Buzz Roswell, Star Sleuth

EDIT:  I made this guy into an OC for the Voltron Legendary Defenders Universe!  Although I gave him a few tweaks for that; changed facial shape somewhat, shrank eyes, and omitted the thorax, but otherwise this is the reference to use for him.  I like how I did the joints far better on this piece than on others I've done, for example.  This piece is the cleanest and least sloppy.  But because I'm writing him into my Voltron OC mindcanon, I'm gonna put him up in some Voltron clubs. So if you're here for him as a Voltron OC, just know that this is where his origins were; in an original story idea of mine that I may never end up writing, we'll see.  But he's too cool a character to waste, hence the Voltron OC status now./EDIT

I have a character expression sheet done for this guy, here Buzz Expression Practice.

SHORT SUMMARY:

Another original character for a different story, a sci-fi/mystery series where I had immense fun designing an alien race based on insectoid charactaristics.  As per a lot of my stories, this started as a dream after binge-watching Detective Conan (Case Closed for all who go by the English name).  See Long Description for my babbling-ons about the character and race designs.

Tried something new with lineart.  The lines of the main pose were colored instead of remaining plain black.  Left the expression exercises in the corners black for comparison's sake.  I like expressive appendages, like ears and antennae that move according to what one is thinking or feeling.

Background taken from a desert rock picture, and filtered with cutout filter in Photoshop, with some personal tweaking. 

LONG DESCRIPTION:

Another original drawing?  I'm on a roll!

This has been in the works for months, but I finally got around to coloring the lineart that has been sitting in my computer since before Christmas.

Like I've said in other drawings, a lot of my best plots and artwork inspiration comes from me waking up at 3 am going "wow that was a cool dream!".  In this case, I'd been binge-watching Detective Conan (Case Closed) with my sister, and getting in a total mystery mood.  Then I had a dream about an alien who crash lands on Earth, and because of his outsider perspective, can pick up on subtle clues that others miss.  He takes on a human disguise and hangs with some high schoolers and they start a mystery club, solving crimes ala Encyclopedia Brown style, occasionally taking on serious cases and helping out local police (much to the annoyance of the head detective, who thinks murder scenes are no place for kids no matter how smart).

Problem with this is, I also have a very sci-fi main plot going, with Buzz having come in the first place to find his missing xenobiologist parents, and a potential "should we invade or shouldn't we" debate going on his planet's government.  This doesn't mix well with a mystery series.  Mystery series, by their genre, need to have all the facts available to the reader/viewer, and no magic or science fiction gobbledygook can be introduced or it throws everything off.  No one likes a murder mystery where the murderer committed the crime in the locked room because he had some gadget that could kill a person remotely, or sneak in while under an invisibility cloak and remain until someone opened the door.  There's no mystery in a story where anything goes.  So in order to do this as a mystery series, and not just a science fiction adventure, I'd have to keep the sci-fi elements to a BARE MINIMUM; keeping fantastic gadgets out of Buzz's reach, and outlining specifically what other alien characters bring to the table.  So yeah, I'm still working on it.

Not to mention that in order to do a mystery series with multiple mysteries, like Detective Conan, I'd have to actually think UP all those crimes and scenarios.  And while I looooove mysteries (HUGE Agatha Christie fan, I can tell you), I'm not sure how well I can come up with those.  So yeah, the story of the series and even it's genre is still under mental debate.

