-Entry from the Beastiarium: Desert Drake or "Sand Crocodile". Habitat: Scorched Plane. An area where life is a rarity. The Sand Crocodile has perfected a way of treacherous hunting called "bait and switch": It first submerges itself into the dunes. The sandcolored body provides perfect camoufalge. The jagged stone-like scales of its spine imitate a rock formation and the ending of its tail mimics a date palm. In a world without water or fruits the shadow of a date palm can be deceivingly inviting. Once the prey has settled, the drake strikes. The victim is either claimed in a single, earth-shaking leap or by its big swinging tail that hits like a tree. The only tell is its hot temper: Every time the Sand Crocodile switches from baiting to attacking, its gullet emits a strong orange, visible even through the sand. It prefers the amber light of sunset to mask this tell-tale sign but in the bright light of midday, that subterranean glow is the only warning the target will receive before the sand turns to teeth.- This course has been fun! Loved the standardized approach that leads to repeatable success. Love the brushes and the art style (definately going to continue to follow on Instagram). Maybe in the future there is a possibility to learn from you about splash art? Anyway, this was baller!

One of each assignment. Mob creature based on classic desert animals, namely spiders, scorpions, and armadillos. Next is the Dark Wizard Apprentice, mutated by dark magic. Trying to make even that level one boss intimidating and creeeeeeeepy haha. Enjoy!

I chose enemy 1, imagining it to be a wizard's disciple who loved fire and water spells. With no other test subjects available, the wizard decided to transform him into an elemental that could use both elements.

Hi everyone! This is my submission for this last assignment, I chose Enemy 1: the Raid Boss (Albarack) This was VERY challenging to define but also super fun to play around with, I struggled a bit deciding where I wanted to take him but I'm pleased with the end result - I added a younger version of himself for a bit extra storytelling. So.. this is the "story" I created for him: He was a high-born elven mage, apprentice to our “Final Boss.” Frustrated by the limits of his studies, he followed his master down a darker path in search of greater power. There, he discovered entities from another astral plane and began studying them—until he forged a pact, believing he could control it. The bargain transformed him into a powerful warlock, but the magic consumed him faster than he expected. To slow the corruption, he bound himself with enchanted amulets. In exchange for his sacrifices, he wields devastating bursts of arcane energy—though the power has severely eroded his mind and clarity. Thanks for everything! This course helped me a lot to experiment with a more fluid and practical process and I'm happy with how the designs turned out.

Hey everyone, This has been a really fun and informative course. I’ve truly enjoyed Dave’s insight into how he communicates and creates art. Just as importantly, gaining a deeper understanding of the concept pipeline process, along with approvals and procedures, has been incredibly valuable to me. I also loved watching everyone’s art come to life. It’s been a real treat. Here is my submission for Enemy 1. I completed my silhouette sheet, and as tradition goes, the last one was the design I chose to develop further. I went with a Celtic wizard woman. Rather than giving her extensive defensive and offensive capabilities, I decided to scale things back a bit. She shoots plasma and electricity from her fingers and can escape quietly using a cloaking ability that allows her to quickly blend into the environment. See you all, I hope to run into you out there!

composed alternative designs for both prompts after receiving feedback, making sure to refer back to the brief as often as i could - happy with how both sets have turned out, just unsure if i'll be able to complete both in time for the deadline. feedback would be much appreciated!

Hi guys, I’m still trying to figure out which enemy 2 to go forward with. Any help would be appreciated! I’ve taken 3 designs a bit further but not sure which one to render. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks <3

Hi everyone! I chose Enemy 2, as you can see from the sketches i was really uncertain whether to go full "elemental/infernal beast" or towards a less magical creature The idea was to create a creature capable of surviving very high temperatures, with an heavy rock-like shell. Then I hypothesized the existence of very small insects that feeds on the creature shell, releasing substances that react with heat and crystalize on the creature's shell, creating sharp crystals used as weapons Hope you like it! (Yes I'm a huge Monster Hunter fan so i probably ended up putting a lot of its design influence into the final design)

So I feel I kinda phoned the last one in because I was behind and rushed it. Now I’m gonna try to do a fully rendered piece. As a fan of WoW I always love when they have a character do a callback and become a boss. *This is gonna be CORRUPTED Inkpot Sam! 💀. He delved too much into his ancient tomes and the corruption of the ancient magics has utterly cast him into darkness.

