Character Designs

For the character designs my initial interest was geared towards the cult members. I already had a solid grasp of what I imagined these deformed individuals would look like. When I first joined group 9, and heard the premise of the submerged ones. I immediately thought of the following references.

Russian Sleep Experiment – (A creepy pasta about deprivation of sleep, causing horrific effects) – I liked the sagged eyes and skin of this character, I also loved how it sat, with its shoulders forward and its arms almost limp under the weight of themselves. Which would also happen on a submarine, with the amount of pressure they are under. I thought this design outwardly conveyed a horrific internal suffering in the most intense way. However I wanted to make them look more physically threatening.

Wendigo/Windigo/Rake – (An urban legend) – I loved how skinny and decrepit this creature looked, while also maintaining a threatening aspect. I loved how tall and long the limbs appeared. However I feel like a more humanoid design would benefit us more as it would play more with the uncanny valley aspect reminiscent to the Russian sleep experiment one did. I felt that combining these two references together would result in a scary design that fit the world.

 

 

Studies/Experiments

 

Here are some studies of the Squid cult members I have completed, in these studies I tried to capture the uncomfortable posture I had imagined them being in. While also focusing on capturing their towering height reminiscent of the Wendigo. I like these studies, and I think the design could be used to emphasise the tone of the animation.

Above are some of my studies of the main protagonists, I tried to focus on simplifying their forms while also trying to capture their character. I based my drawings off Ruths previous  designs, as I thought they were overall really nice.  However I realise that it needs to be much less exaggerated in order to fit into the darker tone of the world. I also realised while doing this that I needed to further develop an understanding of the designs and who the characters are, before I try to combine both of them.