I started off by generating a lot of silhouettes as I had so many different types of creatures I wanted to consider exploring. Through this stage I also tried melding different species together, which sometimes produced some interesting shapes and other times produced something pretty unrealistic! I found the abstrction techniques that Matt taught us quite useful during this time too. Interim critique was a great help as because I had generated so many ideas I was quite lost as to which one to move forward with. This session really helped me focus on what exactly I wanted my character’s function to be. This was also helped by Paul Tobin who, in my one-on-one time with him, really helped me understand what sort of things you need to think about when creating a creature for a movie, and specifically a creature that will be carrying the hero character. I tried photobashing for the first time and decided that I would challenge myself and try this new technique for my final images, especially because I knew that I needed a lot of skin/scale texture. I finally narrowed down to one creature and iterated it’s different features until I was happy with the final design.
My creature is the trusty steed of the Dousan Clan; an offshoot of gelflings who live in a crystal desert. This creature would be brought to life through CGI in a live action prequel to The Dark Crystal. In this prequel this character would be seen in a night time chase scene, where the hero gelflings have to run away from, and possibly even fight, a horde of garthim. The Dousan Clan create intricate objects out of bone, hence why I have used it as the main building material of my saddle. My genre was gothic/cyberpunk/horror, which informed my creature’s final silhouette and also my colour palette.
