"Bone raft fisherfolk begin their lives as mudskipping sprats in the muddy pools around the acid sea. As the waters became more & more toxic, their ancestors slowly migrated away from the deep central waters. Previously dam builders, they turned their habits to a different purpose, building and rebuilding cunning rafts of bone that allow them to float and hunt safely on the surface of the corrosive waters, only extruding their proboscid mouths below the surface.

As one 'arm' becomes rotten and sickened, the fisher simply sheds it, since during its liftespan the other has had the chance to grow to sufficient length to feed with. The fishers live their whole life this way, alternately budding their new feeding arm as the other is slowly destroyed. Likewise their rafts must be constantly rebuilt, at even the sturdy bones of their prey are eventually destroyed by the bitter waters."

This is a little bigger than life size. The creature is quite old, but I revised a little & made this tiny painting to enter the http://creaturejournal.tumblr.com/ poster raffle, but I was soundly & deservedly beaten.

pencil, watercolour & gouache<photoshop