For as long as stories have been told, fantastical creatures and monsters have captivated the imagination; their form serving as allegories of human conditions, inexplicable events, unseen horrors, and the supernatural (Ries et al., 2017), and while each creation is brought to life by skill and artistry, a solid understanding of the theoretical and practical requirements of character design, including anatomy, functionality, shape, scale, balance, and colour/contrast are essential if a design is to be evocative, believable and successfully fulfil its intended narrative.
Anatomy
Knowledge of anatomy, and having an understanding of the underlying structures and how the different bones, muscles, and joints function, enables even imaginary, hybrid designs to be more believable to the audience, and without this ‘something doesn’t look quite right.’ (Melki, 2019; Ries et al.,2020).
Therefore, as my design was predominately based on canine anatomy where the body alone contains 30 areas on which to focus, and to challenge myself I was sculpting from scratch instead of using the ZBrush base mesh provided, to give my design credibility I went to great lengths to gather a wide range of anatomical references that would help me better understand the form, outline, bone structure and musculature which enable the animal to move and function, and continually referred to these during the sculpting process.
Particularly helpful too was that if I felt unsure if a part of the anatomy looked correct, with several dogs to hand, I could easily photograph them or explore that part of their body to feel its curvature and recesses. Having photographic and real-life references to hand also made it much easier to strip down and subtly exaggerate the body anatomy to make the creature feel more primal and insidious, while at the same time ensuring that functionality was not affected by these changes, and that volume, balance and proportion were visually maintained.
Anatomical details such as gender, and consideration of the creature’s diet, behaviour, and the environment it inhabits are also an important part of a successful design. Therefore, with the eyes already removed for psychological effect, to make the design feel even more unnerving, and also relay how mental illness can effect everyone regardless of gender, my creature has no identifiable genitalia.
Wanting to also convey its predatory nature, both the body and tail appendage are equipped with sharp talons which are shaped to prevent escape, and that once embedded in their prey allow the creature to feed unrelentingly off the anxiety and negativity of their victim. Creating a sense of foreboding, the design also suggests that the creature does not rely on eyesight to hunt, and incorporating a prey animal’s skull with a much wider field of vision than that of a carnivore, strengthens the belief that hiding from this creature is futile.
Finally, regarding the environment in which this creature would live, being dog-like, it would most likely live alongside us in a domestic setting, and even inhabit our most personal spaces. Therefore, with Dobermanns not only family pets, but having been selectively bred over generations to become more powerful, athletic, and agile, are a breed historically used as War Dogs, and are generally portrayed on TV and film as fierce guard dogs, or having been trained to kill, I felt this the perfect choice to relay these physical qualities, and this perceived behaviour in my design.
Shape Language
All designs, no matter how complex or abstract can be broken down into the rudimentary shapes seen below, which can subconsciously inform us of the nature or intentions of the creature.
Source: waltdisney.org (2020)
Here sharp, triangular shape language has been used and repeated throughout to unify the design, evoke a sense of fear, and to convey the unpredictability, mercilessness, power, and aggression of this malicious entity.
However, whilst on the body, the shape language is emphasised by the lean, sinewy anatomy, while still maintaining its overall triangular shape, the skull has been slightly rounded to create contrast between the dullness and apathy of depression, and the sharpness and intensity of anxiety.
By doing this, and by also adding a hint of rounded shape language on the tail appendage, the smallest suggestion of vulnerability is introduced in this otherwise strong and powerful creature, to imply that with help, these two seemingly insurmountable illnesses can be overcome.
Colour and Texture
As the essence of a character and its backstory are reflected visually through the use of colour (Melki, 2019), I wanted to incorporate colour in my design in a way that not only created emotion, but also achieved this goal.
The Skull
Having researched depression, and discovering that the first recorded instances of this illness were written in Mesopotamian texts in the second century B.C., and that as mental illness was linked to the Black Arts, sufferers were exorcised in an attempt to cure them (Pulse TMS, 2018), I wanted to convey this in my design by giving the skull an ancient, aged, demonic appearance by using colouration and a pitted texture that suggested it had been buried deep underground in the same way that depression is buried deep in the psyche.
The Body
Although to make my creature feel more intimidating, and create a sense of the ‘unknown’ I’d purposely left the design hairless, and wrapped the skin tightly around the body to emphasise the underlying exaggerated structure, I also wanted to use colour and texture in a way that would introduce feelings of horror and revulsion into my design.
On learning how abjection is a philosophical framework that describes the things we as a society consider monstrous, and how, as it questions your place in the world, the ultimate symbol of abjection is a corpse (Kristeva, 1980), I decided to use an irregular, greyish-red mottled effect for the skin on the body of my design, as this colouration and pattern indicates that death is imminent in the elderly, and is seen in art depicting death and decomposition, such as in Gaetano Giulio Zumbo’s ‘Plague Waxes.’
