World Building Week 1: Tentacles

Blue Sky Sketches // Initial Thoughts

I wanted to start off this task by doing some 'blue sky' marker sketches - this means no reference, no major ideas and no research - just playing with shapes and seeing what happens. I like to start this way as it helps to get some of the obvious ideas out of  my head early but also doesn't restrict me too much to my research, sometimes some very interesting details can come from this process but sometimes nothing it's not so successful.

 

 

 

They aren't great; most of them are either obvious,  boring, or just make no sense at all. BUT it gets these ideas out of my head and through the process of doing these i now know some areas that i want to try and avoid and therefore get closer to achieving a better design.

However i do quite like number  4 - possibly because it looks like a pokémon, but also i think because it's quite grounded in nature (it's essentially a mutated turtle) it already feels familiar and interesting. But my biggest issue with most of these designs is the fact that the tentacles don't have any purpose - they just look like the creature has mutated and randomly grown them, which is fine but it seems a little lazy for me. I don't just want to create a cool creature and stick some random tentacles onto it - i want to give it purpose and function. Hopefully.


So far i'm struggling with this theme - mostly because i want to avoid the typical ideas as much as i can, i've noticed that the overused and easy-to-do ideas are things like replacing arms / limbs with tentacles, mutated humans with tentacles (these are the first things that i did in my sketches,  it was the most obvious reaction, so i'm slightly hypocritical here) and placing tentacles out of any gap (a door way, under a bed, man-hole cover etc). Not to say that these approaches aren't interesting and successful (because they are), they are successful for a reason - because it works. But i would like to at least explore other possibilities - it just makes it much more tough.

(examples of over-used tentacle designs)

Though i will most likely have to make some compromises in order to arrive to a successful design as it's almost impossible to come up with something 100% original, however it could still be interesting on my execution. For example i really like these designs:

It's still a random creature with arms replaced by tentacles but i love how the artist has continued the suckers from the tentacles, up over the body and integrated the shapes and colours together really nicely, it doesn't seem slapped on, it works - and feels exotic.

The Watcher in the Water from The Lord of The Rings is also a great design in my eyes. I think it's success its largely to do with the designers attention to detail and heavily referencing and analysing living creatures (octopus, squids). They have made quite a few changes in order to make it stand out from being just any ordinary sea creature but what really strikes me is how all of the design additions each have a believable and useful purpose - nothing is simply added just because it looks 'cool'. For example the tentacles split at the ends to form hand-like forms, that can be used to grab food / prey and lure it into the central mouth that is protected by the large swelling body mass. I think that this a great example of making a very believable yet existing and refreshing design - it's not reinventing the wheel but it's also not recycling it either.

References // Research // Backstory

Next i am going to do some research, find some references and also make up a back-story and figure out some details for the character /creature that i am going to concept - this really helps me to arrive to a much more complete and successful design as i have much more refined information to go by to keep everything in context - it helps me to make my decisions with purpose and ultimately makes it more fun, than just creating anything random that looks cool. It also helps to generate new ideas that i otherwise wouldn't have explored.

I like to have a few bullet points that i can base all of my decisions from - for example my bullet points could be that the character is a ninja, he must be swift and agile, he fights in the dark and avoids light. So if i add a big hammer with a light on it to his design i can look back at my bullet points and tell that it doesn't suit the character and needs to modified or removed - this helps to keep the character in context of it's purpose and make sure that everything has a reason and isn't just mindlessly added.

Here are some possible ideas that i have came up with today after doing some research into tentacles:

• Hunter /Predator - This creature could be a natural predator, a hunter. It has 4 tentacles that each have smaller tentacles populating the inner rims called tentillum. When the tentacles grasp onto a prey they constrict, the tentillum injects a liquid into the blood stream of the prey, paralyzing them for several hours - it also injects a second liquid that preserves the body for a few days. The creature inhabits rain forests and their surrounding areas. It has strong hind legs that allow it to run at fast speeds and leap high into the air - the tentacles expand and contract allowing them to stretch at great lengths - this combination means that the creature can catch the fastest of prey and even pinch birds flying around the lower canopy.  Some organisations train these creatures and use them to catch endangered species because of their reliability and natural liquids that paralyses the animals, making it easier to transport them back to monitored shelters to be looked after.

• Herbivore - This animal is a herbivore - it mostly just eats plants and fruit, with the exception of fish. It has one or two large tentacles that are thicker than the rest, with 4 thinner, smaller tentacles. All of the tentacles have suction cups covering their undersides, with thicker skin to protect the rest. The larger tentacles contain strong muscles that allow them to expand and contract with a lot of power. Similar to elephants, they can use the larger tentacles to grasp and bend trees and branches towards them whilst the smaller tentacles grasp and collect the fruits from the tree which is now within reach. The smaller tentacles can also be used to pan and sift through dirt, sand and other fine substances to look for other sources of food and water - as well as finding fish that bury themselves in the sand or to weave in and out of crevices in rock pools. The smaller tentacles can also inject nutrients and flavorings into the food that they grasp - which allows them to make even the most boring and plain of foods somewhat nutritional and tasty. These traits make them great survivors in most conditions. Often farmers who are brave enough will befriend and tame these creatures as they can very easily and quickly collect vast amounts of crops as well as using their smaller tentacles to enrich the fruits and vegetables which increases their values ten-fold.

• Cook / Chef - I had the idea of a tentacled creature that could be a chef working at it's own high-speed restaurant, it's many tentacles with their firm grasp thanks to the suction cups would allow them to multitask over many different dishes as well as serving the food quickly, however this concept has been so many times before, mostly in relation to sushi restaurants.

