Faster Than Light: Portraits

Inspired by FTL from Subset Games, and drawn while listening to Ben Prunty's excellent soundtrack.

I was inspired by the tiny pixel sprites to make portraits of the various aliens. With the tiny game sprite size, drawing these was almost like literary fan art. I had some cues but there were so many details I guessed at for my own interpretation.

Lanius:
The new aliens in town! Clearly inspired by Dan Simmons' Shrike creature, (their 2nd ship is even called THE SHRIKE), I was also reminded of the T-1000 from their habit of turning into liquid metal goo. Also, I was reminded of Necrons from their habit of spending eons in stasis. These living skeletons come from the void and asphyxiate you to death...

Slug:
"Now, most gracioussss captain, you must join me please in a drink to our alliance!"
1. Drink
2. Refuse

Zoltan:
FTL's living energy reactors! I wanted these glowstick people to be human shaped with 4 limbs like the game sprite, but with clearly alien physiology.

Engi:
I love these guys with their green CRT monitor faces and friendly demeanor! I wanted to capture their living "silvery skin" made of trillions of nano-machines as mentioned in the game I imagine it to look like constantly shifting iron filings.

Rockmen:
Fireproof combat is AWESOME!!!!

Mantis:
These implacable green death-dealers seem to be identical like earth Mantodea in their anatomy. In my headcanon, this hints that they might be an "uplift" species, perhaps specifically engineered from Earth insects to be killing machines, but got loose from their masters?

Human:
My inspiration for this Rebel Captain? Let's just say... "Lady Captain Honor Satsuki Harrington Kiryuin"!!!, a specimen of what seems to me to be the most disruptive species in the galaxy! 

???????:
"there's a strange stasis pod that catches your eye...."

Background star images from NASA and Hubble