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Final Render

Here’s the full final render of my creature, background and all!

Overall, I think it turned out pretty well! It’s surprising how well it actually blends in with the environment despite my concerns! The only thing that maybe looks a bit of out place is the tail and maybe the cream facial feathers! I think if I were to slightly redesign them I would make the tail a darker shade of brown! This is because the camouflage would only really work if they were in a birch tree and so it isn’t adaptable to most situations!

You can see how a darker tail blends in better with the environment in the edited images I’ve posted below! Even though the colours look rather vibrant, when you seem them in black and white they’re actually all pretty similar in tone!

Dark Tail Tones

Light Tail Tones

Looking back, it might not have been a bad idea to check all of my different designs in black and white before picking a final one! Even though it was the most popular design with my peers, I’m questioning if it’s fit for the purpose I set out to achieve!

Colours aside, I do like the composition of this piece! I think having the creature being more to the left works well, especially with the added hare hanging on the branch! I feel as though your eyes are drawn to the creature, the rabbit and then the height of the tree - which conveys all the traits of this animal that I wanted to get across!

I’d maybe criticise the posing of the creature as well! Not because it’s balled up but because it looks a bit too flat against the tree? I feel as though you should be able to see more of the creatures back, other wing / arm, the top of its head and some of the other eye brow / socket! Compared to the tree in the background or even the hare, it doesn’t look very three dimensional!

Other than that, I think the only other issue is the leaves and the ground floor! I feel as they really needed some more TLC in terms of detail! I think it would have looked a lot better if I was able to colour, shade and detail each leaf individually but due to time constraints I was only able to add some basic shading and gradients! It looks fine from far away but when you see the final render in full resolution it looks a bit unfinished!

On the whole, I don’t think I did a bad job creating a new fantasy creature from scratch, especially considering I was ill for two weeks of this module! Trying to mix 6+ animals together within four or so weeks was rather intense - but I think it was worth it based on the outcome of my final design!

I also posted all of my drawings for this module over on ArtStation, so if you’d like to check out that version of this post, please click on the link above! ^^

#2023

Final Render Progress

My first step was to start sketching the background! I tried my best to get perspective right and not to put too many branches as it’ll obscure the view of the ground!

Next, I started adding further details to creature sketch to see how it would look against the background and to get an idea of what the final drawing will look like!

Once I was happy with the sketch I moved on to fixing the creatures anatomy and making it more realistic! I Looked at red kangaroo anatomy on animal moodboard as reference for the shape! The bird leg anatomy references came in handy for drawing the legs!

Here’s the final sketch I drew of the creature before I added the clean lineart!

Lined the tree sketch!

Lined the creature and erased any of the lines of the tree layer that overlapped with it!

Filled the creature and tree sketch, as well as the ground with a flat colour on three separate layers! This was so I could create a selection from that base layer to add any colours and details on top without overlapping onto any other areas!

Finished colouring in the creature and adding most details and patterns!

Completely finished Colouring the creature and changed background colour - the colours were picked from the temperate forest moodboard I created as I thought those colours would fit best with my creatures final design and colours!

Added Moss and texture to the bark of the tree - I used my own photographs as reference for this! I added leaves to the tree but might edit them later as it’s blocking the ground view! Started adding shading!

Finished adding most of the shading! I was originally going to have them look at the ground for a kill as I mentioned earlier but as the ground was blocked by all the leaves I decided instead of removing them all I’d have it so the creature had brought its scavenged food up into the trees to eat instead! Apologies for the crude sketch of the rabbit here - I was just trying to get the general shape and pose down!

Final Render!

#2023

Final Render Composition Ideas

Here’s the five final render ideas I came up with! I tried my best to base them around the main traits of my creature:

Its a carnivore

It hides in trees, watching and waiting to steal other predators prey, then takes its food into tree cover to eat

It has the ability to jump and glide

It lives in the forest

After asking my family for feedback, composition #2 was the most popular of the bunch! Due to this, I started experimenting further with this idea and slightly different layouts to see what would look best!

