Minor/Major Project: Manticore - Final Design

Minor/Major Project: Spring-Heeled Jack - Final Design

Minor/Major Project: Yeti - Final Design

Previous yeti posts.

Minor/Major Project: The Jersey Devil - Finalising Head Design - FEEDBACK PLEASE!

New designs based on previous post. Eyes and teeth are final.

Minor/Major Project: The Wendigo - Head Progress/Fixing Gums

Minor/Major Project: The Jersey Devil - Head Sketches

Different eyes, ears, horns, and teeth ideas for the Jersey devil.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac Body Model Progress

I've spent the last couple of days working on the Bukavac's feet and claws, as well as cleaning up parts of the legs. Next I'll be double checking the model and making sure everything flows nicely, before going on to making the spikes that potrude from the creatures skin.

Minor/Major Project: The Tikbalang - Finalising Design

Head design, with and without mane.

I've made the Tikbalang a being of flesh and bone, with tears across the ribcage and other areas to match the torn and stretched flesh around its mouth. My biggest debate so far is whether or not the tikbalang should be mostly hairless, or have a tail and mane. 

Minor/Major Project: The Leshy - Final Design

Minor/Major Project: The Manticore - Development

Sketches exploring the manticore's face.

To match the manticore's scorpion tail, I've given him spikes potruding from his mane and spine. I also imagine it to have fur distribution similar to that of a werewolf cat, with much of the body being like a tough, human skin, with fur on the back trailing from the mane, surrounding the spikes.

Sketches exploring the manticore's body.

Minor/Major Project: The Cellar - Background

Influence map for the cellar

The cellar will only be part of the background in my animations of the creatures, but needs to appear both as having a previous practical use (storage, wine cellar) whilst also now being a workspace for the Rodriques family. The background won't have much detail, but having a full design will come in handy for Adelaide's journal.

Rough Sketches

Possible room layout

Minor/Major Project: Adelaide's Journal Mock-Up - Feedback Please!

Intro to Spring-Heeled Jack

Most pages will have images that can be clicked on and enlarged. The placeholder image on this page would be a sketch Adelaide has done based on previous artists renditions of Jack. The "T" symbol opens a pop-up window that contains the info in an easier to read font. Clicking the megaphone will play audio of Adelaide reading the journal passage.

Easier reading.

The pop-up will also have the megaphone symbol for audio, and can be closed when the reader is finished.

 Things to work on:

• Journal - I feel Adelaide's journal needs major editting, and passages need to be re-read and reduced so they're not too long.
• Font - Whilst the Abuget font works great for the title, I'm worried it looks too messy/unintelligible in the journal. I will either have to find a different, more readable font.

Rough creature profile.

The creature profile will outline Adelaide's encounter with the creature, with further info on the creature as well as a breakdown of it's diet, habitat, and physical appearance. Clicking the image leads to the following pop-up:

This opens a window with easy to read stats, an audio option, and a "magnify" option that opens an interactive window, where the reader can look at a 3D model of the creature and how it moves in a simple environment. The creature will have a number of idle animations (standing, roar, attack) that the reader can cycle through.

Minor/Major Project: The Leshy - Finalising

Minor/Major Project: Dobhar-chú - Development

Giant river otter studies.

Looking over my previous Dobhar-chú post, I was advised to do some studies to get to grips with the creature. The closest thing to the Dobhar-chú for me was the giant river otter found in the Amazon, with it's larger form and more beastly appearance to the sea or eurasian otter.

The Dobhar-chú is said to be dog-like, so I looked at pictures of various dog breeds to try and merge them with the river otter. I like the bulldog and alsatian the most, and will most likely give the Dobhar-chú a body resembling that of squatter breeds such as the pitbull or bulldog, to match the river otters short legs.

Personal Work: Cabinet Man - Character Design Challenge

This month I decided to enter the Character Design Challenge on Facebook, for the theme "Ghosts & Poltergeists!". The character is based on the song Cabinet Man by Lemon Demon, which tells the story of a man who is "half human and half machine", living inside an arcade machine where he can "[eat] the occasional maintenance man, and [drive] a few kids to madness". It was nice to work on this as a warm-up/break, and has let me practice digital painting (and get used to using reference when I need to). 

