SPECIALIST PRACTICE

It is important to consider several factors to ensure your character is believable - anatomy, back story and setting.

Using aspects of nature within your design is one of the best ways to achieve a believable design.

 

For example, look at powers of creatures in nature that can be transferred into your design.

 

Speed- look at the cheetah and its anatomy.

Colour- look at lizards, baboons, parrots, fish etc. and which work together in nature.

Senses- star nosed mole for example with its unusual nose. Could easily by transferred into a fantasy creature. Howler monkeys and its throat that swells up so that call across the jungle.

Camouflage- i.e jellyfish, chameleon.

ENVIRONMENT - What does it eat? Is it a predator or prey? Is it a herbivore or carnivore? Does it live solitary, in pairs or in packs? Does it have a culture? Social hierarchy? Setting for the creature is crucial.

 

You should always be asking questions about your character and questioning every aspect of its design, why does it have big teeth? Why does it have fur? Why does it have tattoos? Etc.

 

RECOGNISABLE ANATOMY – this is crucial for a successful creature. Your character has to be recognizable, and have a certain anatomical bases in nature because otherwise it will not be believable to an audience.  (Predator films)

 

Creature Eyes- if you design a creature around its eyes it may create a new way of designing the creature. Especially if you take reference or inspiration from nature, for example, if you use the tarsier’s eyes in your bust/makeup you may want to create a creature that lives in the dark. It could be a good idea to create my own box of 'eyes' which I could develop creatures around.

 

PERSONALITY - is your creature good? evil? comical? These factors will also effect your design.
Design may be influenced by these stereotypes - physignomy.


Areas of Calm
An important consideration when designing is to ensure that your work is not too 'busy'. This is arguably one of the reasons that Gigers alien was so successful - the polished smooth head was the area of calm and meant that the alien was not too overwhleming.
Gigers concepts below are excellent examples of how areas of calm are used to create an aesthetically pleasing design.