The Five Questions for Creature Design

[@jordu2011]

We haven't met, Jonah, but I am a creature designer as well, (My name is Jordu Schell) and I think this video is amazing. You put so succinctly the elements of creature design---and what REALLY matters---that I will recommend this video to all of those who come to me asking about how to do what I do. Excellent.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Wow dude that means a lot. Of COURSE I know who you are, even though we haven't met. I'm touched and quite frankly honored by your words, because it means a great deal coming from you. Here's hoping we get to meet each other one day!

[@Voondubah]

"Animals, every one of them, down to the tiniest, most horrid looking, are gifts.." PREACH QUEEN

[@JonahLobeDraws]

YES. Love you Voondubah.

[@susansan494]

I can add another question! :) How does this creature survive? How does it get food? How does it reproduce? Where is it's natural habitat? There are wasps that use spiders as live incubators, parasites and fungus, that can control the mind of their host. Some ants cultivate a fungus that they feed on. Some spiders use pheromones to lure moths to it's web. An octopus use camouflage to get close to prey. A chameleon can use their colour to communicate. A male angler fish bites into a female and fuse, in order to reproduce. Birds can use sound to mark territory.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

What great examples! I agree, an extra level of story and fact can really sell the idea of a creature, the believability etc. Including lots of extra information about a thing, and being able to imply those things, in such a way that it creates unexpected details… Those unexpected details add life and believability to an otherwise one-note character!

[@RustyhairedLamialp9575]

Sometimes, though, a creature is so unique, so monstrous, so unnatural, it can't make more of it's own kind.

[@JESUS36604]

This just confirms a fact Wasps are the demons or our world

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@JESUS36604 I think you mean mosquitoes ;)

[@PhyreI3ird]

@@RustyhairedLamialp9575 I was about to comment something like this. Cuz I remember seeing the designs of some creatures in the recent Lovecraft inspired show, and the monster they used was waaaay the hell too efficiently built to feel like a proper eldritch horror invading a world of sense and stability and bringing with it decay and inflicting madness upon those who witness it. Just occasionally, some kind of nonsense can be a more sensible thing to opt for :p

[@Duck-cx5qo]

Wait hold you designed creatures from both Skyrim and fallout?! Dude that's amazing and to be honest those games are what got me to start learning how to draw creatures. Especially the Deathclaw! I love your work and cant wait to be at your skill one day!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Why thank you Duck! Very kind of you to say, I'm so glad that my work has inspired you. I've got some more videos coming soon that I think you might enjoy - if you're interested, give me a follow and that way you won't miss it!

[@prowokator]

Deathclaw was designed for fallout 1 back in the day. Not trying to steal anyone's thunder but that's the original one.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@prowokator this is true but also not true. The original Deathclaw was based heavily on the Tarrasque plan for Interplay's DnD game which was never released. Once that game was thrown out, they reused the Tarraque maquette to make sprites for Fallout 1. So if you really want to rewind time, you've got to go back even farther...

[@prowokator]

@@JonahLobeDraws interesting, that is something I did not know! Thanks! Doesn't change my point though.

[@charlesallen]

@@prowokator Uh, it does though.

[@idk____2]

i dont understand how this guy doesnt have millions of views, its like im in an actual design class.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Heyyy thanks! I've got more videos coming soon, thanks for commenting and following!

[@Selverna]

It's because not many people actually go down this deep into the writing rabbit hole on KZbin that the almighty youtube algorithm only allows a select few to actually find this in their recommendations.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@Selverna Thanks Selverna. I intend to build out this rabbit hole quite a bit though!

[@sharksuperiority9736]

Monster hunter’s character design has always been some of my favourite. The realism is something I’ve always loved in design, grounding the creatures in a world makes it feel more real, and more like a place you could actually be. It also hints at more scientific details which as a science nerd always makes me happy But further than that the monsters in MH are iconic and frankly awesome. Like I’m sure no one will ever forget Brachydios’s Explosive slime attacks, or Glavenus’s crazy tail.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Exactly, they do a great job of balancing all the features I've talked about here. They keep color schemes simple, shapes memorable, and personalities front-and-center!

[@instaclonemachine5159]

@@JonahLobeDraws I just discovered your channel and love the way you discuss the topic. Monster hunter is also my favorite franchise and what inspired me to learn digital art to try and create creatures of my own. ¡I would love to see a video about you discussing MH character design!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@instaclonemachine5159 That's a great idea, and something I've been asked before. Thanks for that Instaclone!

[@MrBlorp-sf9ye]

Now I understand why I so love the design I did for this one character He is a treant - an elder treant, to be precise. In the lore I made up for treants of my world, the older they got, the more human they looked. This treant, Bristlebeard, was about 1000 years old, so he looked fairly human. The words that rang in my mind while designing him were durable, rugged, slow, and wise. Durable was easy enough, since he was basically a tree-man thing. For rugged, gave his bark strong and rough texture, and made his leaf hair tough and bristly, and made his body parts quite a bit jagged around the edges. For slow, I gave him oversized fert and fists, making him look slow from first glance. I also hunched his back over, and gave him branches that expand into full trees on his back. He was massive, so this wasn't a problem for him. For wise, I went with the ol' reliable old man look. Wrinkly face, bags under his eyes. The works. I also gave him golden glowing eyes, as well as long swooping eyebrows, kind of like some owls, as well as how some wise old man type characters are portayed in media. And you can never forget the grand beard. Silhouette-wise, he truly did appear slow and durable. His color scheme and details made him appear old, rugged, and wise. I wasn't aware of it while creating him, but this video enlightened me to what I loved so much about Bristlebeard. This was an amazing video, and a great eye opener.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Great anecdote, Blorp. And it sounds like you have a natural affinity for character/creature design! So glad you were able to go back and analyze your own creative choices so effectively. Now consider this: What would have changed if you'd chosen one feature to be slightly different? For instance, if his face appeared very young, or his body was long and slender, or his leaves were all thorns. He would have given a very different impression with even one single different creative choice. That's why I love character design...

