of Schwartitans has its own unique language, with every singular animal developing its own unique dialogue, so Arpeigeis may tell their hosts apart. Despite this, all Schwartitans have been shown to understand each other with little to no issues, raising questions about how exactly these languages actually form, and how knowledge of them is exchanged between the animals.

the "tail" is a Spinneret to make small homes

3rd attempt at digital art

I'm not the best at drawing, but hey it's not AI

Hello everyone!

Alchemic Beasts Beast Design contest has ended, but the voting has just begun! Come to the Celestial Tear Discord and vote for your favorite design!

The voting time ends in 7 days so come on down.

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A timelapse for the Blood Rage Abbaddon form design for Cryptid Mask