Creature Design - Ribas and Diribas

Overview

The guiding theme of this creature was eventually divergent evolution. The starting point was a lingering idea of a cuttlefish/panther creature that could camouflage perfectly, and while I was floundering with design ideas I watched a free video offered on R.J. Palmer's skillshare page, where he freely sketched creature designs. His commentary was inspiring and the first of these sabrecats was sketched, initially with intent to replace the cuttlefish/panther, but then that one was soon sketched as a differently evolved creature in the same family.

Ribas is actually the reversal of an arabic name, Sabir, which means patient; hypothetically this could be taken as Ribas meaning impatient/quick, apt for the fast, sleek, cat-like creature. Diribas is the divergent relation, named second as its camouflage would have meant it being discovered second.

Inspiration

Creatures:

• Cheetah
• Tiger
• Lion
• Black Panther
• Colugo
• Coati Mundi
• Raccoon
• Tanuki/Raccoon Dog
• Ring-tailed Lemur
• Turkey Vulture
• King Vulture
• Lammergeier Vulture
• Secretary Bird
• Grasshopper
• Cuttlefish
• Octopus
• Velociraptor (Extinct)

Process

Ribas developed alongside Diribas in a feedback loop - initially Ribas was to replace the other, but it soon became apparent they were both similar/dissimilar enough to be in the same family. Sketches and inspiration were from various sources as I floundered in places and sped ahead in others.

Traditional sketches for Diribas, the cuttlefish/panther. Ideas were present (text is merely thoughts on teeth slotting into place like snake fangs, extra eyelids for camouflage, and what to do with the webbing on the legs), but as a whole there was no stand-out design.

Digital sketches for Diribas. There is a clear fight between long or short legs, which the 'divergent evolution'  theme solved. The coloured Ribas sketch in the corner was added later, to keep colours and anatomy in mind when choosing a final design to stand beside him

I watched the first of R.J. Palmer's videos on Skillshare to see if it was worth buying the course (once I am done with this mini-project I will use it within my next one as it seems useful). The technique shown was to simply draw, and find shapes or ideas that seemed interesting. He had no goal in mind, merely drawing dinosaurs, dragons, and prehistoric-looking mammals from imagination, and I imitated the concept. A few parts of his designs struck ideas in me (he tested horns as teeth and teeth as horns) and Ribas came as a result of looking at the longer-legged Diribas sketches, which I hadn;t wanted to abandon.

Sketches using R.J. Palmer's tutorial. Eventually, favoured Diribas sketches were placed in the top right, and sketched around. The bottom bull-inspired creatures sparked a different creature's design.

Ribas sketches (some from the previous sheet). A more developed hunter than Diribas. Grasshopper-like back legs quickly took hold, to both give the creature an interesting feature and have powerful jumps.

Chosen poses and final lineart for both creatures. Front view headshots keep the scale of the features in mind. Musculature is visible as I wanted to make sure the arms worked correctly. Muscles are based on those of a panther. Key features link the two animals - the six limbs, split tail, exterior fangs, and bald faces.

A test to see how other creatures were lining up in terms of size. The sharkdogs were reduced after this test, as were Ribas and Diribas.

Ribas, the treetop predator.

Diribas, the camouflaged ambush predator.

Final creatures.

Design Notes - Ribas:

• Long, grasshopper-inspired back legs allow for incredibly powerful leaps, while cat-like front legs aid in the landing
• Tiger stripes for camouflage in long grass or canopy leaves, fairly short fur
• Canine fangs are exterior
• Crest-like quills are taken from the secretary bird, linking in with long legs and tree-dwelling habitats, as well as suggesting strong kicks
• Omnivore, has some tolerance for envenomed prey killed by Diribas
• Large nasal cavity - they communicate in very low frequencies, thrumming in the nose and throat
• Sleek design suggests fast movement and quick reflexes, likely to hunt birds and tree-dwelling mammals, though they would not be opposed to running across plains and bringing down larger animals as a social pack
• Secondary arms have developed nimble fingers and thumbs, like a raccoon - used to grip on difficult surfaces (generally tree trunks) and carry objects
• Fairly magpie-like tendancies; Ribas will often collect interesting or shiny objects and relocate them to caches up in the trees
• Very social, though they tend to sleep in separate trees (unless the weather is wet or cold). Guards (taken in turn) sit on the fringes of the sleeping area and communicate in extremely low frequencies humans cannot hear

