Hippocampus bargibanti

Spent a few hours today painting this pygmy seahorse- it may prove to be a work very much in progress, but I'm happy with it for the moment.

These seahorses live exclusively on gorgonian coral, which they mimic so well that they are virtually invisible* even to eyes actively searching for them (of course, it doesn't help that they grow to 2.5 cm at the most).** They were discovered by accident in 1969, when one hitched a ride with a coral specimen taken for study. If you want to take a break from the usual baby sloths, owls, and/or cats doing cute things, would highly recommend looking up videos of bargibantis bopping each other.

*Other things that are virtually invisible: the fins on the sides of the head and along the spine. I've made them all much more visible than they were in any of the photos that I used for reference, but didn't want to make them too conspicuous.

** Life size.
 

Actual pictures of bargibantis: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/bargibanti/Interesting

Pygmy seahorse bopping one another: http://www.arkive.org/pygmy-seahorse/hippocampus-bargibanti/video-00.html

Some early insectile doodles

The following trio of images were created in Adobe Illustrator about three years ago, while I was attempting to learn how to use the program better through experimenting. None of these are intended to represent any actual living species, but they all draw from things that do exist in nature.

This first image was my first non-job-related creation; it's just an improbably stylized wasp:

 Not particularly aerodynamic, but if bumblebees can manage, why not this monstrosity?

After that, I started to think more about function (while illustrating a dragonfly for a project for work), and came up with the following:

In the case of this 'anglerfly,' I was envisioning a nocturnal odonate (damselfly/dragonfly order) with an anglerfish-like bioluminescent lure at the end of its abdomen. Added in some long, grasping front legs, which seem almost unfair considering that odonates also have extendable lower jaws (not very well pictured here).

Finally, here is a subterranean beetle-y thing loosely inspired by an ant lion larva mixed with a mole (and possibly influenced by 'Tremors,' as so much of my life is):

I pictured this beastie burrowing into loose sand and lying wait for prey passing above, which it then jabs with its prominent jabby-legs (the technical term- can be tucked against either side of the body when actively burrowing). The fuzz at the joints and body segments is fairly typical for digging insects.

 After all of these ridiculous, vicious-looking spiky things, I do believe I owe you a pygmy seahorse sometime soon.