"I want you to have it” Said the girl, with a smile on her face. “What is it?” Asked the creature with curiosity.“I know you don’t need it. But I also know you like these kind of things. It’s a piece done by the Capital’s best artisan. You know... With the ongoing conflict back at the city...” Her smile faded “I may not be able to come here so often. That’s why I wanted to give you this.” The creature gazed into her eyes.
The Beast contest thread - The Manticore
ngon master
...
“Thank you. It’s truly beautiful. But please... Take care”
Full Shot:
Beauty Shot:
(This is the one I'm submitting)
-------------
Plus an extra one:
Texture Sheets:
Textures used:
- Body - 1x4k
- Wings - 1x4k
- Tail, horns - 1x4k
- Mane and fur - 1x2k
------
- Pedestal - 1x2k
Wires:
Whew, so, that's all! I'm glad this is over! I'd like to have made a ton more of corrections, there are a lot of mistakes but honestly I'm quite tired of this model. Maybe in the future I'll revisit it but for now I'll forget it for some time. Anyways it was great participating on this, it was a good exercise and I loved getting all that feedback. Best of luck to all!
-Nat
-------------------------
ORIGINAL POST
------------------------
Here’s what I have so far!:
Creature
After thinking for a bit, I decided to base my entry on one of my favourite mythological creatures: The manticore. The manticore is a mythological beast with a lion body, human-like face and a scorpion tail. They’re often depicted with wings and horns. Here are some of the references I gathered for myself:
I like to
think about manticores as intelligent beings: they may have a lion body, but their
mind is very human-like, kind of like a Sphinx could be. Despite their looks,
they can think, feel and talk. They still retain feral characteristics and
prefer to live in the wild, isolated from humans (Disliking technology and
civilized life, probably seeing humanity as a destroyer of nature), But they could perfectly establish a conversation or socialize
with any human they trusted.
Using this as base, I thought about the idea of a manticore feeling despair because of what he is: not fully a human, but not an animal either. What if he enjoyed the company of humans above of his clan’s? What if he despised his animalistic nature? He would be seen as some kind of traitor, and probably be condemned to live in isolation.
Mood
Sadness and despair would two concepts I’d like to depict. The creature will have some kind of defeated pose/expression. The scene will take place in the wild, which will be shown making use of the pedestal. I’d like the manticore to be contrasted with the surroundings. Maybe it will have a very dark pelt, almost black, in contrast with the greenish, fresh environment. My idea is to depict him as being strong, menacing and dangerous, but shattered and melancholic.
I sketched two little pictures to show possible ideas for the scene:
This one depicts the beast holding something very valuable to him, possibly given as a present by a human girl, one he holded very dearly. Maybe they can never be together again and he mourns her in silence.
I’d like to show great contrast between the delicate, golden ornament (still undesigned) and the furry, dark, and strong beast.
This one is just a rough doodle, but I liked the idea of the beast staring at his own reflection with a melancholic expression on his face, probably wishing to be something else.
That’s all
for now. Thanks for reading, and looking forward to think about more ideas and
start sculpting! 
-Natalia
Replies