Design Notes - Diribas:

• Shorter, squatter body, lower to the ground
• No fur, skin is thick (with some protective blubber). Texture is like that of an octopus, made up of pigments and laced in a way it could form itself into other textures, like rock or moss or bark
• Less developed secondary limb, more vestigial - simply used to better move webbing around when camouflaged to provide the best effect
• Split tail is reminiscent of squid tentacles to show its origin
• Face is less developed, more mask-like than Ribas' skin-covered face. Exterior fangs are made of bone
• Highly venomous. Can infect through touch, or by biting. Biting is more potent, while touch is useful to keep prey unaware it has been infected
• Omnivore, eats whatever it has killed due to having full immunity to its venom's effects
• Tends to stay on the forest floor in thick vegetation, or alongside cliffs. Rarely strays into plains

Reflection

• This concept took a while to complete, but I learnt a lot from following it through and not abandoning the design.
• Bringing current ideas into whatever sketching method is being used (like R.J Palmer's, or traditionally, for example) gave a different feel to the creature. It was good to ground it with previous sketches again.
• Although I feel these creatures aren't too far from what is typical fantasy fodder (six legs, sabretooth, cat-like), the fact they co-exist together and are related evolution-wise makes them feel like a more significant step in a new direction.
• Ribas originally was much less detailed. Once I completed Diribas, who needed significant detail to produce octopus-like skin, I returned to the other creature and completed them to the same level of detail. Looking back, the version I was originally happy with was very scrappy and definitely needed the improvement.
• These two were the main focal point for my MA poster, and held up very well.
• One of my favourites of this mini-project so far.

Creature Design - Bhanmar

Overview

After several quadrupedal designs, I wanted to try something completely new. I knew of nudibranches (a colourful sea slug type animal that comes in scores of colours and shapes) and played around with what their designs might best enhance. Bhanmar came out of combining caterpillars with nudibranches and then using like creatures to play with a more unusual bodyshape.

Bhanmar was named by loosely combining nudibranch and pine marten.

Inspiration

Creatures:

• Nudibranch
• Catfish
• Jewel Caterpillar
• Pine Marten
• Weasel

Considered:

• Woodlouse

Process

In all honesty, this creature did not take long to design. It was very much an experiment with how much I could push my knowledge of forms, since I seem to stick to quadrupeds or birds. I also really wanted to play with the striking colours of the nudibranches, as they are fascinating little creatures with a fantastic array of patterns and forms, and this was a good excuse to indulge myself.

I wrote a list of creatures and started doodling shapes of what they might look like when combined. The coloured sketch used the clone tool on the nudibranch images (from google) to give a fast generalisation of potential colours.

Final design. They took a surprisingly short amount of time to create.

Design Notes:

• Though their legs are more advanced systems, they are placed similarly to a caterpillars. However, the Bhanmar run like weasels or pine martens, in a more bobbing motion
• They are fast, nimble, algae-eaters, and often hide on bigger, more recumbent herbivores. They will eat slow-moving bugs if one happens to wander in the path of their searching whiskers
• Their colouring is to warn predators away and feign toxicity, though the actual level of poisoning one could gain from ingesting one of these creatures is up for debate, as there are too many colours and subspecies to accurately measure
• A Bhanmar's eyesight is not the greatest; it is believed they can only see basic shapes in strong light, and blurred movement

Reflection

• Interesting to look into more unusual animals for this creature; I learnt about caterpillar leg placements and nudibranch colourations.
• Definitely one of my more unique designs so far.
• It was fun to explore something more odd and atypical through a random decision to utilise nudibranches in a design; it seems strong colourations and unusual shapes were the guiding theme this time.

Creature Design - Calt

Overview

Inspired by watching my staffie run around on the beach during a dog walk; she played with everything, including sea-foam, seaweed, driftwood, and balls of whelk-eggs. It formed the idea of a pack animal that resided on the ocean shore and had no cares, constantly playing, as it could easily defend itself on land and in water. The underlying theme for this creature was something as comfortable on land as in water, and could live in either world indefinitely.

Calt were named by taking the sound of 'Khal' from Khaleesi, and searching for a viable ending so that pointing out a group of these creatures would not be a strange taste in the mouth (i.e. as Caloses, Caltorens, etc. might be).

