Final Production and design.

We have here the final design that I produced in ZBrush using the concept art. Included is the sculpting process as well. During the creation process I paid close attention to references of sea creatures I had already gathered as well as referencing new ones, such as Trilobites to help resolve the ridged effect on the creatures back.

I am pleased with how the design has turned out, as I feel it successfully fulfils the criteria I laid out for it. It also manages to look like it could exist within reality and this is due to my use of references throughout the design process.

Concept Art Part 6

Here we see an evolution of the creatures main forms, with the distinct shapes becoming more defined. Remembering the Sathanas back from my design research I'm trying to design it so that the creature can be broken up into its big distinct shapes, and that those shapes are easy to read and help to create a distinct silhouette.

I'm pleased with where the design is going, and I feel that in these concepts It has started to take on both the more creepy aspects aswell as the more graceful aspects of the earlier designs.

Although I will need to move onto creating the character in 3D very soon to make sure I have the time.
However first Id like to do a few more sketches and a close up, detailed concept of the creatures head.

Concept Art Part 5

Things just got creepy!
Yes, in these images the design has definitely taken a turn for the darker and more disturbing. Mainly due to the fact that I have been using a lot of references from Dead Space, and one particular image is what inspired the original design. Anyway these were meant to serve as a demonstration of the creatures mouth, and how its head splits open to reveal it. The mouth itself was based on the Gulper Eel, a huge maw that's capable of devouring large prey.

Now I aim to refine this direction a bit more and try to blend it with the more graceful aesthetic of the previous images, as that was kind of the point of the creature. A graceful elegant creature with a hidden, more disturbing, face. Although these concepts have given me ideas for design solutions aswell as successfully giving me a direction for the more creepy aspects to this creature.

I found some new reference going forward, one of which is the Glaucus Atlanticus slug. Its a very beautiful creature and is part of my design reference now aswell for this project.
Also referencing the Fringe Head fish. I do believe they provide some useful solutions for resolving the design of this creature.

Concept Art Part 4

Continuing to evolve the look of the creature, with more garish colours this time.
This piece has helped me to visualise some of the finer points in the design of the creatures head & neck structure. Particularly just how its "hood" wraps around the form. Also nailed down a few other aspects of the design, such as the eyes and how the head & hair flow back into the neck/hood structure. The front of the neck is becoming clearer aswell in this one.

Concept Art Part 3

Two images this time, one of the creatures underwater, illustrating how they should look graceful when in motion. Also, hopefully, showing off the subtle bio-luminescence present within them. Although this is further illustrated in the second image, in which the creatures are washed up on the beach. This is somewhat inaccurate, as these creatures are able to walk on the land.

Concept Art Part 2

New concept figuring out a design for the mouth of the creature. This is a somewhat creepier design as it look like a lot of its flesh is rotting away. However the mouth is a kind of general idea of what I want to go for, although I would like to make it more so that the tentacles are in fact jaws, and the entire creatures head opens up to reveal its mouth.

I do prefer the design of the one on the right, however I feel like the left one has some ideas that are worth exploring, perhaps in sketches. As the arrangement of tentacles is similar to that in sea anemones, so that could be looked at as a viable way for the creature to manoeuvre food into its mouth.

Concept Art Part 1

Concept art, I'm pretty pleased with this as I put what I had learned last semester to better use in order to create this. Functionally though it serves a purpose as it clarifies to me just how certain aspects of the creatures anatomy will work and how they will interact with each other. The most important part to me was figuring out how the "arms" will look and how the four of them will work with the body and the tail. I can also start thinking about the material of the creature itself as-well as the colours it will employ.

I need to create some more concepts however in order to further refine the ideas present in this and also to nail down certain aspects such as the double-face as-well as the skin texture/material.

Designing, Researching and Referencing

At this point I was trying to nail down a clearer design, as well as pulling research and references from different sources.

I like to start by doing side on silhouettes, its a habit picked up from watching the Gnomon masterclass. I feel like particularly for this character, since swimming will be a big part of its design we need to be able to see where about on its body the particular appendages related to this activity are. Its easier to plan the design as a whole from the side.

This are two of the Kaiju from "Pacific Rim", Im using them to reference the way that their skin covers their body and how it folds and stretches across the underlying muscles. Although the skin on my creature I will want to be a lot smoother (akin to a dolphins, for aerodynamic purposes).

Thinking a bit about the locomotion of the creature, I had the initial idea of having flagellum-like appendages that would appear like another set of arms, but instead of fingers have flagella. A way to assist with swimming and manoeuvring underwater.

Diagram of the various configurations of flagella found on bacteria in nature.