Hello! I realize that I could have pushed the "epicness" of my mage tower concepts. But, my thought process was leaning towards a classic fantasy, simplistic design for this project. Going to have a crack at the other prompt but here's the description: "Fortunately, someone else has triggered the defense rune before you got here. Unfortunately, that previous intruder is polymorphed and hostile to anyone else who enters! Watch out for his blind rampage, stepping on more runes will trigger more defenses!"

Good evening everyone! I'm working with Enemy 1, the first boss, and I would love some feedback on the thumbnails I'm working with below. Initially, I started with the idea of an apprentice being fused with some animal/creature qualities, like an experiment gone wrong, but then thought just having a "corrupted" or "evil" apprentice might also be interesting. Again, I would love any and all feedback and I'm really looking forward to what everyone will come up with. Thanks!

Hello all! I chose the Enemy 2 of the description given. I will attach all 4 phases of its process. For the Thumbnail stage I used Scott Flanders’s Shapecarving Technique. Any feedback is always appreciated. :)

Would love to get some feedback on what I have so far. The top 5 sketches (A-E) are the sketches that Im thinking about moving forward with. I am going with Enemy 1, the first boss in the Wizard's Tower. To stick with the idea of the first boss in the raid not being super powerful, I thought it would be fun to play with the idea of an apprentice and a golem/guardian/security system. Also included are my other iterations I was playing with. I'm leaning towards A, B, and E, but would love to hear what others think! Here's some of my thought process behind the story elements. The apprentice and golem/guardian I feel are pretty self explanatory. They are there to serve/learn the Evil Wizard. They are a small taste of the ancient magic the Wizard uses. I was thinking the lower part of the tower is the most neglected part of the tower, where the Wizard "allows" nearby goblins to live in. He could have the goblins removed, but in a weird "symbiotic relationship" way, the wizard sees that they can be quite useful protecting his lower levels. Additionally, I thought it would have been interesting if the goblins also decided to raid the Wizard's Tower at the same time the players did. A bit of a "wrong place at the wrong time" vibe.

did some thumbs for the fire mob; happy with the silhouette variety, but not sure if these are an appropriate response to the brief.

Hey guys! This is my progress on the design. Do you have any tips on taking it further?

hey all! planning on responding to both prompts, hoping to take at least one of them all the way; just posting the wizard line-up whilst i work on thumbs for the other prompt. making sure to keep the brief in view alongside visual references to avoid straying too far. feedback would be much appreciated!

Hi guys! I chose enemy 2 as it is more out of my comfort zone and I wanted to challenge myself, but it is really hard for me! I have done a bunch of step 1 thumbnails because I’m just a bit confused to be honest. any guidance or help choosing would be greatly appreciated! Also if I’m barking up the wrong tree please don’t worry about being critical - I want to learn!

The First Warden --- Once a promising student of magic, set out to search for the wizard who had withdrawn from the school and vanished. When he found the hidden tower, the master welcomed him as an apprentice, and for a time the old dream of knowledge seemed alive. But as the lessons turned to twisted experiments, the apprentice began to see the true cost of the wizard’s ambition. Unable to accept that, he tried to oppose his master and expose the forbidden work. The wizard answered that defiance by remaking him into a living vessel for arcane trials no mortal body was meant to endure. He also feared that the creature might remember the man it had been. So he forged an obsidian ring etched with the Violet Oath, binding the warden’s will to the tower and silencing what remained of his former self. --- For his abilities: *Orb Bomb – Summons an explosive orb that detonates on impact, dealing direct damage and creating a damaging puddle. *Crushing Stomp – Area attack that inflicts damage and applies a brief stun. *Suppressing Silence – Cast that silences players who fail to maintain the required distance. *Siphon Grasp - He channels a concentrated beam of arcane energy toward a random player. The damage is shared between all players standing within the marked area, requiring the raid to group up and soak the blast. If too few players absorb it, the target suffers lethal damage and is briefly weakened. --- And as a bit of fun mechanic, when the boss reaches roughly 20% health he enters a dizzy state (which would be timed), allowing players to destroy the obsidian ring on his leg. But they don’t have to do that and they can blast him (that would fasten the wake up). If the ring is broken, the apprentice is freed from the wizard’s control and joins the raid as an ally. He fights beside the players during the next encounter, but remains heavily weakened at only 20% health and automatically takes primary aggro from the second boss. Because of this, he is expected to die around 85-90% of health of the 2nd boss, serving as narrative closure.

What do you think of these thumbnails guys? Which do you like?

You already know Imma just do all three, right? XD