The aim of this assignment was to design and develop a character or creature that, when presented as a static image within a chosen environment, embodies either a series of actions performed for a movie script, or represents a thematic criteria related to a topical subject, and while navigating the creation process, gain an understanding of the VFX industry pipeline.
Given the task, as a neurodivergent student I was immediately excited by the prospect of creating a 3D visual representation of a creature that might spark a conversation around mental illnesses that affect many on the autistic spectrum – anxiety and depression, and although no two people experience the same severity or symptoms, to hopefully create a creature which personifies the feelings experienced by some.
Inspired by the dark, raw, and evocative artwork of Shawn Coss below, portraying various mental health disorders and phobias in his book, ‘It’s All in Your Head,’ I began exploring how people suffering from anxiety and depression describe their inner demons to help me reproduce this in my work.
Source: Manic Medicine Studios, 2023
During my research I also came across definitions and personal accounts which offered up different aesthetic possibilities, including perhaps creating a colourful ‘worry monster’ in a similar ilk to Billy Hebb, a mixed media artist who paints his demons as small, odd, cute creatures that can be ‘cared for, managed, and lived with’ (Instagram.com, 2020), but wanting to stretch and challenge myself during this project, I felt taking this more simplistic approach wasn’t the best way forward.
Source: Instagram.com, 2020
Having been advised by our tutor to use both current and past influences in our design, including learning from the ‘VFX Greats,’ I also considered creating a huge, grotesque, parasitic, tick-like creature with an impenetrable exoskeleton in the form of a brain; in part inspired by Phil Tippett’s work in his 1997 movie ‘Starship Troopers’ and the 2022 video game ‘Terrain Command’ (YouTube, 2022), which could relay how mental illness can feel crushing, exist at the expense of the host by feeding off their worst fears, and by imbedding itself in the brain as a tick does in flesh, feel impossible to overcome. However, after completing my initial research, while I loved the monstrous features captured in the electron microscope images of deep-sea worms in the references I’d found, feeling that this design was quite cliched, could prove restrictive when sculpting and posing, and ultimately it wouldn’t be the conversation piece I hoped for, I moved on.
Design Inspiration: Polina Hristova
https://www.eatingpixels.com/
Then, while completing additional research, one article in particular where teenagers describe in their own words what it’s like to live with depression and anxiety struck home, and helped me to not only understand the extreme emotions and daily struggles involved, but the complex relationship between these two conditions which I then tried to characterise in my design (The Mighty, 2017).
Source: The Mighty, 2017
The beauty too was, as text is such a vague and subjective form of visual communication, that using these written accounts as inspiration would give me the freedom to create my own abstract interpretation of how these feelings could be best represented, and led me to create an insidious, hybrid creature that would embody the hellish nightmare these young people are living on a daily basis.
Remembering tutor advice to use familiar elements to inform our design process, and after reading how the ‘known’ grounds our understanding of the creature in our own real–world experience (3Dtotal Publishing, 2017), I decided to base my creature design on a reference I’m very familiar with, and whose anatomy I could see, touch and explore at any time – my family pets, my Dobermann Pinschers.
Informing my initial design choices, what also stood out in these accounts wasn’t just the disparity between the two conditions, but the constant battle between the two entities for control, which had been described as a ‘vicious cycle of hell pulling your mind apart.’ I therefore decided to base my creation on this conflict by creating a two-headed creature – one head held high to represent the ‘ride up the hill’ and the heightened intensity of anxiety, and the other held low to portray the ‘freefall’ into the depths of depression, and to position these in a way which relayed this hostility in my final pose.
While a unique, abstract and inhuman design could only communicate the essence of anxiety, and the alien feeling of ‘your heartbeat echoing in your ears’ and voices continually ‘screaming’ in your head,’ I felt in contrast, and to make the design more believable, I should use a natural, more realistic and instantly recognisable element for the second head. Therefore, after researching different possibilities, as it introduced connotations of evil, and its lack of flesh is a metaphor for both the facelessness of mental illness, and the debilitating effects of depression that had been described as ‘draining life of meaning until nothing matters,’ I chose a ram’s skull for this part of the design.
Feeling that including the ram’s horns would be distracting and confuse the design, but still wanting to include a feature that would preserve the horned theme and represent the intimidating cropped ears of some Doberman Pinschers, thinking back to my GCSE artwork, I remembered the distinctive shape of the nuchal crest, a triangular protrusion at the rear of a horse’s skull, and thought that a similar structure would be a perfect addition.
