SPLICE contest: Katrina

This is my entry for the SPLICE Create-A-Creature Contest.

Her name is Katrina. And her birth was a complete accident.

An All-American group of curious scientists, working for an organization known by the name EAGER (Experiences Applied for Genetic Engineering and Replication) were searching for the perfect test subject. EAGER's scientists were well known for their experiments on mammal hybrids, in particular, for Genetic Engineering with bats. Located a short distance away from Area 51 in Southern Nevada, the scientists had a close affiliation with the neighboring military officers. One specific young girl, the daughter of the revered General Clifford Grants, was especially close with one of EAGER's brightest young scientists. They held a close friendship and a lasting bond for several years.

The girl's life changed the day she found out that she was pregnant. She knew that all her dreams and goals that she had planned for the future were sure to be canceled with the arrival of her unwanted child. While it would have been cruel to end the life of this unborn child (and she knew this), the girl didn't want to have to raise a baby either. After all, she had so much ahead of her in life, such as college education in fine arts...and maybe a career as a Literature professor. But the hands of fate seemed to be playing a mind game with her. One that she would struggle to win.

The girl consulted her scientist friend from EAGER and told him of her dilemma. He listened with interest and between the two, they arrived at a reasonable solution. The unborn baby would not be killed, as most teenagers would plan on doing. Just used for stem cell research and Genetic engineering with vampire bats. After all, the scientist had been wondering what would result if human and vampire bat DNA combined....The girl received a handsome sum of money for donating her unborn baby to EAGER. Now she could resume her life and leave her trouble behind.

Vampire bat DNA was inserted into the unborn baby. After all experiments had taken place and the "new child" had been born, the scientist was immediately caught for what he had done. For he had decided to start his own secret experiment without the supervision of his superiors, as well as several other things he had done without permission. He was immediately carted away into the LOONY BIN (a.k.a: Prison), leaving his unfinished experiment behind.

Thus, Katrina was born. The twisted result of human and vampire bat DNA. She had nobody to teach her how to live, so she learned her speech from still-working computers and technology from the lab. Without human care, she developed animalistic tendencies as she grew. With the powerful lust for nothing but blood, Katrina was a dire threat to those who lived near her birth place. She hides in the shadows of the night and feeds off of passersby who just happen to be near.

Over the years, evidence of Katrina's birth and existence has been found once in a blue moon. Human bodies that had been completely drained of their blood, pale and lifeless on the floor. Numerous people have shown exaggerated symptoms of a disease similar to rabies after claiming they had been bitten by a humanlike bat.

She just doesn't mind causing pain to the human race that created her....

Abilities:

-She has wing panes connected to the underside of her arms. She does not fly, she only glides.
-Contrary to popular belief about bats, vampire bats have excellent vision, and thus, Katrina has great eyesight.
-She usually goes hunting at nighttime, as she is nocturnal.
-She can use echolocation to prey on unsuspecting victims.

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Yeah. My sister really coached me through this picture the entire time. You have no idea how late we were up at night. I guess she deserves some of the credit for being such a big help.

I wanted to make it as accurate as possible, so I really did a lot of research on vampire bats and man, are they interesting! Yes, they really do have good eyesight. They can spot things from a very long distance...I think 30 miles?

On top of that, I learned a trick to make the fur look "furry," in Adobe Photoshop, as well as other coloring tricks. It was quite fun. ^_^ Thank you Sis for showing me how to do some of this...it came in handy for this picture.

Tools used: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Paint Tool Sai (Had to use my sis's computer for this since it won't work on mine ), and traditional media (paper, pencil, inking pens) for the sketch.

This picture is completely ORIGINAL. I didn't use any brushes, stock, patterns or images from other artists.
All rights reserved to their proper owners.