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Endless Realms bestiary - Cheshire Cat
Bestiary artwork for Endless Realms, a D&D-like "pen and paper" fantasy RPG I'm working for.
You can thank my husband for this one! I was assigned to do a cheshire cat, but wasn't given any particular art direction for it, other than she didn't want it to look like a normal feline, and that whatever he looked like, he should be insanity-inducing and reality-bending. I was wondering what sort of build I would give the creature - I knew I wanted him at least a little creepy, but too lanky and thin, and he might start looking like Alice McGee's cheshire, and too large and fat, and he might start looking like the cats from Dark Souls. I brought my dilemma to my husband, who said, "Well, the creature is all about his grin, right? The rest of his body should be overtly secondary - perhaps have it drifting eerily behind him as a shriveled, vestigial, body-shaped growth. Perhaps it can puppeteer its body to mimic the movements of a normal one, but really, its the head doing all the moving."
Now, I thought that sounded awesome, but I couldn't quiiiite get the dead, boneless look I wanted if I drew the body drifting on the air behind it, so I just drew the body dangling limply instead - maybe this is his way of getting a laugh out of other people (at their expense, of course) :V
Weaving in and out of a dark mist at night, it appears to simply be the silhouette of a cat, when suddenly the form begins to congeal slowly, gradually somehow growing ever more wrong the more it becomes clear... Then suddenly, something in your mind snaps, and the cat drifts off into the night once more, smiling to itself.
Concept & Artwork © 2014-2017 Lunar Games Inc.
Endless Realms FAQ: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5774483/
You can thank my husband for this one! I was assigned to do a cheshire cat, but wasn't given any particular art direction for it, other than she didn't want it to look like a normal feline, and that whatever he looked like, he should be insanity-inducing and reality-bending. I was wondering what sort of build I would give the creature - I knew I wanted him at least a little creepy, but too lanky and thin, and he might start looking like Alice McGee's cheshire, and too large and fat, and he might start looking like the cats from Dark Souls. I brought my dilemma to my husband, who said, "Well, the creature is all about his grin, right? The rest of his body should be overtly secondary - perhaps have it drifting eerily behind him as a shriveled, vestigial, body-shaped growth. Perhaps it can puppeteer its body to mimic the movements of a normal one, but really, its the head doing all the moving."
Now, I thought that sounded awesome, but I couldn't quiiiite get the dead, boneless look I wanted if I drew the body drifting on the air behind it, so I just drew the body dangling limply instead - maybe this is his way of getting a laugh out of other people (at their expense, of course) :V
Weaving in and out of a dark mist at night, it appears to simply be the silhouette of a cat, when suddenly the form begins to congeal slowly, gradually somehow growing ever more wrong the more it becomes clear... Then suddenly, something in your mind snaps, and the cat drifts off into the night once more, smiling to itself.
Concept & Artwork © 2014-2017 Lunar Games Inc.
Endless Realms FAQ: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5774483/
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Feline (Other)
Size 800 x 800px
File Size 764.1 kB
Thank you very much! Hehe, yeah, while I wanted him to definitely be off-putting and creepy in appearance, I could see him actually being decently amiable... if he's in the mood. I bet he wouldn't mind the name Fluffy, seems the sort of thing a crazy character might enjoy :b
I love it. Creatures that are clearly the result of warped reality and insanity, that inspire mankind with an instinctive sense of wrongness are my favorites. Probably because, even in a fantasy universe, they are perverse and monstrous and have no place in the natural order, thus making them very spooky to me. Even in the thumbnail, the intent of your husband's suggestion and your design for the "vestigial" body is immediately apparent. Really well done, again.
Thanks! Yeah, over the past few years, I've gotten really fond of horror elements. I used to think it was just about gore/violence, but it can be a lot more than that, almost like a tool to illustrate just what we think of as "normal", and to play on what that is in different ways. I'm a fan of satire, and I feel like horror is almost like an abstract, dark form of it.
Heh, it's sort of funny/neat how things can feel most "wrong" when they're so close to being right. Things that almost look like a normal creature, but have no eyes, or their mouth is in the wrong place. Or yeah, things can feel most "wrong" when something that WAS right is twisted, or as you said, turned perverse, unnatural. I feel like stuff like that is often more poignant and impactful (and scarier/creepier) than stuff that's just "rar imma kill you."
Again, thank you kindly :)
Heh, it's sort of funny/neat how things can feel most "wrong" when they're so close to being right. Things that almost look like a normal creature, but have no eyes, or their mouth is in the wrong place. Or yeah, things can feel most "wrong" when something that WAS right is twisted, or as you said, turned perverse, unnatural. I feel like stuff like that is often more poignant and impactful (and scarier/creepier) than stuff that's just "rar imma kill you."
Again, thank you kindly :)
Tough challenge, indeed. Especially as you named two very good resemblances you would not want to get too close to. (Seriously: i hated Alvinas Children. Never worth the trouble going all that way -.-).
I think you really got a good alternative there, as when you compare it to the Disney-variety, it actually WAS able to dissolve his body into whatever form it wished. Thus, that neverending etereal tail really looks fitting :3
I think you really got a good alternative there, as when you compare it to the Disney-variety, it actually WAS able to dissolve his body into whatever form it wished. Thus, that neverending etereal tail really looks fitting :3
lol, those cats were dicks. I remember wandering through that area the first time, slipping down the hill by accident but not thinking much of it at the time, when suddenly OMGWTFROLLINGCATS?! "You are dead." Obviously, I had to go back and keep trying until I had killed all of them, but still! Dicks.
Thanks! Heh, yeah :) I liked the idea of his tail going off into un/sur/ethereality, like it weaves weirdness into the fabric of a place wherever it goes, and can gradually vanish or fade out like a proper Cheshire cat should be able to.
Thanks! Heh, yeah :) I liked the idea of his tail going off into un/sur/ethereality, like it weaves weirdness into the fabric of a place wherever it goes, and can gradually vanish or fade out like a proper Cheshire cat should be able to.
Thanks a lot! Yeah, I was debating going for more a hulking cat-monster or amorphous hairy blob cat, but didn't want it to just look like a Disney Cheshire or Dark Souls cat, so... yeah. Creepy decrepit body it was! Once the idea was put forward as, "Why give it a big robust body when you want people to focus on the grin?" I was sold :b
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