This was my visual for a project in Classic of Science Fiction. We had to create an alien of our own and think up it’s biology, history, and why it’s interested in coming to Earth, etc. X3 This was my creation. They call themselves “Trillians”.

Here is a simplified summary of the paper I submitted with it:

They have evolved from four-legged land animals on their world, which, for the sake of picturing them, you could say were similar in size/appearance to dogs. When the planet’s ground began to heat up from volcanic activity, animals that spent less time on the land survived, so they evolved to secrete/hold helium in sacs inside their bodies (and have hollow bones to be light enough), and therefore ‘swim’ through the air like a fish does in water (using the sacs like a fish does it’s swim bladder to keep buoyancy). Their back legs migrated forward into the ‘wings’ on their sides. They are not for flying (but do aid in steering), but the membrane on them (as well as the membranes on the rest of their frills) have special cells that absorb the sun and convert it into energy like solar cells (but these are biological). They don’t really eat much, and only need to drink water. Their ancestors did this as well.

All drawn in Photoshop CS (hugs tablet).

Some texture brushes used from: