C. M. Kosemen

Artist and Researcher

***

Sketches

Two previous compilations of my sketches exist, available to download as free .pdf e-books:
1. Tangent Worlds: From the Sketchbooks of C. M. Kosemen
2. Alternate Life: From the Online Sketchbooks of C. M. Kosemen

***

Sketch of a piscoid creature and the tower-bearing cistern it was raised in. Not a real animal, but the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketch of a Scutellosaurus-like dinosaur.

Sketch of a pterosaur ancestor. Not a real animal, but the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Pencil-and-watercolour sketches of unreferenced dinosaurs.

Sketch of a chalicothere.

Architectural fantasy of a tower-bearing place of worship with built-in lanterns.

Sketches of reptilian animals with extended lower-jaw projections. Not actual animals, but the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Frivolous sketch of a haunted statue.

Unreferenced sketches of the dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus.

Unreferenced sketches of "doofus pterosaurs", silly-looking prehistoric flying reptiles.

Sketch of a bat-like, winged posthuman. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketch of a sub-adult sauropod dinosaur.

Unreferenced sketch of a generic ornithopod dinosaur.

Sketch of a fantastic grey alien with four arms.

Sketch of an eight-legged humanoid alien. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a hulking insectile beast and its handler. Not a real animal, but the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of weird, bird-like animals. Not real animals, but the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of bird-like abelisaur dinosaur, including an extremely aberrant, derived form that has forward-facing eyes and a strangely-human-like profile. Not real animals, but the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketch of a tiny fish.

Sketches of weird Moliform fish. Not real animals, but the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketches of armoured fighting vehicles.

Unreferenced sketch of a generic ornithischian / theropod dinosaur. Not a real animal, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a dragon-like creature inspired by Bronze Age Minoan symbolism.

Sketched of a crested, bird-like creature; an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of whale-like creatures, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of colourful fantastic creatures.

Restoration of the pterosaur Anurognathus based on a ultraheterodox skeletal diagram prepared by researcher David Peters.

Sketch of Shahrennar, mother of all jinns. Fantastic doodle inspired by the Davetname, a historic Ottoman-era treatise on supernatural beings.

Sketches of three frivolous spirit creatures.

Sketch of a beaked, lizard-like creature running at high speed.

Sketch of a Plateosaurus dinosaur near ancient ruins built by a lost civilization of Lystrosaurus-like creatures. Ink drawing over Midjourney-generated collage.

Study of the short-armed basal thyreophoran dinosaur Jakapil.

Sketches of "bridge-neck skimmer creatures", marine reptiles with unique specialisations to skim-feed on small, surface-dwelling fish. Not real animals, but instead the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a demon family and their pet cat.

Childhood sketch of a man with "monsters in his brain". Edgy.

Symbolic sketches of a flying bird, and an eagle monument.

Sketch of a beaked, sea-serpent-like marine animal, the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a giant arachnid monster, the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of the predatory dinosaur Yangchuanosaurus, referenced from a skeletal drawing by Dan Folkes.

Sketches of a variety of wheeled-and-legged, insect-like armoured fighting vehicles.

Sketch of a giant beetle that shoots burning liquid. Bred as a living weapon, the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a biological armoured fighting vehicle/creature.

Sketch of infantry advancing under the cover of a biological armoured fighting vehicle/creature.

Sketch of a lovecraftian creature.

Sketch of two embracing snake creatures.

Sketch of a cat-like reptilian creature. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of "Mastigaunts", crescent-shaped advanced nanomachines that hover above the ground thanks to their long, grounding tail filaments. Some of them are intelligent, and can even speak.

Sketch of Teratosaurus, a prehistoric, crocodile-like predatory reptile whose remains were initially thought to be that of a large predatory dinosaur.

Frivolous sketch of a leopard-like spirit.

Frivolous sketch of a magic spell.

Unreferenced sketches of an adult and an immature sauropod dinosaur.

Unreferenced sketch of a generic tyrannosaur.

Sketch of a laughing dove, Spilopelia senegalensis, drawn from real life.

Loose sketches of symbolic creatures.

Unreferenced sketches of abelisaurs and other dinosaurs.

Sketch of a gnarly maple tree stump, drawn from real life.

Sketches of biological jet aircraft.

Sketches of frivolous spirit creatures, including a "suck crawler".

Sketch of the ferry that runs between Istanbul and Bursa.

Sketch of an assymetrical ground-attack airplane.

A parade of unusual creatures, the results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of extraterrestrial predators inspired by Expedition, Wayne Barlowe's 1990 speculative evolution book.

Sketch of a silly police car.

Watercolour-and-ink sketches of two long spirits.

Sketch of a dinosaur-like creature with an aquiline beak. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Loose sketches of various creatures and entities.

