ASTROVITAE ISSUE 01

THE XENO-ENCYCLOPEDIA
An Alien Encyclopedia in the Making
BY MILES ROSENBLOOM
I’ve been drawing creatures
practically my entire artistic career,
even since I was in kindergarten! I
always had an interest in science as
well, which had an inluence on my
art for a large portion of my life. But
only in the recent past did I really
make the formal connection
between the two. This manifested in
the project that I have been working
on for more than two years now; an
encyclopedia-style nature book of
alien fauna from around the
universe.
To say that the construction of
this book has been the biggest
developmental period in my life
would be an understatement; this
project has been the entire focus of
my artistic efforts for two years and
it has made me hone my abilities
and really see the clear path of my
art. It has challenged me to always
strive to out-do myself and improve,
and to broaden my horizons.
This book is an effort to try and
tackle as many different designs,
body plans, concepts, and niches as I
can. While the entire time so far has
been used for conceptual
development of thumbnails, I know
that someday when I have satisied
my exploration I will transition into
making the inal art for my book.
QUERN:
Quern are large herbivorous pollinators
endemic to Goliquen, a lush and biologically
diverse planet covered with purple vegetation.
They feed on the nectar of large lowering
bodies, picking up spores on the ine hairs and
mucus of its proboscis. They are mostly docile
creatures, but in a moment of defense, will spray
a mildly corrosive and extremely irritating toxin
synthesized from a byproduct of nectar
digestion stored in the gland that would appear–
falsely–to be its head.
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