Project Brief
This project was a self produced brief, where I was planning to design a collection of creatures to fit within my high fantasy world of Rotunnis. This is the Cresce Isle Amchi.
The aim was to create 2D creature sheets for each creature. I made sure each were unique, however fit within the same world well. The Amchi is a creature located on Cresce Isle (previously named Wyindil).
Moodboards
I wanted this creature to have a harmonious relationship with the village that lives on the island, for this reason, I wanted it to look cute and endearing.
I looked at a couple of animals known for their friendliness, the capybara and quokka, they're very round creatures. I also looked at costal birds, as well as the green parakeet that is now local to South England, and costal crustaceans due to it being an island habitat.
Iterations
The Idea
I ended up going with a crustacean to make sure I had something very different from my other creatures.
I loved the stalk eyes, as well as the little legs and rounded shell. These features make it look really sweet and friendly.
I made a short animation of its walk cycle, trotting instead of skittering made it sweeter.
The Deliverables
I made a creature sheet, featuring orthographic views, a colour pallet, and a posed illustration to show the personality.
I used an armadillo as reference, wanting to show it with it's shell partially open.
I blocked out the colours over the sketch, then blocked out the basic light and shadow with orange on soft light, and light blue on multiply. I kept adding highlights and shadows to add depth, as well as using some texturing brushes to detail the shell.
The Cresce Isle Amchi
The Cresce Isle Amchi is a creature that lives among the people of the Cresce Isle, in the Astriel Kingdom. It’s a stoney island with a small, bustling village, shaped like a crescent moon. They are about 50cm long (rear to face), and 40cm tall (top of shell), weighing around 10kg.
These sweet, sleepy creatures are seen in a view different colour variations, however the most common are those with red skin, and a green and dusty brown shell. They are easily identified by their large stalk eyes, having monocular vision, allowing them to operate each eye separately. They have rough, stone-like keratin structures up their arms, forming trotter like feet.
They eat tiny shrimps in the rock pools near where they spend most of the day, as well as other small creatures that live there. Munching on dried out seaweed when they don’t feel like exerting much energy. Sleeping on the rocky shores, curled up completely, appearing like stones as the tide comes in. Overnight, barnacles latch to their shells, unable to latch on the pearly substance, however drawn by its reflective twinkles. When the tide leaves in the morning, they awaken, making their way inland toward the village. The villagers have small stations set up where they wait every morning as the amchi approach, allowing the people to take the barnacles off their shells. This provides the village with more barnacles than they could need, being incorporated into many different foods and customs, as well as helping the amchi keep their shells clean.
Due to the cooperative nature between the amchi and the people of Cresce Isle, they love to roam the village freely, enjoying the back scratches many of the local children will give them. They aren't the most intelligent or energetic creatures, spending the red of the day sunbathing or sleeping, happily waiting to be doted on.
Final Designs