Sketches of winged humanoid creatures.

Sketch of a permanently airborne alien creature, adapted to feed on swarms of tiny, gnat-like organisms. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of "wheel beggars", damned souls twisted by God into trundling monopodal creatures with built-in wheels. They sit in street corners and beg for money, and can only subsist on gasoline. This was their punshment for being bad drivers.

A parade of silly creatures.

Sketches of "swan whales", and "pincer whales"; secondarily marine animals from an entirely different replay of tetrapod evolution. The swan whales' ecological niche is similar to that of present-day beaked whales (Ziphiidae); while the pincher whales practise a sort predatory behaviour the likes of which do not exist on this version of Earth. Results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of satanic moth-spirit.

Sketch of a reptilian cat creature. Result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Ink-and-watercolour sketches of two echinoderm-like spirit creatures.

Three ink-and-watercolour studies from the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

A gift sketch for one of my favourite fish restaurants.

Sketch of a biotechnological, walking tank destroyer.

Pencil and watercolour sketch of a demonic entity.

Sketch of a jumping spider from real life, perhaps Evarcha sp.?

Setches of two winged, modernist monsters - perhaps entities from a "Backrooms"-type scenario?

Step-by-step diagrams of my drawing process, from initial collage to final anatomical diagram.

Surreal sketches of a cat-like human jinn, and a dog-like snake jinn.

Various watercolour-and-ink sketches.

Pencil sketch of a cylindrical building by the sea.

Loose sketches of various reptile, fish, and worm-like creatures.

Photoshop collages of placodont bodies and spinosaur skulls. They look strangely believable as real animals.

Photoshopped sketches of various lizards with bird heads. Another combination that looks strangely beliveable. The final image, the big monitor with a hornbill head, was created by my friend Jakub Bobrowicz.

Various abstract sketches.

Sketches with Krita, a free program that beautifully emulates traditional media.

Someone created this viral image of a crab-man skeleton (upper-right corner), I tried to reconstruct it. The result was an abomination.

Sketches of organic buildings.

Sketch of a goddess figure, accompanied by various other silly creatures.

Sketch of a beaked, snake-like animal.

Watercolour study and ink sketches of a bestial sphinx by an alien seashore.

Sketches of alien flyers with four wings.

Sketch of a pale, vaguely Mitsukurina-like selachian. Not a real animal, but a work of speculative evolution.

Sketches of an organic attack helicopter that flies through anti-gravity - and the Reddit.com comment that influenced their development.

Landscape drawing of a tree growing on a street corner.

Unreferenced loose sketch of Acrocanthosaurus - a large predatory dinosaur with tall vertebral spines.

Sketch of an unusual dinosauriform - an exercise in speculative evolution.

Loose-sketches of bat-like creatures.

Sketch of a herbivorous, dinosaur-like creature. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a narrow-headed animal with a fat body. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of an organic building.

Sketch of a fanciful building with horn-like decorations.

Sketch of a dome-like, organic building.

Sketch of an eclectic building.

Fanciful sketches of jawed tombstone.

Sketch of a female manticore - imagined here as a divergent, cat-like mammal.

Sketch of a tripedal robot cheetah.

Sketch of a turtle-like alien creature with six legs.

Sketches of fantastic, half-moon-shaped floating machines at sunset.

Sketches of two demonic forms.

Sketch of a silicone-based organism that resembles a glass sculpture, and an associated sheperd-figure.

Sketches of two demon forms.

Sketch of a mosasaur pup.

Fanciful sketch of a spiritual creature.

Sketch of a playful, long-finned shark similar to Aquilolamna, an real-life fossil species.

Sketch of an alien creature with a sail-like growth on its back.

Sketch of a long-jawed archosaur - an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a dream creature seen in a bath house - it was making rather improper remarks.

Sketch of a Turkish astrologess as seen on New Year's TV. A deviation from my usual style.

Frivolous sketches of spirit creatures.

Sketch of a winged demon figure.

Frivolous sketches of harlequin ghosts.

Frivolous sketches of an UFO encounter in a 1990s Turkish setting.

Sketch of a long-necked, splay-limbed tetrapod creature of unknown descent. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Frivolous sketches of hybrid gods.

Studies of mythical beings from Turkic folklore - from an abandoned project.

Watercolour-and-ink sketch of a conical, organic building.

Sketches of various weird objects, and the spirit that haunts them.

Sketch of Istanbul's Beyazid Tower as seen from the nearby district of Beşiktaş.

Sketches of alien "tower beasts".

Sketches of striped, bird-like reptiles.

Marker sketch of a surreal landscape.

Marker sketches of surreal landscapes.

Sketch of our family cat.

