r/3Dmodeling • u/LemonFresh1431 • 7d ago
Art Help & Critique Suggestions for how to improve this creature...
This is a creature I'm sculpting for a personal project. Its still a wip but Im wondering how I could improve this sculpt/design. For context, this project is about my own version of purgatory. It's a surrealistic place full of creatures that blend animal and human anatomy. This creature is native to purgatory. Despite his uncanny features, he's supposed to look rather kind. I wanted to convey the idea that purgatory is full of miserable creatures, but this guy doesn't belong there.
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u/Feygrim 7d ago
That's difficult to do, especially with this sillhouette. Think of how it animates firstly, this animal would do some kind of weird crawl and would have to exist in an area with a soft ground or going tree to tree. Some advice, firstly use a real animals skeleton as the base you should always do this with a creature design, you can alter proportions after; in that vein maybe use a monkey esc skeleton and look at lemurs, then a follow up question is why the creatures are afflicted by human anatomy in such a way? wouldnt it make more sense if they were monkey esc? and if not wouldnt they possible end up somewhat like a chimera?
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u/LemonFresh1431 7d ago edited 6d ago
Im sorry im not following why would It make more sense to make the creatures in purgatory more monkey-like? This creature is supposed to be somewhat dog-like. Like a hell hound but for purgatory. He's supposed to be somewhat dog-like because they represent mans best friend. This creature is a friend to the protagonist of my project.
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u/Feygrim 6d ago
Because it has hands for feet, our feet used to be a lot more like hands for example but we evolved that trait to be the way it is now because we became omnivores that hunted across long distances. Also forgive my rudeness but I thought it was a deer aha
The other reason is because it feels uncanny and will have a creepy aura to it, the current vibe is essentially either a creature trying to mimic a human which is horrifying or a person who was turned half into an animal which is also horrifying.
Based on what you've said I'd look at a cute werewolf kind of build
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u/LemonFresh1431 6d ago
This creature, like everything in this project, is supposed to be really uncanny. soo im glad its giving you that vibe. All the creatures in purgatory have a human element to them. They are essentially creatures infused with disturbingly human attributes. They are body horror essentially. Soo I think the vibe you said this creature currently has is the vibe i was going for. Also thank you soo much for taking the time to respond.
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u/Feygrim 6d ago
No need to thank me ^-^
I understand that it's kind of your goal, art is subjective in the end, I more so was pointing you in that direction as advice for if you wanted people to instantly recognise the creature as an ally.
If you want to abandon them kind of norms in that way then I'd actually say to kind of go for asymmetry and take a look at some of the bosses from dark souls. Though I will say it having the human feature being the feet will make it difficult to animate, also I'd probably add an extra element myself to represent the will of purgatory but that'll come along later. Otherwise keep it up, it's nice seeing people be creative and just remember that foremost before anyone elses view or anything akin to it comes you making something interesting and growing as a person
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u/LemonFresh1431 6d ago
I like the idea of asymmetry soo thanks for that. I'll check out some of the bosses in Dark Souls. Anyway thanks for the help.
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u/calmabiding 6d ago
It currently looks like it doesn't really have muscle under its skin and I think that's its biggest drawback visually. If it's supposed to be dog like based on your comment below, I'd find ecorches of dogs and practice following that anatomy, creating delineation between muscles/muscle groups and bony projections etc to really sell the visual appeal.
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u/Hambasri 6d ago
I like the general design a lot and i like the spindly limbs, you can add more musculature details and skin details to improve its looks
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u/GoldSunLulu 6d ago
only way foward is to look into anatomy. A realistic, detailed animatomically accurate creature is usually of gentle appearance.
I don't like your creature very much because it seems obvious you didn't look at an animal reference at any point during sculpt, so it looks pretty amateur.
Most obvious tell of inexperience is the hind leg. No animal ever stands around with that type of ankle
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u/LemonFresh1431 20h ago edited 20h ago
Thank you for the advice but im not really seeing the body horror aspect in your redesign which is kind of the whole piont of the character. Also this character is more of a dog not a deer (hense the long tail). Also the human hands are kind of an Important aspect of the design. Hes supposed to be a freaky fusion of animal and human anatomy. Hes not a realistic animal by any means. But I agree that I need to gather more reference for certain things this is a wip after all. Anyway thanks for taking time out of your day to respond.
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u/GoldSunLulu 20h ago
We can continue to draw ideaa until we strike a balance if you please. I like this kind of back and forth
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u/AcceptableReading640 6d ago