The mask/ horns are definitely the most different I think from what I’ve seen the fandom usually goes for so far for his design?
I was trying to still have it be reminiscent of his original roe mask, and since this mask has ‘countless horns’ I thought that by having the horns not necessarily just be on top, but to try layering the antlers to give the effect of wood bark dimensionality. I think that look also lends itself more to the analogy that they were like ‘limbs of a tree branching out’ description and keeps well with the original roe deer mask being made out of wood. I tried to also make the general shape of it similar to a deer skull.
Since I was already going deep into the wood route for the mask, I thought incorporating his yellow lantern-like eyes into the spaces where trees may naturally knot together into those shapes (and then add more behind the void of the hood for extra spook). Who doesn’t love a creature with too many eyes?
I wanted the cluster of horn ribs to also be very antler like, keeping with theme. I added some scale texture in the black of his body behind them since the things described to have burst from his ribs in the transformation was SCALES, horns, hooves and spikes. Not sure where the scales part came from? But I wanted to incorporate it since the addition of it in the original description felt odd considering the other elements.
I was trying to to make the general body ‘not quite human’… it’s trying to be, but can’t quite be put into place. Not quite as obviously grotesque as the descriptions in gsgw, but I tried to conveying it with uneven limbs and the belt placements to be more… lumpy?
I also lengthened the arms and the hands to a point where I thought it may not be recognized at first glance as off, but also clearly disproportionate and unnatural to the body with more attention. Hands and fingers that are overly long like that have always felt like a good ‘beyond human’ trait to me, it’s a complicated body part and for something that isn’t human it would be easy to make ‘wrong’.
Thats it + thank u to anyone that stayed to listen 🫶