Sketches of two fantastic ambassadors.

Outdated studies of two scythe-clawed theropod dinosaurs: Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus.

Studies of prehistoric Anatolian mammals for an old, unrealised book project. From top to bottom, they are Percrocuta, Deinotherium, Gomphotherium, Machairodus, Kubanochoerus, Palaeotragus.

Digital pencil study of the unusual dinosaur Berthasaura, an abelisaur trying really hard to be a psittacosaur.

Study of a "Herreravian", a hypothetical creature from a clade which palaeontologist Greg S. Paul once proposed for Herrerasauridae, Protoavis, and birds.

Sketch of a triskelion-like warrior figure.

Ink and watercolour sketches of various alien creatures.

Watercolour sketch of an Old Testament angel.

Sketch of an insect dervish.

Watercolour sketches of fantastic plants and spirits.

Fantastic ink-and-watercolour sketch of a sephirothic being.

Fanciful watercolour sketches.

Watercolour sketches of retro dinosaurs.

Watercolour sketch of a fantastic mountain landscape.

Sketches of "Batrakhikhthyes", shark-like, secondarily aquatic tetrapods of unknown origin. Not real animals, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of genus Pangio - small Asian freshwater fish in the true loach family.

Sketch of a humanoid alien with wings.

Sketch of an H. G. Wells-style alien using an arcane scrying device.

Sketch of a tiny, turkey-sized prosauropod dinosaur. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a lance-bearing demon.

Sketches of bichir-ships, biomechanical sailboats bred out of crustacean-like animals.

Sketches of an unbrella-headed demon, and a revelling demon.

Frivolous sketch of UZALTMAS, an ocean-treading demon. This sketch is made up, but I heard the name "UZALTMAS" in a dream.

Frivolous sketch of a Neptune-like demon.

Sketch of a scythe-faced alien creature and a biomechanical floater.

Sketches of biomechanical observation drones.

Sketches of wing-like portals I saw in a dream.

Sketch of a biomechanical observation drone - a living machine designed by an advanced species.

Sketch of an Asteromorph from All Tomorrows.

Sketch of the tiny pterosaur Bellubrunnus, after an illustration by the inimitable Joschua Knüppe.

Sketch of Cthulhu, drawn after H. P. Lovecraft's original sketch.

Sketches of two whimsical living lanterns.

Sketch of an ichneumon-demoness that lays eggs inside her victims. The result of an exercise in psychological fantasy modelled after ichneumon wasps (Ichneumonidae, see inset) that parasitise other insects.

Sketch of a human-faced aviation-demon.

Sketch of a giant, erect-gaited bipedal monitor lizard. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of erect-limbed, vaguely rat-like reptiles. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of three funnily-dressed insect worshippers.

Sketch drawn directly after a strange dream. Airplane-like forms appeared in the night; upon close inspection they turned out to have scary, human-and-insect-like-faces. I was then told that these were the "spirits of experimental aircraft".

Layout sketch for a surreal painting depicting a tree-shaped demon.

Sketch of a tall, piebald animal browsing on xerophyte-like trees. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a small predatory animal with six limbs, inspired by Gert van Dijk's excellent Planet Furaha project.

Sketch of a roughly humanoid alien creature, loosely reminiscent of UFO-encounters.

Frivolous sketch of a lion-like figure and fire-breathing snakes.

Loose sketch of a tengu-like demon.

A big selection of sketches featuring frivolous demons; alien creatures; exercises in speculative evolution; and more.

Sketches of alien plants.

Sketch of a watchtower in a desert.

Sketches of reptiles; a Chinese crocodile lizard, Shinisaurus crocodilurus; and a chameleon anole, Anolis barbatus.

Photobash for a surreal painting; a demon made out of images of classical sculpture and insect genitals.

Sketch of a bird-like surreal figure.

Frivolous sketches of four musical demons.

Unreferenced sketch of a small predatory dinosaur.

Sketch of a silly monster.

Designs for a clothing line based on my surreal paintings.

Sketch of two reptiles with heron-like attenuated faces.

Sketch of two jinn-like monsters walking past two organic buildings.

Sketch of a humanoid monster.

Sketch of a vagrant biotechnological tree; originally bred to produce engine parts, it now grows wild and its mechanical fruit is beginning to mutate out of recognition.

Sketch of a gigantic "demon tree", a centuries-old, unmoving plant-animal hybrid that despite its name, is completely harmless.

A wide selection of sketches depicting demons, demonesses, bird and pterosaur-like creatures.

Colour sketch of a trunked alien creature.

Fanciful doodle featuring a seahorse-like form.

Sketch of Aquilolamna milarcae, a prehistoric shark with wing-like fins.

