[InkyBrain]

My little sandbox of Void-related (including potentials) art, designs, and characters.
*Made a new thread since I couldn't find my old one.

+ Lovechild 2021
Strigoi; tournament collab w/ Kubo
First on the chopping block, is a feature of the concept and design work I did for my collaboration with Kubo in the first round of Lovechild 2021.
Making up a series of varying designs for a multitude of monsters ended up being a lot more work than I anticipated. While I for some reason have much less issue drawing creatures than I do humanoid characters, developing unique monsters, all different with few reoccurring themes was a challenge. Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with what I was able to make in the given time. Though intending to have general design sketches for every single monster, I decided instead to focus what little design time there was on the primary beasts: Demon Strigoi, Curse-bite Monster Strigoi, and Reverse Curse Monster Todd.



Demon Strigoi: I wanted to keep this design relatively simple in theme, something that struck the viewer as immediately "demonic" without being too standard either. Blizzard's Diablo game series ended up being an huge inspiration for this design, most especially for the hulking form as to showcase some range in Strigoi's transformation abilities. The colored head there was supposed to be for Curse-bite Monster Strigoi, but I felt it seemed more standard demonic, and thus applied it to that design instead.

Curse-bite Monster Strigoi: Although having a general idea of how I wanted this design to look, I played around with a few different ideas. Ultimately going with a fleshy tentacle monster, I had considered pressing some religious themes with more mystifying headgear (which I inevitably gave instead to Todd). The idea was for Strigoi's transformation powers (from Wendigo) to combat with Todd's curse, while that underlying and unknown presence of Emmelia's DNA did its "magic." This resulted in a form which not only took Todd's power, but adapted it into an even more utilizable ability, while still retaining some feral nature and a passive need to make MORE. Eventually, I fleshed out the design with something that wasn't too terribly strenuous to draw in multiple panels, but still embodied those traits.



Reverse-Curse Monster Todd: Wanting Todd's monster form to reflect Strigoi's while not appearing too similar, I stuck to the long-bodied build and slapped on 8 more arms. I really enjoyed this look because it felt more symbolic in nature than Strigoi's monster hivemind feel. I had planned to showcase a continued ability to utilize demonic magic and sigils, but the time crunch required some cuts. The head in particular both Kubo and I were quite pleased with, giving him a sinister animal skull feel as a nod toward one of his pops: Gold. I also really wanted to incorporate Todd's curse into the design, with a subtle reflection of his caring nature - hands grown onto his face in perpetual disdain. I wish I'd managed to render that look a little more naturally, but time again became a looming factor.



All-in-all, had a lot of fun with these designs, and working with Kubo was an incredible experience - he's been one of my favorite Void artists for a very long time, so the pleasure was all mine!