Inspiration: Animals Real and Imagined by Terryl Whitlatch

After a bit of research on the web I came up with this mouth watering book on Creature Design by Terryl Whitlatch. I absolutely love the way he combines all known creatures to create new ones. But he is not doing it randomly-like we did on our first Anatomy Unit he is trying to create the creatures again from inside out. He  meticulously combines the skeletons and muscles of the creatures and pays great attention on the textures and colors. Besides creature concept Art there are also stylised Character Designs. I am really considering buying  this now :D

Alchemy Experimentation

I had a play around with this awesome programme. It can literally generate ideas for you. I tried to come up with different head shapes for my sea creature and I am packed with a lot of helpful images already :)

My Cute Bug

I always had an affection towards Cute characters and have understood the method to make something look cute: giving it the proportions and the facial features of a baby. In other words, a cute character should have a big sized head, small body, huge eyes and small mouth. This character was based on a bug. For some people insects are regarded revaulting and creepy, but by adding the 'cute' features it automatically becomes familiar to the viewer. So once again it is proven that when adding familiar features to characters we become attracted to them.

Silhouette Experiments

It's been great fun making up silhouettes. I tried to combine all my research and come up with an elegant sea creature. Strangely ost of them turned up like serpents and Dragons rather than sea Creatures.

This is the silhouette I found interesting so I tried to define it a bit more and add some shading and lighting to it. I want it to look wet with scaled skin, covered in moss and corals.

Research: Dragon Tattoo Designs

My cousin recently had a tattoo and I got engrossed with some great Dragon Tattoo Designs I came across as I was flicking through her tattoo book. The tribal Designs of these creatures were stunning with powerful curved lines and strong body positions. Some of the designs are just simple lines, others have great detail. I think they will be a great inspiration for my Sea Creature.

Sketching Part 1

I always thought that strong silhouettes can give strong character. So I tried combining silhouettes from different Prehistoric Sea Monsters. I find them extremely interesting to explore and will sure be experimenting more-perhaps with overlapping silhouettes using tracing paper. Photoshop should be the next step too.

Reference:

Summer Project Research: Mythological Sea Creatures

I thought t would be interesting to see Sea Creatures from a Mythological Point of View. How did people picture beings of the Sea during ancient times? Did the resemble some already known animals or were they something totally new?  Here are some monsters that have been a great interest to people for thousands of years- even today. 


1)The Leviathan: (Hebrew for "Twisted; coiled") was a Biblical sea monster referred to in the Old Testament (Psalm 74:13-14; Job 41; Isaiah27:1). The word leviathan has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature. In the novel Moby-Dick it refers to greatwhales, and in Modern Hebrew, it means simply "whale".Leviathan is described in detail as a creature of immense strength. In the Hebrew text, he has ‘terrifying’ teeth and scales like rows of shields, closely fastened together and hard as stone. He is a resident of the sea, knowing no fear and apparently immune to all man’s weapons.



 





2) The Loch Ness Monster: The Loch Ness Monster, sometimes called "Nessie" or "Ness" (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) is a creature or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a deep freshwater loch (lake) near the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. Nessie is generally categorized as a lake monster.
















3) The Kraken: The Kraken is a mythological sea monster which was supposed to live in the waters between Norway and Iceland. It seems like these gargantuan sea creatures were attacking ships and they didn’t leave anyone alive. However, this sea monster myth is based on true stories as the Kraken resembles a real giant squid which can grow up to 60 
feet in length.

4) The Hydra: The Lernaean Hydra can be found in the Greek mythology as one of the Twelve Labors of Heracles. The Greek hero received the task of killing the sea creature from the lake of Lerna in Argolid – the Hydra. According to a description from Gaius Julius Hyginus, a Latin author, “this monster was so poisonous that she killed men with her breath, and if anyone passed by when she was sleeping, he breathed her tracks and died in the greatest torment.”: 

5) Cetus: Cetus is the legendary whale, or sea monster. Often it is the sea monster that was sent to devour Andromeda in the Cassiopeia ordeal. The Babylonians referred to this area of the sky as the chaos of the deep and Aratus called this group of stars the dusky monster.