Sketch of a fanciful fly-like motorcycle creature with hairy wheels.

Sketch of a long-necked, vaguely-giraffe-like creature, perhaps descended from flightless pterosaurs. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Funny sketch of two fantastic creatures flirting.

Sketch of an insectoid biomechanical motorbike creature next to a human being.

Screentone study of an Asilid robber fly.

Three xerox-based variations and the final result of a surreal painting.

Sketch of a fantastic "grasshopper man" (neither a grasshopper nor a man), enjoying a cup of hot tea.

Study of Tyrannosaurus rex, based on a skull reconstruction by Oda Takashi.

Sketch of a long-necked sauropod dinosaur.

Sketch of a fantastic red monster.

Sketch of a fantastic humanoid figure with eyespots.

Frivolous sketch of an insect-like form.

Loose sketches of a bird-like figure and a demon-like figure.

Loose sketches of a snail shell; an organic building; and fantastic snake-like forms.

Fanciful sketch of a cat-like snake playing with a ball of twine.

Fanciful sketches including a long, hairy, cat-like organic motorcycle.

I tried to design a “realistic” creature with wheels and came up with these six-legged forms that grasped inanimate wheels in their four rear legs and a cleft in their bodies, and just trundled about… The wheels may have been crafted from special plants or fungi; or clay mixed with body secretions - like the nests of certain birds.

Sketch of a mantis-like spirit.

Sketch of a giant, flying, insect-like animal. Result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketch of Spinosaurus.

Sketch of a strange, bird-like dinosaur. Not an actual animal, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of a giant, Neptune-like demon and an animal-like spirit.

Sketch of an extremely-bird-like dinosaur. Not an actual animal, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a reptilian intelligent creature among a garden of green crystal tombstones. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of an eight-legged alien creature. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a six-legged alien creature. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Fanciful sketch of an ichthyosaur-like form.

Sketch of a pterosaur, drawn as a mammal-like creature.

Sketch of a tuft-headed moth, drawn from real life.

Paint sketches of frivolous bird-like forms.

Sketch of a frivolous shaggy floating creature.

Sketch of fantastic plants.

Sketch of an insectoid vehicle.

Sketch of a biomechanical seaside tower.

Sketch of a mummified baboon.

Sketch of a scary, skull-faced entity.

Colour pencil sketch of a baboon in ancient Egyptian style.

Sketches of biomechanical boat-hulls with living faces and lookout posts.

Unreferenced sketch of a spinosaurid dinosaur, perhaps Irritator.

Unreferenced sketch of a primitive sauropod dinosaur, perhaps Vulcanodon.

Unreferenced sketch of a sauropod dinosaur, perhaps Alamosaurus.

Unreferenced sketch of a pterodactyl.

Sketch of a strange house (left), and the introverted creature that lives in it (right).

Study of a biomechanoid wheel-creature.

Charcoal sketch of a Mediodactylus gecko.

Sketch of Scipionyx, a small predatory dinosaur.

Charcoal study of Dromaeosaurus, a predatory dinosaur.

Sketch of a surreal, moth-like wanderer.

Sketches of various colourful demons and frivolous grey aliens.

Ink study of Erythrosuchus, a big-headed predatory reptile that lived in the Triassic period.

Helicoprion was a mysterious fossil shark, known almost entirely from buzzsaw-like sets of spiral tooth whorls (see upper-right inset). Many reconstructions attempted to solve this palaeontological enigma, some placing the tooth whorl on top of fins; others on the tail; others, on or into the head in various strange arrangements. To the best of my knowledge the issue hasn’t been solved conclusively at the present day; but new discoveries indicate that Helicoprion and its kin were probably, related to present-day chimaera fish, order Chimaeriformes (see upper-right inset).

Whimsical, vulture-like figure, part of an exercise in screentone shading.

Sketch of a repto-mammalian creature, an exerise in speculative evolution.

Whimsical study of a spider.

Sketch of two priests summoning a multi-limbed rotating demon.

I took a nap, dreamed that I was charged with directing a multi-billion-yen Japanese ancient aliens / samurai slasher film based on that country's ancient "Jomon" culture. I remember something like THIS was on the poster... I wish it was true... Would you watch such a film?

Sketch of a hallucinatory dream-creature.

Sketch of a landscape with a quasi-organic building and aquifer-tapping moisturisation towers.

Fantastic sketches of gun-headed, biomechanical colossi.

A big surreal collage made up of several previously-drawn sketches.

Loose paint sketch of a Mixosaurus, a type of ichthyosaur.

Sketches of biomechanical, insect-like motorbike-creatures.

An old, evolutionary image-generation exercise; I tried to "randomly" derive complex, creature-like forms from simple shapes.

Sketch of an insect-like robot-drone using lightning to blast a target.

