#combining creatures

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Hi, I'm wondering what your take on combining animal features together in a cohesive way would be? Especially in the case of animals that look vastly different from each other or aren't even in the same sort of groups (ie say, cephalopods with mammals). I'm trying to achieve the "looks like one singular animal" type of thing that has been mentioned in your centaur posts, but I keep ending up with creatures that look like they've been frankenstein-ed together.

I answered a similar question before

I need to make a full tutorial on this as well i think, but the tldr is this:

pick your creatures

identify their visual similarities and differences

identify the most iconic parts of each creature that you want to preserve in the final design

smush em together like clay and redraw them as many times as it takes for things to look more cohesive (sorry)

example:

(image description: two collages of animal photos; a pig, porcupine, and pronghorn antelope. the second image includes notes pointing out similar features between them and a few distinct features for each. hooves for the pig and pronghorn, round bodies for the pig and porcupine, and sharp defenses for the porcupine and pronghorn. the distinct features for each are the snout of the pig, the quills and orange teeth of the porcupine, and the horns and coloration of the pronghorn. end description.)

(image description: colored simple drawing of a new fantasy animal combining the features of the pig, porcupine, and pronghorn. it looks like a wild boar covered in large quills, with orange tusks, and the coloration and horns of a pronghorn. end description.)

sometimes in the process, you find that one of the creatures you picked just has a stronger effect on the design than the others, and that's fine! with more draft sketches, I would probably end up changing the shape of these horns to be more unique, maybe give it shorter legs and lean into the porcupine's arboreal nature. or I could go the other way and try to lean more into the pronghorn body shape, make this a running animal. it all depends on the role i want it to have in whatever setting i'm designing it for, and which features will best serve that role.

I also used very random animals here, but for an actual project i would plan it out more and have an end goal in mind. why is this pig-like creature covered in sharp quills? why does it have quills, horns, and also tusks? what's its diet and habitat? etc etc. you need to not only work with the visual design, but also the world design. it's a living thing in your setting, so it needs to fill a niche. your final design may abandon many distinct features from your original creature inspirations in favor of making a more unique creature that suits your setting! you have to be flexible with it and redo it a few times before you find the sweet spot.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[holycrimin]

that one Laios meme but with the 12 bros, saw the rise one and got inspired <33

(don't tag as t-cest)

original under the cut!

Original by @/sweepswoop_ on Twitter

[ghosted-jazz]

I like to think breaking the canary curse via dying in the void had some effects on Lizzie

[linkedin-offficial]

experimenting 🕊️

[funtergeist]

hey girl uhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhh u

[probablyanalienindisguise]

I contracted a plague again thus am just sending random doodles I've done and just haven't posted yet

My secret (I enjoy using cat cuddling photos for references)

[mizartz]

a deep sea danny for mermay~

i got inspired by @meowmeowmeowmeow4x's lovely fic, Dark Blue Moon and the Suffering Sun! I don't think my depiction of danny is completely accurate to the story, but i looooved the description of his transparent skin with visible bones and organs and wanted to give it a shot!

[wattice]

[gawki]

Late night doodles

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Apologies if this is spam, but I’m trying to combine a sugar glider, a magpie, and a ferret, and I’m not sure how I can blend the animals together, or what I should call it.

(image description: three pages of sketches and notes describing the process of combining different animals into a singular creature. The first image shows photos and simplified outlines of a magpie, a sugar glider, and a ferret. the notes here say... when combining animals, look for similarities! magpie and sugar glider both "fly". sugar glider and ferret are both furry with long tails and similar face and body shapes, being skinny animals. ferret and magpie are both mischievous and clever critters. all three animals have high contrast color schemes.

The second image shows combined sketches of the three animals, with each sketch prioritizing the body shape of just one of the animals. the notes here say... Important considerations: which features are the most important. which body shape is most useful. what other features would be interesting to add.

the final image shows a colored sketch of the combined creature, this time more balanced between the three animals. end description)

I might make a better tutorial later on how to combine different creatures into singular designs, it's a very common and interesting way to create fantasy animals as well as people species.

[chimeride]

[kryhara]

I’ve got that “I could be your lover Gordon, we could start a family together” video always stuck in my head … my knowledge of that video predates me even starting half life 1 that was my first impression of Barney Calhoun in half life 2 keep that in mind

Sorry for the whiplash of silly Barney art followed directly up by freaky creature stalker doodles lol

[fisheito]

portable friend (magic)

[canisalbus]

hi, i just wanted you to know i was picking from minion roulette in ffxiv (you hit the button and it randomly summons one from your collection) and upon summoning the baby raptor me and my partner realized suddenly that the little guy, he,

well

gives a certain energy

.

[the-adventures-of-dave]

Dave sleeps on my bed every night and Kepler sleeps closed in the cat room. Somehow they’ve switched tonight and I am unsure how or why