art-of-a-space-duck

Latest Posts by art-of-a-space-duck

It eventually gets a haircut too.

A long while ago I had a dream about an anxious cat who worked as a professor at a mostly human college. After gaining a few more furry followers, I drudged up these drawingd of said cat, his kittens, and his ex/the other parent.

Some notes on this little family and the world they live in.

Cats in this universe look like cats in our world but with human-like intelligence, behavior, aging, and lifespans.

The cat to human ratio is about 1:9.

Cats are typically matrilineal and matrifocal. Things like surnames, property, and social status are traditionally inherited through one’s mother. Cats also tend to be closer to their maternal families than their paternal ones with it even being acceptable or expected for a cat to not know their father in many feline cultures.

Henry and Felicia had a family less conventionally. Henry was more ready to be a parent than Felicia, and after trying and failing to raise the kittens together, they broke up and agreed for him to take the kittens.

Tools, buildings, transportation, and so on exist specifically to accommodate cats, though how readily available and effective they are varies.

Cats only wear minimal clothes and accessories for aesthetic, professional, or ceremonial purposes. More extensive clothes are usually only worn to protect them from the elements.

Just like real cats, they can only eat meat, though some cats can also eat dairy.

Why do I keep drawing sad secunits!?

Finally got around to drawing Three. I modeled my take on it after some of my early concept sketches for Murderbot, a few other Murderbot fan designs I enjoy, and, much more subtly, canines (given the vaguely feline traits I’ve given Murderbot).

Quote from Fugitive Telemetry. Scene set between Network Effect and System Collapse.

The binary is in ASCII, Unicode, and ASCII/UTF-8. Whichever you pick, it will translate to the same thing.

For once me procrastinating on something has worked out in my favor.

Decided to make multiple versions, each based to varying degrees on the official illustrations, the TV show design, and my own headcanons. Now I just have to figure out where I put the third one and decide what to do with it.

And yes, the lip oil is still in there.

hi i just remembered i had a dream in which mensah was my (and my siblings') mom irl, but it was specifically your mensah design. so that's cool <3

I am smiling so hard reading this. I had so much fun designing Mensah, and it’s so cool that my take on her made its way into your dream.

I wish it weren’t so cold out today, cause I could really go for a donut from the nearest donut shop right now.

Another old drawing of Matonne (hence the streaks in her hair) that I just now spruced up.

Mensah and her wives.

From left to right: Farai, Ayda Mensah, and Tano (until the books or Wells say otherwise, Tano is a they/them enby to me).

The actually first piece of Murderbot fanart I ever made (over a year ago now). Drew this up immediately after finishing Network Effect fueled by queerplatonic Murderhelion feels.

So yes, this is technically ship art of a technologically advanced ship named ART and its security unit.

No, the binary does not mean anything.

To all my fellow artists out there…

Get weird with it

Murderbot in graphic tops (and a ponytail). I like to think it got a few extra clothes while on Preservation, most of them gifts from its humans.

I’ll let y’all decide what all the As stand for.

I’ve been reading some fanfics and relistening to the audiobooks, so I decided to update my take on Murderbot.

Artificial Condition - Murderbot

For the full resolution image, click here.

Under the cut are clues to what everything means.

Not all of these are references, but a lot of them are.

If something has a unit next to it, convert it to one you’re more familiar with.

The coordinates and cargo amounts are Dewey Decimal.

Those seemingly random pairs of numbers and letters are text converted to hexadecimal.

The binary means nothing.

If you don’t know what an image is, it’s probably related to quantum mechanics.

An old drawing I’m posting just now to test something.

The PreservationAux team in All Systems Red, dressed in their casual attire.

One of the things I love about TMBD is how certain things are described with far less detail than you would expect, including the appearance of several major characters, leaving a lot of wiggle room for interpretation.

I did, to varying degrees, pull from the Subterranean cover for Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (Book 4.5) for the characters that appear in the illustration, but the information in the text was the only strict limit I put on myself.

Well that, and the colors assigned to each character. There’s no way I wasn’t going to give each of them a specific hue.

I was relistening to All Systems Red yesterday to help me finalize my interpretations of the PreservationAux humans, and as you can see I did not do that.

The fanbase has convinced me that Murderbot with tied back hair is just chef’s kiss. For now my headcanon is that it has a ponytail when on Preservation, but just before the survey in Network Effect, it gets its hair cut.