Here was my first attempt! I wanted to give the impression it was stalking something from above the treeline and getting ready to strike! With the way the creature was curled around the branch like that I was worried that a lot of the design wouldn’t be visible in the final render and so I was apprehensive about going down this route!

The second version was pretty similar, but rather than stalking prey I had my creature climbing up the tree - I felt this would better show my creatures design off in its entirety rather than it being smushed over on the left hand side of the illustration. I kept the perspective of the tree getting smaller as it got closer to the ground as I liked how it implied how big the tree is!

While I liked the pose from the prior thumbnail - I feel as though it failed to depict the fact my creature was a scavenger and so this this version I wanted to have the creature eating some of its catch up in the tree! I also changed the angle in which the tree was facing as I felt it draws the viewers attention over to the right hand side where my creature is!

For the final render I wanted to try drawing the opposite of the other thumbnails and have my creature scavenging on the ground about to jump into the tree! I simply wanted to see what the polar opposite would look like before settling on the prior concept! While I do like how it looks, I think I still prefer the other three just because it shows it stalking, which is a lot more visually interesting to me due to the tension it adds!

Final Choice

Despite my concerns, my first thumbnail was the most popular out of the bunch in spite of the issues I mentioned! Just to this, it is the one I will be using as a base for my final render!

I slightly altered the pose my creature was in so you could better see the design but we’ll have to see how well it translates when I start the final render!

#2023

Final Colour Experiments

Here’s the slightly new designs I created based on the feedback I received the other day!

After showing this batch to my family and classmates, design #7 was the most popular! I was really surprised by this as I personally didn’t think the colours went well together but if it got so many votes I must have done something right!

As the colours of this design was inspired by that of the Pheasant, I’m considering making these creatures have gender dismorphia - in which the males and females of the species look different! I think the 2nd design would be what the females looks like but for the sake of this module I’m only going to draw the more popular male design in my final render! {I would have liked to have drawn both designs but I don’t think I’d have the time with how slow I draw}

Colour Palettes

#2023

Front and Back View Concepts

I noticed after finishing the sketch of my creature that I never drew a final sketch what they would look like from the front! So - I decided to do a separate sketch before I moved onto adding colour just to show they would appear from different angles!

I’m not quite sure how I feel about how the design translates from the front but sadly, it’s too late to change it now! I feel as though it appears more intimidating from the side! It might be because the big ears make it look cute from this angle? It also appears a lot rounder from the front rather than sharp and streamlined! It might look better when I colour it but we shall see!

I also drew a top view of the tail as it’s hard to tell how thick it would be from the side! I’d decided by this point that the middle part of the tail would be kangaroo like where as the two long appendages next to it would be feathers!

I would have liked to have draw a top and bottom view but due to how long this took me to draw I worried I wouldn’t have time!

#2023

Refining, Lining and Colour Combining

Here’s the coloured version of the sketch from my last post!

This is the first colour palette and design I came up with using my sketch as a base! The colours were heavily picked and based on that of the Turkey Vulture. The wing pattern was inspired by the Peregrine Falcon we saw at the Bird of Prey Centre and the stripes on the body were inspired by the Striped Hyena!

I thought with since my creature will be living in a forest the stripes and brown colour would maybe help with camouflaging while hiding in trees!

The featherless face and open nasal cavity were meant to act the same as it’s real life counterpart - the Turkey Vulture! I imagine along with using it’s sickle shaped talon to tear meat, this creature would also use it’s sharp beak and large canines to tear their prey open! This means its face would constantly get covered in gunk - so no feathers means easy cleaning!

The second design came out pretty similarly to the first - but I decided to add some dashes of colour to it! This was inspired by both the Caracara bird which has small flecks of yellow around their neck, as well as a orange beak and legs! I decided to go for a shade of red for my creature design. This was inspired by the colours of the Red Bearded Vulture and the Pheasant which you can see I used as reference in background!

I’m aware the colours wouldn’t help them blend in but I liked the idea of my creature having some bright colours like the peacock or extravagant feathers like the lyrebird in order to attract mates!

