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ABOUT
I always wanted to have a creation of my own. I was and still am a fan of extraterrestrial beings in games and movies. My biggest inspiration is the Xenomorph created by H.R.Giger, Its design really influenced and motivated me to start this project.
The concept of the Aretheans came to live back in 2015, although at the beginning, they didn't have a face, or a name for that matter. I love to write made up stories about variety of topics, back then i was really intrigued by astronomy and exploration of space. It started with me writing a fictional story about an intelligent race of aliens living in the closest solar system to our own. "Proxima Centauri"
(I don't want to reveal anything about the story, because I want the story itself to become a book as one of my further future projects.)
Inspiration on the design for the Arethean came from variety of insects and marine animals, as these creatures fascinate me. I tried my best, NOT to take inspiration from existing aliens, the Arethean WILL be unique and one of a kind, I will make sure of it.
RESEARCH
So these little creatures known as "Triops" were one of my first inspirations for the Arethean design. I used to own these as pets back when I was around the age of 13.
They are the silly reason I made the Arethean have 3 eyes.
*None of the photos above are mine*
Ants are insects I always had a particular interest in. Not only because of their anatomical build, but also with the way they function as a colony. I loved the idea of the Arethean having an exo-skeleton so that's where it originated from.
*None of the photos above are mine*
I stumbled upon these Giant Isopods a little bit during the development actually, but they instantly caught my eye. They're like a cooler Armadillo. Certain features influenced the developments of Arethean's skull.
*None of the photos above are mine*
Aside from these 3 creatures, I have taken inspiration from a few other interesting insects, but also Plants in general, instantly I liked the idea of making the Arethean Photosynthetic as it is quite a unique idea. From the start i knew that i didn't want the Aretheans to sustain through eating, but rather like plants, gathering solar energy and liquid to survive.
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Development
This segment of this website will include all of my development on the Arethean design from the very begining. You will witness the history of how the Arethean came to be, and how vastly it changed from the original drawings and art pieces.
You will also witness my experience and skill in drawing improve throughout those years of development.
2016
The beginning of the
Arethean.
These are a couple of my first ever drawings of the Arethean i could recover. At this point i was still experimenting, but i had a basic idea in my head.
I knew i had a long way to go, and even back then i didn't know how far i will take it, it was still just a random idea i came up with as a sci-fi fan who loves to create things.
Real life-sized Arethean sculpture.
First body developments
I created one digital and paper drawing of the Arethean. right one looking more exo-skeleton like, whilst the other being a bit more Plant like with vines covering his entire body.
The photosynthetic feature played a big role in deciding if i want to make Arethean look like a basically giant plant, but i thought that a full body exo-skeleton just presents itself way better, i could still work around the concept that way if im smart about it.
This sculpture is what I created for my Final Major Project in College, back in 2015. I tried to make it a real life sized one to what I wanted a real Arethean head to be, it's almost twice as big as a human's head.
I was mostly playing around with shapes as well as colours. I wasn't too happy about how it ended up and if im ever to create another sculpture which i think i will, the difference will be visible.
Due to real life stuff and the amount of work in my new college course of 3D Animation, I've became too busy and haven't made any more progress in developing the Arethean for almost a year
3D Arethean sculpture design in Maya.
During the break I was using alot of programs like Blender and Maya, this is my first ever 3D sculpture done in Blender of the Arethean. I tried to change up the color pallet which i kind of liked at the time.
2017
Various types of designs.
So to start off working on the Arethean design yet again, I have decided to take a step back and create a few basic drawings of different head types. I decided to give each one of them, their unique features and colour.
In conclusion i have liked some of the features from the Red, Blue and Purple one, so with that in mind i tried to make a couple more detailed concepts based on those 3.
I put a little bit of time in drawing out these 2 distinctively different body styles.
I decided that i prefer the Exo-Skeleton feel to the left design over the right one. But i am still not happy with either of them, I am going to try to come up with something else.
Meanwhile i have also created a few body types for the Arethean. Using my more prefered colour pallet for each one of them.
I didn't really like the look of any of them, but the average body type of the first one feels much better than the second (skinny) and third (bulky) So i am going to work on more concepts.
