More sketching!

Sketch Update

Sphinx--drapes herself in the jewelry and spoils of her prey (whether they fit or not). Camped at the entrance to Thebes, asking riddles of travelers and allowing those who correctly answered to pass. Oh wait--this one is actually a bit of a bitch, she'll eat them either way. Her favorites are heroes, since they typically are packaged in extra shiny armor and valuables. All that gold's weighing her down a little, though, so she's a bit slow in the pursuit and been going hungry a little more often.

More imaginary animals...

Ok, yes, there was some logic behind this one...apart from my sparse notes up top (one of which is "more frontal eye placement on predator"). Its eyes are more similar to a dog or cat's, with vertical slits and excellent night vision, compared to the horizontal pupil shape of horses, goats, deer and other daytime/herbivorous mammals. Its silhouette (well, the front half at least) is almost identical to a horse, other than its *ahem* dental work...the idea is that it can approach its prey, typically horses, quite closely without being detected. Its body also produces a scent that mimics that of common horses, so even upwind of its prey cannot be easily detected as a threat. Its oversized canines and exaggerated incisors are to clamp down on its prey--with strong neck and jaw muscles to keep them immobilized. It eats much like a crocodile or alligator, tearing off chunks of meat and swallowing it whole (I mean, can you imagine that thing trying to chew and just slobbering all over the place?). And no, attempts to domesticate have not gone well...it tends to just eat whatever it's stabling with.

A smattering of latest sketches, from Getty Villa sculpture to café patrons in Culver City. Excuse the filters...I've discovered snapping sketches with my phone is much faster than scanning!

Moar sketches....

Here's a dump from sketches in the last month, while I've been working as a rigging intern at Sony Imageworks. Though they look pretty rando, some (more than others) have a bit of reasoning and speculation put into their imaginary species design. Then there's the occasional sketch of something that actually exists.

...For example, the lion-with-horns abomination started out as just a lion with massive shoulder/neck region. However, it's functionally pointless--that would just slow it down as a predator, and what's the point behind such enormous neck muscles anyway? Cattle, deer, and sheep (think mountain/bighorn sheep) have especially solid neck/shoulder regions, to absorb shock and lend strength to when they lock horns and bash heads. So I plopped some horns on this guy, and say that when mating season swings around, this is how they fight over mates--charging, ramming, and grabbling each other with their enormous horns (and occasionally, teeth). Unlike the normal lion, then, they also have less to worry about with bigger prey; e.g. the dreaded water buffalo, which is more than a match for a pride of hungry lions. This guy is ideally a good bit larger than your standard lion, and will take down much larger (and slower) prey by ramming and knocking them off balance, before doing the usual lion thing of biting down on its throat and strangling it. And, worst case scenario, it scavenges the kill from smaller predators, like most resourceful, lumbering brutes tend to do. (As for the gorilla thing, well, fuck it...I just decided it was mutated and very, very angry...) What? /rant of a converted biology major...

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