In our last post we talked about designing an intelligent race for your world. Here’s that post if you missed it Edit Post “Intelligent races for your world pt:1” ‹ artelianscreaturesandconcepts.com — WordPress. In this post we will talk about some of the less humanoid intelligent aliens. Keep in mind that most of these aliens are lesser known but some of them are still quite popular.
Wayne Barlowe’s Eosapiens
Our first stop at nonhumanoid intelligent aliens is Wayne Barlowe’s Eosapien. This is a classic and is an alien that is heavily featured in the book “Expedition” as well as the fake documentary alien planet.
Right away you can immediately tell this thing is alien. Everything about it speaks to its bizarre environment and otherworldly intelligence. Yet there’s also a familiarity, a sense of curiosity and familiar intelligence that’s recognizable to us. Wayne Barlowe is excellent at these beautiful, bizarre creatures, I highly recommend checking his website out here-waynebarlowe | Artist, author. There’s a lot of interesting and excellent art that you’ll find, much of it otherworldly.
C.M Kosemen’s Qu
Another excellent concept artist, C.M. Kosemen has authored, written and illustrated the book All Tomorrows. In the book humanity is overpowered by an alien intelligence a billion years its senior. The aliens take away humanities intelligence, reducing them to the level of normal animals.
The Eosapiens before them, the Qu are definitely not your typical Hollywood alien. Their bizarre insectoid body, combined with their long tentacle just screams alien and only exemplifies their hostile behavior towards humans. Many of the human ancestors that evolve in time go on to readapt their dormant intelligence, however many of them don’t look anything like their human ancestors. When looking at the Qu take note of a few things, such as its lack of clothes and lack of hands, instead using a flexible tentacle to manipulate its environment.
These questions and others will help you when deciding on how to design your intelligent race. If you want to check out more of Kosemen’s work which I recommend, then here’s his website-C. M. Kosemen (cmkosemen.com).
Alex Ries’ Birrin Project
Australian artist and concept designer Alex Ries is another artist whose jumped on the “create a world”. His world is called the Birrin Project, and it details the world, history, technology, biology and even the culture of the Birrin. This reptilian species is highly intelligent but like the others above, not humanoid.
When looking at the Birrin you can immediately tell its intelligence by a few things. Like humans, they wear clothes and footwear. They also make use of various tools and gadgets for use in everyday life just like us. Things like this are small, but very important in conveying to your viewer facts about your alien race. Their biology also suits their environment, and this is seen in their adaptations throughout their body. All creatures on the planet evolved from a common ancestor with four eyes and four jaws, evident in our Birrin. Birrin also have retractable wings for getting rid of excess body heat since their world is so hot. When designing your aliens, keep notes of their environment and what kinds of adaptation they might need to survive.
If you want to see more of Alex’s work here’s his website-Alex Ries – The Birrin Project (artstation.com).
Intelligent races of the Dream Ring
Due to the fact that it’s not a planet, the Dream Ring’s large surface area has allowed for many intelligent races to develop and thrive. The five main races that are highly important in the story were created by a cosmic being long ago. Again, this world is different from most worldbuilders and has more magical supernatural elements in it. These will be explored more in depth in future posts, but I thought I’d mention it here.
