Visual Design Assignment: Tentacle Monster

Assignment 1: Tentacle Monster

During my research, I found plenty of examples of creatures that were based around or included tentacles and realized that these creatures could be broken down into different subgroups.

There are naturally occurring tentacles, the most obvious examples being Octopus and Squid but also including the Kraken or the monsters from the "Mist". There are other examples such as the creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos that posses tentacles but not necessarily where they'd normally be or where they would be useful.

Alternatively there are mutants like the Necromorphs, the Lambant or the Los Plagas. Both of these feature tentacles that feature blades, spikes or other organic weaponry and are clearly designed for slashing and attacking rather than simply gripping things. Because of this, their tentacles lack suckers and are formed from the creatures inner workings or are coated in blood and viscera, giving them a more macabre appearance.

Initial Sketches (Pencil then Scanned)

Out of all the designs, I thought that the Outer Centaur had the best visual appeal to it since the tentacles weren't just located on one part of its body and therefore seemed more natural. The blank face gives it a very alien appearance but it could possibly be improved by removing the nose holes. I also liked the more macabre designs I did such as the Entrail, with its organ tentacles but I don't think the rotten design looked very interesting. The large Octoman that I drew, while I wasn't a fan of how the body came out, the idea of having multiple different appendages on the ends of each tentacles would make the overall design more interesting and bizarrely asymmetrical.

Final Concept (Pencil)

I decided to combine all these elements for the final design creating an Eldritch inspired figure with tentacles made from sinew and viscera emerging from its back. I tried to design the tentacles so that they were clearly made from a different material than the rest of the creature and also incorporated the interlacing parts and membranes to give it some complexity and texture as well as replicate the membrane present in between tentacles in octopus.

Finished Concept (Photoshop)