Fantasy Animals

[onyxhawke]

I ran across this set of pictures, and wondered how many writers actually visualize some of the creatures they put into their world. Spider-bats and or spider-lizard combinations seem to be pretty common, yet none of those here.

So for those writing fantasy, or even non terrestrial SF, how detailed is your mental image of non sentient creatures?

Comments

[archangelbeth]

I try to get pretty detailed... Here's a drabble version... And some sketches -- go down a bit to the Djinn ones. Djinn are always fun to imagine and describe.

Sometimes the images I get are very hard to describe, though.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

My critters aren't nearly that cool. I wonder if there's a book of that kind of pictures out there? It would be a great inspiration.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Wait...where are the serpent-demons? ;)

[archangelbeth]

What, mine? I have my Seraphim and Balseraphs sketches here, with the rest of my IN sketches. (Which I do not claim to be fine art; follow links at own risk!)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are neat! I like the winged bear-thing. (Tebah?)

Actually, I was thinking of the half-and-half character from a book that I inflicted on Onyxhawke a while back. (He's quite sentient, but it was the closest example I could think of.) My attempts at drawing him didn't come out that well, though.

[archangelbeth]

Tebah is a Djinn -- a character in some fanfic that I wrote a while back. (Though, for fanfic, it has an oddly publishable potential -- should the game's publisher decide that fiction would be a good addition.) I tend to describe him as a bear-wolf with a dragon's tail and ratty paws (and the obligatory bat-wings, as he is a demon), with scales scattered amidst his fur.

And, er, you can tell that I am very pleased that someone likes my Tebbikins. *grin* Thank you.

(No links to your serpent-demon? Aw!)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

Still searching for an agent/publisher for mine. A friend made me a nice avatar of him, but for some reason all I can find is his "nametag."

[archangelbeth]

Good luck on the agent search! I should probably not make teasing remarks about this agent-fellow, has a livejournal, posts interesting links to multi-animal composites, while I have a fever of slightly over 100F, though. >_>

(And darn that the avatar's gone missing.)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
I'm certainly not going to tease Onyxhawke. He's been wonderfully encouraging.
I'm sure the picture's on my computer, but for some reason when I select what I thought was the right avatar, nothing posts. Weird.
Hope you feel better soon!

[jryson.livejournal.com]

I obsess over my aliens. Granted, most of them end up being furries.

i do have some flying creatures. They also have arms and legs, so they're hexapods. I fumbled around with the anatomy. The extra limbs meant extra skeletal structure--someplace to hang flight muscles. I came up with a kind of keel, so that the flight muscles look like a pot belly on a Michelangelo angel. Folded wings extend above the head with the tips just off the floor. They stand about four or five feet tall.

But yeah, I do think a lot about plausibility when I deal with aliens.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Those sound neat.

[atateatarin.livejournal.com]

Generally around about this detailed (http://sinn-ryu.deviantart.com/art/Vexus-on-the-Clocktower-49896784).

I enjoy the 'concept art' stage as much as the actual writing stage. Not because it's nice having pictures hanging around, but it also helps me visualise them as characters, rather than the nebulous 'impression' of their appearance :] that and I love to paint up scenes, and having a clear image of my characters makes that much easier hahah!

With creatures it's very much the same; by sketching out and considering the way in which they would 'work' as living things, I find it an effective way to 'characterise' them as well -- given that certain creatures with particular needs and builds, and living in particular environments will all behave in different ways. _{(For instance, these (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/Atarin/TTAC-uusra-2008.jpg) developed long legs to suit the environment they live in in said fantasy world)}

It's not that that sort of thing that actually gets written in -- but it's a helpful influence in deciding what should appear where, how it should behave, and in what way should the characters react to stay out of harm's way most effectively :D