[@larshaukenfrers]

To me this reminds me at first glance a lot of Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings movies, at least from an apperance standpoint. But there are certain aspects that make your creation very unique as well

[@MrBlorp-sf9ye]

@@larshaukenfrers he's actually a p big inspiration for Bristlebeard, hehe

[@LukmanHakim-gn3uk]

When it comes to strangeness, I've always loved fromsoft design, their monsters seem so bizarre and weird-looking but never feel out of place in the context of the game. like Ludwig the accursed for example

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Yeah they do some brilliant work. Their large creatures are truly next-level, and their bizarre natures make them truly memorable and iconic.

[@LukmanHakim-gn3uk]

@@JonahLobeDraws omg, thnx for the reply, anyway, what is your favorite monster design that you love as a kid? Being a designer must have had lots of influences and inspirations from different media. As i grew up watching movies and stuff, Grendel from beowulf animation is one of the most tragic and pitiable monster i ever watched. just hearing his voice acting, the visual design, and the overall atmosphere, he didnt terrify me instead i felt really bad watching him being ripped apart

[@grinckerthesoul1510]

Fromsoft design? You just summoned me

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@LukmanHakim-gn3uk My favorite design as a kid was probably the werewolf from American Werewolf in London? Grendel was also quite a tragic figure too, right?

[@suzerainty4192]

I got halfway through this video before I realized I had to start over from the beginning and take notes! This was extremely helpful. Creature design was so directionless for me but I feel way more prepared now that I can start to approach it in a focused way

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I'm so glad Suz, that is certainly my intention when I make a tutorial. Give people a powerful idea of where to begin and what guidelines to follow throughout! Thanks for saying hi.

[@Frenchiezy]

The feral ghouls from Fallout 3 are forever stuck with me. That was my first fallout game and they absolutely terrified me, great work on them!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks Steven! I wanted them to look pitiful and insane - I imagined their eyelids has rotted off decades ago and they wouldn’t be able to sleep.

[@katagon]

Probably my favorite example of creature design is Godzilla. I'm a big fan of the kaiju genre and I've seen plenty of kaiju creature design, but none of them will ever reach that level of iconicness that Godzilla has. He even follows a lot of the rules stated here. Inspiration from real species of dinosaurs (even if the reconstructions were a little outdated). A simple color scheme made up of only a few colors. An instantly recognizable sillouhette. And tons of personality jammed into the finer details of the design. Whenever a new interpretation of Godzilla comes out, learning about the design process is always one of my favorite things to do! Loved this video! I've always kept a lot of these things in the back of my mind while designing creatures and I think I've been good at all of them until I get to the part where I have to make them iconic. You provided a lot of good examples of things to keep in mind while designing creatures!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

This is a great reply, Katagon, thanks for commenting. You know, when it comes to Godzilla, I've been thinking more and more about how his iconic silhouette seems to echo the bottom-heavy silhouettes of sumo wrestlers. His legs are absolutely gargantuan, his body is like a trunk. He is a hardened warrior who emanates physical power and presence just with his stance alone! By the way, I listened an absolutely fantastic podcast all about the sound design in Godzilla. You should REALLY give it a listen, www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/episodes/scoring-godzilla

[@katagon]

@@JonahLobeDraws That is awesome! Thank you so much! I was actually thinking about how bottom heavy his design was when I was writing that comment. Do you think the original movie's frequent use low angle shots as well as shots that only showed him from the waist down, to provide a sense of scale, contributed to that emphasis on the lower half of his silhouette? Perhaps in addition to making him seem heavy and durable, they also wanted to make him recognizable without needing to see his face

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@katagon That's probably correct! It's easier to convey a sense of titanic presence when even just a leg can fill the screen...

[@edwardteach1992]

Avatar (James Cameron) heavily inspired me to do creature designs after watching it (a dozen times) when I was a kid. I don't really care what everyone's criticism was about the movie itself, but man, the creatures and the worldbuilding aspect of it is just amazing.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I was so excited when that movie came out, it's so awesome looking. Gives me hope for CG movies of the future!

[@DanielaRodriguez-wk6ii]

Wow, it’s the exact same for me. I watched it in theaters 3 times when I was a kid (not to mention blu-ray after that lol) and almost got my family kicked out because I couldn’t shut up during the Eywa fights back scene. Watching it again now, the story isn’t as wonderful as I remember, but the worldbuilding and the creature designs? Love at first sight. I was genuinely starstruck and mesmerized. It’s what motivated me to become a 3D creature animator and 2D illustrator :) This year I start my BA! Can’t wait to help make creatures that make others feel the way I did then.

[@edwardteach1992]

@@DanielaRodriguez-wk6ii Good luck!

[@_george84]

I love this! I was fortunate enough to take your Chimera masterclass and I learned so much and in such an entertaining way

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks Jorge - and you heard it here first folks!!

[@TamTroll]

By studying humans and starfish for a race of humanoids descended from starfish, I realized that their hands and feet likely wouldn't resemble our own, both due to the starfish's five-way symmetry, and the fact that the creature never experienced an arboreal state of living. Figure the hands might look loosely like our own, but wit the pinky replaced with a second thumb, and the feet might be slightly rounder, with three toes in the front and two near the back, or to the sides like the hand's thumbs. They live in the desert, so i think i need to study camel feet, and other desert-dwelling creatures for some more ideas there.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

i love your thinking here! Very interested to see what you come up with. Did you ever see the movie Arrival? Interesting talks in there about how radial symmetry might effect the mind...

