Development Pt 2

Night Gaunts

From the start I worked hard on the character development of the Night Gaunts - with the story revolving around nightmares, I felt it more appropriate if the terror was more strongly developed than the protagonist, I wanted the audience to feel easier placing themselves in the shoes of the protagonist, and with this, ultimately feeling more at unease. 

I wanted emaciated figures, contorted out of shape, to create a little bit of shock value - however the first image was way too busy, the second seemed more likely to me; but I still felt that something was off.

Following that, I looked at Satanic symbolism and the Leviathans Key. This symbol was not originally one associated with Satanism, interestingly, and was a scientific symbol for Sulfur. The catholic Church used it for anti-science propaganda, which also explains the association of Sulfur with the presence of demons. Four arms felt much more suited to me, allowed the creatures to look even more mobile. It was in the second image that I felt the wings seemed too cliche to convey horror, and so I looked at an alternative.

The use of membranes between the four arms felt much more appropriate to me, so I chased this idea. During a mockup of a potential scene (just to experiment with the style in a more constructed layout), it was now that I realised that the illustrations simply looked too similar to the officials in the actual Necronomicon, and so had to reassess the style.

I did again see if redesigning the face was an option, however felt the blank face was quite effective and decided to leave that alone. I tried working in gouache, but for the scale I was working at it was quite difficult. I also had to redesign the wings, as the new style in which I was working did not suit the old ones. During a group crit, I received very positive feedback for the small vignette on the bottom page, and decided to pursue that style further. In the poem, Night Gaunts are described as black, however I felt that wouldn't work when shrunk down to the right size in terms of detail, and so stuck with a more 'black magic' theme as opposed to actual black skin. Happy with my progress with the Night Gaunts, I tried again with designing the cats in this newer style.