Visual Design: Lava Creature

Pixel Art

This first trial is just a basic start to creating lava. you use a very dark colour for the rock, in this case black, as the lighter oranges, yellows and whites of the lava don't tend to look very bright with a light background.

This is a basic lava fall that I created over some rocks. Just another trial at creating convincing looking lava. I used dark grey an black for the rock so that the lava's colours really showed.

This was the stock image provided for the next task. I edited the photo by giving it a black background and altering the light levels on the image to give it a darker rock feel.

I then began to add lava to some of the cracks between the rocks, with a more vivid look, and then added some smaller lines of lava running across some of the rock to give a nice, alternate contrast. I think this is much nicer than if all the lava was one size flowing throughout the rocks.

These are the pages from my sketchbook with all my sketches of potential lava creatures.

I have examined all the creatures from my research and I believe have created a number of my own interesting designs.

Here are the 3 designs I had finally settled on to choose from. I liked all 3 of these for their unique designs and how i could visualize each one in my mind. I tweaked a couple by adding parts from other designs that i wanted to include, like the shape of one arm and the head from another creature design of mine.

I blocked out silhouettes of all 3 creatures and reviewed what i thought of each. By this stage I was favoring the left and middle designs.

Here i have added a grey tone over the black silhouettes, just outlining areas of rocks.

I slightly modified the 3rd design as i had become unhappy with the shape of the head.

If necessary i could re modify it back again later.

It was at this stage i had decided on which design to take froward and finish with. I went with design 01 because i thought it the best overall design, a kind of hulking golem figure.

I also added a Grey tone background to get rid of all the white.

Here, I have reduced the grey to a darker tone, then added another, slightly lighter grey tone to certain areas of rock. I also shortened the arm on the left as i thought it a little long for the overall body.

Here i have a fully greyed out version of the silhouette, along with a later version where i have added lava showing in cracks between the rocks and driving down some other rocks.

This is a finished version of my lava, rock creature. i have altered the layer style and added some more colour to finish it off.

This was an extra addition. I have added a background and floor base to quickly show an environment for the creature.