[@TamTroll]

@@JonahLobeDraws I have seen the film! didn't catch anything about radial symmetry for the mind though, might need to give it another view :P

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@TamTroll You know, I can't remember now if they brought it up in the movie. I read the short story it's based on, called "Story of Your Life" which is absolutely amazing, and they dig into it a lot more there. If you can read that somewhere, I think you'd enjoy!

[@uxmal6178]

The co-creator of the things that most inspired me is now teaching me. Wow.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I love that, thank you Uxmal for the praise. Happy to teach, stay tuned for more!

[@lanamaybug]

This is easily one of the best videos I've seen on this topic, although my opinion isn't the most valuable as I am a beginner. Still, I love your approach - you talk about character of creatures, their nature, not "you can combine this and this and it will look cool", but something much more deep. Liked all of your videos, I hope the mighty algorithm will push your channel more :)

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Aww thank you Tovias! Hope to release some good stuff very soon. Thanks for the comment, for the likes, and for the follow! I think this year will be a good year for this channel.

[@SkellyBobRoss]

I'm revisiting this video again. I can't thank you enough for the wealth of help these five questions have been to my own character designs.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Oh yayyy thanks Skelly!! I’m so glad this video has become such a resource for you!

[@josesatorre9692]

Thank you for this absolutely wonderful video! As a young artist, dreaming to become a game artist, this video is very useful and inspiring for me! Thank you very much for all the art and the advices you share!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure José! I'm glad you were able to learn some useful lessons here. I look forward to showing you the next video!

[@sugar0coated]

I just want to say that I absolutely adore your work in Fallout especially, and I'm a huge fan. Contrary to what another commenter said, I absolutely agree that your Deathclaw redesign for Fallout 4 was a massive improvement over your Fallout 3 version in terms of design and movement. It was a far more readable and believable apex predator, although the Fallout 3 version still holds a fond place in my memories. I'm a Foundation art student in the UK, and I've been working through your content to inform my final major project on creature/monster design. I'm going into an undergrad in comic & concept art next year and I feel like I've gained an enormous amount of inspiration to follow this path through my love of characters like the ones you helped bring to life. I'm so inspired by your videos, the Fallout 4 art book in which your work features, and I just wanted to say thank you for what you make! Thank you so much for this advice! I don't know if you've answered this in a video I haven't gotten to yet - but do you have any advice on creating cohesion between different creature designs within the same world? I've been thinking about biological adaptions in response to a predator/prey scenario, but I feel like my designs can look out of place together. Maybe this could be the topic of another video if you haven't covered it yet? :)

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you for all the kind words! I'm glad that my videos can be of some help and inspiration as you continue down this exciting path. I think the key to creating visual cohesion when mixing animal groups is to disperse their mixing elements throughout the design in as close to a realistic way as you can get. That is to say, if you're working with both scales and feathers, then can you figure out an intriguing way that scales might elongate over a form into feathers? Or can the scales it on top of some feathers, like armor? Or is there stretchy skin between them than can act as an intermediary surface? In my Stormbjorn video, I talk about how to combine plated skin with fur, and how to create transition areas between these groups. Also, remember that research and practical development often takes us 90% of the way, but imaginative design can often drive the nail home, visually. What I mean is... you don't ALWAYS have to be accurate to how the design *would* be, in an evolutionary way... sometimes you can just experiment and have fun with whatever looks cool! My creations are riddled inconsistencies haha. Anyhow, I hope that helps! Thanks for watching.

[@purplehaze2358]

Wow, I had no idea the creature designer for Skyrim and the last few fallout games had a KZbin channel. Very insightful! I’ll be sure to apply this advice to the demons in my circles of hell.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Nice to meet you, and welcome! I'm planning to release a "Nightmare Creature Design" course sometime this coming year, I think it'll be right up your alley!

[@Guill0rtiz]

9:32 - “the implied answer, it turned out, was…” and then an ad played. I’ve never been so thrilled.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Hahah that was not my intention!

[@ichimatsu13]

This is incredibly useful even as a writer, I can use these concepts to help bring to life some of my creatures on the page. Thank you!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I use the same questions when I'm writing! You can leave a huge impression on someone with just a few unusual word choices, eh?

[@SuperGoose42]

Never heard of this channel, this video randomly popped into my feed, but as a writer and D&D dungeon master, this video is exactly what I've been needing for months.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Goose, it's a pleasure to meet you! This channel is newish, with a great deal of content already in the works, but if you're a writer and a DM, I think this channel will definitely be for you! Here, we will go beyond art into full-fledged fantasy world-building. My whole approach is to help people reach greater levels of thought and imagination in their work!

[@SuperGoose42]

@@JonahLobeDraws aight, I'll subscribe then lol

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@SuperGoose42 Nice! I look forward to hearing your thoughts as more videos come out.

[@TheAngelArrow]

wtf why does this guy only have 11k subs? this guy is giving nuts info & guidance, too underrated it's actually insane how underrated this is, so happy i found this

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you Angel for the kind words and the comment and the follow! I have more videos on the way that I know you'll dig, stay tuned man.

[@thejurassicchicken1445]

It’s sad how underrated you are

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you Chicken! Too kind of you sir.

