fmp2ofeuanbaxter

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

The blue raspberry substance could come from a kind of kelp that is partially made of the stuff. Of course I would need to make a creature that roams in the kelp and guards it, space raspberry kelp doesn't come easy.

This would knock out two birds with one stone as the kelp would help in making up the environment for my creature.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

There is nothing to say my creature can't have plant like features, but I feel that it wouldnt be in the spirit of the competition. Raspberries already come from plants, there's no reason to simply make a blue raspberry plant monster.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

The blue raspberry might reside in eggs layed by alien birds or another flying species. This would be similar to chicken eggs, but much more exotic. Perhaps these bird creatures may live at the top of a massive tepuis or mountain and thus be very hard to procure, making the blue raspberry flavouring very rare.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Otters are small mammals that can use small rocks to break open shellfish to eat. The creature that holds the blue raspberry essence might not be an otter like creature but rather it can be tracked to find the location of deposits of blue raspberry creatures. This is similar to how Africans may utilize monkeys to lead them to sources of water.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Damselfish are the farmers of the ocean. They manage algae gardens, essentially growing their own food long before humans developed agriculture. I could imagine a damselfish inspired creature growing a culture of algae that produces this blue raspberry substance to eat.

One thing that plagues damselfish and other agricultural fish are invasive sea urchins. They litter the sea floor and consume almost everything around them which is a nightmare for damselfish. I could also develop a similar creature that threatens this damselfish inspired creature and their crops.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

The platypus is one of those animals that is harder to name something normal about it than something weird about it. One thing I want to highlight is that platypusss dont have mammarry glands, instead they 'sweat' the milk and it pools on the mother's tummy which their babies lap up. For the harvest of blue raspberry extract, this could be a very interesting direction to look at as platypuses are already alien enough.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

The primary assignment for the blue raspberry project is to create a creature to harvest this blue raspberry flavouring from. One example I kind of want to latch onto is caviar from sturgeons. Caviar is fish eggs taken from sturgeons which fun fact, were so common early on caviar in the Americas was seen as prison food.

If I were to go down the aquatic route, this would certainly be an avenue I explore.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

An excellent video by sir sketchy details a creature design process that I think is very well thought out and simple to understand. He clearly has a wealth of knowledge about biology, geography and has a lot of experience with creature design. I think replicating his approach could work very well. I like that he makes sure to tie his creature design to its environment, a super good tutorial.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

No man's sky is a game with an incredibly tumultuous development history, but it doesn't dissapoint with it's creatures. No man's sky is a procedurally generated space exploration game and these creature designs feel in a way, free. They aren't too limited to their real world inspirations which is important for a sci fi setting. I think I want to replicate this feel in my own design.

If you're interested in the extremey controversial background to no man's sky, internet historian has an excellent video covering it.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Star wars animals are definitely designed biased towards the weird in the weird and wonderful scale. However, creatures like tauntauns or banthas certainly leave an impression and I think the intentional wonkiness in these designs matches well with the weird world Lucas has built. Star wars creatures are extremely wonky, but so are much of the alien races we see and it melds together well that these things walking around are just normal. This is an avenue in design I can possibly go down atleast partially.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Subnautica is a near perfect horror game, set in an alien world under the ocean. This world is almost entirely made of water and you the player have unfortunately crash landed onto it. The aurora, a gigantic spaceship was shot at by a planetary cannon and the lifepods were launched. Your lifepod landed in the shallows while most landed in nightmarish ecological deadzones.

Subnautica is host to a plethora of deep sea and surface monstrosities. There are very few and innefective ways to fight back, so the gameplay is set around avoidance. These designs are all weird and wonderful but have a sense of believability for an alien world.

If I do go down the horror route for designing my creature, this would be a good place to start.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Delicious in dungeon is a show that easily has some of the most unique fantastical dishes in fiction. Above is steamed living armour which is actually a molusc that makes its shell to look like a suit of armour.

Or perhaps an entrée of treasure insects is more your taste, bugs that disguise themselves as loot to trap and eat their victims.

Maybe you would like to eat a mimic, a gigantic crustacean that hides itself in treasure chests to ambush unwitting prey.

By far the most unique is the excorcism sorbet, an ice cream made from ghosts!

Personally I will move away from the fantasy side of things and move in a sci-fi direction, but these are some great examples of fictional cooking. The show is called delicious in dungeon, it's on netflix.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

One great way to add literal flavour to a world is to give it its own foods. Foods in reality have very specific purposes. Hardtack for instance is a travel food made to maximise storage density and to preserve it for as long as possible. Lembas bread (top right) from Lord of the rings has a similar purpose, though made to look more appetizing.

Romulan ale from Star Trek or jelly slugs from Harry Potter are a couple of examples of foods made to demonstrate what flavours this world enjoys. I did notice for Harry Potter that it clearly is supposed to take place in Cornwall by the food, but Star Trek has the freedom of an entire galaxy of food stuffs to offer.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Blue raspberry flavouring allegedly invented by Gold Metal Products was made to help market raspberry flavoured foods. The strawberry was king at the time which inconviniently had a similar colouring to raspberries. Though modern companies use a soft purple for raspberry, Gold decided to dye it blue instead. There is no difference on flavour, just blue colouring and the potential side effects of said colouring, looking at you red 40.

However, little did we know that this was a COVER UP! Blue raspberry comes from space! From here on, this blog will explore this hidden conspiracy for you to see.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Another great artist I will certainly be studying is Tuomas Korpi. His work is fantasy based and is exceptionally good and displaying emotion. His work always has a feel to it which is beyond difficult to achieve. Since my work will also need to achieve a storytelling goal, learning from people like him will be mandatory.

Another thing I love about Tuomas' work is how he can switch between these really nice, messy and stylized works to exceptionally clean and detail pieces if need be.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

With a drawing like this, I have to discuss Cedric Peyravernay out of sheer respect. He is primarily a character illustrator and a very good one at that.

His work is quite messy, but can clearly do some very clean work if he needs to. His work comes across as like a swiss army knife, a jack of all trades.

[fmp2ofeuanbaxter]

Another industry legend I will dub 'John Assassin's Creed' is Gilles Beloeil. He has worked for the series since the original games in the 2000s as an excellent artist. Another one to put into the folder.

I feel his work has an especially good display of scale and space. He seems to particularly specialize in drawing urban environments and he does an excellent job of displaying how small the people are compared to the world around them. The bottom cathedral one is particularly poignant. The main character is above the rest of society, but below god which is a great use of visual storytelling.