Luckily, I don’t think the red is bright enough to take away from their camouflage - considering that is one of their main hunting tactics!

The face here would still be bald, but with blackish skin rather than pink! I feel as though that colour would fit better in an area full of trees!

Again, pretty similar to the prior design but with a striped and patterned tail, as well as a golden beak! I thought the white gradient looked a bit empty on the previous design and I thought it would maybe be too noticible when they were stalking prey! Due to this I added some brown striped to make it look sort of like a birch tree? Which I think looks a lot better!

In terms of the beak I don’t think it really fits in with the rest of the design? Maybe if their claws were yellow it would work but - it doesn’t work as it is!

I was struggling to make the colour yellow fit well into the design after the previous one - so I ended up looking for inspiration from other birds!

While we were at the Birds of Prey Centre, we saw a species of bird known as the Spectacled owl! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any good photographs of them while there, you can see them just above my creatures tail!

I really liked the dark markings around the owl’s face and the golden feathers that were mixed in with the white ones! As such, this design was heavily inspired by the markings and colours of this bird!

I thought the fact that facial markings make my creatures face look more skull like was also really cool - making it one of my favourite designs of the bunch next to the second one!

I also darkened the tail on this design which I think looks nice - but I think it might blend in a bit too much with the rest of the body? I’m a bit conflicted on whether I want a light or dark tail!

For the final design I decided to just go a bit wild as use a lot more bright and vibrant colours! I really liked the iridescent look of the pheasant wings I gather for my texture mood board the other day, and so the wings were heavily inspired by that!

While the colours gel nicely, I don’t particularly think the design of the wings looks great so If I take it further it’s something I’ll definitely change!

While the design is bright, I think it could work if the creature lived in a temperate forest that was made up of a lot of colours? Rather than the Japanese cedar forest I was leaning towards! (Though I suppose a lot of brightly coloured animals successfully hunt in the jungle so?? Maybe it would work in both? I’m not sure!)

Getting Feedback

Now I have a few designs under my belt, I once again asked for feedback from my classmates and family. I was struggling coming up with many more ideas and so I thought this would be the best time to ask for some criticism!

The colour palette and patterns for #1 proved to be the most popular! I was told that the red helped the design pop more than the other designs and wasn’t too overcomplicated! It also fit best with the spooky design of my creature!

The second most popular design was a tie between #3 and #5! I was advised to maybe trying to merge designs 1# and #5 and 1# and #3 together, so I think my next step is to experiment further with combining these designs in order to get my final creature concept!

#2023

Pondering Headshapes

These are the three different muzzle types I came up with. I knew from the beginning I either wanted the creature to have an animal or bird head but I was struggling with how to combine the both!

While looking at the original moodboard I created for this module and the different images of skulls I collected, I got the idea to mix the skull of the Fox and Hyena with the beak of the bird! I also liked the idea of my creature having a nose similar to that of a Turkey Vulture, in which you can see all the way through the nasal cavity! As I’d already decided that this creature would be a scavenger, I though the vulture inspiration would be appropriate!

In order to not make it too similar to it’s real life counter part, I thought it would be a cool idea to have another hole where the nose is on a canines skull (specifically a fox in this instance)!

After asking for and receiving feedback on the different head shapes from my classmates and family, design #2 proved to be the most popular of the bunch and as such will be the one I will be using for my final creature design!

You can see the final sketch of my creature design with the vulture inspired head below!

My next step is to use said sketch to experiment with colour palettes and patterns!

#2023

Feedback & Final Design Concepts

After asking for feedback from my classmates and family about the second round of silhouettes, #5 and #6 proved to be the most popular out of the bunch!

While I would have liked to have refined these two ideas further and created more silhouettes, sadly I simply don’t have the time as the due date for this module is just around the corner!

Due to this, I’ve moved on to sketching some final ideas based on the shape of five and six.

I’m still trying to figure out how the muzzle should look and how this creature will look from different angles - but once I’m finished I shall move on to experimenting with colour palettes, and then ideas from the final render!

#2023

Observational Flower & Plant Drawings