[@luseylottay]

I love these details especially as somebody who loves doing creature design! I really appreciate the emphasis on personality, realism for the environment or role, and especially the "please look at real animals for inspiration" I think, however, the first question is my favorite, because it's about the visual language of personality, the "who" (and honestly bless you for emphasizing the "who" part). The challenge and fun, in my opinion, is in creating creatures that more or less flip the visual script by focusing strongly on that "who:. Making creatures that are monstrous and "ugly" who are actually kind, or something sweet and kindly in appearance that is actually dangerous, just waiting for you to let down your guard. After all! People consider vultures to be nasty and evil, but they only eat carrion and are rarely aggressive... and then you have something as harmless and adorable as a Slow Loris, which happens to come packaged with venom that can send a grown man into anaphylactic shock! This video is seriously fantastic, even with nearly two years between now and when you posted it ^^

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you Ace! I totally agree, the who is definitely important. If you're not focusing on personality, you're just creating an assemblage of visuals that sort of don't make an impression on the audience. Also, I love your Deathclaw profile pic ;)

[@brunobarbosa9728]

This is really truly underrated content here at youtube. Im reasearching all of this references later. Amazing content

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you very much Bruno! If you liked this, you'll love what I've got coming up...

[@bobalmond8257]

Very interesting. Thought provoking questions about how to better create creatures and describe them. I do not draw/render creatures but rather create them for DnD. I would also like to thank you for many hours of entertainment fighting your creations.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure Bob! And I would encourage you to try applying some of these guiding questions to the creatures AND people in your world. They can be such a driver for imagining nuance and creating something memorable.

[@am-180]

my attention was immediately focused when you began talking about creatures you designed previously like Ohh okay this guy's Good

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Heyyy thank you Frap! And thanks for watching.

[@LoreFriendlyMusic]

You designed those? You, sir, have greatly enriched my childhood! Thank you!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

It was my pleasure!! I often worked with concept artists so I can’t take all the credit but I appreciate your words. Stay tuned for some AMAZING Skyrim video love in just a few days!

[@YukyDoodle]

Thank you for this video. Currently doing a two creature assignments for a mentorship with Marvel creature designer Jerad Marantz and this was very helpful while in a rut in my revision stage for a sketch. Thank you for your contribution to the industry! I hope to do the same one day as a concept artist.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure YukYuk! Be sure to subscribe for more, I have a LOT of new cool stuff coming for creature designers like yourself.

[@danlewis7707]

I used the approach of using real animals and textures when designing a dragon, I also thought about mood, intent and characterization when I molded the face and posed my dragon. The result was something that genuinely scared people. I wore my t-shirt to my first metal show and a guy with a face tattoo and a shaved head and an anthrax beard a full 3 inches taller than me looked at me like I was a weirdo! I knew I had something. Listen to this man. He is right on the money.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

That’s how you do it!! Awesome story man.

[@Rafa.mudo.]

this is insanely underrated, came in out of curiosity but now I wanna have a go at making creatures

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks for coming through man! If you enjoyed this, I got a LOT more content like it coming VERRYYY soon.

[@Rafa.mudo.]

@@JonahLobeDraws already subscribed :) thanks for the content, have a merry christmas and a happy new year!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@Rafa.mudo. My man!! Thanks bro, stay tuned and have a great nye!

[@ramenlovinggirl]

I’ve been trying to learn about creature designs for a few weeks and I think this is one of my favorite videos on the topic so far. This is a great template for developing concepts for much more than just creature design. I’ll definitley be trying to apply this to my art in the future ^^

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Excellent, glad to hear it Maruchan! Got more content like this coming VERY soon, so hopefully this channel will be a resource of help and advice to you going forward.

[@RoboLamp]

The creature icons in the thumbnail are absolutely stunning

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you so much Robolamp! I aim to do more courses on different subjects, and I want these icons to be a theme...

[@ErichMenzel]

This content will change my life for sure, i can't thank you enough for this ❤️

[@JonahLobeDraws]

You're so welcome Erich! If you liked this, you'll like what's coming next...

[@ErichMenzel]

@@JonahLobeDraws Can't wait to see it 😁

[@jahirhasan3628]

You're so underrated art youtuber man ❤️ you deserve more ❤️

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Cheers Jahir! Thanks for the comment and the follow - I look forward to providing you a lot more content going forward!

[@marcop-mb506]

Hey I came here from your Skyrim documentary, great job! you really caught my interest, very well executed.... Now I will subscribe and watch your videos. You are a great presenter and designer, thank you for sharing your knowledge !

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Appreciate that Marco! Have something coming soon that I think you will dig!

[@greenc1088]

Top Notch quality video, I don't always leave comments but this is really good.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Appreciate you Green! I hope you subscribed or checked out some of my other videos!

[@BenaiahArt]

This is probably the best tutorial I have seen on youtube. I don't know if you scripted it all but it was so concise and well put together. Hyped to follow!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Wonderful Ben! Stay tuned, I got more coming like this soon...

[@caseykawamura8718]

Still watching so I am not sure if you mention it but it's incredible how much predators' heads are like a spider. The skull is an abdomen, dreads look like an arachnid's 8 legs, and the fangs. When you want to make a terrifying creature, start with something terrifying.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

You know I don’t think I ever even put that together!! So true, wow, great observation.

[@caseykawamura8718]

@@JonahLobeDraws It's a lot easier to notice that kind of stuff in hindsight though. It's impressive if that really was the starting point for the creator.

[@ronn6771]

Legendary pieces of advice like this makes me ascend to a different plane of existence

[@JonahLobeDraws]

That’s all I wanted Ron, thank you!

[@ajayjones7014]

Few seconds of hearing him talk I could tell he was smart and instantly followed and liked it

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Heyyyy thank you Ajay!!

[@fetusness]

This was extremely helpful, thank you Jonah!!!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure Adrian! Have more material like this coming VERY soon, stay tuned...

[@fetusness]

@@JonahLobeDraws I look forward to it :) Cheers, Adrian

[@jozseflaszlo7445]

Thank you very much! I love your work and your tutoring style. I will now proceed to binge on your channel's quality content. :D

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you dude!! I got some great stuff I’m about to release in just a few days. Stay tuned!!

