These are some sketches I did during class not too long ago (the date is readily apparent in the picture). My scanner decided to eat them, which is why they appear so heavily edited. Also, they were on lined notebook paper, so I tried to minimize the amount of lines running through the more important parts of the sketch (although I see now that I forgot to do it on the part that I spliced in). I apologize for my lack of skill, both in drawing and in editing.

These sketches are of a species I've come up with for one of the (billion) stories I'm writing. They're called the M'rra, and are basically sentient canines from another solar system. I wanted to get a firmer grasp of what they would look like while I was writing, and particularly the handlike appendages on their tentacles (yes, I said tentacles. What else would you call them?). When the hands came out looking pretty good (except for the one on the lower right), I decided to try a partial sketch of the rest of the critter, which turned out to be a mistake. XD I see so many problems that I could go back and correct, but I'm just too tired right now. The hand is way out of proportion to the rest of the body, and the tentacle is a lot stubbier than I wanted it to be. Also, WTF is with the goofy grin on his face? >.<

I may eventually go back and re-work this one, once I have access to my Wacom again. I'd like to try to expand it into a full-body sketch, but only after I get some more practice. Any tips you might have (particularly on how to draw faces and hands) would be much appreciated.

By the way, it seems pointless to say this, as theft is not likely to happen with this crap, but I like to be better safe than sorry :P: The m'rra species and this image are both ©2007 V. Gigante.