• Travelling / Work Horse - This domesticated creature works mostly as a 'work horse' carrying supplies and heavy loads for travelers and trades people over vast distances. The creature has 8 strong tentacles that sprout from under neath it's stomach, they are long enough to wrap up and around this creatures body and form a tight grip. They use these tentacles almost like cranes, using the suction cups for grip and wrapping around objects they can put them up and place them upon their backs (usually with a man-made platform similar to a saddle that allows for a flat place to store the goods but also a raise platform for a rider to sit. They then wrap their tentacles around  the goods, similiar to how you would with rope, however the advantage here is that the tentacles can expand and contract in girth, at will. They can also tighten and release their suction, this allows them to apply the right pressure at the right times to make sure the goods stay safe and level over even rough terrain. If needed the tentacles can eject an odor into the air, which repels insects and other small creatures from harming the goods, as well as giving a warning sign to other larger creatures. The animals are often hunted for this oder as it has an exquisite smell that is desired by the richest of women - some travelers choose to remove the glads, similar to neutering, so that their creatures don't become hunted and some choose to bring along smaller companions such as foxes or other hounds to help provide some protection. However it is no easy task to take down one of these creatures  they can stand their ground if needed.

• Spy / Thief - These creatures are crafty and tricky things - they have a natural instinct to steal things of value similar to how crows are attracted to shiny things. However they go the next step, they are extremely smart creatures and will solve puzzles and anything that stands in their way in order to get the prize. They have long thing tentacles attached either side of their face - they use them to solve puzzles and to traverse small gaps - the can stretch extreme distances and can expand and contract up to 10 times their original size meaning that they can fit into almost any gap and weave through tight crevices. There are times where they have used these tentacles to weave through gaps in cogs and then expand inside the machines which stops the cogs from moving and over powers the machine causing it to break down - often unlocking doors or turning off security precautions.

My two favourite ideas here are the Hunter and the Herbivore - I am going to start by concepting the Herbivore and see how it goes.

Here is the reference sheet so far for the Herbivore creature. I like to have a mix of images in my sheet , ranging from things that are very similar to what i am creating (photos of real tentacles) and also other animals or things that i like the shape and texture of, that i would like to encorporate into my design, this can help to generate new ideas.

Studies // Sketches // Design Exploration

Here is a quick 1 hour photo study of some wet tentacles, the purpose wasn't to replicate image exactly, but instead to just observe the textures and how to get accross the slimey surface. It's not fully finished as i felt at this stage that i already have a good idea of how to approach this texture. to acheive a wet finish the attention must be paid to the extreme shard hilights that lay around the form, as water and other liquids reflect much more light than a matte surface meaning the hilights are more precise and extreme. The photo is the top image, my study is the bottom.

(unfortunately i made a rookie mistake of not checking my canvas size - so i painted this at 189 x 344px which is very small, and makes it the image very blurry.)

And here is another quick study from one of the photos in my reference sheet - i really liked the forms here, and the angles that the suction cups pretrude out from the tentacle, it's a pleasing design.

  

I really like how Feng Zhu instructs his students to present their final concepts ,like a character sheet - i think it gives a much better idea about the character / creature than just a singular painting as it shows sketches of how the creature might move or extra sketches of hidden anatomy that is important to the design of the creature. I would like to try and do this type of thing for my final creature however it would ultimately depend on how much time i can spend on it over the next few days.

Example of Feng Zhu Student concept layout.

Here are some early thumbnail designs using the reference and inspiration that i've found since the previous blue sky sketches - i like these much better. Tomorrow i shall flesh out these designs in line (or at least my favorites) and explore the inner forms and details with some perspective shots until i come to a final design.

I think that all of them stand a chance apart from 4 as the legs are a bit too flimsy  once the tentacles swell up in size i feel it wouldn't be believable that the creature would be able to have enough weight and strength to bend trees. I very much like 3 and 5 however something about them - perhaps mostly their crawling stance - feels like they could be predators but i am looking for a more 'friendly' herbivore. 1, 2 and 6 are my favorites so far as they already give me the feeling that i am after, i recognise them more as herbivore animals and could imagine them preforming the tasks that need to be done. However once i continue to explore the designs and break down the forms i will have a better idea of their potential. I haven't approached any colour studies yet as i would like to experiment with that once my final design is locked down, then i can do some variations of both colour and pattern, so that i can match it with my design and make it coherant.

I was hoping to spend all of today and tomorrow on sketching out lots of design variations before committing to a final - however as we've been surprised with the after effects session today and an unknown session tomorrow, i may have to stick to just using this first design, which would be a big disappointing, but ultimately i need to get something final painted up before the end of tomorrow. I'll see what i can do.

Here is a little bit of fleshing out for silhouette 6:

Here are the other 2 favorite designs developed a bit further. Next i will pick the best design to take forward into some perspective sketches that will allow me to get a further knowledge of the form of this creature to then be taken to the final concept painting.

Here is the final sheet - unfortunately i failed to find enough time to paint the creauture properly - it's only had a bit of time spend on it so is really only at the most basic lighting stage at the moment and i regret that, i had much higher hopes for this. However i think I've still managed to portray the creature to a satisfactory level. For the next theme, i will learn from my mistakes here and manage my time better. (i.e. be quicker with the thinking / research stage and give more time to the focused drawing. And ditch the blue sky sketches..)