[@vanitas38]

Always such a pleasure to watch your videos. Little refresh of the courses from SAE Geneva ^^ Thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I had such a great time at that workshop! Very much looking forward to adding lots of new content to this channel... glad to see you on here!

[@Rioni]

This is pretty interesing, I just draw as a hobby but this makes me more motivation to try to do better things and also why I struggle when I try to design character, I didn't approach it properly, this way seems to be more efficient and effective. I've learnt a lot, Thank you!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure, thanks for commenting! I'll be posting more about figure drawing etc as time goes on, so I think you'll really enjoy this channel!

[@calthitus3287]

Big help, now I can actually make cool creatures.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Glad to hear it man!

[@tristanheck2209]

thanks so much for this video! I'm currently writing a paper on monster design/presentation and this really helps.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

No problem! I'm fascinated by this topic of a paper.

[@F_NerdShark]

Okay all 5 questions AND the ones that @Susansan suggested because I really liked it: * Where does it survive? (Reproduction, food, predators, etc) * What is its personality? (Where did it come from? What’s its heritage? Focus on silhouette) * Use animal references! * Colour and patterns (simplicity is the key! Bright: tropical earthy: natural pale: unnatural dark: mystery or power Pink: raw and tender flesh: uncanny valley shine or matte/roughness or sliminess)

[@spiritpyro3994]

I have a creature I named the base and it’s whole thing is that it’s a basic monster but how I want people to remember it is that it was once human, quite literally a man turned monster and it kills for sport, something only humans do, I want it to show that you don’t need a good design to be terrifying

[@JonahLobeDraws]

That is very true, you can keep things very subtle. In that case, Spirit, I would think about only what makes this creature iconic? Is it the expression, or the way it walks, or something that it lacks? You should watch "it follows" for an incredibly scary movie about a shape-changing creature that just looks like other people.

[@drbeeswax]

Fascinating…. ! Truly Fascinating take …. I would love it was this paint by numbers… x x x

[@azmodanuno2879]

Hi! just found your channel while bumming around on youtube and this was very helpful! I'm trying to build a ttrpg from the ground up without taking from other ttrpgs or tolkien like so many others do (just a quick aside i don't think there's anything wrong with this! I just like making stuff and it's kind of a flex to say I'm making my own world tbh). So to see a simple guide on the foundation of creature creation from an expert is incredibly cool to me! I did have a couple of questions though: firstly, while I understand it's impossible to have any perspective other than our own of course, I'm curious about the psychology and views of other creatures towards human-looking people. I do have a race called islanders that are essentially just humans of a different name as i wanted to give players a standard race to compare to as well as an option to not play as a big lizard man or whatever weird stuff I came up with... however it brings up an interesting question as to how these races might view their human counterparts. For instance, one race I have are called Jurra, that are essentially raptor-like people that evolved a tribal society in the jungles of this world. Would their idea of a good looking raptor make them think islanders look weird? evil? creepy? or maybe they think of them as cute, or even noble? Obviously this has a lot more to do with the society of course but i'm interested in building a full history eventually and of course society had to come from somewhere -- a healthy mix of genetics, environment, and lord knows what else of course -- so how would the base characteristics of a creature influence it's personality as well as their aesthetics? I know there are far too many answers to this question to possibly state in a comment, but any kernels of wisdom you might have seriously helps!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you for this great comment! I like to flex in creating my own stuff too, so I understand the feeling. I think the key to figuring out what other creatures and races and cultures would think of us is to try to get as deep into their lifestyles as possible. What sort of deities did they worship, what kind of food they have access to, what was the geography like, etc.… All of these things could affect the way they look at others. I imagine that lizard men would find humans repulsive, as our skin is so soft and damp and translucent compared to theirs. We probably don’t look very different from slugs, all soft and sweaty. They might also worship the sun, as they are cold blooded, and think that we are creatures of the night because we cannot stand as much sun as they can. It is a fascinating process, trying to get into the heads of other people… And it requires that we constantly reassess our daily normal things, because they do not look normal at all to others!

[@azmodanuno2879]

@@JonahLobeDraws Thank you so much that helps a ton! I think the place I was getting stuck most is empathizing with something that has different biology and considering how that might shape their version of normal, but what you said really put it into perspective! I'm already adding a lot more lore as we speak thanks to these insights.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@azmodanuno2879 Fantastic, I'm so glad! Have fun writing.

[@westlethegreat6388]

Trying to make my own sci fi game. This video was really useful!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Heyyy excellent thank you Westle, and thanks for the follow! Got some great videos on the way...

[@furiouschicken1]

As a fulltime freelance illustrator, Thank you for this

[@TheRealMightyEmperor]

Excellent Video. I am currently trying to prototype a creature capture game, so I couldn't have stumbled upon a better video!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

So glad to have helped Emperor!

[@harrysanders818]

Fantastic content! I love the iconic breakdown examples. Those are really spot on choices for remarkable creature designs. Really educational points you bring up and awesome paintings of those, capturing their feeling incredibly well. Hope to see more of this! Just discovered your channel. The Fly is one of my fav movies and creatures ever.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks so much Harry! I love the Fly, it's so repulsive haha. If you liked this, I got a lot more great stuff on the horizon. My next video comes out in the next two weeks!

[@harrysanders818]

@@JonahLobeDraws Awesome!

[@thedebapriyakar]

This is absolutely incredible and super useful. Thanks!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks Debapriya! Got much stuff like this coming very soon, thanks for watching, commenting, and subscribing!

[@e.b2318]

You designed creatures from fallout?That's RADical man!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you good sir!

[@davidtorazzi7650]

@@JonahLobeDraws Man I LOVE those designs! I feel honoured to be learning from a master himself!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@davidtorazzi7650 Aww David, thank you man.

