This sequence of images shows my concept development for the Martians in my 2010 comic Martian Debut. The last image was incorporated into the comic’s cover.
The driving features were its primary sensory organ, its eye(s) and its means for locomotion. I knew that I wanted the head to be built around a compound eye and that its movement would be a cross between a jelly fish and an octopus. I settled on a diamond-shaped pattern for the eye. The Martian’s body is a mass of tentacles that would drape and flow to indicate constant movement. A transparent exterior shows a single mass that contains all of its internal organs.