Now that the shape for my creature was locked in I could design the infected armour around it. For the designs of the leech-like insects I looked back at the bug specimens I observed during the museum trip at the Huntarian.
I also created a simple design for a possible weapon the creature could use.
For inspiration and reference gathering we took a trip to the Huntarian, a museum focusing on anatomical specimens. While there I looked at a number of specimens which could help inform the design of my own creature. I particularly looked at the anatomical forms as my own design is very much a mash up of existing creatures.
While at the museum I did some drawn studies as practice for when I come to sculpt the detailed anatomy of my own creature.
Some feedback I received from my lecturer was to do more variations of my favourite design. From my previous set of sketches I decided to focus in on the pig/ boar design. I returned to the basic silhouette, trying to push the forms and experiment with different shapes to see if I could come up with a more interesting outcome.
Now that I had a solid design I was happy with, I created my turnaround illustration. I’ll be able to take this into zbrush later to serve as a useful reference.
To inform the future style of my creature I looked into some artists who I believe were relevant to the direction I was taking. From these professional examples I set a benchmark for my own design. Dinno’s Orc Warrior is an amazing reference for shape language in design. Forms are really pushed to emphasise the weight and strength of the character – anatomy is also highly exaggerated to show this.
Nick Kellers designs from Weta Studio will serve as a good benchmark for me to try and reach. His designs are gritty and battle scarred, telling a story of many life and death encounters. Heavy texture is used to make his figures feel weathered and dirty. Though somewhat exaggerated, his anatomy is grounded in realism, with accurate placement of muscle groups informed by the human figure. Fine detail is implied in select places – Keller spends time drawing out complexity only in the most focal areas.
From my initial planning I created a batch of sketches and expanded upon them, considering silhouette especially. I touched upon shape and movement as well, finally developing further my most detailed sketches.
The aim of this project is to create a creature from scratch. From the prompts given to get us started I chose: excitement, beast/ animal and predator.
From these prompts I created a mood board and mind map. I explored the idea of my creature either being a mutated human or whether they should lean more towards the bestial/ animalistic. The idea of this figure wearing some sort of armour was an idea I definitely wanted in my final result – this morphed into the idea that a parasite was living in the armour.
From these explorations the idea I came up with that I’m most keen on is a: ‘bipedal creature controlled by a parasitic set of armour’.