Inspiration for this ‘horned’ aspect of the design was also taken from the photograph below of a Dracorex Hogwartsia which forms part of the personal collection of family friend who is a palaeontologist, and fossil collector.
Following the advice of my tutor, and reiterated by Madeleine Spencer, a Gnomon lecturer and a Senior Concept Artist on ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ in her livestream ‘The Art of Creature Creation’ (YouTube, 2020), that sometimes the best way to check if a 3D design will work is to just Frankenstein it together, I created the design below from interesting references I’d gathered. Here, the tail appendage, vampiric in nature to feed off the vital essence of the living, is shown open-mouthed as if screaming, and to make the design feel more predatory and intimidating, four strong, claw-like extremities have been added which enable this part of the creature to latch onto its victim, cause pain, and like mental illness, make it almost impossible to shake off.
My design was then refined in the sketch below, which I used as the starting point for my sculpting process. Here for psychological effect, and to make the tail appendage design feel more inhuman, unnerving and horrific, similar to the Xenomorph in the ‘Alien’ franchise, the eyes have been removed to prevent the audience from creating an emotional connection with this part of the creature, and concepts included from a wide range of references taken from nature, VFX movie creations (the Sand Worm from ‘Dune,’ the Graboid from ‘Tremors’ and Akula from ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’), video games, 3D printed models, and the work of many talented concept artists in the following publications:
- Sketching from the Imagination: Creatures and Monsters
- Mythical Beasts : An Artist’s Field Guide to Designing Fantasy Creatures.
- Fundamentals of Creature Design: How to Create Successful Concepts Using Functionality, Anatomy, Color, Shape and Scale
To complete the ‘tail’ design, mandibles based on the anatomy of a Camel Spider which can deliver a painful bite, and microtomography showing 3D segmentation of the mandibles of a male Stag Beetle, were then added (Goyens et al., 2014).
To better blend the overall design together, the typical herbivore dentition of the ram’s skull has been sharpened, and some canid rear dentition included.
Finally, the bottom jaw of the skull was removed to symbolise how difficult it is for sufferer’s to discuss their issues or to ask for help, and the general reticence of society to address mental health issues.
References:
3Dtotal Publishing (2017). Mythical Beasts : An Artist’s Field Guide to Designing Fantasy Creatures. Worcester, U.K.: 3Dtotal Publishing.
3Dtotalpublishing (2020). Sketching from the Imagination: Creatures & Monsters. Worcester, United Kingdom: 3Dtotalpublishing.
Goyens, J., Dirckx, J., Dierick, M., Van Hoorebeke, L. and Aerts, P. (2014). Biomechanical Determinants of Bite Force Dimorphism in Cyclommatus Metallifer Stag Beetles. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217(7), pp.1065–1071. [online]. [Accessed: 12 October 2024].
Instagram.com (2020). Billy Hebb (@billydraw) – Instagram photos and videos. [online]. [Accessed 2 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.instagram.com/billydraw/
The Mighty (2017). 32 People Explain What Anxiety and Depression Feel Like. [online]. Teen Vogue. [Accessed 10 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/people-describe-what-its-like-living-with-both-anxiety-and-depression
Ries, A., Metheney, B., Baker, A., & Pfeilschiefter, K. (2020). Fundamentals of Creature Design: How to Create Successful Concepts Using Functionality, Anatomy, Color, Shape and Scale. 3Dtotal Publishing.
YouTube (2020). The Art of Creature Creation with Madeleine Spencer: Gnomon. [online]. [Accessed 10 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60QE_LRzfw
YouTube (2022). 42 (Every) Bugs In Starship Troopers Franchise – Explored In Detail – Marvelous Videos 2. [online]. [Accessed: 2 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_kcMGWVqz4
YouTube (2023). It’s All In Your Head – Art by Shawn Coss: Manic Medicine Studios. [online]. [Accessed 2 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnhRioxbD4U
How can I make my writing more objective and formal? I think practicing these skills early will help me succeed in future academic assignments.
Why did you choose a ram’s skull to depict depression? I think it’s a powerful metaphor that makes the invisible struggles of mental illness more tangible.
Regard Informatika