Inspiration

Creatures:

• Staffordshire Bull Terrier (Khaleesi)
• Dachshund
• Giant Amazon River Otter
• Colugo
• Leopard Seal
• Squirrel
• Vampire Squid
• Whale Shark
• Puijila (Extinct)
• Dunkleosteus (Extinct)

Process

Actually a relatively quick creature to design as I hit a concept I liked pretty early on. I knew the main animals to draw inspiration from would be seals and otters, but I was surprised by just what I ended up turning to for ideas.

From sketchbook. Quick ideas fora fluid pose, based on seals.

Strong, stocky pose, loosely inspired by dachshunds and giant otters. Similar themes carry through all designs, like no lips, flipper-like front feet, and a webbed tail. The coloured sketch at the top left was inspired by velociraptors and ultimately was the reason this creature does not have long fur, as that sketch did not look apt.

Chosen pose, with side-on views for reference. Pose is to show how it could hang in water by stopping itself quickly with its tail webbing.

Final, coloured state. Colours inspired by whale sharks for aid in water-based predation, though they could probably blend with pebbles fairly easily too.

Design Notes:

• The Calt's front feet has six appendages, all webbed. When pressed close together, it can run easily. When extended, the bones of the actual 'hand' stretch aside too, to give a wider space for the webbing to stretch, and aid more in swimming
• Closeable nostrils, and large lung capacity. Teeth are bared, with no lips to cover them, and press together tight enough to form a seal with the tongue on the inside, to prevent unwanted water going into the throat
• Its hearing isn't the best; communication between multiple Calts is mainly done through body language
• They play with anything and everything, thus their digestion has developed to be exceptionally strong, as well as resistant to the majority of poisons
• Its eyesight is fairly sharp, able to discern prey even in the dark depths of the ocean

Reflection

• This design was the first to be outwardly inspired first, before adding in creatures - it made me realise inspiration has many sources.
• Posing was very important for this creature, to show it could survive on both land and water.
• I should probably have created more varied designs but the concepts I drew were very prominent in my mind for this creature, and hard to work around.
• Colour choice was difficult; I had to choose between land or water for what camouflage would be most effective.
• An illustration of them playing and hunting together would best show their personality more than words and the main image could.

Creature Design - Predatory Horse

Overview

Predatory horse, designed to look vaguely familiar and thus subvert initial responses. It travels in herds and controls huge territories encompassing forests, plains, and ravines; there are very few creatures that would dare attack them. In general, the most dangerous thing to a predatory horse is a challenger to the herd's leader; this is why they have huge ridges of bone that protect their eyes, and thick scales that protect the vulnerable neck and spine, defence from the thick tusks protruding from their mouths.

[At this time, the predatory horse species has no name.]

Inspiration

Creatures:

• Horse
• Gnu/Wildebeest
• Warthog
• Lion
• Rhinoceros
• Cassowary
• Crocodile
• Iguana
• Pit Viper
• Burmese Python
• Hippocampus (Fantasy)
• Qilin (Fantasy)
• Triceratops (Extinct)
• Terrorbird (Extinct)

Disregarded:

• Sivatherium (Extinct)
• Megaloceros (Extinct)
• Cockatoo
• Bear
• Lionfish
• Harpy Eagle
• Porcupine
• Shadhavar (Fantasy)

Process

Like the sharkdog, I had trouble deciding on what direction to go with this creature. I'd envisioned multiple horns on its head, like Sivatherium, but not of the sketches I made with this in mind made it appear like a successful predator. Likewise, the lionfish spines, porcupine quills, and cockatoo crest (all to deter predators) made little sense when I wanted this creature to be powerful and feared. Thus, I began to look in different directions for inspiration, including often-overlooked animals like the warthog and the cassowary.

Collection of initial headshots. Multiple horn solutions, though not appear predatory. Once a more beaked, rhinoceros-like mouth was referenced for the more natural tusks, everything flowed a lot better.

Side-view. Figuring out body type (horse, wildebeest, lion) and feet. The raised legs were to judge how the clawed feet would look in both positions, and see if it seemed natural. The fourth design was referenced properly from a similar horse pose once things were finalised.

Added a better eye-covering protrusion in the skull. Manes: first design is inspired by a qilin statue, second is crocodilian scales, while the third is more fjord horse/zebra. The fourth is more horse based, but takes the best from the previous ideas.