I don’t know what it’s yelling at or why it’s naked. Maybe a washing machine ate its jacket or something.

I just really wanted to draw its fangs.

A quick drawing of Tristan. Needed a break after drawing geometric shapes and humans.

Some drawings of ART/Perihelion, or rather what ART looks like to other machines. ART usually takes the bottom middle form, but its appearance varies based on its mood and/or what it’s doing.

Do augmented humans see it like this too? I’m not sure yet, but right now I am leaning towards “some of them”.

Based on an ophanim (those wheel/ring angels), planetary systems, and Bohr atom models.

Bonus spoiler character from Book 5: Network Effect under the cut

Murderbot 2.0

This was gonna be part of a larger project years ago, but this is the only part I even started on.

Guess it counts now as vent art, of the frustration of being both sick and/or disabled and having to go through so many hoops just to get the care you know exists, with some of those hoops being financial in my case.

Felt like drawing a sad Murderbot. For a fourth time.

Earlier this summer, I came across a chair left in the woods (it’s still there) and then just drew this.

Her name is Eck! (including the exclamation point). She lives in the forest adjacent to a suburb. She speaks only in cackles and growls, and like Stitch (yes I know she looks like him) can walk on just her hind legs or on all fours. Eck!’s pastimes include stealing baked goods from the excessive number of coffee shops in the area, moving people’s yard/patio stuff around when they aren’t looking (not stealing, just moving them), and having philosophical debates with the local birds and elementary schoolers.

Fun fact, when one of my friends got to the part of Network Effect where it’s revealed that ART died(?), I played along that it was dead for good and then immediately after started drawing this for when she got to the part where ART came back.

Nother fun fact, ART is based partly on an ophanium, those angels that are just wheels/rings with eyes.

Extra bonus fun fact, if you want to see the full binary and translate it, go here. Warning, it is long. So long I had to make a Dropbox account for it.

Welp, here be my interpretation of Murderbot.

Thank you to @tindoiimu for input on the inorganic colors, @nerdwingblogs for giving me the idea that it changes colors (I get choice paralysis when it comes to color schemes), and both of them plus @tytoalbias for encouraging me to let my furriness bleed into its design.

Some extra bits of info

It starts out at 7 feet tall. Is later 6 feet and 11.2 inches tall

Its skin tone is based on the Subterranean cover for Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (Book 4.5).

The skin and muscles on its head act similar to those on its back, and since the company did not intend its security units to have hair longer than a buzz cut, its head hair reacts the same as the finer hairs on the rest of its body

I’m explaining away the claws and fangs as the company trying to make their secunits more intimidating, but the real world reason is I keep calling Murderbot a cat with anxiety and just decided to run with it.

If you wanna see what I imagine is inside it click here.

Another drawing I dug out of my Discord to finally publicly post, this time of what I imagine Murderbot’s internal anatomy to be.

A breakdown:

Brain: Includes human neurons, a combination organic and inorganic hypothalamus, and computer brainstuff (including the threat assessment and governor modules)

Sensory Organs: Very sensitive and adjustable eyes, ears, and nose. Technically also includes the plating on the back of its head to allow it to wirelessly link up with other digital systems and the nerves all along its body

Respiratory System: Lungs are small and unidirectional, more akin to a bird’s or reptile’s than a mammal’s for greater efficiency. (Thank you to Your Dinosaurs are Wrong for teaching me that.)

Heart: Also small. Transports everything to the right place including oxygen, energy-source molecules, hormones, immune system nanobots, and so on

Power Cells: The main power cells are situated in the chest. There are power cells surrounding the brain stem and spinal cord to better fuel mental processes as well as cells in the abdomen just in case the main ones become damaged or depleted. It also specifically has power cells just for its arm guns

Waste Management: It may not eat, but its cells would still produce waste. This inorganic organ is for holding and processing said waste (as well as pathogens and other unuseful materials). It decomposes these materials into something that can be breathed out, used as fuel, turned into new cells, or (rarely) just sit there until these organs are drained or replaced during surgery

Cell Production: To reduce the risk of genetic mutation (and to make up for the lack of bone marrow), all new cells and nanobots are produced here from stem cells then distributed to the correct parts of the body. This is mostly just red blood cells, but also includes a few other cells. Note that my current headcanon is that constructs can heal on their own, but far slower than humans and are near completely reliant on external medical care to repair damaged body parts

Hormone Producer: It mostly makes adrenaline, but it can make other stuff too like oxytocin

