Vampire Squid was originally created in 2023 with the intentions of selling as an adoptable*. Her, as well as Pearl Oyster, were intended to be sold together, but only Pearl Oyster sold. I ended up redesigning Vampire Squid in 2024, & adopted her myself.

Vampire Squid is inspired by the deep sea cephalopod, otherwise known as, you guessed it, vampire squids. Each aspect of this design has meaning behind it.

Starting with the hair, I was very inspired by the fins at the top of their heads. To me, it looked like two little pigtails. I also gave her baby bangs reminiscent of gothic hair styles, seeing as she’s a vampire squid.

For her face, I knew her main colour would be orange, so I opted for a blue to contrast. It is also a small nod to how a vampire squid’s main food source is marine snow*. I also made her hair ties a darker blue, to breakup all the warm tones.

Since marine snow is technically dead fish, I implemented that into her design via her earrings.

The shape of the vampire squid’s tentacles & webbing reminded me of a ballet type dress, so that’s the direction I took. I kept the top simple, but brought the neckline down to a V & cut out two slits to imitate vampire fangs. I designed the skirt to look like the webbing, but I was still left underwhelmed. I decided a tentacle bow wrap was exactly what was missing.

Bringing back the belt design, I used the same style to wrap her legs in for her shoes.

*Adoptables are characters an artist creates with the purpose to sell, allowing the buyer to “adopt” the character.

*Marine snow is a continuous shower of organic (& sometimes inorganic) material that falls from the higher water levels. It is the vampire squid’s main food source.