This course is an in-depth exploration into the creation of imaginary animals based on the anatomy of real animals, in order to invent plausible beings for the concept, animation and entertainment arts.
Each assignment usually had these basic requirements:
For each step, illustrate the surface view, the gestural rig skeleton, the simple skeleton, and the simple musculature of the creature, as well as label the anatomy in each step.
This was part of Lesson 1 of Terryl Whitlatch’s class on creature anatomy.
Human anatomy was also a part of this lesson. I had done Figure Drawing I and II in college so this was a good refresher for me.
This assignment was to make a lobed finned fish and a lizard hybrid creature. Terryl had some feedback for me, so I updated the creature with her suggestions and added color.
This was the drawing I turned in before Terryl’s suggested changes.
I like dinosaurs with long snouts like the suchomimus and the spinosarus. Since the new discovery that spinosaurus was more alligator-like than the Jurassic Park version I decided to use the suchomimus because I wanted to create a land dwelling creature. I mixed it with a cassowary because those birds are primal and ancient looking to me, as well as dangerous.
Terryl suggested that I make the crest of the Suchowary more prominent and give it feathers all over.
These are the references I used to create the Suchowary creature.
These are warm up sketches I did before drawing the Suchowary creature.
We could either choose a canine or a feline to mix with an animal of our choice. I chose to do a feline-bird hybrid because I am working on a story with a similar creature and I wanted to try my hand at drawing it. I also had not successfully painted a melanistic animal before. Terryl said I did this well!
I am very proud of the colored version I did of this creature! However, Terryl said that the sketches of the final creature needed more muscle definition. She said they were looking a little too cartoon-like. In the rest of my sketches as the class progresses you can see they get more detailed and structured like she requested. Terryl appreciated the crouched position I had the creature in as well as the personality in its face.
I was very excited for this lesson because I love horses. We learned about the bovine and equine type of animals. I chose a black wildebeest and a horse to do my hybrid with. I had never seen a black wildebeest until I came upon it i my research! They are beautiful and strange looking. They’re almost horse-like without being hybridized. I wanted to have the perfect mix to make this creature a good hybrid. I chose to make the hooves solid like a horse and to make the mane and tail long and flowing like a horse’s.
Terryl thought the position and the dimensionality of this sketch was well done. She didn’t have much to correct on this creature other than a few very minor muscle positions and slight details.
I am particularly proud of the bucking horse in the middle and the wildebeest on the right. Terryl also thought these were good studies.
Terryl praised me the most on this creature. She said I had depicted the action and motion of this creature well. I had also done a good job making the sketch of the creature dimensional and detailed. She did say this creature was more of a chimera and not a hybrid. She did a sketch-over and blended the creatures more seamlessly. This is when the difference between a hybrid and a chimera really clicked for me!
I am most proud of the two baby elephants playing and the cute chubby elephant sitting down. These were fun to do, I felt like I was really learning a lot about these critters.