My name is Tessa, I'm the founder of Life to Legend which is ran through my company Tez Art & Design (www.tezartdesign.eu). I created this website with the intention to provide information to any creative out there, but also to anyone that's simply curious and wants to learn more about different species of animals, plants and more, extinct species and figments from imagination throughout time.
If you would like to contribute, either contact me through the contact system on the website or participate in the forum!
~Love Tess
Stay tuned, because real soon Life to Legend will have a brand new course available! It’s about time that the next step is taken and we will do so through Skillshare, at least to begin with. Here you will learn how to draw multiple animals from references, and we go deeper into specifics like how to draw fur, feathers, paws and claws, eyes, and so on.
Using exaggeration in your creature design, or even in character design is a little secret that will help you communicate your idea and add interest to your design greatly. It’s that big hooked nose with a mole on it that tells you someone is a witch. The big horns on a creature communicate that it can be a hard hitter. Flashy colors that communicate that the mating season has started or that the creature is toxic. You name it, everything that is ‘extreme’ in shapes, colors, contrasts, and so on, could be a tool. So, how do you use that properly?
Anatomy is one of these things many people are allergic to. So, why is learning anatomy for creature design so important? The simple answer is: It’s an art fundamental. The more complex answer we will discuss in this article. Getting a hang of the why and how will probably make you a bit more excited about this much-dreaded art fundamental. It’s fun to learn really, that is if you have a solid grip on what you’re supposed to learn and why. Thankfully, anatomy is not repetitive. This makes it really awesome to learn once you put your mind to it.
Anthropomorphism. To those that don’t use English as their first language, it is quite the word. As a Dutchy, I thought it was a word for a specific era. Like the Jurassic, the Devonian, or the Phanerozoic. Yes No, I know, they’re not all eras, They’re in fact a period, another period, and an eon. But that’s exactly my point. Anthropomorphism sounds like something it’s not to someone that’s not English and/or doesn’t know too much about expensive words like these. But as you may have guessed already: Anthropomorphism is the art of turning an animal into a human-like being. So how do you do that?
This is a bit of an unusual post for Life to Legend. Normally I only advise artists about how to deal with specific things. This article however is just as useful for anyone looking to buy art. It’s gonna be a short and straightforward one, but with no less importance, especially considering the relevance of the topic and the issues that come with it.