This is the result of a quick challenge proposed by my dear friend and best brainstormer Marcotonio and me, to design some extras for Blade Under Mask, as extras are an important part of a story too!

He picked some species along with some keywords and threw at me, so I could design a character. Our goal was to make quick sketches, in under 20 minutes. All sketches took under 20 minutes to be drawn, except for the soldier, which took around 1 hour. Of course, coloring not included. His suggestions were:

1 - Camel Spider: Old herbal medicine maker/seller (funny fact: only after we had finished this one, we discovered the 'bug' we looked at as a reference wasn't real, but a hand-made model! Hahaha fail, we still like it though! In fact, this one is my favorite from this batch!)

2 - Velvet ant: Aristocrat little girl, obligatory fan

3 - Jerusalem cricket: Soldier of the empire

4 - Stinging nettle caterpillar: Party/festival hoster

We were very much satisfied with today's results, and we'll be doing more as soon as possible!

Art & Characters (c) me, from Blade Under Mask

• As much as I take inspiration from and base my work on real Japanese culture and geisha world, this story is not meant to be 100% accurate. Some cultural aspects are modified or removed to the fit the story, characters and the world better. Do NOT take this as a reliable source of information, as it is made with entertainment purposes only. If you need to research or want to learn more about Japanese culture or geisha world, please look for real informative sources, such as books. If you have any question, feel free to ask me, I'll answer if I can.