Also, as no two people will view the design in the same way, and the author of ‘Powers of Horror,’ Julia Kristeva, had described abjection as ‘death infecting life,’ this mottled effect was also used as it could be read as a rash, and suggesting the creature is a contagion, ramp up uncertainty by raising the question of whether the cause could be viral, fungal, parasitic, or infectious.
To enhance the demonic theme, and symbolise the agony inflicted by the ‘viscous cycle of hell’ experienced by those suffering from anxiety and depression, the skin has also been depicted as scorched and blistered, and reflecting various stages of healing, some areas are shiny as if covered by new, watery serum, while in others, the underlying flesh is exposed, or the skin scarred. Additionally, representing the skin in this manner could also reflect the resilience of the creature, and that although scathed, it has survived attempts to destroy it.
The ‘Anxiety’ Tail Appendage
Given the abstract nature of the tail appendage, and knowing that colours are capable of subconsciously evoking a specific emotional response, in order to enhance the narrative, and make my design more believable and readable, I researched colour psychology theory to use the colours most commonly associated with anxiety, and which also symbolise uncomfortability, uncertainty, and aggressiveness in this part of my design (Croft, 2024).
Red was used due to its association with fear and danger, orange, its links to stress, yellow as it represents sustained stress and sickness, and grey to relay the anxiety of facing the unknown (Brenner, 2012), and having also discovered during my research that these are additionally aposematic colours used in nature to warn that an animal is poisonous, venomous, or difficult to kill, I knew that they were the correct colour choice.
To tie the three areas together, some blood spatter was introduced to the skull, and the orange colouration of the tail appendage shown to leach down the tail towards the body. To represent scarring, and have the tail appendage appear more alien to the viewer, a raised, bumpy, orange peel texture has been used, and black charring added to show that it too has somehow survived all attempts to destroy it. Furthermore, with red, yellow and orange colours associated with fire, and the addition of two raking scars towards the base of the tail, it could also be construed that the damage to the body had been inflicted during the battle for control of the individual.
Value and Contrast
Value and contrast are also important considerations in creature design. Here, highly saturated, vibrant colours have been utilised to draw the viewer’s attention to the tail appendage, a contrasting colour (green) used to highlight the mouth, and lesser value ranges used in other parts of the design to direct focus to this much smaller, but important area of the anatomy.
However, as can be seen in the image below, obtained by adjusting the existing colour values to true black and white within Photoshop, my decision to use the analogous colours psychologically linked to anxiety in the tail appendage, has unfortunately had the knock-on effect of reducing contrast in this key area.
However despite this, with these colour combinations found in nature, and having negative connotations, such as red being universally linked to danger, and in the Middle East, orange also associated with mourning and loss (Robinson, 2017), I decided that to have my design appeal to a wider audience, not to amend them.
Additionally, as we read an image from left to right, detail also increases as we move along the design in that direction, and providing contrast, some areas are purposely less detailed to allow the viewer to focus on the more important parts of the design.
Silhouette
Silhouettes are a crucial part of creature design, as they act as a litmus test to see if the outcome can be easily read, and if key aspects of the creature’s identity and personality can be relayed through their basic form alone (Ries et al., 2017).
Here the component parts are instantly identifiable, and the impression is given of a physically strong, sleek, dangerous and formidable hybrid creature which would be easily recognised from its silhouette alone.
References:
Brenner, B. (2012). The Five Colours of the Anxiety Rainbow. The OCD Diaries. [online]. [Accessed: 19 October 2024].
Available at: https://theocddiaries.com/fear-and-anxiety/the-five-colors-of-the-anxiety-rainbow/
Croft, A. (2024). 6 Colors that Represent Anxiety (and Where to See Them in Nature. [online]. msn.com. [Assessed: 19 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.msn.com/en-in/health/wellness/6-colors-that-represent-anxiety-and-where-to-see-them-in-nature/ar-BB1idbxV
Kristeva, J. (1980). Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press. [online]. [Accessed: 20 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.thing.net/~rdom/ucsd/Zombies/Powers%20of%20Horror.pdf
Melki, H. (2019). An Investigation Into the Creative Processes in Generating Believable Photorealistic Film Characters. [online]. [Accessed: 16 October 2024].
Available at: https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/78290411/Henry_Melki_Thesis.pdf
Pulse TMS (2018). The History of Depression: Types, Treatment Models, and Studies – Pulestms.com. [online]. [Accessed: 18 October 2024].
Available at: https://pulsetms.com/resources/depression-history/
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.
Robinson, J. (2017). Colour Semiotics and What they Mean in Other Cultures | Buzzword. Buzz. [online]. [Accessed: 20 October 2024].
Available at: https://buzzwordcreative.co.uk/colour-semiotics-and-what-they-mean-in-other-cultures/
waltdisney.org (2020). Tips & Techniques: Shape Language. [online]. [Accessed: 19 October 2024].
Available at: https://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/T%26T_ShapeLang_v9.pdf