The third part of the Elements series.

I've been trying to expand my species vocabulary during this series, siding towards stuff I usually don't draw. After struggling a lot with this one, I was very tempted to just do something normal like a fox or dragon. I'm really glad I stuck with it. Totally worth it.

Since it probably isn't obvious, this is a bombardier beetle, which is a beetle best known for it's defense mechanism of extremely rapidly shooting pulses of water and a combination of catalytic enzymes that, when mixed together, violently explode in a chemical fireball of boiling liquid. As you might guess, keeping your cool through activities like meditation is extremely important when you have a flamethrower for a butt.

For more information about the beetle, educate yourself here: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipe.....bardier_beetle

WIP shots:

• http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f381/shadowcheets/Art%20WIP/Elements---Fire20110317.png
• http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f381/shadowcheets/Art%20WIP/Elements---Fire20110317b.png
• http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f381/shadowcheets/Art%20WIP/Elements---Fire20110508a.png
• http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f381/shadowcheets/Art%20WIP/Elements---Fire20110508b.png