Brown Slime

Overview

The line tool in paint.net was used to create this illustration for the most part. A rough sketch was created freehand with a highly transparent brush tool, then it was traced over with the line tool, curving to create a very rounded blobby look to contrast with the straighter boxy edges of the book it's sat on. Two widths of line are used; a thick line around the outside for the primary important lines, and a thin line used for details like the pages of the book and the heavily bruised slime. Strips of blobs cover the damaged eye and side of the slime, as if regenerative, and desaturated clumps signify solid coatings where injuries got biologically covered over. The slime is overall brown, as if originally orange or red but darkened by the permanent process of recovery, and an ominous old-mauve colour hints at internal blood pooling within the damaged half of the slime. Despite the grotesque appearance of the character's wounds on full display, the art style is cartoony, best represented in the shining ovals that form the slime's single good eye. The background is just purple scribbles desaturated, dented and heavily blurred.

Backstory

"When young, this slime was brutally attacked by a human for trespassing on farmland. This has left it weak yet curious; it seeks to find out everything there is about humanity, hoping to one day be an advisor to their leadership so they can understand each other and avoid harm. However, it must first overcome the horrors of facing humanity – for most of its life, all it could do was research them from a distance via past events and interactions.

Now there is no option but to directly observe them, which poses a great risk. The slime fears another attack, despite now having a clearer understanding of human rules. What it cannot yet know is that, unlike slimes which are happy to be nameless and devoted to being part of their overall species, humans feel individuality is important; some would aid the slimes rather than hurt them."