[@davidtorazzi7650]

@@JonahLobeDraws If I ever get to create a design that people will recognize I'll credit the awesome people like you that share their knowledge for free in the internet. You are a hero and I wish I'll also be able to make art more available and accessible to people.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@davidtorazzi7650 That's a wonderful goal to set!!

[@coniferbear9305]

This is such an awesome video😭 It’s direct, easy to understand, and entertaining. You’re a blessing, sir! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Aww Coniferous, thank you! I think you'll really enjoy what I'm working on next for this channel, if you're following I think you'll really like it!

[@plushwaffles98]

who else likes the clean audio

[@KegaB3]

Thank you for me coming to your ted talk

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Appreciate you Kega, welcome to my Ted.

[@KegaB3]

@@JonahLobeDraws oh im so glad that translated right i was worried it would be confusing instead of funny

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@KegaB3 I got you buddy! Thanks for the subscription ;)

[@MichaelKerch87]

Great video! Plesent voice. thank you.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Glad you liked it Misha, I’ve got some great stuff dropping any day now, stay tuned!

[@DoctorMadness]

Great point on animal references, thanks for the education, subbed

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Glad you appreciated it man! Got some great stuff coming verrrry soon, I think you'll enjoy.

[@jjkthebest]

I sometimes do some of these the other way around. I doodle something and then think "who is this creature" afterwards. Then I tweak the design to fit that even better. Of course that doesn't work if you want something specific. For drawing creatures I may want to use in random D&D encounters though, it's perfect.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Sketching random ideas is a pivotal part of the process! Iteration is key here, so starting out loose and then asking more questions... very valid way to go.

[@thenooticer7392]

You deserve more subscribers, awesome video!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Why thank you Mark! We'll get there with time, I think. In the meantime, I appreciate YOUR support!

[@LuisRivera-jk1vo]

Great Stuff and Amazing 👍🏻👍🏻

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks Luis!

[@deltazero7262]

Well Damn This is going into my Creative Handbook as the man Of fallout designs and Skyrim design explains it

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Haha thanks Delta! I’ve got more great stuff coming for you very soon, stay tuned…

[@makaivanharen2309]

Good video, glad that you cut out the music. You’re easier to hear now. Keep up the good work and if you want to use music in the future then consider to set it to a lower decibel than the dialogue. Have a nice day!

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks for the feedback Thierry! This is very helpful for me going forward.

[@makaivanharen2309]

Jonah Lobe I don’t know what program you use (I use Adobe Premiere Pro since it’s the industry standard) but if you need any help you can always ask.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@makaivanharen2309 Much appreciated man :)

[@keegking1582]

I just recently started drafting a horror game and have been struggling drawing concepts for the enemies and main bosses, this appeared at the perfect time and helped a lot. Thank you for the advice.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

My pleasure Keeg! I've got another course on the way called Nightmare Creature Design, hopefully that will help you too, when it arrives.

[@somenerd4572]

take my subscribe and go. you broke my art block and god it went on for a while. i havent done any kind of art or anything for months

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I love nothing more than hearing how I've helped people break through art block. I have a lot more content like this coming, so I think this channel is for you!

[@reyfoljamesgarcia4790]

I'm not into this stuff but you made it interesting and even explains it well. 🙂

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Happy to hear it Reyfol, thanks!

[@jordan4longshaw]

Such in depth discussion on creatures like the predator makes me want to watch the predator 😅 Awesome video! You're really helping me grow as a creature artist! I really want to make something that people will never forget : D Have you ever done a video reviewing peoples creature art?

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Glad you like it Jordan! Happy to be a resource for you, and I suspect that you'll like what I'm planning for this channel. Good question. I have not done so, though I do intend to review various movie creatures and discuss why they work or don't work. Excited to produce these..!

[@jordan4longshaw]

@@JonahLobeDraws Thank you for replying so promptly! I'm shocked I got a reply so quickly That's great! I'd defo love to hear a review on what makes movie creatures great :) While I truly love conversations like these, this is a KZbin comment section so I won't harass you with too much talking 😅 Could I pester you with one single question about making creatures?

[@jordan4longshaw]

@@JonahLobeDraws Hey again, did you get my last comment show in your notifications? Just checking because the question I wanted to ask, if your happy to answer. Do you think a creature can still look good, even if it wasn't based directly off of real life anatomy? Edit: I only made a follow up comment to check if my second one with the enquiry reached you or not. If you don't respond to this one I'll presume you don't wish to answer, and wish you an enjoyable rest of your day :)

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@jordan4longshaw Hi Jordan- You were right, KZbin actually hid these comments as potential spam. Just seeing it now. And yes, I think a creature can still look good, even if not based on real life anatomy, but it really depends on the creature. Some beings, like those seen in Edge of Tomorrow, are totally alien... and while they are not really understandable from an anatomical perspective, from a narrative one they are very understandable, ie in that they are, by their nature, incomprehensibly weird. But it honestly depends on the context, and the subject. Even the weirdest creations, like Cthulhu type creatures, are often founded in some respect on real life animals... even if only as a jumping-off point!

[@siddawala3216]

You designed the Deathclaw? Pretty epic! but tell me, What were the references and the elements that inspired it? bassically what did you base it off? When I started the series at fallout 4 I had no idea what got mutated and why this way that made it XD. Mistook it for a mutated Ram as a kid but very Good and impressive work on it nonetheless.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you! The Deathclaws are not mutants, but genetic hybrids. They are based on the Jackson's chameleon, but in designing them, I looked at dinosaurs, reptiles, rhinos, pythons (for the tongue), and lions (for the eyes/gaze).

[@JustDaZack]

Such a well made video. Thanks for sharing your experience. :)

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks for watching Zack!

[@ireneashamoses4209]

Great informative video!! Thank you ❤️❤️

[@JonahLobeDraws]

It is absolutely my pleasure, thanks for stopping by Irene!

