BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Dhama Hes
The design for Dhama Hes (The Big Snow Job #1, Page 18) was a lot of fun as I wanted him to be very alien and creepy. So I played with some odd proportions (like the very high waist such that he practically has no torso) and weird textures (like the knobby hand palms and mass of thin tentacles for the lower body). And there was something about the spinal ridge on his back shell that was kinda unnerving to me, since it had the appearance of exposed vertebrae.
Looking at the sketches again now, I apparently meant to do some sort of spotted pattern on portions of the upper body shell and arms. Whoops. That’s the problem with leaving some things out at the pencil and ink stage. There’s a good chance I might forget to do those details when I actually get to the coloring stage many months later. Oh well.
When I saw him, I pictured his hump to be filled with some sort of organic floating organ and that those tentacles made him glide very smoothly and be able to move with extreme precision. That the tentacles were not holding him up as delicately maneuvering a neutrally buoyant body. That probably makes him creepier as he’d almost move silently and without visible propulsion…
I like your take on Hes. The neutrally buoyant body is a cool idea, and the floaty aspect was something I had actually considered for some other potential alien designs. I hadn’t thought about it for Hes though, but it would certainly work with how I did imagine his movement, which is very much what you described. I pictured him as someone who just glides across the floor in a smooth and creepy sort of way, with just his tentacle tips really making contact with the floor.
I wonder if he has to constantly pick dust bunnies out of his tentacles. On the plus side, I imagine the floors of his people are generally pretty clean and well swept.