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...