Creature Exploration

I took a 4 week long creature workshop with Bobby Rebholz, a concept artist who is a master of creature design. I learned the ins and outs of creature design in the video game industry as well as how to think about and create a successful creature.

Below is the outcome of this workshop. Additionally I learned Zbrush, Marmoset Toolbag and Substance Painter to then sculpt, paint, texture and render it in 3D. Below is a start to finish process of bringing a creature to life.

Moodboards

First step was to create two animal moodboards, they should share either biome or animal type.

I chose underwater and birds. From there I gathered reference images of each that I found interesting.

Thumbnails

Next I chose a creature from each moodboard. I chose the angler fish and the cassowary. The next step was to do 50 creature thumbnails based off of each chosen creature.

Narrowing it Down

Beginning to narrow down from the 100 thumbnails by picking some that stood out to me.

The Top Two

I decided to choose option 9 from the cassowary thumbnails because I liked the silhouette the long head shape creates. I also chose 13 from the angler fish selection because the basking shark inspiration for the back end seemed interesting to explore further.

Clean Them Up

Next steps are to clean up the chosen thumbnails and explore them further by creating a front 3/4 view, back 3/4 view and create a function.

Time to Choose

Now that some initial explorations have been done it’s time to choose which to bring to final.

I chose the Cassowary creature because I had more ideas for it I wanted to explore. Here are some sketches of me exploring beak options, its head fan, the skeletal anatomy, tail type etc.

A lot more sketches and thought went in behind the scenes but here are a few of the iterations explored for this creature.

Color and Presentation Sketches

Some rough color explores as well as general presentation layout ideas. The presentation needed a final rendered creature, favorite thumbnails, scale, creature name and more.

I chose the blue colorway because the natural colors of the real cassowary are so beautiful and otherworldly in their own right I wanted that real world connection.

Final Drawings

Here is the outcome of my four week creature workshop, juggling work and other classes during those four weeks has left me wanting to make some tweaks to my final design but overall I am happy with the outcome and most importantly learned a ton during the process.


A big thank you to Bobby Rebholz for sharing his knowledge, industry tips and enthusiasm for imaginative creatures.

3D

I brought this concept to life by using Zbrush, Marmoset Toolbag and Substance Painter to then sculpt, paint, texture and render it in 3D.

Because this was a personal project I varied a bit from the original design as the concept was very rushed I enjoyed exploring the visuals further once in 3D.

Creature Summary

The Crested Pararaptor is an omnivorous predator found in dense jungles. It wards off threats by unfurling a vibrant, patterned crest that resembles a face, deterring other creatures. This colorful display also plays a role in mating rituals, where the brightest, most striking crests are seen as the ideal mate. Its long, flexible tail is tipped with frog-like toe grabbers that snatch prey, which is then immobilized by sharp stingers that inject a paralyzing agent.

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Fantasy Illustrations