Sketch of a hulking alien creature.

Random sketches of dragons, monsters and humanoids.

Frivolous sketch of a demon on a mono-ski.

Frivolous sketches of serpentine creatures, and a demoness.

Sketch of a long-faced posthuman colossus.

Frivolous sketch of a fantastic creature watching a crystalline hologram projector.

Sketch of a humanoid ant-demon.

Sketch of a surreal warrior figure.

Two sketches of frivolous “amphisbaena” creatures, in pastiche of mediaeval bestiaries.

Sketch of a tern-like bird with a large nasal cavity. Not a real animal, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of a demon and a demoness.

Sketch of a four-armed goddess creature.

Sketches of split-faced demons.

Sketch of the predatory dinosaur Austroraptor.

Sketches of two flame demons.

A series of surreal ink sketches.

Sketches of frivolous flying machines.

Sketch of a hexapedal, sheep-like animal, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of an insectoid monkey-bat creature, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of an insect-faced demon and a strange, plant-like robotic creature.

Sketches of biomechanical, insect-like motorbike-creatures.

Sketches of camel-sized insectoid creatures, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Whimsical sketch of a serpentine figure.

Sketch of an insectoid warrior.

Sketch of a humanoid alien creature, Peltahomunuculus arridere - homage to a concept by my friend Joschua Knüppe.

Whimsical sketch of an Old Testament angel on an awkward date with a New Testament angel.

Sketch of a chunky tyrannosaur on the prowl.

Sketch of a Pteranodon (Geosternbergia?) at dusk.

Unreferenced pencil doodle of an ornithischian dinosaur - after Heterodontosaurus.

Sketch of an "alternate duck-dog tetrapod" that walks on three main limbs and a modified tail, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a dream-house in a Mediterranean setting, inhabited by human-sized spiders.

Pencil sketch of a surreal, leonine monster.

Sketch of flying organisms with biological jet engines. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch for a surreal mural.

Sketch of a long-bodied reptilian creature, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of an insectoid alien visitor.

Sketch of two beluga-like "sea beasts", an exercise in speculative evolution.

A macropredatory marine creature, a homage to the amazing world-design videos of "Biblaridion" on Youtube.

Sketch of a horned river monster - an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a boar-like reptilian creature.

Sketches of two Old Testament angels.

Sketches of tower-bearing places of worship.

Sketch of a winged demon.

Sketch of a seal-like animal descended from flying reptiles. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of "longfish", long-bodied swimming animals I saw in a dream. They had human-like faces, which in close inspection turned out to be insectoid in appearance.

Sketch of a biomechanical glider airplane with insect-like landing legs.

Unreferenced sketch of a big, fat lungfish.

Sketches of fantastic demons that appear in the shape of moths.

Fantastic sketch of a scarlet, bird-like creature erupting from the head of a meditating alien priest.

Sketches of tower-bearing places of worship.

Portrait of a priest descended from mammal-like reptiles, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Frivolous sketch of a vulture-like robot.

Sketches of tower-bearing places of worship.

Sketch of a metallic, walking motorbike.

Pencil and watercolour sketch of a sphinx-like creature.

Sketches of two speculative amphibians: Ichthyobatrachoides (left), a salamander-like form that has secondarily adapted for a purely marine existence; and Psettaprion (right), a flattened, armoured form that lives under logs. Both animals are fictional results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Study of the "pallid sailfin" (Bathyembryx istiophaxma), one of the mysterious fish sighted by explorer William Beebe during his pioneering deep-sea research in the 1930s. Although Beebe gave a comprehensive account of observing the "pallid sailfin" (and a few other unknown fish species), nothing like it was ever caught or seen after his initial sighting.

Pencil sketch of a knife-wielding demon-creature.

310
Ink sketches of three fantastic demons.

Sketches of the early ichthyosaur Utatsusaurus and the strange marine reptile Hupehsuchus.

A series of cinematic landscape sketches.

Sketch of the "bat winged" dinosaur Yi qi alongside a small pterosaur.

Sketch of a surreal landscape with plants.

Early 2000s digital sketch of a mixed human/animal deity.

Colour sketch of a herbivorous dinosaur with spiny quills, tusks and a trunk; part of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Two sketches of beautiful women from the early 2010s.

Sketch of a bird-like bipedal creature, from an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a hexapedal alien creature, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of two unusual vertebrate animals - exercises in speculative evolution.

Unreferenced sketch of a prehistoric marine reptile swimming alongside a giant lungfish.

Three pencil sketches of frivolous monsters.

Sketches of Old Testament angels, in scale with a human being.

Sketch of an Old Testament angel.

Study of a "realistic" demon-creature with a rotational body-plan.

