Off-Topic Discussion > Arts & Talents
Designing unique looking aliens
Iain Baker:
--- Quote from: Nightmare on October 21, 2020, 02:06:07 pm ---
--- Quote from: Iain Baker on October 21, 2020, 07:28:22 am ---
--- Quote from: General Battuta on October 21, 2020, 01:03:11 am ---Simply familiarize yourself with all the forms life has taken on Earth, in every various niche and adaptation, and then, once you have all that in your head, draw something different
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Brilliant idea in theory, but this requires a level of creativity that only the most talented artists possess, since coming up with something truly original takes artistic genius.
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I don't think so. You don't have to describe the exact metabolism of Aliens to describe their look. Also nobody expects you to make a professional-Artist level painting of it.
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I was referring more to the level of imagination it requires to come up with something truly original that is not inspired in part by something that exists already. The ability to actually draw it afterward is somewhat separate, as would coming up with a workable physiology.
It would make for an interesting challenge / thought experiment to try to imagine something totally unlike anything else, then try to describe it without using comparisons to something else. Any takers? ;7
Iain Baker:
--- Quote from: The E on October 21, 2020, 02:11:42 pm ---
--- Quote from: Iain Baker on October 21, 2020, 07:28:22 am ---I wonder if human creativity in this regard has evolved over time? If you look at the various gods and monsters from the ancient myths, legends and religions most were either oversized variants of real world animals or were mash ups of existing species known to the peoples of that part of the world: For example: Anubis - head of a dog, body of a man: Gryphon - head of an eagle, body of a lion. Ganesha - Body of a human, head of a Elephant etc. As far as I'm aware (and I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert) but creating images / models etc of things that were more original, or were mashups that blended the attributes of different species didn't start appearing until the late 19th / early 20th century.
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I summon an old testament angel to refute your theory.
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I stand corrected :lol: TBH I had forgotten about those, which is pretty stupid of me considering one of them was a major antagonist in one of my favourite books as a teenager (Weaveworld) and is the name of a gunship in a mod I wrote a roughly 5K three-part article series about - DoH!
Phantom Hoover:
--- Quote from: Firesteel on October 21, 2020, 02:34:10 pm ---Bayonetta still has some of my favorite portrayals of angels in games. Also Neon Genesis Evangelion has some excellent creature design even if one of them is just a d8.
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who wouldn't want to take her on a d8
Nyctaeus:
I know people who disbelieve me, when I tell them that space cats were once a pinnacle of creativity in sci-fi.
...
Looks at Strygon and his rabbit aliens
Okay, but it's a different thing.
Heptapods from Arrival are awesome in this regard. Not only because they look so strange, but also because the movie portrays that aliens also may think in completely different way then us. Whole Alien Planet animation comes with tons of cool, strange, alien lifeforms. There was also one movie with closed area thing, mixing genetic information of every creature inside. The alien being portrayed there was made using 3D fractal generator. One episode of Netflix's Love, Sex and Robots comes with awesome, arthropod alien things. There are of course, also the good, old zerg.
I found the mentioned issue extremely annoying. At some point I'm not sure, if "Mass Effect style" generic and unimaginative aliens comes from lack of creativity and lazy writing or more economic causes. It's generally much easier to model/animate humanoid aliens or prepare makeus/dentures, so I guess it's a mixture of both. It's worth noting that it's more forgivable for older franchises, such as Star Trek or Star Wars because technological limitations. Later it's next to impossible to drasticly redesign key visuals, but modern examples have absolutely zero excuse. ME is my favorite example how bad things can be, as it's a franchise focused on interactions with alien species which... Comes with absolutely nothing interesting, original and alien. The most interesting species of ME is straightforward Shivan rip-off.
Iain Baker:
Looks at Strygon and his rabbit aliens
Okay, but it's a different thing.
Heptapods from Arrival are awesome in this regard. Not only because they look so strange, but also because the movie portrays that aliens also may think in completely different way then us. Whole Alien Planet animation comes with tons of cool, strange, alien lifeforms. There was also one movie with closed area thing, mixing genetic information of every creature inside.
Annihilation - great film. Nothing like the book, which is also worth a read on its own merits, although its sequels apparently got a bit to weird.
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