I was struck with this idea over the weekend of a plant-like alien who grew from an amorphous plant material to mimic the shape of species it was communicating with. I started drawing the face as something growing out of the side of a branch and swinging it back into the leaves but I started giving it its own unique form. The foliage in the back started becoming a shape that I thought looked like a snail's shell so I started building off of that.
This "Wood Snail" species is peaceful and contemplative, having evolved from navigating plants who tilled their own soil. I decided that they would decorate their head branch to draw attention to the large "tree top" growing behind them. With their clumsy hands and tiny little fingers I decided it would be interesting to give them an aesthetic value of small intricate work to contrast their roughness and sort of stir thoughts of spiderwebs on trees.
I'm pretty happy with the study of the face. I think the alien having a bark-like texture provides a different look to the character while allowing me to use that familiar slim alienesque face shape. I think having multiple eyes also sort of call to mind those tree-knot shapes that resemble eyes, also it sort of pushes the perception that this species is very observant. That, combined with having no mouth, makes for a very wise-looking species. It kinda reminds me of the legend of the owl, where people believed them to be wise because they had such huge eyes and seemed to be able to turn their heads all the way around.