Four sketches of quasi-organic buildings.

Sketches of two abstract leonine figures.

Sketch of two dark, wide-eyed, gazelle-like creatures. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Clade of supernatural monsters derived from Shamshel (inset), my favourite Neon Genesis Evangelion creature.

Rough sketches and detailed study of a fanciful illustration of a woman riding a biomechanical motorbike derived from flies.

Whimsical sketch of two bird-like demons in conversation.

Whimsical sketch of a bird-like demon.

Composite sketch and final base drawing of an illustration of an alien panorama, with multiple figures. Click on the images to see the completed artwork.

Sketch of a demonic figure inspired by the eagle friezes on Istanbul's ancient Column of Marcian (inset).

Colour sketch of a dolphin-like creature descended from human-like ancestors. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of fanciful "robot larva" creatures.

Sketch of a fanciful, bird-like fish creature.

Colour sketch of an airplane shadowing an UFO next to the ruins of a giant pyramid built by a bygone race of alien invaders.

Unreferenced sketch of a reclining pterosaur.

Ink, watercolour and brio sketch of an alien ambassador.

Sketch of a kitten playing with a ball while a vertebrate animal from a parallel universe watches uncomprehendingly. The parallel-universe animal is a bit slow.

Gong...gong... It's the Turtle Man, banging on his shaman drum. That is his name, but he is not a turtle, nor a man.

Sketches of teepee-like structures erected by an alien species.

Sketches of a reptile-like animal and a pigeon-like animal.

A fanciful, cornucopia-themed sketch.

A medley of sketches and doodles. Clockwise from atop left: A moth drawn from a dead specimen; a squad of ghosts during a night out at town; a bird-and-reptile-like spirit; a hazy, smoke-like reptile; a human-made UAV (a) compared with biosynthetic alien UAVs (b,c); various gaudily-patterned speculative sea snakes.

Whimsical sketch of a man waking up next to a moth-like creature.

Loose sketches of flies.

The slightly-off depictions of animals on found on ancient relics make great material for speculative evolution projects.
Here is a "whippet bird" derived from a bronze-age fragment displayed at the Eskişehir Archaeology Museum in Turkey.

Sketch of a faintly human-like beaked beast in front of futuristic ruins.

A series of insect-like spaceship designs.

A series of frivolous arachniform figures.

A series of fantastic, insectile war machines.

Sketch of a generic "phytodinosaur", a hypothetical group that was once believed to unite the plant-eating Sauropodomorph and Ornithischian dinosaurs in a single group. We now know that these two groups were unrelated, and each had independently evolved their specialisations for a herbivorous lifestyle.

Frivolous doodles depicting spirit creatures.

Sketch of a strange, floating entity.

Three sketches of fantastic buildings.

Loose sketch showing an eyed monolith among a garden of other fever-dream living structures.

Loose sketch of a big-headed, Sericipterus-like pterosaur. It looks derpy and helpless on the ground.

Sketch of a rabbit-like giant arthropod that has evolved on a version of our Earth without fish or vertebrates. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of two, vaguely-knife-like alien machines. No one knows their true purpose.

Sketch of an alien creature from the planet Darwin IV - a homage to Expedition, Wayne Barlowe's world-design masterpiece.

A quartet of silly creatures.

Trio of related animals from Snaiad, my upcoming book about the natural history of an alien planet.

Loose sketch of a portrait of Seymouria, an ancestral, reptile-like animal known from the early-Permian Tambach formation in Germany.

Sketch of a fantastic, moon-faced demon sitting on a chair.

Sketches of rifle-like "ideal macro cameras", modelled on the phenomenal Venus Optics Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe Lens.

Sketches of fantastic sea snakes. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Study of a goat-like mammal with a beak and manipulative, digited forelimbs. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a township with buildings made by humans and non-human species - drawn on a friend's smartphone with Autodesk Sketchup Pro.

An arsenal of fanciful and frivolous alien guns.

Loose sketch of a crab-tank.

Four fanciful doodles of quasi-organic forms.

Three pencil sketches of "organic houses".

Sketch of Edaphosaurus, a type of ancient, sail-backed reptile.

Sketch of a vaguely-ammonite-like creature.

Hazy ink sketch of a swan-like fantasy figure.

A wide selection of sketches and doodles, including concepts of living airplanes and attack helicopters.

Silly sketches of a magical sword with three serpents for a blade.

Sketch of a female demon with an insect-like face.

My friend Fabio Alejandro designed this speculative, large-headed pterosaur-descendant which he named a "boatbill" (see Fabio's art illustration and skeletal drawing above). I fell in love with this animal at first sight, and decided to do a study of it myself. Scientifically named Argocephalus philomedusa, the boatbill uses its large, but weakly-muscled jaw to capture and consume enormous jellyfish, which constitute most of its diet.

