I like your idea a lot on this! I'd find it more interesting if the chest had a less boxy shape, and feel more organic like your crab is! Like the wood could have morphed around it and stuff. It could be cracked up in places, revealing the crab,s body also. keep it going!
I decided to ditch the abdomen sticking out the back. I refined some of the anatomy around the front legs and head. I also made the treasure chest flare outwards around the bottom like caveman suggested.
Haha, what a great and terrible idea. I can imagine doing the diligence to check out this chest, make sure the chain is on the right side, watching to see if it moves at all, and finally opening, seeing the gold, feeling safe, and then it pops up and the beast comes from underneath. Great design.
I don't have much to say about the modeling. The crab-like creature kind of goes together well with the piratey-looking chest IMO. Being Dark Souls inspired, you may use layers to experiment with more thorny protrusions on the legs? Also, where the back legs tie into the abdomen, maybe the shell should protrude out more around them, just for a bit more contrast happening back there. And one last random suggestion, I think Dark Souls tends to really over-do their monsters, so filling that entire head with asymmetric bug eyes might fit that design a little better? I don't know, maybe not, but just some things to consider trying if you like the sound of it.
Good job so far. I think the main thing to consider with this right now is the large shapes. The criteria earlier about it being boxy I think was a lot about the sharpness of those corners. If you look at this way zoomed out it looks almost low poly in those corners. I'd soften those way up and go for a soft wood and metal look in general. Check some other people's cartoon chests. Also I think the crab is super cool but you can push the sillohette bt tappering out the parts away from the joints. Keep going and always check the read from zoomed out!
I messed around with some of his shapes like BradMyer82 Suggested, and I re-positioned his legs and mouth so his body reads better from a distance. I also changed his eyes a bit. Let me know what you guys think of the changes to his body. Tomorrow I will re-tackle the treasure chest.
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I don't have much to say about the modeling. The crab-like creature kind of goes together well with the piratey-looking chest IMO. Being Dark Souls inspired, you may use layers to experiment with more thorny protrusions on the legs? Also, where the back legs tie into the abdomen, maybe the shell should protrude out more around them, just for a bit more contrast happening back there. And one last random suggestion, I think Dark Souls tends to really over-do their monsters, so filling that entire head with asymmetric bug eyes might fit that design a little better? I don't know, maybe not, but just some things to consider trying if you like the sound of it.