The Chimney Fly, plus sketchdump

Illustration Friday got skipped due to the swelling tide of deadlines I’ve piled onto myself. I can’t promise IF will actually get done until these are cleared away, sadly. For some reason, commissions and design contracts seem to always hit me at the same time. At least one of these commissions is paying me! As well as being awesome beyond believing! Though really, given that one of my unpaid commissions is 826… I really can’t complain here.

Now for the Monday monster.

Chimney Fly

This is the Chimney fly, an unselfconscious little bug with a knack for picking the most inconvenient spots to roost. It eats nearly anything, from jam sandwiches to old candy wrappers; then incinerates its meals within a stone-clad, white-hot belly. Smoke pours continuously from its various portals, a pungent melange of digestion. This particular Chimney fly is experimenting with another variety of smoke, hoping the odor will cover its own, which it has been told is unbearably offensive. However, smoking will not agree with its constitution, and it will consider eating only flowers in the future.

Below the fold: a moleskine sketchdump!

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Foxbird

A predatory bird and cunning trickster, the foxbird nests only upon the tips of branches with redundant angles. It eats the soft underbellies of its prey first, then stores the rest in tree cavities for future meals. Though bright, its memory is imperfect and it sometimes forgets the location of these carcasses. Foxbird prey left long enough might begin to sprout fleshy, angular branches with leaves made out of fur or feathers, and fruit resembling open mouths. Only the tongues of these fruits are edible, the rest will melt to poison between one’s teeth.

The foxbird is very protective of its young, which reach physical maturity with experience rather than age.