Body research and inspiration: Resident Evil

As my character is not human, I need to look at other artists who have created monsters. I think the best place to look for these creatures is in film, comics, games ect. I have found Resident Evil to be one of the best sources for these monsters.

Hunter. This creature relates heavily to the sort of creature I want to create for the Dagon

Hunter.

G Virus. 

G Virus. This picture shows all the changes of body that the G virus . I  love the colours and the muscle detail.

Nemisis. I love the wrinkled face and the teeth and gums baring.

Licker. I think the muscle texture is very inspiring and is similar to the type of effect I have been trying to create with my Dagon creatures skin. 

Tyrant

Mr X. I think the shoulders, chest, arms and hands are very interesting, detailed and textured.

Arthur Rackham

Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) is one of my all time favourite artists and influences. His work is timeless and detailed. As my book is from the 1930's I decided I should keep to an older style, also it my favourite style to work at, I have decided I should look at older artists who were popular around this time. 

Developing Dagon Face Digitally

I feel like I could develop the face better digitally and use my sketches as a stepping stone. 

Original sketch

I uploaded my original sketch to Photoshop and re drew the lines using the brush tool, once I had done this I copied the half and pasted it in the appropriate place once it was flipped so it would match up..

Copied and pasted lines

Once I had done that I came to this stage (above) to complete the gaps I started adding more wrinkles and facial features to add more emotion. I wanted to keep the symmetry correct so every feature I added  I copied and pasted to the other side.

Above, is the stage I am currently at. I am going to add more features and a horn until it is complete then I am going to finnish up detail and maybe colour. 

Dagon face design

After playing with different styles of face I have decided on this final design (I am still developing)

Relaxed face, still strong and angry looking. 

Angry expression.

While creating the sketch above I decided that it was not angry enough, as I wanted to get raw emotion of the Dagon. I wanted pure wrath and a seething expression. So, I decided to create the one below, I pulled his jaw out more and squinted his eyes and added more wrinkles in the face.

Seething expression

Rough final sketch adding pen

To progress my character I am going to upload it and edit it digitally using Photoshop.

Creature Research and Inspiration: The Creature from The Black Lagoon

The Creature from The Black Lagon is and amazing film from 1954 by Chris Mueller. The Monster is so interesting and wonderful, I love the creased features, large lips and buggy eyes. The scales and the webbed hands and feet all together make an awesome combination. I love old horror movie monsters and I am choosing to research them a lot because I find the amount of effort and craft put in to these monsters is simply amazing.

Monster Characteristics research

Whilst looking for other characteristics an aquatic monster like a Dagon would have, I was shown this clip from The Adventures Of Pinnoccio made in 1996. The bad guy turns in to a hideous sea creature after throwing himself in to magic waters.

Character Development Research- Guillermo Del Toro

Guillermo Del Toro is an iconic artist in the horror art community and in film making. Guillermo is most likely my biggest inspiration and favourite artist. His work is striking, detailed and so thought through so every sketch is brilliant.

I wanted to look at his character building and development as inspiration and to learn from, below I have found some pages of his sketchbooks.

Guillermo's sketchbooks, so full of detail in writing and amazing detailed sketches which show his though process and ideas clearly.

Here are Guillermo Del Toro's sketches and process of The Pale Man, a monster in the film Pans Labyrinth. The photo on the right is the final outcome of the monster that was in the film. In the sketches you can see his thoughts and ideas clearly. You can see how he builds on the details and why he uses these elements. Guillermo has a great talent for creating nightmarish creatures by thinking out the box, the idea of making the eyes go in the thin, spindly and wrinkled hands is pure brilliance. As the monster comes towards the camera the audience is filled with fear and stuck with an interest to look at the details of the monsters features.

