Time Out

Just letting everybody who lurks around here that I'm going to be taking a vacation out at lovely Cannon Beach. So there won't be any new aliens for awhile, I'm sure you'll manage somehow.

Tentacle Sprites

The Metal Slug video game series are pretty great. Straight up crazy 2D art side-scrolling shootin' action. It's really sad that there are fewer and fewer sprite based videogames, and often the ones that do show up are done in a simple 8-bit style (which are fun but totally different)
Back to Metal Slug though, it has a great art style and just oozes charm and of course packs a good amount of difficulty.

Alien Cop

Star Trek has it's share of funny haircut equals alien race, but they also had plenty of more involved species. Alien Nation on the other had only had one alien race and it was just a bald cap with some spots on it, pretty weak Alien Nation, pretty weak.

You are What they Eat

Have you seen the movie Gremlins? Well then you have a good idea what the movie Critters is about. Basically a small town is overrun by little monsters who are a mix of scary and kooky. Most people think Critters was a Gremlins rip-off but work actually started first on Critters. While Gremlins eventually had a sequel Critters cranked out 4 movies, the last one was set on a space station in the future ala Jason X and Jaws 6: Space Jaws.

They don't really make movies like Critters, or Puppet Master anymore (scary movies based on silly puppets) I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that CGI has become so prevalent or because they were often bad movies. But look, Nardo Di'Cap!

Are you a Banana or are you just Happy to see Me?

Looking back at the aliens I did last month I realized that the majority of the creatures were fairly humanoid. I'm gonna try and remember to draw more critters and not just face bumpy dudes. Speaking of which expect an actual Critter drawing some time soon.

Alien Soldier is one of the few games made by Treasure that I haven't played, which kind of sucks because it was supposed to be a pretty awesome game (as most Treasure games are) It was a mix of sidescrolling beat 'em up and shooter. Think Contra (or Gunstar Heroes if your awesome) mixed with Streets of Rage (or Mischief Makers if your awesome) and you have a rough idea of what Alien Soldier is.
The levels were mainly a place to wail on minor minions powering yourself up in preparation for a boss battle or two. There were 28 bosses and minibosses spread throughout the game. This little guy is one of the small baddies but I'm sure a boss or 2 will show up at some point down the line.

One Month In

Well, I'm done with the first month of this years drawings, 31 down 334 to go. I've got a pretty good list going of future aliens that I want to tackle, also a list of big aliens that I need to save for important times (100th drawing, halfway point, holidays (dang it, should have saved Lum for Valentines day), etc...) So far I think I'm off to a decent start. I've gotten a couple pieces I'm pretty happy with along with a few stinkers.
So time for a little look back on this first month...

Lum and Coke

Lum Invader is an anime about an alien invasion turned into a romantic comedy. The oni alien came to earth to conquer it and the only way for humans to stop it was to win a game of tag. The head aliens daughter Lum tried to avoid being caught for 3 days by a human named Ataru. After successfully catching Lum she fell in love with Ataru after a mistaken marriage proposal. Everyone thinks Lum is kind of awesome except for Ataru and his then girlfriend, so wackiness ensues.

Needs to go to Supercuts

I never watched Babylon 5 as a kid, it just seemed too diplomatic and Deep Space Niney for me. Though seeing some clips on youtube while making this piece make me kind of interested. It looks sufficiently interesting and cheesy for my taste.

Londo Mollari is a Centauri alien and appears to be one of the main antagonist and or protagonist, guess I didn't do enough research.
If sci-fi shows have taught me anything it is that alien species always have a unifying haircut and some type of uniform. I just hope that when it comes time for humans to choose the haircut we all have to have we don't vote for this Amadeus monstrosity.

Does he stay Crunchy?

It seems like most cereal aimed at kids is basically sugar flavored corn puffs of some sort. Not that this is the worst thing in the world, I still frequently eat kids cereal for my breakfast despite being in my late twenties. The main thing that differentiates these cereals tends to be the cartoon character on the cover.

The Lonely Captain

Pikmin was kind of a weird game when it came out for the Gamecube. It was a kind of a real time strategy game mixed with a bit of adventure. For the non-geek out there, that means you created stuff to fight bad guys and explore the world. The interesting thing about Pikmin was instead of building tanks or flamethrower units you befriended local creatures (the titular Pikmin) and taught them the horrors of war.

You played as Captain Olimar, whose spaceship crash landed on the earth like planet. Due to oxygen being poisonous to Olimar he had to plan his escape from the planet in 30 days. Depending on how many goals you accomplished through the course of the game you would get a couple different endings. Either Olimar would die (but be resurrected as a Pikmin yourself) or fly back to his planet while the Pikmin try to figure out how to satiate their bloodlust.

And the Space Oscar goes to...

Marvel comic's space gods are always kinda weird and interesting to me. Manifestations of space and time that just float around being omnipotent, occasionally revealing themselves to some Superhero if some weird cosmic imbalance shows up.

This is the Living Tribunal, the only force more powerful than him is The One Above All (i.e. God) So that's a fancy way to say that he could beat up the Hulk (even if the Hulk was really angry) and Ben Grimm combined. He has four rotating sides to his head that represent Equity, Vengeance, Necessity, and Nothing.

And my picks for the best picture Oscar this year....The King's Speech.
Even though I've yet to see it, the trailer looks quite good.

Titan

Saturn Girl is a telepath from Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Beyond that I don't really know, make mine Marvel and all...

And since I don't know to much about her enjoy a picture of her in her original costume with her boyfriend Lightning Lad.

Wookie Balls

Star Trek has a rich supply of aliens. Many though are just an actor with a little latex or a stupid haircut. Not theses guys though...

Tribbles are little asexual balls of fur that breed like crazy. In fact they are born pregnant. Whenever they show up in the show they end up multiplying out of control consuming resources at a dangerous rate. Otherwise they are completely harmless and kind of cute, even Spock thought they had a calming purr.

And if you are insane you can buy an actual tribble that was used in the series.

You smell Bacon?

I remember playing Duke Nukem quite a bit when I was a kid. I don't think I ever got very far as it got pretty tough for me, the whole mouse and keyboard controlling was really tough compared to using a SNES controller. I do know that I would always play until I could get to the strippers, what 14 year old boy didn't though.

The pig cops are one of the main baddies in the series, I hated the flying ones. You can't tell in this picture but I always thought it was funny that on the body armor it says L.A.R.D.

It eats you Alive

Alien invasion movies made these days are often about explosions and giant hovering ships. Back in the day a weird creature would wind up on Earth accidentally and start causing mild trouble much to the chagrin of the local teens and disbelieving law enforcement.

The Blob is an alien organism that crashes to earth in a meteorite. It's kind of like an amoeba, just creeping along devouring everything in it's path. I think I like the 80's remake the most, it was just a little cheesier and packed with great Blob kills. Never saw Son of Blob though, it looks like it would be pretty bad/good.