Perfectly beastly

Despite the fact that monsters and mysterious beasts are more in demand than ever – cropping up with increasing regularity in films, video games, television programmes and even ads – the art of creature design is one rarely discussed or fully explained. More’s the pity, for without a solid foundation, all the modelling, rendering and clever direction in the world wouldn’t be enough to produce a believable beast.

Good creative concept design requires much more than an overactive imagination. A well-designed creature will make an audience believe by obeying the laws of nature, evolution and physics. It’s these reference points that will make the strange and new seem familiar enough to be believable. But it’s not just a matter of thinking about how a creature might look, it’s also necessary to get into its head, thinking about instinct and personality and using that to drive form and function. Designing a creature with the power to thrill or even scare an audience requires a little extra, of course. For this it’s necessary to tap into universally held fears, while remaining true to the creature’s own internal logic.

But perhaps one of the biggest challenges is to produce something that will inform as well as entertain. A design might be required to impress a director, to guide prop builders, or to lock in the design for 3D modellers and texture artists. And of course, a good concept design must also show how the final creature will move, whether by a man in a suit or a 3D character rig. In other words, the very best creature designs need to be all things to all people, communicating all necessary information with just pencil, paint and pixels. And that’s no easy task, unless that is, you’ve got a panel of experts in concept design for movies and video gaming on hand to provide essential tips for building the perfect beast…