Another of Guillermo's sketches, next to it is the final creature also from the film Pans Labyrinth. The Fawn is an amazing creature with small details, he combines elements of trees and goats it seems to create this amazing creature. The small slit eyes are interesting, the brow seems to create a scary effect but the wide cheeks a more warmer and calmer atmosphere, reflecting both sides of the Fawns character. 

Character Development Research- Brian Froud

As I am new to building a character I want to look at how other artists have developed their characters from sketches and ideas in to full detailed and completed characters. One of my favourite artists is Brian Froud, he has worked on many of my favourite films such as Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.   

Brian Froud's sketchbook

Brian Froud's sketches of creatures for The Dark Crystal. You can see clear development of the creature and he also draws them from different angles.

More finished sketches of the Skegsis from The Dark Crystal.

Sketched ideas for the talking door knobs from Labyrinth, side and front views. 

Sketches for The Dark Crystal

Dagon design inspiration and research

As the Dagon is a monster from the sea I wanted to research in to other creatures from the sea. My first choice to look as is one of the first to spring to mind when thinking of sea monsters; The Kraken.

 First I thought I would look at iconic depictions of The Kraken, to start with I decided to look at the film industries participation on our image of The Kraken.

The Kraken, Clash of The Titans, 1981, Desmond Davis

The Clash of The Titans was created in 1981 by Desmond Davis and the Kraken for the film was created by the amazing artist Ray Harryhausen. The films monsters were made in to models and stop start animation created the movement. Granted the movement was jolty and not very realistic in the slightest in the opinion of modern day minds where we are spoiled with high quality animation and CGI. Nevertheless, I love this film, I think so much effort and creativity was put in to the making of it and the monster is brilliant! The flawed movement just shows me the old craft that was used in the process and I appreciate it greatly!

Ray Harryhausen was the spectacular master mind behind the design and making of the monster, I love the facial features and body design he created. The spikes add a scarier look to the monster, as does the heavy brow and cheek features. The Kraken has four arms and the bottom half of his body is a tail, creating a cross between human and aquatic features beautifully. I think the dipped spike at the front and centre of the mouth is wonderful, the mouth rises around this spike to show his large gums and teeth giving a scary snarl to the monster.

Ray Harryhausen working on the Kraken for The Clash of The Titans 1981

The Clash of the Titans was re made in 2010 by Louis Leterrier and the monster was created by Jerad S  Marantz. This Kraken was digitally created, so differs largely to the original. Jerad seems to have created a whole new look for his version of the Kraken and in my opinion has done so very well. 

The smaller eyes and jagged jaw work very well, I love the multiply rows of teeth and wide thick shoulders that jut out from the base of the head make the monster look strong and terrifying. 

Dagon facial feature research

I want to do a lot of research on facial features for my Dagon character so I think the best place to look is old movies or drawings depicting evil characters. 

Below are pictures of Medusa from The Storyteller, a TV series by Jim Henson in 1998. I found this amazing work very inspirational for evil character features. I love the facial features, the way the face is so creased to create a powerful expression is amazing. The end result is terrifying and full of emotions of anger and wrath. The grey and blue, almost silver tones of the face reflect in a brilliant way, making her dark and scary but no so dark as to not see the features. The darker tones in the creases and the lighter silver tones around make the features stand out and strike the audience. The piercing eyes seem to be the main focus of the face the choice of yellow stands out against the dark skin. 

Book of Drawings

Dagon eyes research

To experiment further with eyes for the Dagon I have researched some fish eyes that could apply and work with the creature.

I love this example of fish eye. I love the white centre and black outer  part and how the eye appears very deep. 

This example is very large and bulges out, so would relate very well to the creature Dagon

These eyes also bulge so could work, but I dont like the uneven eyes as it would make the creature look silly in a way, I want the Dagon to look focussed and angry. 

This eye is my favorite example, the pearl colour is very intriguing and the size and creases around the eye work perfectly

I like this example as the eye looks very focussed and has a lot of life behind them. But this eye looks to innocent and cute for the look of the Dagon