Creature Concept Art - Using Animal Classifications & Functionality Realistically 

putting a bear next to an elephent where the bear is the same size, makes bears look a lot scarier

Me: I haven't done creature design in so long, and I'm scared to get back into it! RU-vid algorithm (actually being good for once):

There's one thing forgotten!😅 That is, on the animal features, in order for the animal to have that feature, why does it need it? For example, on the Primate example you gave, it has a big build and thick white/transparent fur for camouflage. But as you said, it lives in a cold climate. For an animal to survive in a cold climate, it needs to stay warm, and fur is not enough, it also needs fat. Especially for such a large animal. So instead of being muscular, it needs to be fat. Why do ducks have webbed feet? It provides them the ability to explore more places to find more food. Why does the Stegosaur have those backplates? So that the blood vessels in those plates can easily be cooled by the cold air and then circulates it when the body gets too warm.

You should start adding rib cages. They help.

Flight, Jumping, Running, Swimming... sounds familiar... oh wait, the freakin' Duck Life games

Just gonna mention: the idea of an ape the size of a rhino is horrifying.

The art style is sooo good! I wish I had a gaint book of animals in this art style.

Fantastic and well thought out content. This is also easy to follow and the structure of the video is great.

I recommend a channel called Tierzoo for some great ideas on what abilities animals have. For example, humans have high stamina regen, with the “sweat” ability allowing them to catch up to fast moving prey over long distances (as opposed to ambush predators like felines who extend a lot of stamina for a short burst where they must obtain a critical hit).

This is an information goldmine. I always had trouble designing creatures for my stories and this was a major help.

I like how there are a lot of subconscious details that we notice that for animals in real life that make us feel something off when those details arent present in drawings

Super professional, well made video! I was a little caught off guard when you said "Ask for feedback and help in the comments, and I'll let you know" because I realized that this isn't a company with a high budget making these, it's just a really helpful and professional creator. Great job with the video!

Amazing content! When I clicked on the video it was packed with information and I will honestly say I have learned something!

I cAN FInAlLY Draw RaTs-

I am not experienced with drawing - only doodling. My favourite thing to draw though is fantastical creatures that merge elements of real animals. This is so useful! Thanks!

I found this video just now, and I just had to say that it's GREAT!! It was SO Nicely structured and easy to understand, it was straight to the point and yet showed So Much, Thanks for making this!

You have a pretty androgynous voice ❤️ (pretty in both meanings)

For dog sleds you don't use reins but rather commands, I love this video though

Fantastic video. I unconciously thought about most of that before, but it helps a lot to bring structure to it. It's a lot easier to study this way too. Thanks for the great video!

i am half way through and i see you put WAR as a usability but at the bottom and faded. I must say very nice

this is rather simplistic. don't forget, there are animals that are both warm and cold-blooded.

This is a wonderful video; I'm so so so bad at drawing animals that look interesting without messing up their proportions. I will definitely be coming back to this video

as usual this information should only be applied to fantasy. Realistically animals on other planets will not fall into the same categories and will have their own bone structures. Alien animals that could be classed as invertebrate would be more common than ones that could be classed as vertebrate and other classes may show up as well such as animals with an internal skeleton but no spine. The adaptations we see on earth would recur but with entirely unexpected results. You would be more likely to find a hoofed salamander-starfish with a unicorn horn than a giant blue horse with antennae. The animal's natural function in the wild would be one we are familiar with. I doubt there are a great many ecological niches that we haven't already seen or that can't at least be compared to a similar one we are familiar with. Usability as well would be the same with the exception of things like symbiotes who's function is either to enhance an ability of the host like an infinite steroid or provide access to an ability the host doesn't naturally possess. Please do not follow advice on fantasy creatures when designing for science fiction. We need more Darwin IVs and fewer Pandoras, Tatooines, Qonoses...

I use the game spore as a way to get ideas for creatures. The graphics arent very good nor the movements, BUT it's highly customizable in the sense of posture and dramatic and real bone structure.

I can't express how much this video has helped me with my fantasy creatures and designs of them. This was very usefull,thank you so much ❤

Arguably one of the best videos I've ever watched on RU-vid, subbed

Have you ever felt so much inspiration you wanted to cry and throw up but smiling so big anyway?

a good book to help with this is the science of creature design by terryl whitlatch

You need more subs. This helped me a lot!

As a biologist, props to this video!

I created a cross between a horse and a wolf. I wanted to find the correct balance. I noted how their heads have a similar structure, so I pulled the mouth on the horse way back to where the teeth end, like a dog, and gave it sharp teeth. Instead of loping like an ungulate, the horse sprints in a doglike fashion with legs similar in structure to those of a wolf. Its back curves upward towards the end and it has a long bushy tail which wags instead of a horse tail. At the end of its legs there are paws with very large and sharp claws instead of hooves. Other than that, the creature has the features of a horse in its neck, facial and bone structure other than its spine, and the sounds it makes are some hell-wrought contortion between a howl and a neigh. I'm happy with the outcome and I think it's a nice balance. It helps, if you're doing what I'm doing and creating some strange cross between two unlikely creatures, if you find ones that look alike.

I love the creature you showed at the end!

oooh this is amazing! It is more than 'learn anatomy', as it breakdown what and why to learn! Thank you very much!

