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Description
Vote on Patreon to decide which animals get combined into creature design combos!

I often get asked how to create compelling creature designs based on real world animals.
So here are my 🔥hot🔥 tips-
1.) Draw inspiration from as many organisms as possible. I always use a minimum of three. This keeps any one feature from being too prominent in your final design.
2.) Try to focus on indistinct aspects of your inspiration, like posture, or the shape of their spine/head/limbs. Don't replicate any part of the original animal's body completely. In this creature I used the armor of the pangolin (second pic) but none of its body shape. The turtle was the primary inspiration for the silhouette, and the earth worm was the source of the creatue's underbelly, skin texture, and color pallet.
3.) Choose a variety of organisms as your inspiration. A tiger and a lynx might seem like a cool combo, but your resulting neo-kitty might not stand out against other more inventive designs.
4.) Have fun! The rules of biology are your playground, and you can disregard the limits of reality as you please. A good example is in the mirroring of the fins on this creature. Doubling limbs or other body parts to create visual flair or complexity is A-Okay! I did the same thing with the beak, expanding it to four sections instead of the turtle's more ordinary top and bottom beak parts. Creature design is an excuse to explore and experiment. Don't hold back.

That's all I got for now! Leave three animals in the comments that you think would make a good combo, and I'll create a creature based on them.

Follow me on Instagram @TopherStoll for more weird art and general life stuff.
Follow me on Tumblr for more weird art, con appearances, and book excerpts
Follow me on Twitter @TopherStoll if you want to watch me argue with neo-nazis

Also feel free to Visit my Etsy Store where you can buy weird art and books and stuff!

Description
Vote on Patreon to decide which animals get combined into creature design combos!

I often get asked how to create compelling creature designs based on real world animals.
So here are my 🔥hot🔥 tips-
1.) Draw inspiration from as many organisms as possible. I always use a minimum of three. This keeps any one feature from being too prominent in your final design.
2.) Try to focus on indistinct aspects of your inspiration, like posture, or the shape of their spine/head/limbs. Don't replicate any part of the original animal's body completely. In this creature I used the armor of the pangolin (second pic) but none of its body shape. The turtle was the primary inspiration for the silhouette, and the earth worm was the source of the creatue's underbelly, skin texture, and color pallet.
3.) Choose a variety of organisms as your inspiration. A tiger and a lynx might seem like a cool combo, but your resulting neo-kitty might not stand out against other more inventive designs.
4.) Have fun! The rules of biology are your playground, and you can disregard the limits of reality as you please. A good example is in the mirroring of the fins on this creature. Doubling limbs or other body parts to create visual flair or complexity is A-Okay! I did the same thing with the beak, expanding it to four sections instead of the turtle's more ordinary top and bottom beak parts. Creature design is an excuse to explore and experiment. Don't hold back.

That's all I got for now! Leave three animals in the comments that you think would make a good combo, and I'll create a creature based on them.

Follow me on Instagram @TopherStoll for more weird art and general life stuff.
Follow me on Tumblr for more weird art, con appearances, and book excerpts
Follow me on Twitter @TopherStoll if you want to watch me argue with neo-nazis

Also feel free to Visit my Etsy Store where you can buy weird art and books and stuff!