Support Structure: Very tough and not as heavy as you’d think futuristic metal. Arteries and veins flow through it

Muscles: Mostly inorganic

Guns: It has energy projectiles in its arms. I do not understand weapons, so that is all you’re getting

Subcells: Because its limbs are detachable, its larger joints have power cell + waste management systems in them to keep the organic parts of said limbs operational for a short period of time. Also helpful as an extra source of power and waste management when the limbs are attached

Immune System (not shown): All constructs have a nanobot-based immune system that does a pretty good job of protecting them from pathogens that would harm their organic parts. This artificial immune system is pretty aggressive since constructs can’t reproduce and don’t have to keep other microorganisms within them to survive

Exit Strategy - Murderbot

Alt version with a different quote and blood under the cut

Network Effect - Bharadwaj

Some ideas (subject to change) on my furry characters and their relationships. And because this a terrible diagram, here’s the info in text form.

Matonne Cerise and Bev: Each other’s main romantic (and sexual) partners. Their love language is making all manner of animal noises at each other and cuddling a bunch. They have a shared love of speculative fiction, abstract art, food, and encouraging each other to be bold.

Matonne and Camry: They date, sometimes swap clothes. They in particular like to have group dates (and sleepovers 😉) with each other and their main partners.

Matonne and Flora: Probably the most physical of the two’s platonic relationships, since both of them crave physical affection. Occasional bedmates.

Matonne and Octávio: Housemates and drag performers who work together. Most of their bonding is over fashion. Every so often they’ll, uh, share a bed.

Matonne and Joan: Matonne highly respects (and is slightly intimidated by) Joan who admires Matonne for his artistry. Joan sells the clothes Matonne makes in xir store.

Matonne and Tristan: Neither of them quite know how platonic or romantic their relationship is. Both are really good at (and comfortable with) listening to the other vent. And yes, Matonne’s bed is open to Tristan too. Bev and Camry: Met through each other’s main romantic partners. Like going out for sweets together, with or without their partners. They love talking with each other about their crushes (which include their current partners).

Bev and Flora: Best friends who met in college and currently live together. Bev and Flora helped each other out a lot in their queer journeys. Bev has a slight crush on Flora (Flora knows). Traded entire wardrobes.

Bev and Octávio: Gym buddies who also trade recipes. They also both really love speculative fiction, mostly movies though where they fawn over the costumes.

Bev and Joan: Joan sells Bev’s books. Bev is less intimated by Joan than Matonne is.

Bev and Tristan: Gaming buddies. Sometimes Tristan proofreads Bev’s writing.

Camry and Flora: Lovebirds. They’re constantly reassuring of each other through hugs, and head pats, and words of affirmation. They’re both can be pretty sensitive, and are both the most understanding of that for each other.

Camry and Octávio: They absolutely love clothes shopping together. Often these two, plus Flora, will just give each other makeovers.

Camry and Joan: Camry works at Joan’s shop and lives with xir. He’s often very jokey with xir and is the only person Joan trusts to run the shop without xir.

Camry and Tristan: Cousins, best friends, and roommates. They’re always finishing each other’s sentences (and sandwiches) and playfully bantering. Camry is the person Tristan near always turns to when he needs physical or medical assistance.

Flora and Octávio: Octávio teaches Flora makeup. Flora teaches him board gaming. Octávio can sometimes be a bit much for Flora, but he’s learning to tone down his intensity around her.

Flora and Joan: Flora was at first intimidated by Joan, but xe quickly made sure she felt welcome around xir. I mean, Flora is at Joan’s house a lot.

Flora and Tristan: They trade gaming and gender tips. Frequently mistaken for siblings in public.

Octávio and Joan: Octávio is the muscle of Joan’s store, taking care of most of the heavy lifting. Joan is probably the only person who can reign in Octávio’s wild energy.

Octávio and Tristan: They did it once together when Tristan was still figuring out his orientation. You’d think this would make things awkward from then on, but actually, they’re really chill and hang out a lot.

Tristan and Joan: Joan may be Tristan’s boss, but they’re almost like family at this point. Joan is pretty lax with Tristan when it comes to his work and understands his limitations and medical needs. They both bond over media and art preservation which they use to guide the direction of the store.

Some slightly less abstract art. Still trying to push myself to be comfortable posting more sketchy art.

More abstract art

Just playing around with brushes, colors, and filters. I think I like making abstract art.