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OperaGhost21 [2013-06-04 15:00:15 +0000 UTC]

"I DO love simple, giant animals...sadly though Kaijudom isn't very interested in that."

So WHAT? Goodness gracious, do what you want to do!

That being said, I like it.

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dragonofbrainstorms [2013-05-31 21:41:58 +0000 UTC]

are ya gonna do the midgard serpent?

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HewyToonmore [2013-05-31 14:50:48 +0000 UTC]

Ooh, could I maybe use this design for my Mythology series?

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ProfessorCene [2013-05-31 13:46:25 +0000 UTC]

From a cartoony standpoint, I do like the face. However, I think you were trying to go for horror, which this does not convey, and DoM doesn't seem like a very cartoony verse. As for kaijufying it more, mountains keep popping into my head. If he's a wolf the size of a mountain, why not make him look somewhat like a mountain. Give him a high arcing back and have rocky features jutting out from his back and shoulders. those are just some ideas that come to mind, feel free to ignore them if you don't care for them.

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SirKaijuOfVaudeville [2013-05-31 10:43:26 +0000 UTC]

Okay, you want a critique, Ole boy? Well Here one comes, but first I have to address this:

Using our arguments for disliking Furries, out of context if I might add, as apart your design process of an excuse....seriously, what? We’re not going to further define WHY we use Uncanny Valley to describe Furries because that's an in project reference and it doesn't entirely define how we perceive them within their own medium and in art. It irritates me that you again trying to label it otherwise because it shows how little you actually understand our position or the work that went into coming to that conclusion. It seems you see only what you want to see and try to make it warm and safe for your own personal use. You are on a slippery slope Ak, you didn't even bother to clarify your reference with either of us before mentioning us, which annoys me more than anything else here :/. Though that is a personal complaint that has no bearing on the rest of the design. If you want, we could get together so we can lay said position out straight so as no more misunderstandings and such like this doesn’t happen again, as equal footing and understanding is best for everyone, no?

Another issue I have point out is this: In regards to your approach here: you're wrong. Cartoons are Cartoons. Their exaggerated features and expressions are deliberately designed to mimic a human or in the case of Disney a voice actor, for COMEDIC EFFECT. Case and point Genie from Aladin is a big blue, arabic Robin Williams and Scar is Jeremy Irons in lolcat, ‘jesus Christ it’s a lion get in the car’ form. The Uncanny Valley is an element of HORROR. One does not use methods created by a company that is about emotions, childhood and COMEDY to express HORROR. It just doesn’t work, hence why a certain White Bird failed so flat in his attempts at horror, all he got as a big pink, wut inducing rapetopus. Furthermore, Cartoons are used to symbolize something. A particular archetype of person or a role, every visual cue is designed to invoke that role or person. Uncanny Valley is all about performing the action but looking extremely insincere and WRONG. It's why it often comes into effect with robots and dolls, because they are imitations of humans and the imitation is meant to be taken seriously but is creepy because its just going through the motions. Cartoons are symbolic but they are utterly sincere in their symbolism. Those that invoke the Uncanny Valley are not this sorry to say.

The closest you are going to get from an animated medium for the effect you are looking for, are the animal gods from Princess Monoke. You see the gods talk and even laugh, but they are NOT humans and do not EXPRESS themselves like humans which is why they are otherworldly and disturbing in various ways, sometimes awe inspiring like the Forest Spirit and sometimes horrifying like the boar's demonic possession.

You can't achieve the effect of Uncanny Valley by giving a realistic creature a cartoon face or viceversa. That's just a gag shot in motion. The horror comes from the character performing an action it should not be able to do. Giving a character the means to do that intentionally defeats the purpose.

Now with that out of the way, we can fully begin the critiquing process, shall we~?

Ultimately, This thing is not scary. It just looks odd. Its ears are big fluffy pom poms, like a killer chow chow. If you want to make a creepy Fenrir based kaiju, this is not the most advisable method of doing so. It already looks more like that fire starter from Sixth Gen Pokemon than it does a legendary monstrous wolf. Ie, a giant fluffy fox that has a glasglow grin for funnsies. Body could go anywhere, but head tells me a very different story from what you are trying to achieve. To bring up examples from other artists, Kentauro Muira of Berserk for example invokes the myth of Fenrir rather well as the personal, inner foe of the protagonist….it looks like this:

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Pay attention that it looks canid, yet is definitely not. Its wide, unnaturally large jaws and thunderbolt shaped eyes make more of a true figure of horror. It’s not cuddly, is not your over personified Disney villain, it isn’t trying to attempt human expressions it’s a pure monster, as what Fenris in myth is supposed to be. It’s the pure unrelenting rage of a tortured man’s psyche made incarnate, it works so much so it was once the the trope image for Animalistic Abomination, [link] which I am going to go out on a limb and assume is what your trying here. Creatures like these have little to no human traits and yet are complete unnatural abominations despite resembling something of nature.Though there is a way to make human traits really scary on an animal…but I don’t think it’s what you want:

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So If I had a suggestion: Remove the humanized/Disney facial features, go for more horror and unnatural aspects of it. Less Human, More Animal, yet more demonically monstrous. Make the jaws unnaturally long and wide, with gnarly bear trap like teeth that looks totally unnatural. Not a bad first attempt in anycase, but you are approaching the concept all wrong. And I dare say you are greatly improving with animals in any case, while you fall flat on the horror aspect, it certainly captures the feeling of canid really well, as it seems to be your primary motivation here given your artists comments, in that regard you hit the ball out of the ball park, your progress with animalistic forms certainly shows a lot of progress, it is certainly your strong point in your art curious to see how it improves in the future. So bottom line, you hit one ball out of the ball park, but you struck out on another, but hey, progress isn’t done with out its missteps.

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