[@Karin029_]

"The fly is aware enough to hate itself" :(

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Adds a very disturbing psychological element to a very disturbing creature eh??

[@arctrog]

I know this video is super old but I’ve always wanted to know how people create creatures like in adventure time, avatar, or other worlds with creatures that don’t already have existing ideas. The dragons in AT are a super creative example of the creativity I’m talking about. They’re long like eastern dragons and they have wings like western ones, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. They’re sausage shaped blobs with round butts and simple faces. I want to have this sort of weird design in my worlds

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Great question Arctrog. I love when new ideas are introduced, and I am hopeful that this video helps illuminate a bit on how that's actually accomplished!

[@heroanimates9988]

There's no dislikes on this video the apocalypse has begun

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Give it time, this is the internet.

[@samsamsamsamsamanilla5281]

I'm pitching an idea here: take one of the 1st vertabrates(Tiktaalik) as your basal creature, from there you can extrapolate all vertabrates. Take whatever you determine as your basal creature and extrapolate from there. Go crazy!

[@maddockemerson4603]

Tiktaalik was one of if not the first _tetrapods,_ not vertebrates. Vertebrates are anything with a backbone, which even includes brainless animals. Tetrapods (lit. “Four-foot”) are a specific race of four-legged, air-breathing, cranial vertebrates.

[@samsamsamsamsamanilla5281]

@@maddockemerson4603 I can't believe I wrote that, you are absolutely right. I think I meant to write tetrapods, thank you for the correction. Ugh, and I even spelled "vertEbrates" wrong, I must of been having an off day🙄

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I absolutely love that this sort of discussion is happening on this channel. This pleases me greatly!!

[@Farrukh3D]

The questions are good. Nice and useful information. Thanks for sharing :)

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Always - thanks for being a part of this Farrukh!

[@liondovegm]

Maslovs hierarchy of needs and how it can attain those needs. All I've ever used.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I've never thought about Maslov's hierarchy when it came to creature design. How do you use that to help you come up with a look?

[@MURDERPILLOW.]

I remember having a nightmare when i was younger of being stalked by a creature. It was tall and white, it had huge wings, a large mouth with an eye in it,longs legs and arms. Im sure it was just my child mind interpretation of a gargoyle, but i really want to develop that idea further

[@JonahLobeDraws]

You should!

[@Rubbish_]

This is insanely helpful. Now I just need to actually make my comic and put this to use in countless creatures aaaand I’m just gonna draw random things instead

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Drawing random thing is the BEST. Just make sure you're actually drawing RANDOM things, not the same things over and over ;)

[@Potleafeon]

You should be designing new Pokemon. Your work is amazing.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Awww thanks Potleaf! I think they've already got more than they can catch though ;)

[@Potleafeon]

@@JonahLobeDraws Maybe you could collab with RJ Palmer and make them more realistic fauna. I think you could easily get work with Legendary cinema on another live action film. With work like the Deathclaw... Pft. EZ.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@Potleafeon Aww shucks. Thank you! And I love RJ, we're friends on Twitter.

[@siddawala3216]

Hey Jonah. What are your thoughts on designing a creature by evolving it from its primordial state? Like a cell.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

I mean, that's difficult. A single cell has extremely different capabilities, environments etc than something larger. Most single-cell creatures live in liquid, so that they can propel themselves in three dimensions. Once they start becoming larger and more complex, they get heavier and they start to have a different relationship to their environment (think of how water reacts to us versus a drop of water on the head of a tiny insect... it would be unable to escape and then drown). However, if you wanted to extrapolate from a single cell, it might be interesting to look at single-cell invertebrates and start using some of their physical aspects on a macro scale, like cilia and stuff like that!

[@siddawala3216]

@@JonahLobeDraws yea I see. It is really difficult. But it whould be fun see what comes out.

[@DamianLewd]

The fly was GENIUS. Full stop

[@JonahLobeDraws]

You are correct sir.

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

Ahhh, this will be wonderful to look back into during art block, thanks a million for sharing your wisdom! Also when you were talking about color and texture I noticed when you talked about an example of xenomorph black no squid showed up....*is it Sneaking in the dark??*

[@JonahLobeDraws]

hahah it's like a polar bear blinking in a snowstorm... WHERE DID IT GO??

[@armintor2826]

My favorite creature designs are those that play with irony. Like the Plague Eaters from Darkest Dungeon 2, theyre diseased, corpulent, bloated and rotting monsters but they act, dress and appear as regal and medeival. Dressing in a noble's robes and a lady's dress despite being the farthest thing from normal. Another example would be the Cabal from Destiny. Theyre large, brutish, ugly and brash giants that bark and shout with aggression. And yet theyre the most organised and tactical miliary force in the lore, so much so that they were the only ones that managed to invade earth

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Great points all around Armintor. Without their finery, the plague eaters from DD2 are just gross zombies... the finery elevates them with class and personality. Same for the Cabal, as you say - they're more than just monsters, they're soldiers. So much more interesting when you add ironic, seeming-contradictions to characters.

