The one head that finally works - Neo-Anthropocene

For one last time I redesigned the Ikleud head. And found something I'm finally happy with. They dropped the eye socket and ear muscle bulge in place of a very much pronounced cheekbone-looking hardy crests and an overall rounder face.

Said cheek crests have an evolutionary purpose. They help signify the individual's physical health and maturity. They also help Ikleud identify eachother amongst their ancestral forests and differentiate them from the other species in their family the Artusariculids.

As little fawn they are almost completely absent and only start growing in once they become juveniles. But start out as a deep brown with the rest of their facial band, so as not to pop out too much and risk being detected by predators. These crests' growth directly correlate with the Ikleud's life health. With individuals who went their lives malnourished possessing much smaller crests.

It is only once they enter adulthood and become sexually mature do the cheek-crests turn a beige hue and join the underbelly coat. However in spite of one might think this isn't relegated to the "male" Ikleud, this feature is universal to both this species' biological sexes.

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Redesign hell, We all go through a phase like that. Where you burn through a ton of designs an nothing makes you feel happy with what you have. And in worse cases can make you feel genuinley depressed over that lack of satisfaction. I went through that with my own Ikleud.

For about 3 months that really ramped up in the final weeks of that little phase. I filled an entire sketchbook page full of different Ikleud heads with slight tweaks in anatomy in hopes of anything sticking. Nothing worked.

Eventually In april made that second image to take a step back and look at Eterocrurid anatomy as a whole. Using some old sketches of their aquatic relatives as a base I tried working from their ancestors back up. In hopes that I could be satisfied with something that was accurate to their phylum's evolution and anatomy.

I had to take a pause on that because around that time I went to my grandma's house for family business. But while staying the weekend there I ended up drawing the sketches in that third picture. Using the digital sketch as reference and taking inspiration from the Mud-bouncer-Brute-Wyvern Barroth of all things. I took a good look at it. And realized I was happy with what I made. When I came back home from the trip I finished up that second sketch to see if I wasn't being desperate. I still liked it, I was finally proud of their design again.

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Edit: Oh yeah I also redesigned their proboscis-hand one more time. Going back to the 3 "fingered" lip arrangement with little nubs at the end to pinch hold stuff Like holding utensils. And circular pads at the base of the mouth right in front of the radula, to hold onto food while the fingers are freed up for manipulation.