Creature Design - Werewolf

Overview

As covered in my Research Study Report, I realised the usefulness of following ideas through as soon as I had them, and not saving them for another time. The process of doing initiates learning, and this creature was borne of that philosophy. As the majority of my creatures are made to subvert expectations, I was trying to think of how a werewolf could be redesigned to be different, away from the likes of Twilight, the Wolfman, and Van Helsing.

Inspiration

Creatures:

• Werewolf (Fantasy)
• Hyena
• Human
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Process

Typically, in fantasy werewolf transformations, the given idea that when all the bones extend and deform, the skin expands to grow over it. The film 'Van Helsing' featured human skin covering the transformed wolf, and had to be torn off, which was an interesting twist and probably bled into this unconsciously. My idea was that the skin is finite, and would be left ripped and torn on the body, giving the werewolf a much more grotesque visual and taking it back as a creature to be feared; werewolves tend to embody the duality of man, and how one can fall into the nature of the beast. This creature very much intends to show how it is not a desirable condition.

Initial sketches. The human was drawn to get a sense of typical proportions, to see what parts I would be extending for the wolf. I had multiple skeletons and musculature reference images.

 The pose came out immediately, as I wanted to fully reference muscles and bones and was unsure I could do that with a more twisted, action-based pose. Additionally, this pose seemed to give it a pained, stalking look.

Final image. The fur took a long time to complete as I referenced it properly and discovered I drew wolf fur wrong. I was inspired by 'The Jungle Book' concept art (Annis Naeem) to try and push the realism in this illustration, thus the background to set the scene was included. 

The skin tears were difficult to reference; I used a couple of upsetting dog fight images for blood in fur, and either an autopsy or surgery image that featured a surprising amount of blood clots. I don't know how true to life it would be (I assumed such wounds would drip blood but couldn't find suitable references), but I like the outcome I referenced more than one I guessed at.

Final image. Shaft of moonlight added to brighten the image and make the gore more visible.

Design Notes:

• Thumb takes place of dew claw, fingers bent into more paw-like shape
• Tail short, like vestigial tails on humans
• Skull is partially exposed as it would tear through the human face during transformation. Other rips are random in areas where bones would shift
• Heel gains a protrusion like in wolf skeletons
• Shoulders are half human shoulder-blade, and half wolf, thus why they are such prominent features
• Hunting probably based on sight as its nasal passage is unsuitable for scenting now
• Probably a one-way transformation; blood-loss and shock might lead to an early death

Reflection

• Took a while to finish due to the attempt at a more realistic, referenced creature, with fitting background.
• Definitely was a fun experiment to try out, and fast from initial conception to execution.
• Aided knowledge of wolf fur patterns, anatomy, how to push anatomy to  its limits, and how to draw open wounds and muscles.
• Need to look into backgrounds more. This one was a happy accident with the colours chosen, and is intentionally blurred as I don't have enough knowledge to add to the piece with detail. It simply serves as a setting for my creature and is not trying to take the attention from him.
• I'm glad I pushed the realism more, even if the reference images were unpleasant to research and look at.