[@lzrshark617]

If it's alright, I'd like to pick your brain for a minute on creature design. Do you have any advice on making designs between multiple creatures of the same species more distinctive from each other as individuals? For reference, each of the monsters I'm asking about are as much characters as any of the humans and half-humans in the cast, and nearly as sentient. One is the central villain and the other 2 are antagonists, and while all 3 have rather distinctive faces compared to each other (one has scorched face and unusual ears, as well as borderline-permanent hunting marks; one has an eye clawed out, with the scars raking nearly to the end of his muzzle; and the last has half her face shattered off from an old traumatic injury and a floppy ear), but I’m not happy with how similar their silhouettes and overall body shapes are. The best I’ve managed to work with so far is different antler shapes for each, the trademark fucked-up leg of the one with the clawed-out eye, the unusual ears and floppy ear, and the shattered-face one being a runt compared to others of her species (reason why and unintended consequences of said size being part of her backstory). Even though they’re supposed to resemble each other since they’re all members of the same species, they still feel too similar to each other design-wise beyond their hallmarks. I’ve tried tinkering with making each of them lean a slightly different direction in terms of genetic expression since their species is a hybrid of 2 other monster species in-universe (ie. one of them might resemble parent species A more while the other closer resembles parent species B), but since I’ve had consistent trouble with the design of one of the parent species from the start, I keep hitting a brick wall. Any advice would be appreciated, and if more details/more info would be helpful, I can supply it. I’m writing this at like 2 am, and I don’t want to just info-dump because if you’re anything like me, all info-dumps do is ensure that none of the information registers at all

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Hey there Shark. So it sounds like what matters more than their animal references are their personalities and role in the story. So rather than focus on what makes them like animals, I would lean on what you have and then move forward with thinking about how who they are, and have that reflected in their bodies. Is one an archer? Make him lanky and long-armed and wiry. Is one a bruiser with an axe? Make him huge, with little legs and over-defined neck muscles, like a hyena. Is one a sneaker? Then make them smaller, more bent over, with longer arms for running on all fours. Likewise, think about how their personalities are different, and have those personalities reflected in the way they stand and their expressions. Basically - focus on their silhouette and personality to make them different! You can also change coloring dramatically.

[@TheZiiFamily]

This was quite interesting thanks But i still can’t figure out what to do with the top of the head of this ghost creature that is part of a species that controls time and lives in a pocket dimension

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Ahh I'm going go to make another course called "Nightmare Creature Design" and we're going to talk a lot about unnatural designs. If you want it to feel ghostly and otherwordly, I would replace its head with something nonsensical, like a hole or some sort of ancient symbol for time or maybe it's made of sand that's always pouring down, like in an hourglass!

[@TheZiiFamily]

@@JonahLobeDraws ooo ok thanks

[@adamshafeeq8685]

What about designing an individualistic alien race? Is it ok if a character of my alien race is just a slight alteration of the whole race? The best example of individualistic aliens i can think of is Ben 10. Whenever an alien shows up a character, they slight alterations to them to make sure the audience doesn't lose track of them

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Yeah that's definitely a thing. Creating a unique and thus memorable difference between individuals can definitely create nice variation.

[@adamshafeeq8685]

@@JonahLobeDraws is it ok if my individualistic alien race acts like humans but honour their own traditions, customs, rules, etc?

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@adamshafeeq8685 Of course! That's how most people do it, honestly. I would just make sure that some of the customs are surprising but sensible. ie how do they use their hands, what do eyes represent in their culture, what exactly is considered rude, etc. To maximize believability, throw in some curveballs that make sense upon explanation.

[@darnact]

A thought had struck me. If we're going for a Lovecraftian design (and I do mean full-on Lovecraftian, not Lovecraft Lite), wouldn't the opposite of these rules apply?

[@JonahLobeDraws]

In some ways, yes! Let's think it out. Personality? You're totally right - you'd want to reduce the humanity as much as possible, which would probably mean completely eradicating anything resembling a body or face. Animal references would be hard to avoid, given their fishy place in the mythos, and a sense of texture would still be necessary to identify and convey a sense of horrid feeling. Coloring... well the mind can't avoid greens and blues and purples, right? Silhouette would be very difficult to invent, because it would have to be ever-changing and mind-bogglingly weird, right? But iconic elements... I think that's integral to identify (as artists at least). Because the question is, how do we make our Lovecraft design stand out from the rest, and make it memorable? I think probably the best thing would be to pick something absolutely weird or bizarre and fuse it into the design. Is this creation... flowering? eating itself? Covered in yellow powder? Look like a giant amoebic eyeball? Fused with an owl? It's fun to play these games...

[@darnact]

@@JonahLobeDraws Well how about just a walking pile of Chromatic Aberration the size of a truck. XDD

[@JonahLobeDraws]

@@darnact That's one way to do it!

[@Solesteam]

0:32 What if your intentions are: unrecognizable in the slightest and disturbingly unnatural but still theoretically possible?

[@triscuitbiscuit9931]

10:41 that... that made me a little sad for some reason

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Indeed - he's a tragic character!!

[@joshbolack7797]

2:35 I beg to differ sir, the Anjanath (from monster hunter world) does not have any visual clues that it will sneeze fire in yo face. Except maybe that it’s pink, but that didn’t lessen the shock when it set me on fire

[@JonahLobeDraws]

But consider this, Josh: The Anjananth has scalded smooth pink skin on its face, like that you'd see on a burn victim!

[@erispapps9929]

1:30 the ghouls in fallout 3 were so much better than the ones in fallout 4. Fallout 4 ghoul looks like they were covered in clay.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thank you Erik! I really enjoyed making the F3 versions, I understand why they went in another direction for F4 but obviously I'm partial to my bebe's ;)

[@Gioat187]

Amazing video, you look like the deep from the boys

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Yeesh I don’t love that but thank you?

[@johithestar414]

Well i made a thing called-the forge The forges are something like minotaurs tinkers with a horrible stone disease with cover most of their body which gets them more strenght but they need to eat 70% more food so around 1T of food The forges are honorable creatures if someone is i trouble they charge with strange tinkered weapons like lets say throwing greatswords that explodes after touching anything.

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Creatures are always better with a good story attached to them, and I really like your idea here!

[@juans.2111]

Great video. I know this is three years old, but why do the creature silhouettes almost exactly resemble the loyal three from the new pokemon release? lol

[@JonahLobeDraws]

Thanks Juans! The only possible answer is because they copied me ;)