Eventually though this morphed into becoming something more like what Slattern has, a sort of series of tentacles/tail-like appendages. I referenced Slattern because he moves in a similar way to how I invision this creature will move, a kind-of dolphin kick.

So here we can see how I'm trying to make the design look sleeker and more graceful than it was previously, aswell as thinking about how it would mechanically work.

Also thinking about how he looks from the front, a lot of design issues were resolved around about this stage, mainly how to make him look graceful as-well as retaining a sense of purpose for the design. I wasnt really fond of the tail that echoes a kind of shawl or cape in this image.

And so I had a further look at how to solve this issue and I decided on a combinat

So here I started trying to practice drawing a more slender body for him, trying to find a more graceful look. I also started experimenting with the idea of the skin that forms his tail be somewhat of a membrane between his arms as-well, akin to how a bat's wing works.

 

Really starting to play more with this idea here, I kept going back to references like Manta-Rays as they have shapes that could support the sort of silhouettes that this would form. However I wasn't too happy with where it was going at this stage. As the main issue was that the second set of arms would always get in the way of the membrane when the first set was raised in front of the creature.

This is where I feel like I solved it, by having the folds attached to both sets of arms, and removing the flagella on the second set. So that the creature has these arms that dont quite have a membrane between them but this area of skin that, when he is swimming can be folded around his body to create a sleeker more aerodynamic shape.

A more in depth look at how the arms would look and how they would work, just trying to clarify it to myself. From this point onwards I want to take things into Photoshop and starting painting up better concept images of the creature, aswell as thinking about colours and materials.

I remembered this guy after I had thought up the design for the wings, a "Precursor" from Pacific Rim. The way his arms work with the flaps of skin is sort of what I am aiming for.

Initial Sketches and Ideas Part Two

The goal with this round of sketches was to come up with a more solid idea and a definite direction for the creature. I gathered some references after having the idea of making a more marine style animal. The Ceph from Crysis are what inspired me to try and create a sort of translucent like creature.

After deciding I wanted to really try and explore this style of creature I gathered a lot of reference imagery of marine animals, particularly ones that exhibit translucence and bio-luminescence. While I'm trying to create a more traditional humanoid style creature, I do not want it to just be a generic looking creature. I want to add some more unique elements to the design. So I gathered reference from some of the more unusual marine animals as-well.

One thing that was very clear to me form here was just how bright and vivid some of the colouring's are on these creatures, something I immediately classed as being essential to the design that I come up with. Another key aspect was adding some elements of anatomy that would make the creature a strong swimmer, however given its more humanoid appearance I may reference more amphibians for that aspect of it. I've also been toying with the idea of being able to see the creature's internals as is apparent in some of these images aswell.
 

This first sketch was me just exploring the kind of "marine" look, sharp long teeth that echo an angler fish along with trying to take the look of the Portugese Man O'Ware into account to create a more "jelly-like" look. 

This was another sketch that perhaps incorporates more of the creepy aspects of marine life, particularly deep sea fish. I wanted to try to create something that didnt look so fierce though, but then I remembered the Promethean Knight from Halo 4, a creature that has two faces. An outward armoured face and a more unsettling inner face that it reveals when it is roaring. I toyed with that idea in this sketch, making the outer face look more gentle, while the inner face looks more unsettling and disturbing. I referenced the Star Nosed Mole when thinking about the inner face.

Trying to think about the body of the creature, this however was far too human for the kind of marine aspect I was going for. Also I felt that I wanted the creature to look kind of elegant like the flatworm, which is beautiful in its simplicity.

Further thinking about the flatworm, aswell as echoing a cobras hood. I decided I to try and experiment with different ways to connect the head to the body, I had the idea in my head that the creatures back could be very much like a flatworm, but made of thicker skin. It could assist the creature with its movement along the ground aswell as assisst in camouflage. Something a bit similar to what is present in the Ceph, however with a more humanoid anatomy.

Just a quick one thinking about adding extra limbs to the creature, sort of like a prawn.

Another quickie, back to deep-sea nasties.

By this point I had started nailing down some key aspects I really wanted the design to include. The main ones being that it must be graceful and colourful. However it must also be able to function in land and on the water, as-well as being a strong swimmer. The prawn-like arms aswell as the flatworm style back I felt would work well together in the design. Having the two face I feel is another big thing I want to have in the creature.

The next stage is to begin pulling together a tighter design while keeping in mind the function it is performing. Closely researching how it is accomplished in the real world is important. By the end of that I should have a good idea of the design of the creature. With time to tighten it up and start experimenting with colours before drawing up some concepts.