#australian cryptids

[iaconography]

Since the SGICZ has been out for a little while, here's my Journal sketches for the Drop Bear entry! I wanted to strike a good balance between cute and scary with this guy, which we see a lot of in Gravity Falls. My main goal was for the general vibe to be "he's big and fluffy, but whatever you do, DON'T get close!", and I think it worked out really well!

I also thought their hands/paws and unique fingerprints would resonate with Ford, so I made sure to include a detail/feature piece for them.

I did some early concepts of a silhouette of the creature too, which were a bit spookier, but once I learned about the paws I changed my mind as I felt a detail/unique feature piece was more consistent with actual Journal entries in GF media. It was fun to play around with the idea, but I'm ultimately SO happy with my final pieces!

This is also a friendly reminder that using photo references is NOT cheating and will 100% make your artwork better we don't talk about the initial mockup reference-less version of this guy LOL The zine was such a blast to work on as my first foray into a big community project, and I'm so proud of everyone's hard work! Please go check it out and enjoy!!

[wellthebardsdead]

My American friend: I mean at least australian cryptids are pretty tame compared to your real life animals.

Me: what?

My American friend: well you got the bunyip which as you theorised might just be a prehistoric wombat, you don’t have anything like Bigfoot.

Me: oh you mean a yowie?

My American friend: what?

Me: yeah a yowie, big tall hairy ape like creature, walks on two legs, big feet, we even have a chocolate named after it.

My American friend: you’re joking.

Me:

[sparticusanimation]

Finished off some creature concept designs for my animation major project!

I’ve got a bunch of interesting cryptids to choose from, though I’ll probably refine and simplify the ones I particularly like before choosing which to use.

[niceferatu]

i have so much love to give to Gunni and there is so little information on them

Gunni (pronounced ‘goon-eye)

x some underwhelming sources x

this funky little creature was a fun taxidermy fake (similar to the Feejee Mermaid) that was kept in a Tourist Information centre near Melbourne, Australia. There have only been three sightings of this guy in the wild and they are dubious at best. Sadly, we lost this guy in the Victorian bushfires of 2009.

it’s mostly agreed that this dude was a fun prank and not a real creature but... listen. i love him.

[sparticusanimation]

Creature concept design sheets

These were my attempts to simplify my cryptids, and to give them colour profiles

Decided to take 3 designs further;

1. The Yowie

2. The lost undertaker

3. The water dragon/ sea serpent

The sea serpent is the one I’m going to use in my final animation, though if time permits, I will also add one of the other two.

[katsadako]

okay, I’m gonna try to make a ceramic bunyip, but there are so many different interpretations of the mythology!

(source)

[schnozzbun-art]

For my media course this year we had to get in a team and create an original franchise. We decided on a franchise set in post apocalyptic australia where mutated versions of australian animals (think Dropbear) roamed the radioactive earth. This ended up being really good background practice honestly.

[malaayna]

What if all of Australia's large cat and canine cryptids are actually shapeshifters who moved here from countries where those animals are native?

Like, it wasn't just human convicts who got sent to 'Van Diemens Land'.

And they're really good at hiding, but sometimes someone will see one at a distance

One could even be your neighbour

And maybe they're the ones who started the "escaped zoo/circus animal" explanation to try to cover their arses

And maybe they either play nice, or work against the indigenous shapeshifters who have been here for thousands of years