The eagles, like the wolves (wargs) in The Hobbit have always seemed weird to me. I don't know why, but even as a kid I wasn't really ready to believe that these were talking animals. For whatever reason, despite the elves and trolls and dragons, the things that kept sticking out to me were that the birds and dogs talked. It was weird. By all accounts and purposes these are just regular eagles (and wolves), but bigger and they talk. Seems a little weird. I guess it just seemed really cartoonish, in a bad way. Like I was watching Winnie the Pooh with that talking owl.
I'm hoping to inject a little humanity into this design without anthropomorphizing it and without making it seem like a Disney movie. I originally planned on doing something like the bird people in Zelda, and that may still happen at some point in the design phase.
At this point, however, I'm just getting used to drawing birds. They are some weird things.
These are neat! The eagles were always my favorite for the same reason they are weird to you. They kinda don't fit, so it got my imagination going even more. Where did they come from? Where did they learn to speak? Anyways. The angry looking guy on the left side of the second page (with the pencil halo)is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, yes. That second set is just extremely rad.
ReplyDeleteI saw your stuff and thought of China Mieville - the world's best SF writer and full of characters that your pen would capture instinctively. I love the birds - I wouldn't want to meet one late at night.
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