wrapping my head around alien characters

A lot of times, when I come up with an idea for an alien/mutant/otherwise weird-looking character, I draw them first.  The purpose of the drawing is not to use it in the book, as I don't draw that well and my art is far from professional.  The purpose is to make it easier for me to picture the character when I am writing.  Hopefully, the character will look/feel realistic to the reader when he/she is reading the novel, but the crude drawing helps me wrap my head around what they look like.

So, for this post, I would like to share some of my favorite crude drawings of characters that ended up in my books in some form or another.

Enjoy.  And check out Turtle Rocket Books