It is both eerily dark, haunting, and also comedic with the pathos of those narrative lines,
setting up a reveal that the character isn't some demonic scourge of the living,
but a shirtless scrap metal collector living in a trailer park.

Hurray for stylistic experimentation!

Definitely wasn't aiming for a comedic angle so maybe I worded it badly, but thanks!

Apologies, I didn't mean to demean your tonal intention for the piece!

The dark and ominous, cryptid-in-the-headlights visual impact of the picture is definitely predominant here.
The wording is also perfectly appropriate. If put in the right context (an illustrated story, a comic series, etc.), it would be darkly impactful.

The comedic aspect is highly interpretative and meta, drawing on some of your more light-hearted works.

Nah it's totally fine, I do do varied levels of humour in my work so it can come as whiplash when I do something a little darker

You definitely can draw pictures of dread and somber significance,
and like I said, this picture would work well if the audience expectations for the genre are adjusted properly.

My impression may also have been affected by my lack of previous familiarity with this creature type.
I have snooped around your galleries and have discovered a dauntingly sophisticated rules governing the lives of your characters.

So far, I have established the following:

There is Aqua, or Aquandarius, who is your default self-presentation character.

There is Quasel, who is a *fusion* of Aqua and Cecessel, one your vekdle characters.

A *vekdle* is a tall, gangly dragon-vulture creature, like the one in this picture.

A *fusion* is two characters merged into one, inheriting the properties of its integral creatures,
as illustrated HERE and HERE

I've also noted the name "vekter" in the tags, but I couldn't figure out its meaning.

All I can say for now is that it's pretty impressive feat of character design creativity -- kudos!

You've got it! I'm flattered you went through everything to find all that out.

Vekter is simply their species names together, Vekdle/Anteater

Thanks again for the kind words!

Thank you for solving the vekter mystery for me!

I know that the times are tough, and everyone does what they can to put the food on the table,
but it is always a joy to see people engaged in genuine imaginative creativity among all the
commercial artwork!

No matter how obscure or unusual, it is creatures and worlds like yours that are the greatest thing
that art communities like FA give to the world! It is very fulfilling to figure out new things,
and to give shape and meaning to them, and watch them enter the public consciousness,
and with some luck and patience -- become the cool new thing that everyone is taking about.

But even it just stays a personal pet project, these weird innovative concepts are very precious and enjoyable.

* * *

Oh, and as fascinating vekdles and fusions are,
your personal character and Chell are also superb characters with tons of personality and flavor!