The Heard and the Earies
The final painting - Earies swoop down to attack the Heard, while surprised explorers look on.

The final painting - Earies swoop down to attack the Heard, while surprised explorers look on.

Earies sketches.

Earies sketches.

Heard sketches.

Heard sketches.

The initial sketch.

The initial sketch.

Flat colors.

Flat colors.

A rough sketch for planning out the lighting.

A rough sketch for planning out the lighting.

Beginning of building lighting layers.

Beginning of building lighting layers.

Pre-final edits.

Pre-final edits.

The Heard and the Earies

Time span: 1 week. Full PDF can be found here: t.ly/bbowb

This concept artwork depicts two original species of my own design, heard and earies.
Earies were named as such by early human explorers for the fact that they have no eyes, but four pairs of ears. These creatures live in the pitch darkness of Fungulch - a unique habitat where massive pseudofungal superorganisms have grown tall and grown together, to create a total blackout environment. The pseudo fungi bring energy into the system through photosynthesis, and other flora below parasitize them for nutrients.

Heard are elegant, slow-moving hexapods that communicate to each other with bioluminescence to avoid catching the attention of Earies. Earies are light-framed flying predators that make up for their lack of bulk with deadly sharp teeth and claws, and have impeccable hearing for locating prey in the blackness.

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