[ ignore the random torso - I kinda hit that point where I felt like I was starting to forget how to draw human anatomy, so that wound up on the page ]
Oh look, my anthropomorphic violin mantis character Vaschel is receiving a makeover! Right now it’s only his head I’ve worked on, but that’s the area that really needed the most revision.
Back when he was first invented, he was basically inspired by the insect look from A Monster In Paris. Kinda obvious based on his old appearance. I’ve since and added some things to make him look more.. insect-like. Than he did before. Before he had a pretty fleshy-looking face, as was the spirit of the look of the insect character featured in said movie.
Also, it gave me an excuse to try and at least scribble down his lower jaw works! Basically, when the mandibles are together it all sits like what appears to be a normal lower human jaw. Even has a ridge along the top of the mandibles that act like a dental arcade that fits with the other ridge that mimics the upper dental arcade. But look out because those aren’t actually his jaws. Also, can I say how infuriating it is to try and find decent references of insect jaws? Especially disarticulated ones that don’t belong to crickets or grasshoppers?
The “freckles” seen here are holes that are a sort of hybrid between tracheoles and the scent-detecting capabilities found in antennae. He can still smell with his antennae but he has smell with his general nose region too.
No clue how he produces sound yet. All I know is he can talk, and the sound comes from his throat / head region. I’ll try and figure it out later.