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Sketch Saturday: Esocling – Worldbuilding Creature Art

ByTiffany

Sketch Saturday: Esocling

I didn’t manage to share a map post this week, but I’ve finished the next few maps and will start sharing them over the coming weeks. For this week, I’m returning to creature art sketches with my second drawing in the series.

This is the Esocling. Drawn in pencil, this small lizard-like creature flickers in and out of sight. When working on this creature art, I sketched it in multiple views, including a top-down silhouette, a full body, a frontal face sketch, and a side portrait in a biological study-like way. Further down, I also drew its reproduction cycle from the translucent, almost ghost-like Esospawn (eggs) to the barely-there Eserlings (hatchlings).

At the moment, I’m learning to draw in colour and hope to come back to the Esocling to show its beautiful shades. Sketching definitely doesn’t do it justice.

ESOCLING

(Pronounced something like “ESS-oh-cling”)

Pencil sketches of an Esocling, a small spectral lizard from a fantasy world. The drawing shows four views: a full top-down pose, a detailed side profile, a head-on face with large eyes, and a close-up of one eye. The creature has a long tail, textured skin, and slightly translucent qualities. The word “Esocling” is written in elegant digital calligraphy. Green pencils are positioned beside the sketchbook.
Pencil sketches of an Esocling, a small spectral lizard from a fantasy world. The drawing shows four views: a full top-down pose, a detailed side profile, a head-on face with large eyes, and a close-up of one eye. The creature has a long tail, textured skin, and slightly translucent qualities. The word “Esocling” is written in elegant digital calligraphy. Green pencils are positioned beside the sketchbook.

Esoclings are elusive, spectral lizards that seem to exist half in this world and half out of it. They have an “echo flicker”, which is a way they leave shimmering afterimages that help them avoid predators and add to their ghostly mystique. Creature art enthusiasts love how they make their homes in ruins, deep woods, and cliff hollows and slip through the shadows.

Esoclings don’t make a sound. If you spot one, it’s often too late; they’ve already moved, and only their shimmer remains.

Reproduction

Their life cycle includes:

  • Esospawn – glass-like eggs laid in hidden crevices that vanish and reappear when disturbed.
  • Eserlings – unstable hatchlings with blurred shapes, only visible at twilight.
A page from a fantasy sketchbook showing the Esocling’s early life stages. On the left, a cluster of translucent, bubble-like eggs is labelled “Esospawn.” On the right, a ghostly young lizard with a rounded head and small limbs is labelled “Eserlings.” The drawing is delicate and shaded softly in pencil. Green pencils lie beside the sketchbook, and a black Kindle rests at the bottom of the page.
A page from a fantasy sketchbook showing the Esocling’s early life stages. On the left, a cluster of translucent, bubble-like eggs is labelled “Esospawn.” On the right, a ghostly young lizard with a rounded head and small limbs is labelled “Eserlings.” The drawing is delicate and shaded softly in pencil. Green pencils lie beside the sketchbook, and a black Kindle rests at the bottom of the page.

There’s more to them in my notes, but for now, I’m just learning how to share them.

For those interested in my fantasy creature art, thank you again for following along as I continue sketching this world.

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