Sketch of a "speeder bike" with a pole-mounted gravity-cancellation device.

Progressive sketches of a self-aware, biomechanical "speeder bike" concept.

Sketch of a frivolous creature, inspired by the outlandish "plant men" of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books.

Sketch of a grub-like creature.

Sketches of biomechanical light poles, inspired by arachnid genitals.

Sketch of mound-like trees on an alien planet.

Sketches of four superficially-fish-like organisms from an exercise in speculative evolution:
a.) Parasicthyoides nasutus, a parasite that feeds by everting its network of feeding veins to the gills and anuses of larger animals.
b.) Arachnoselachis sp., from a genus of superficially-lizard-like land animals that evolved secondary adaptations for a swimming lifestyle.
c.) Pachyhydrozoropsis atavopes, a larger, faster form of fish-lizard-arachnid related to Arachnoselachis seen above. Paradoxically, it has a large set of atavistic rear legs.
d.) Muraenotrygon sp., from a superficially-shark-like group of animals that reproduces by live birth.

Fanciful sketch showing a gang of reptile, amphibian and para-herptilian creatures; a superb team that has been through many adventures.

Pointillist sketch of a dog-and-newt-like animal in murky water.

Sci-fi sketches depicting a series of asymmetric, biotechnological space fighters.

A random assembly of surreal and naturalistic sketches.

A series of five surreal sketches.

Sketches of two vintage, fanciful pterosaurs.

A page of random sketches.

Frivolous sketch of a penguin-like figure.

Sketch of an alien browser with a turret-like protuberance that houses its eyes; a homage to one of my friends' creations.

Paint sketch of a winged demoness in a garden, a study for a larger work.

Sketches of two speculative parareptiles: Alektrokefalos, a foraging omnivore with an eagle-like beak; and Uquollorhynkos, an unusual predator with adaptations for hunting enormous insects.

Sketch of a humanoid, phantasmal dream-being that speaks through grille-like organs embedded into its cheeks.

Doodles of "insect speeders", quasi-organic craft that resemble flying motorcycles.

Sketch of a giant, semi-sophont animal trying to communicate with a human explorer. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a zygodactyl "imp bird", a parasitic flyer that evolved from early avian ancestors. Not a real animal, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of ur-insectoid sophonts; a big, burly species and a tiny "pixie" variety. Results of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a fantastic creature after the style of medieval bestiaries.

Sketches of an oracular tree; and the giant, club-wielding monster that guards it. Concepts from a sci-fi scenario.

Sketch of a predatory dinosaur with a big, burly, bird-like beak. Not an actual animal, but the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

The giant claw of the mysterious dinosaur Therizinosaurus (see upper-left corner) was first interpreted as belonging to a large, turtle-like reptile - hence the animal's species name, Therizinosaurus cheloniformis. We now know that Therizinosaurus was a bipedal, bird-like dinosaur.

Pencil sketches of two spirit-creatures.

Ink sketches of fantastic, swan-like forms.

Ballpoint pen doodle of a quasi-avian creature.

Pencil sketches of various quasi-avian creatures.

Frivolous sketch of two insectoid, propeller-driven war machines engaging an unseen enemy.

A clanking army of baroque walking war machines.

Sketch of Hadropsittacoides; a fat, omnivorous, parrot-like reptile from an alternative line of repto/avian evolution. Not a real animal, but the result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketches of three sauropod dinosaurs. From left to right, they are Brachiosaurus, Mamenchisaurus and Camarasaurus. I examined x-rays of extant long-necked birds and experimented with a style of reconstruction where I drew the neck very thick at the point it joins the body, and then immediately gets slimmer in order to conserve weight.

Frivolous sketch of a witch, making love to a giant fly.

Loose sketches of a sauropod dinosaur (below), and a speculative animal that looks like a sauropod dinosaur (above).

A big page of random creature sketches.

Sketch of a biological "tombstone" that greets visitors and prays for the soul of the person lying beneath it. An artificial organism that subsists on photosynthesis and organic detritus. Evidently, the makers of this living monument can create custom lifeforms to suit their will, but still remain unable to defeat death.

Sketches of squid-like animals from an exercise in speculative evolution. The ones shown below are primeval forms, the creature on the top is a highly-evolved variety.

Sketch of Ebraria, a creature I designed for a Lovecraftian horror story project. Ebraria was a pregnant, para-human mummy discovered by Italian army officers in 1912 as they conquered Tripolitania from the Ottoman Empire. Too bad I never got around to writing this story. The image of the Italian officer is not mine, it was sourced from a history book.

Sketch of a crocodile-like creature jumping on a naked human.