Chosen side-on pose, with correct mane, eye-covering protrusion, and crocodilian scales. The front view sketch was to keep all the proportions in mind of the various protrusions - both bone features and tusks.

Eventually the front-on sketch was necessary (for my MA poster) and evolved into a more action-based pose. The first was discarded as it didn't give the impression of a predator, whilst the final one, mid-run, looks more imposing and hunter-like.

Final designs.

Design Notes:

• Heavy, three-toed feet made for powerful, bone-breaking kicks and fast running, not gripping onto prey (like cassowary/terrorbird)
• Scales for protection against attacks, generally from other horses - thicker ridges on scales covering spine/neck for added protection
• Long tail tipped with fur to whip away flies when bloodied
• Thick plate over masseter jaw muscle (inspired by iguana)
• Strong, thick bone structures protruding around sunken eyes, to protect from stabbing tusks
• Additional, small nostrils lining the overly-wide nasal cavity, for drawing deeper breaths when sprinting
• Partially reflective scales, slightly iridescent in various primary colours - useful camouflage in foliage, though they don't tend to use it for ambush predation
• Sharp, horizontal tusks used to hack into prey with a vicious side-swipe as they run alongside, inflicting dangerously deep wounds on each hit - tusks are also serrated so they cannot easily get stuck in flesh/muscle
• Tusks used for hunting prey, stripping bark from trees for additional food source, or for combat, typically when wresting control of a herd (eyes/neck would be a disastrous point to injure, thus the increased defences on both)
• If humans could successfully domesticate them, they would find the horses to be extremely loyal and protective to their trusted partners, as well as very social

The scales of this creature in the final stage were extremely tedious to create. I used a downloaded snake-scale texture brush to give a semblance of texture on the first colour pass, but the actual detail stemmed from looking at reference images of iguanas and crocodiles. The second, front-facing horse was somewhat faster as I utilised the clone tool and took a base from the previous horse to build on, though it still required a lot of fixing up.

Reflection

• Focusing on headshots at the start made the design process faster
• Looking for wider inspiration and trying new ideas in each headshot added to the final design
• Again, having a broad understanding of what the creature would be like - predatory, unlike its main inspiration - made decisions of what creatures to involve a lot easier
• Drawing over a previous sketch on a lower opacity layer to carry over a basic idea is definitely a useful technique
• Clone tool allows basic textures to be copied, definitely not acceptable to leave them untouched afterwards though, they need fresh details
• Scale textures are tedious to create, but are worth the time and effort. I'll probably try them again on another creature to see if I can refine the process a little more
• Action pose was very interesting to draw as I made it a little while after completing the original side-view, and had to reference all my notes again to make sure I didn't forget any design points

Creature Design - Suki

Overview

Shark/dog built around the idea of it being incredibly happy and overly friendly, though it looks intimidating. It would charge at humans full-speed; those who knew of them would be fine with their companionship as they are excellent protectors and scavengers, but those who were scared would kill them off. This doesn't stop them - they charge vehicles and transport too if they see humans. All they want is acknowledgement and companionship.

Suki is colloquial shorthand from their homeland, and stands for 'suiciders', due to this oblivious, fearless behaviour of running under cars.

Inspiration:

Creatures:

• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• English Bull Terrier
• Tiger Shark
• Great White Shark
• Blue-Tongued Skink
• Andrewsarchus (extinct)

Process

This creature was difficult to pin down a design for initially, as I didn't decide upon the creature's role or behaviour; it was merely a shark crossed with a dog. Once the idea of it being friendly occurred, designs became much more dopey and good-natured, making sure that even though the creature looked stocky and intimidating, it could also look like a silly puppy, so that viewers could easily tell it had a warm personality under the more vicious exterior.

Initial sketches. The first design (top left) looks almost pig-like, and thus exterior ears were removed entirely in subsequent designs. The tail also did not fit well. However, stocky bodies and strong front legs were a consistent theme. The final design, with more of a neck, looked much more natural and realistic as a creature.

Colour idea, with sketches exploring the dopiness of the creature's behaviour. The leaping one has a wide, open mouth, reminiscent of both a shark and the staffie's wide smile.

Final design: two of them playing together. Smiles are clear; they do not appear ferocious in mannerism.

