RESTRICTED!

I've added some slight updates to the website. Mostly in the map section. I promise I'll update the map often and add more pics for your visual enjoyment. So far I have only been happy with a few of the finished pics, so all the work set for the initial launch was scrapped. But the map will be updated as the series progresses, that's something I have always wanted to see on a site. A map that actually shows the progression of the characters involved in the story as they explore their world. Altross like a few of the areas on the map as you will soon realize are restricted to humans due to their overwhelming population of Impea. No one can get around in these areas without suffering serious bodily harm.
(and by bodily harm, I mean death and dismemberment.)

So, the Impea eh....

The Impea are vicious little buggers, and they're not all little. The original concept for them involved tentacles and slime, but that was definitely going to be an animation nightmare... not to mention really silly looking. So I decided to try and create a new design for them and naturally I started thinking about arthropods, ants to be more specific.

I wanted a bold, strong design so I went with marker comp silhouettes. I needed them to read as menacing as possible, either that or other worldly. After a couple of pages I really started getting a good idea of the variety that can be used in the Impea.

I definitely didn't want them all to be bipedal. It's hard as a character designer to get away from what you see every day. (that being humans.) Some of the Impea I designed apparently have only one leg, which makes them move about like a pogo. I know it sounds slightly amusing, but in my mind I could see the horror of this creature madly hopping after you hungry for a kill.

Not all these designs will be used, some are just clunky looking. I do like the idea of some Impea being able to fly (or at least float) That to me makes them a little more scary. Ultimately I want the Impea to be as unusual as possible, like so much of the insect and sub insect (is that a word?) world that we take for granted. I looked through pages of electron microscope pictures and images of insects and a few lobsters as well. I still have yet to decide on a final set of colours to go with the textures of their exoskeleton bodies.

Marker comps... so, many, MARKER COMPS!
In the end I don't feel that they are creepy enough, but maybe once they have some sound added to them it will make them a little more intense. I actually have to do a Impea "pencil" test with sound. So look for that post soon.