In any case, here's a picture of the protagonist in his alien form!  Buzz Roswell, as he goes by on Earth (real name is Bazzetik Clixit Rackii) hails from the planet Kiir, and is a Kiiree.  He's curious, nosy, chatty, excitable, and intelligent.  He can also be suspicious, cocky, impish, and unintentionally curt, usually because if he makes an observation he tends to blurt it out.  He likes to learn everything about situations and people, which lead to all manner of antics.  The other main character of the series has learned how to slap him in such a way that he feels it even in bug form, due to the number of dumb questions he's asked or attempts to find out things about her that she'd rather keep secret.  He's rather knowledgeable about biology, because of his parents' roles as xenobiologists who came to Earth to secretly study this newly discovered race called Humans.  He's got a photographic memory, which isn't even common among his own people (who are in the process of trying to improve their previously warlike tendencies).  For a Kiiree, he's actually not that strong or good in a fight, but he can still take the average human.  And he will too, if you tick him off or pick on his friends.  But he'd MUCH rather outsmart you and make you look like an idiot; the look on your face will be so much more satisfactory.  I'm debating whether I want to add "a bit of a flirt" to his personality as well; his background doesn't really make him picky about race or looks.

Speaking of race, the Kiiree, are an evolved insectoid race that is in the process of going from exoskeleton to endoskeleton.  As a result, both skeletons are rather thin, but still extremely durable (a sort of organic carbon fiber if you will).  They are impervious to mild blunt force, and even a heavy blow will only knock one for a loop.  Bullets work, but only if fired from a higher-than-average powered gun (and even then you'd have to aim for the thinner, lighter colored parts).  They can fly, but not for long distances or long periods of time (getting a little too heavy).  Their antennae act as sensors for heat and sound, so they can detect heat signatures with them as well as use them for ears.  I debated giving them hair at all, but some bugs have a sort of fur, so I just went with it (and he looked weird without it).  Guys keep it somewhat shorter, while girls wear theirs usually in up-dos.  Kiiree are incredibly strong, even among other alien races, and a trained warrior could break solid rock.  They also have rather sharp claws on all six appendages, and their teeth are razor sharp.  In this picture you see Buzz in standard form, but if enraged beyond their rational thought, the Kiiree enter a sort of bezerker status and go from rather cute bugs to COMPLETELY TERRIFYING MONSTERS.  Soldiers are trained to harness this state and can enter and exit it at will, as well as maintain some semblance of sentience while in it.  While in it, they become so deadly they don't bother with weaponry at all. 
Kiiree can also range anywhere from 8-12 feet high, while other, more mildly-mannered castes range more 7-9 feet (landing Buzz as a teensie-tiny shortie at just over 6).  Castes are also color coded; Warriors are orange to red, scientists green, brown-bronze for worker, gold for Religious, and blue for Royal/Noble.  One can use special chemicals to shift their colors to fit their chosen profession, but only at a younger age (and blue is only allowed to those who inherit their noble status).

I had such fun designing this alien race.  I wanted four arms and a bug like look, but I wanted it to look sorta cute too.  In this art I put Buzz in a uniform.  I'm not sure if this is a government uniform, military, or school even.  Oh well.

AS FOR THE ARTZ!
I did something fun with the line art.  My friend helped me figure something out; how to color my black linework!  So I meticulously went in and made sure all the lines were color coordinated to the part they outlined.  At least on the main picture.  I kept the others black for comparison's sake.  I sill like black outlines, but it was fun to play with something new.

Background I had trouble in.  I did like five different backgrounds myself, and didn't like any of them.  So then I thought about doing a desert sort of scene, since a lot of his planet is red rock and sand (not all of it; its got all kinds of geology because I HAVE taken astronomy and geology classes, and one-ecology planets like Hoth and Dune and Pandora are friggn' impossible).  I looked up lots of different pictures on the internet with desert rocks and such, and when I found one I liked, I slapped a cutout filter over it to make it look more cartoony.  Then I made a few tweaks, adding some of my own shading shapes and cutouts, and got this.  Then I rounded it off with a black gradient to darken the edges and frame the shot.  I had a version where I put a 20% blue-grey transparency on the background too, to dim the colors somewhat, but I ended up abandoning it.  Let me know if the background is too saturated though, and maybe I'll slap it back on.

One of these days I'll figure a better way on line art, instead of vector-tracing everything in Photoshop.  That takes waaaay to blinking long.

Still don't know if this will be a novel series, a manga/webcomic, or what.  Under mental debate, along with its genre.