Ink sketches of dog-like tripod animals from a unique line of terrestrial vertebrates - results of an exercise in speculative evolution.
On the left is Gracilitribamus, a swift-footed hunter of small animals. On the right is Penumbrurus, a large omnivore with heavy legs and impressive wattles.

Pen-and-marker sketch of a colourful fantasy creature that resembles a dog-reptile hybrid.

Sketch of a horn-blowing herald-swordsman and a club-wielding crocodile-shaman, a dangerous duo out to do some serious damage.

Marker sketch of a galloping, bird-headed horse creature.

Sketches of a spherical robot, and a bird-like walking creature.

Sketch of a surreal demon-bird figure.

Sketches of two "eye birds", with heads mostly consisting of enormous, wide-angle-lens eyes. Living tools bred by an unknown race, part of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a giant spider that has evolved from regular ancestors on a low-gravity alien planet. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of the mightiest beast on an alien world with high gravity - a creature about the size of a shoe. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of two whimsical birds; one digs furrows, and the other plants seeds in them.

A diverse selection of surreal sketches, including the design of the "hand" of an intelligent alien species.

A diverse selection of surreal sketches.

Sketch of Regressitherium, a species of mammal that has secondarily reverted to a cold-blooded, lizard-like existence as a result of its isolated evolution on a barren island chain. Not a real animal, but the product of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Visions big, long-necked bird-creatures roaming mountain valleys, feeding on nectar that flows from the tops of unusual pillar trees. These are not real animals, but products of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a bird-spirit forcing a feminine spirit to kneel. (Don't worry it's all consensual).

Architectural fantasy, a "blinking house" built out of stone and mud.

Sketch of a bipedal, chevrotain-like animal; an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of an alien raptoriform animal that finds its prey with sonar-broadcasting antennae.

Sketches of two giant feline / aquiline creatures, in scale with human figures.

Sketch of a pterosaur that has adapted to a penguin-like lifestyle, an exercise in speculative evolution.

I first doodled this random alien submachine gun (above), then tried to imagine the hand that could grasp it (below).

Sketches of a tall-finned sperm whale, after a type of marine cryptid.

Sketch of a fantastic spaceship that resembles an insect.

Sketches of insectile "organic rifles", culminating in a big fat termite that one simply cradles about and shoots like a living squirt-gun. I have no idea why a civilisation potent enough to mould insects into kinetic weapons would need to have rifles, but this was nevertheless a fun exercise.

Colour study, in pencil, of the "decal creature" that appears on the entrance page of this website.

Unreferenced sketch of an ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile.

Sketch of a Star Wars spaceship derived from Aegirocassis, a prehistoric marine invertebrate.

Sketch of a stocky, bird-and-turtle-like reptile playing with a ball. The result of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of fully-aquatic predatory dinosaurs evolved from spinosaurs.
Not real animals, but an exercise in speculative evolution.

Doodle of a fly-like form.

Various creature-forms glimpsed in the images generated by the Ganbreeder algorithm.

Sketch of the prehistoric archosaur Poposaurus, from a skeletal drawing by the great Scott Hartman.

Make way seabird, the chonk creature (Chonkidon sp.) is coming! An exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a moth drawn from real life, family Pyralidae - not Geometridae as the caption indicates.

An architectural fantasy.

Sketches of Metautarops and Pseudosymmetrognathus, oversize arthropods that evolved rodent-like bod yplans. These are not real animals, but products of an exercise in speculative evolution.

Sketch of a machine pistol produced from bone-like organic parts.

This image I produced in Ganbreeder formed the basis of the gun-snouted creature seen below.

Sketches chronicling the evolution of "flat amphibians" from a lineage of laterally-flattened lungfish.

Sketches of two fantastic tombstones.

Sketch of an "ancestral dinosaur"; a hypothetical form which may have given rise to all main groups of dinosaurs.

A portrait of Velociraptor, the famous bird-like predatory dinosaur.

Doodle of a big-brained dinosaur, an exercise in speculative evolution.

Pencil study of the early dinosaur Coelophysis.

Drawing of a lion-like animal fighting a snake-like animal, inspired by an old mural.

Collage sketch of a Bull of Apis, based on a 3-d render by my friend Mette Aumala.

Sketch of a hexapedal dream-woman.

Sketches of creatures derived from the kaiju monsters in the Pacific Rim film series.

The famous paradoxical Cambrian organism Opabinia re-designed as a vertebrate-like animal, after a concept by Julio Nicoletti.

Various sea monsters from Snaiad, alongside other creatures.

Sketch of an ancient flying reptile by the ruins of an arcane lost city.

A bird-like dream creature.

Sketches of "organic houses" arrayed on an alien plain.

Back

***