#maybe i'll look at prehistoric seals ect

[donnyclaws]

ok a bit of a curveball here but you're into speculative biology if i remember correctly, right? which is why your creatures are so grounded and cool, etc

for someone like me , who is super not into biology, how would i uhhh go about . designing creatures with a similar grounded feel

and from a more philisophical standpoint: are some people just kept from creating certain kinds of art by what they happen to be into; i.e. someone who dreads engineering wouldn't be able to write hard-sci fi or something like that

INTERESTING, I've actually thought about the second part a tonne in regards to myself. Like I love speculative biology, I've always liked biology, but I also think there's a thousand things on a brain and nerve level that make it hard for me to get as in deep into biology and hard science stuff as I'd like to. Fundamentally a lot of it confuses me, esp space stuff, technical shit, even drawing buildings, but I keep at it because ultimately I love creature design and I love biology. I think it's about finding your own strengths within it because these are still genres with a lot of range of how people approach them.

I'd love to be one of those people who can design an alien respiratory system or go from molecules to early life to modern life in their own setting with all the detail you'd ever want. I think I'm a bit too slow for that frankly but I could do it if I kept at it. I can also say that my brain makes other aspects of this really perfect and easy for me! Fixation on biology and biology facts and a knack for connecting threads between what I'm making. Thinking about every single facet of a species and their relationship to other things is very easy for me bc of that! Which slays for worldbuilding and creating fleshed out things and cultures.

So like yes and no. I think people can do whatever they want, it might be difficult but if it's a passion then they're going to chase it and find a way to do it. An engineer would be incredible at writing a hard sci fi rooted in engineering ect. I think I'm very skilled in fleshing out dynamics which means the social and cultural aspects of a spec bio setting will be easier for me. And while the bits of biology I add in probably won't hold up under scrutiny, it doesn't really need to? It just needs to make sense for the creature and for the setting ect. Having that extra thought is all it needs to ground it.

Also to answer the first part! Basically just thinking about every angle again. I tend to do it after the fact instead of designing from the environment Up. Taking from creatures in a similar biome / niche and mashing them together until every gear compliments the whole is basically all that spec bio is. Yknow at varying levels, some people are way more intense about it being Hard vs soft ect ect!