Thank you so much for this!! I'm currently doing a worldbuilding project at college and I've been given the task of designing the creatures. I've made lots of notes, and I already know how incredibly helpful they're going to be! 😁

I would seriously watch infinite videos of you drawing your own creatures (with or without explanation). It's so incredible and inspiring!

Your art is absolutely beautiful and the designs are so creative :D This tutorial looks so professional and it is really informative. Good job!

I love that snow gorilla! Super realistic, this video will help me a lot! Thanks!

Very well done. Your animal classification is extremely simplified (Eg, if you ask a taxonomy expert, you'll find that birds are, in fact, reptiles, due to their dinosaur heritage), but it's functional.

Thank you for the crash course and laying some foundations about creature design

Thanks for the concepts designs❤

Thank you for the tips! Keep up the good work. Nice Great Ape concept as well.

This was super helpful! I had just started questioning where I would even start with my animal designs and now I basically have a step by step guide for how to start each new animal I make!!

I know this was made for school many jears ago. But if you made some more videos like these I would definitely watch them

Birds and reptiles have always been my forte. But man, mammals stump me every time. This video was super helpful

When I came to this video, I wasn't expecting this quality of explanation.

Very nice and definitive guide. I like content that goes straight to the point. Good job! Waiting for more videos like this! Also you are in a good drawing shape. So much attention to detail, even sketches look finished:)

Do you have these skeleton graphics somewhere to take a closer look?

i love creating creatures, this really helps!!

Still one of my favorie videos on animal anatomy And creature design

Men I wish there was a book that would teach you all this

This video should be known more. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

This is sooooo helpful, thank you very much. There are many things that I didn't even take into account when designing creatures, and this helped me a lot XD.

This is a great short curse, thank you very much!

Awesome video! It's so clear and has good helpful information! (Also your art is wonderful!) Thank you for making such quality content!✨

I never really thought about most of this, and even though my character designs aren't totally bad, your video will certainly increase my attention towards the things I've done wrong. Thank you!

I’ve never done creature design, but I’m going to get into it! This helped a ton!

Amazing video! Full of useful advice and beautiful art. I wish you all the best in your career

This an an absolutely brilliant video!

This is a really great video! I love your ability to do a bunch of different types of animals, very talented!

Such great points and observation expertise! Thank you so much, miss!

An awesome video just loved the way you perfectly have classified the animals great that'll be useful for me in my creations thank you

I usually create fantasy creatures literally from the ground up. I will make a quick biosphere and evolve creatures based on what’s available, and the most logical designs to survive in a given environment. Deconstruct the universe, calculate gravity and ground tensile strength, atmospheric density, and whether an organism uses water or ammonia sometimes. Close to every part of a creature should serve a function, and remember that not many creatures evolve to be perfect at a certain task. As long as a creature can survive and reproduce, evolution will keep it; maybe add a minute mutation or 2 every generation or so.

You definitely need more views, this is amazing

I'll be saving this to my drawing playlist, thank you for giving me some structure and inspiration

Thank you for this course !

fantastic video! clear and concise. Love it!

This is a really awesome video, it helped me a lot! Thank you

I found this very helpful. Thank you. ❤️

Great stuff! Really simply put with a high level of skill! Comparative anatomy is an extremely helpful tip.

This is a great tutorial, I'm getting back into creature design for my new game and this helped a ton!

Very underrated. Thanks.

This is such a great video, I learned a lot! Just subscribed and I'd love to see more content, you're a great teacher and artist :)

wow this is very-well thought out! thank you for sharing your talent!

Now THIS is valuable, quality content; I'll be thrilled if you choose to make more!

this is super helpful! , i was really struggling with creature design but this definitely will help.

Very helpful! Need to try this technique out

Easy to understand, good job

This very useful to me seeing my oc can turn into a wolf like creature ;-;

I would love so many more of these vids! :)

Thank you! I am finding ways on how to create a speculative evolution type of thing. Because i'm writing a book, and was setting it on an entirely new planet. Using animals on earth doesn't really feel that realstic, so i'm glad i've seen this video.

Amazing video, very very helpful and right to the point, which is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much!!

Really cool video , i love it !

This is so helpful!! Thank you so much for making this, definitely worth the sub :)

Very clear! I'm trying to create fantasy creatures, so the usability/abilities are great!

This is a neat approach to creature design

this is so incredibly useful!!

Well done! More content like this and you got my subscription

thx, bc I wanna start making more biologic creatures

I will be in a Creature Design class soon, I hope your offer for critique is still valid as it's been 5 years!!!

Amazingly helpful - Thank you

I LOVED IT THANKS ♡

Very well done! Fantastic and useful!

That’s cool and all, but where can I see what YOU’VE DONE!! I want to see more!!!

This is amazing!

this is a great video, keep doing them!

HII this is the best video ever you cant desapear you have to come back and do more like this please

Thank you! This is really helpful!

This was very useful thank you so much

Amazing video ❤

So, I made a creature recently. It's a 2.5mt tall eart elemental that I had so much fun making. The concept is that they are pretty smart and loyal fellas, and as such kept as exotic pets or used in the military. They have a wooden structure for bones, they lack skin but they have soil for muscles, wich makes grass (aka fur) grow. That grass needs to be shed once a month because it withers and without it, these creatures cannot perform photosynthesis. I must say, your video inspired me soooo much! Can't wait to draw more!