#they're so scute i'm SCREAMING

[tyrantisterror]

What are some of your favorite tropes/conventions when it comes to creature/monster/kaiju design?

One of my favorite design details of the classic kaiju suits are what I like to call "Tsuburaya bumpies" - they're these big protrusions under the eyes of his kaiju that kind of mimic human cheeks despite often not being positioned where cheeks would be. It's actually a really important part of the character design because it's what allows an otherwise inarticulate head to convey several different expressions - depending on the angle of the head, those Tsuburaya bumpies can make the kaiju look happy, angry, even sad, and do a great job in making them appear to have more life and expression than they're actually capable of.

(The skeksis in The Dark Crystal have something similar, except instead of Tsuburaya bumpies they have these jutting eye socket crests that accomplish the same effect while also making them look more decrepit and decayed.)

I'm also extemely fond of disproportionately long arms and huge, creepy hands. Put some long arms and/or big grabby hands on a monster and I'm a happy boi.

Asymmetrical bodies are also a favorite of mine - it's such an easy way to make a design scream "monster" and can be so stylish if you pull it off right.

When making reptile monsters in particular, I love it when people adapt the curvy jawline of their real-life inspirations, like crocodilians and tyrannosaurs. When exaggerated, they can make for a very expressive monster that's still distinctly reptilian.

I also like it when monsters are given a variety of different scales/armor plates, especially when their distinctly shaped. Baragon's unique dorsal plats and Gwangi's neck scutes are two examples of this that I've imitated a lot in my own creature design.

And, like, there's obvious classics - fangs, big bat/dragon wings, backswept horns, etc., but this is a huge topic and I have a limited amount of time on this earth, so we're going to end this here.