Hi-res Art files & Concept Notes: Professor Lexicovermus XK Defense Protocols (Patreon)

PSD file attached!

I originally came up with Professor Lexicovermus (literally "bookworm" in latin) as a minor side character and "gameplay feature" of Awful Hospital that would allow Fern to read any of the setting's spinoff writing materials chosen by the commenters.

Now that the storyline has visited the Professor's native library zone, we've built up to witnessing his temporary transformation into a gigantic monster.

Neither form is necessarily his "true" form, but both are simultaneously a glimpse of the same entity filtered through human perception. The little screeching caterpillar we're more familiar with is essentially his "customer service face," existing to interact with visitors and peacefully (if loudly) promote the magic of books across reality.

In defense mode, he reveals his full "combat" capabilities, a gigantic worm beast that exists to protect the library from all threats at all cost.

You could say the design has a bit of classic "worm monster," like the sandworms from Dune and so many others, but real world nematode worms also have elaborate flower-like mouths in every imaginable shape. In this case, the petaled mouth is based on the academic cap already worn by the bookworm (and most other cartoon bookworms), which ends up looking like a sinister rosebud when the cap is multiplied into five layers. Each of these also has the single gold "tassle" of these hats, but on Lex, these are also eyestalks that branch into multiple smaller tentacles.

The nature of the setting is such that these hats, the "bookworm" cartoon trope, and even libraries themselves only exist in our human civilization due to this entity's influence on reality. :)

The library can also be considered a part of Lexicovermus's brain, as hinted by the arrangement of the bookshelves in this scene, but that's technically true of all conceptual beings. The Hospital and Dr. Phage are also essentially one.