Before I moved onto the final design, I watched R.J. Palmer draw realistic pokémon on youtube, and utilised one of the techniques he used to add texture to the dog's skin - he added magenta, cyan, and other bright colours on Colour Dodge/Lighten with a textured brush to give the effect of fur when partially erased. The dog's multi-tonal skin is the product of clumsily experimenting with this technique. Additionally, the faded parts of the creature to show depth are a technique picked up from his videos, as is the silhouette of a human for scale.

Reflection

• The silhouetted character to show scale of the animal is extremely useful for keeping things in proportion, and keeping the design correct for its size
• Textured background adds some interest, and is great to sketch on
• Still using a red brush, though darker than the last project
• Texture brushes are fantastic for adding personality to a creature quickly
• Side-on poses work for displaying the creature's main features, while more interesting, developed poses show the creature's personality
• Next step would be to redraw the creature in a proper environment amongst others in the world

Not Dead

Neglected this blog in favour of research and poster-work in recent weeks, so there's quite a bit to update:

Current Inspirations

• Ross Tran
• Has high-energy speedpaint commentaries on YouTube
• Uses inspiring/interesting photos on layers like Overlay, Multiply, and Soft Light, using Colour Balance and the Warp Tool to change them into more textured images that add something to the piece without being overbearing
• Has a loose, painterly style with emphasis on composition
• R.J. Palmer
• Known as "the artist who painted those realistic Pokemon"
• Has speedpaints on YouTube - one of the processes I noticed is the Colour Dodge/Lighten layer used to add skin/fur texture with cyan/magenta/bright colours
• Sometimes streams his process - bounce light was the focus in the part I watched. Animals and realistic anatomy form the backbone of his illustrations
• Daren Horley
• Worked on "47 Ronin" as a concept artist/creature designer
• Uses parchment/stained paper textures beneath sketches

Current Processes Used

• previous sketches on low opacity beneath/near newest sketch
• previous sketch used as a basic guide for the next one

• grunge paper/parchment background (Daren Horley)
• dark red brush for sketches (Feng Zhu) - use darker red for neater lineart over the top
• reference images on page (Feng Zhu) - more tendency for them to run along the top of the page than the side
• texture brushes (Aaron Blaise, Aaron Griffin, Charlie Bowater)
• texture brushes used on Colour Dodge/Multiply layers (RJ Palmer)

Catch-Up

To begin this project, I thought of the basic world and environment, and what might live there, as a prelude to my actual work. Essentially it consisted of a forest with lakes/oceans on raised plateaus, and a savannah with a nomadic civilisation. Technological advancement would be at the same level as our world, as I didn't want to fall into the trap of alien worlds being hugely futuristic and fantasy worlds being caught in an obscure medieval era.

I added the creatures I thought of (each built of up to five animals) to an excel worksheet to organise them, and began drawing a couple. I also tried to draw the creatures that built up said animal, but it was a very lacking task and I quickly gave it up:

First Excel worksheet and a failed diplocaulus/fu dog creature.

Instead, I began drawing environments using the thumbnail technique again (though I intend to research into other environment processes, if only a little). The world evolved into more colour and vibrance, with multiple standing rock platforms and lake plateaus. Essentially, the world is full of lakes, rivers and oceans, and this altered my perception of the creatures I had stipulated. Thus, I dropped the previous creatures and instead made a list of the animals that I was interested in combining:

Thumbnail environment. Hazy landscapes broken by trees, rock formations, and lakes.

Current worksheet (as of 16/03/16). Each creature is colour-coded into the end column, meaning it is used in that creature (names are typically made of an amalgamation of the inspirations).

By having a more open-ended view of what could build each animal, I found it a lot easier to design things. Whenever there was a hard decision to be made, or too much choice, I kept a main thought in mind for each creature, and let it lead decisions. For example, my first creature combined a shark with a Fu Dog - it was becoming more and more vicious looking until I decided it should subvert expectations and be incredibly friendly. This made the design more bouncy and dopey looking, with a wide smiley mouth, even though it still appeared stocky and intimidating.

The idea of subverting expectations actually fed into the following designs, too. My horse creature is predatory (and actually began looking like a t-rex towards the end). Another creature, my otter/seal, lives on the beach and plays with everything it finds without a care (actually inspired by watching my staffie play on the beach). It would also be very family-oriented and protective.

TL;DR:

I figured out that my creature designs should not be restricted in choice of animals, and should follow a guiding theme to define their design/personality.