Personal Work: Inktober 2018

I only did a few pieces for Inktober this year, but wanted to participate nonethelss. The first two were following the official prompts, but after that I wanted to go with the flow and just draw whatever I was inspired to. 

Minor/Major Project: Fae Folk - Development

My original idea was to make the fae a twist on the well-known image of small people with butterfly wings, possibly exploring goblins. I've decided to make the fae spirits, who can sit amongst the woodlands and wildlife almost unnoticed. Some forms will be obviously non-human, while others may require more inspection.

Minor/Major Project: The Jersey Devil - Studies and Initial Ideas

Initial influence map.

My initial influence map focuses heavily on the "demonic" or "devil-ish" aspect of the Jersey Devil, but since then I've wanted to look more into the "kangaroo-like" descriptions of the creature.

Goat and kangaroo head studies.

 Most notably, the Jersey Devil is described as having "clawed hands", which in my mind match those of a kangaroo. With this it seemed best to look at the similarities between goats and kangaroos, and consider how the two animals can be combined to create the Jersey Devil. In terms of facial structure, the animals already resemble each other (dependent on goat breed).
For the lower half of the body, I feel the leg structure can be combined quite easily, though I will need to look more into making the hooves work for the Devil to walk and hop on. 

Kangaroo and goat leg studies.

Minor/Major Project: The Beast of Loch Ness - Development

Rough sketches exploring head and body.

Head ideas.

Minor/Major Project: List of Creatures and Direction of Travel (Revised)

After some thought I've decided to remove five creatures from the list, and only model two. This will allow me to focus on designing and writing for Adelaide's journal and put more time into the creatures awaiting finalised designs. 

Locations to be visited and creatures found there:

London, England - Spring-Heeled Jack.

Suffolk, England - Black Shuck.

Loch Ness, Scotland - The Beast of Loch Ness.

Galway, Ireland - Fae.

Connemara, Ireland - Dobhar-chú.

The Danube River, Srem District, Serbia - Bukavac.

Masovia, Poland - Leshy.

Tehran, Persia (Iran) - Manticore.

Nepal, Himalayas - Yeti.

Yichang, Hubei, China - Dragons.

Luzon, Philippines - Tikbalang.

Northern Maine (nr. St John River), USA - Wendigo.

Pineland Ghost Town (name unknown), New Jersey, USA - Jersey Devil

Mandeville, Jamaica - Rolling Calf.

White River, Ocho Rio, Jamaica - River Mumma.

Removed: Gargoyles, Yali, Jackalope, J'ba Fofi, Man-Eating Trees.

Minor/Major Project: The Beast of Loch Ness - Studies and Initial Ideas

A lot of the imagery surrounding the Beast of Loch Ness resembles that of a plesiosaur, a marine reptile from the mesozoic era (around 252 to 66 million years ago). I decided to look at plesiosaurs and pikes for inspiration, eventually I'll combine the million year old beast with the modern day one.

Studies looking at pikes and artist renditions of the plesiosaur.

Minor Project Schedule and Submission Inventory

Submission Inventory:

• All creatures fully designed.
• Fully written journal.
• Completed models with textures for Wendigo, Bukavac and book + turnaround videos.
• Storyboard plan outlining events of video, showing how the journal would work as an interactive book.

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Head - Planned Fixes

Looking at the Wendigo head, my main problem right now is the gums. I plan to remodel them completely to match human gum form. The molars also need changing to be more packed together. Though the Wendigo is a creature of myth, the idea of it being a possessed/corrupted human is what makes the Wendigo frightening. Restructuring the face will show the remnants of who the creature once was.

After fixing the gums, I'll work on making the nose part more concave to match a human skull, and form the eyelids. The eyes may need further remodeling, though I'm hoping the creases and wrinkles of the eyelids will help the eyes seem less spaced. The Wendigo's body is far closer to being finished, and I'm looking forward to piecing the creature together and starting on textures.

Maya Tutorial - Five Minute Moom Pose

5 Minute Pose

Pose Reference

First attempt posing Moom in five minutes. The angle of the bent leg is a little off, and they need more bend at the waist to match the reference image. Hopefully as I do this more regularly, I'll get faster and more accurate at posing.