Monster Encyclopedia: Minket

Minkets! I know I said everyone likes kovers, but honestly, minkets are really everyone’s favorite monster. To find out why, read the book! :) I started designing them using aye-ayes as my model. For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a picture of an aye-aye:

Picture of an aye-aye, with big ugly eyes, weird scraggly fur, and sort of leathery ears. Image source.

Ugly isn’t quite the right word—hideous? Terrifying? Granted, some other pictures of aye-ayes are a bit easier on the eye, but this is where I started.

Minkets are relatively friendly monsters, in it for themselves, obviously, but willing to work with other animals, humans, or monsters to survive. They will eat anything (literally anything), and are ravenous gobblers of all cuisine. If you are insecure about your cooking? Get a minket.

You know Nibbler from Futurama? I love the way he eats, so that’s how I imagine minkets eat.

Here’s another one, with a meal scene right in the middle:

Anyway, you get the drift.

So minkets eat a lot and everything. They are wily, smart, able to communicate to a certain extent. They are social animals, but are perfectly capable of being independent. They have families, and remember them, even when they get separated or one dies.

They have big ears, human-like fingers, and sharp blades that extend from their knuckles that they use when fighting or to rip apart food to make it easier to eat. They can climb, run, and hunt. And they have blood red eyes. There are a few other characteristics of minkets as well, but since they are a key monster in the series, I’m going to keep a few secrets. Muahahahahahahahahaha.

Here was my first sketch:

A rough sketch of a minket sitting on a branch, done in red, black, and brown.

And of course, here is the full illustration, done in stippling:

A minket sitting on a branch, with big ears, long tail, wiry fur done in pointilism.

For this drawing, I experimented with layering textures, especially in the fur and her left hip, and was really pleased with the results. Also, her teeth are amazing.

If you’re interested in reading the book, click here to order it on Amazon.

Monster Encyclopedia: Barlang

First, I want to say this: I LOVE THE BARLANG. I think it is cool, interesting to look at, interesting to think about, and I sort of feel a bit of empathy for it. If I were a monster, I think I’d be a barlang.

Barlangs are cave monsters. They like the dark and the quiet, and most of all they like to be left alone. They are solitary, introverted, peaceful, for the most part. They largely eat bugs, lichen, bats—the sorts of things you might find in a cave. That said, if you wander into their house, they will eat you, or at least fight back.

They have two big climbing arms, with claws that help them grip the rock. They have several smaller arms that they use for grabbing and pulling, and they are a little sticky so it helps them move around rocky areas. They have big teeth, great hearing, and are sensitive to light.

The easiest way to kill one is with a powerful blow to the skull, but you’ll need a crossbow for that, or a gun.

Here is the full-sized illustration of a barlang:, and I honestly think they are just neat

Image of a monster with a bone skull being held up by two muscular arms, pointed ears, and several swinging shorter arms.

You can learn more about why I love barlangs so much by reading the book! Click here to grab your copy on Amazon.

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Monster Encyclopedia: Gyiks

Image of a gyik, with sharp teeth, lizard-like body, running on hind legs.

Gyiks, gyiks, gyiks. It’s hard to say three times in a row, but also fun because of the hard “y” sound. Gyiks appear in the very first chapter of Tentacles and Teeth. They are a little like lizards. Lizards the size of dogs, that is. They have sharp teeth, grumpy faces, and are ravenous. Absolutely ravenous. And they run in packs. It’s rare you’ll see lonely gyik—usually it’s surrounded by its brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second, third, and forth cousins—you get the drift.

When I invented gyiks, I needed a monster where you thought you were safe for a second, but then they just kept coming. I also needed a type of monster that was really aggressive, but simultaneously quite cowardly when anything bigger showed up. Hence, meet the gyiks. I have a feeling gyiks are going to be playing a repeated role throughout the series, mostly because they’re easy to kill and give the characters a little bit of a break.

To kill a gyik, all you need is something sharp. They are soft and fleshy, so you can spear them or chop off their heads. One thing to remember, however, is that they don’t really feel pain, so if you only injure them, they’ll just keep right on coming.

The stippled illustration for this monster is the only one I’ve done in color so far. I really wanted to do it in color, but found that the time investment was incredibly high compared to simple black and white, because I wasn’t just doing shading, but also blending colors. So I did this one, and then went right back to black and white.

Picture of a blue and green gyik, done in pointillism style.

This was also one of the very first stippled illustrations I’ve done, alongside the nagy and the pok.

Good news, everyone (channeling my inner Professor): the book is available to read now! Click here to grab your copy.

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Monster Encyclopedia: Fulek

First off, fuleks facilitate fun for fidgeting fancy foals (a little alliteration for you on a Tuesday). Fuleks came about because I wrote a bad chapter and needed to replace it with a different chapter, and I wanted to show that not all monsters are to be feared. All of the other monsters up until this point in the book (hulla, pok, gamba, rarohan, nagy, kover) had the main intention of killing and eating everything. But not fuleks.

Fuleks eat plants primarily, and because of their more passive nature, are sometimes preyed upon by other, larger monsters. As a result, they have evolved a type of spray (like a skunk) that is acidic in nature and can burn other monsters. This spray is used as a defense mechanism, but also sprayed around the area they inhabit to warn off other monsters. They have long legs, weird ears, and can run fast. Their coloring allows them to blend in with tall grasses and low bushes.

An interesting fact about fuleks is that they are both male and female (asexual). Each one has all the necessary means to reproduce, so they tend to live as “families” which typically consists of one parent and several children, or groups of parents, which is made up of two or three parents and their children (or grandchildren, as it may be). When too many fuleks are inhabiting an area, one parent takes one or two of their children and migrates to a new area.

Another fun fact: the Lamplighter’s Society brings fuleks into the properties of the safe houses that they maintain, to help keep other, larger monsters away. But I won’t say too much else about that because [spoilers!].

An even better fun fact: The book is available for sale! Click here to grab a copy.

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Tentacles and Teeth Launch Party

The launch was a huge success—thank you to everyone who participated! We had a ton of fun at the party, and I just wanted to share a few of the details with you.

In case you missed it, you can now grab a copy of Tentacles and Teeth here.

I launched the book on March 28th, with a few online promotions and a Facebook Live video, which you can watch here.

Then on Saturday the 30th, I had a party at my house, were we ate monster-themed snacks, chatted about monsters, and acted out a short reading from the book. You can watch the live video of the reading here!

All in all, it was a wonderful event, and I am grateful for everyone who came and supported me throughout the process. Onto Book 2 (and 3 and 4!)!

If you want to stay more involved in the series as a whole, follow me on Patreon! It’s free—all you have to do is sign up and follow me, and I’ll be sharing monster sketches, fun facts, and whatever fun stuff I feel like. <3

A few notes about the party:

1. I tried to fit as many tentacles into my house as I could. I had a tentacles tablecloth, blanket, dishtowel, floor mat, wall decals, gummies, and a necklace, as well as a painting and some postcards and other imagery I made myself.

2. My friend sent me black roses on the day before—they looked AH-MAZING with everything else.

3. The marbled balloons popped really easily, and I may now be scarred for life.

4. I had a ton of fun making the food. Tentacles dirt cake, cookies with eyeballs, monster cupcakes—it was delicious. Thank goodness for candy eyeballs lol.

5. I had bowls of eyeballs around the house. I thought I had purchased some that were gumballs and some that were jawbreakers, but they all turned out to be gum. So now I have a lot of gum shaped like eyeballs in my house.

6. If you’re ever doing a monster-themed party, let me know. I have some stuff, haha.