Tried to get this post up sooner, but things have been busy around the studio. I have a few pieces that I am trying to finish for a gallery show coming up in a couple weeks.
Nonetheless, I managed to finish up a few new sketches that I liked for this next installment of redesigning a “krite” from the movie Critters.
In my last post, I was feeling out the critter’s anatomy after I had settled on a look (for the most part). In this post I wanted to solve a few problems that I noticed coming up.
First off, I thought I would decide how I wanted to shape its ribcage. Did I want it more like a bipedal person where the shoulder blades are on the back? Or did I want the ribcage formed more like a quadruped (think of a cat or dog where their shoulder blades are more along the sides of the ribcage). I think I’ve kind of settled in between, but leaning more towards a bipedal stance. The krite isn’t going to run along on all fours. It will roll to move along quickly. And then stand for its evil shenanigans.
Here are a few sketches where I was exploring how the krite would move on all fours and where I wanted to place its shoulders:
The first rough image below show me thinking out where to connect the mass of flesh that I want to give the critter on its back (similar to a caterpillar – check earlier post for reference on this idea). I was also thinking about arm to leg ratio. The next 2 more finished sketches show some more problem solving. I am figuring out how to connect the fleshy skin to its arms and how much hair to give it. In the original, the krite has a large mane of hair, I wanted to mimic that mainly with all the flesh, but I also wanted to have some hair. Either some around the head that is revealed when the krite sticks its head forward, or just a bit here and there all over:
I’m also thinking that I like the hunched over stance of the last image above. I think I’ll go with that. And I might stick with thicker arms. I’ll have to play with that a bit more, but I think that will work better than thinner ones. I also am enjoying how the skin wrinkles from the sternum to the arms and around the head. That will help the believability from when it curls up and then stands.
All in all, I think it’s coming along pretty well. More to come!
Click here for part three of designing a new Critter – Finding a Direction – Part 1
Click here for part two of designing a new Critter – Huntin’ Down Reference
Click here for part one of designing a new Critter – My Kind of Critter
Josh Hagen 
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