I have decided that having one pair of arms on the back seems, very pointless and a huge handicap. All I really changed here is the position of this pair of arms, making the shoulder extend all the way to the front of the body.
I am now more than happy to take that idea and draw out a more detailed body from it.
I've decided to spend some time and work on more detailed designs.
First I created the left one, as much as I liked it and enjoyed the visual aspect of it, I couldn't figure out a scientific reason behind those plates on the top of his head, so I kept drawing. After I was done with the second idea, I became fairly confident that this is more of what I am looking for in the Arethean.
With the latter concept I have finally came up with a way to show the photosynthesis in the Arethean, I came up with a fairly believable reason for it. Those coloured plates on its head are meant to represent a complex nerve system that works similarly to our modern day Solar Panels. Becoming coloured when presenting itself, but turning darker to absorb more light values, since darker shades do just that, feeding off of the solar energy. Looking at the eyes, i also prefer the design of the red ones, but the colour of the Gold ones, so i will try to mix them up.
Coming back to it I am actually not that happy about the second concept either. Its outer layer was meant to resemble an Exo-skeleton which it doesn't, as well as the Solar panels on its head are not impressive enough. Now that I look back at it, I doubt that anything would be able to gather enough solar energy with those little things.
It is time for a change.
I decided to take a 180 turn with the design. Although I was happy with the previous head design shown, I felt like I could do better, so I've decided to draw out some more ideas I had in my mind.
This is also the first time I started asking for feedback from friends and relatives. In conclusion the worst ones became G, J, C while the best ones were B, D, H, I decided to do more detailed design work based on those 3 ideas...
2018
This is what i came up with after trying to make a more detailed Front and Side view of the Arethean. Overall i am happy with the result, it is definitely an improvement from the earlier version.
I asked my friends about feedback, few of the problems with this piece that they see, is the position of its neck in relation to the head. Also the side view's face seems too flat which i now realise and will try to make adjustments to that as well. Eyes are too flat which i will try to change also. I have to make it so that the eyes are in balance with the Solar Panels on its head so that all the attention is not taken away from its face.
The next step i want to take with the designs is to combine them, now i am going to attempt to make a full Arethean concept from head to alien toes as detailed as it can be. I will do a Front and Side view of that as well.
I have created this for a poster idea, as a submission to a University. (excluded all the typography) The University accepted me! I decided to put it in here as it is the most up to date version of the Arethean.
Improved body design.
Development
This segment of this website will include all of my development on the Arethean design from the very begining. You will witness the history of how the Arethean came to be, and how vastly it changed from the original drawings and art pieces.
You will also witness my experience and skill in drawing improve throughout those years of development.
2016
The beginning of the
Arethean.
These are a couple of my first ever drawings of the Arethean i could recover. At this point i was still experimenting, but i had a basic idea in my head.
I knew i had a long way to go, and even back then i didn't know how far i will take it, it was still just a random idea i came up with as a sci-fi fan who loves to create things.
Real life-sized Arethean sculpture.
This sculpture is what I created for my Final Major Project in College, back in 2015. I tried to make it a real life sized one to what I wanted a real Arethean head to be, it's almost twice as big as a human's head.
I was mostly playing around with shapes as well as colours. I wasn't too happy about how it ended up and if im ever to create another sculpture which i think i will, the difference will be visible.
Due to real life stuff and the amount of work in my new college course of 3D Animation, I've became too busy and haven't made any more progress in developing the Arethean for almost a year
First body developments
I created one digital and paper drawing of the Arethean. right one looking more exo-skeleton like, whilst the other being a bit more Plant like with vines covering his entire body.
The photosynthetic feature played a big role in deciding if i want to make Arethean look like a basically giant plant, but i thought that a full body exo-skeleton just presents itself way better, i could still work around the concept that way if im smart about it.
3D Arethean sculpture design in Maya.
During the break I was using alot of programs like Blender and Maya, this is my first ever 3D sculpture done in Blender of the Arethean. I tried to change up the color pallet which i kind of liked at the time.
2017
Types of head designs.
So to start off working on the Arethean design yet again, I have decided to take a step back and create a few basic drawings of different head types. I decided to give each one of them, their unique features and colour.
In conclusion i have liked some of the features from the Red, Blue and Purple one, so with that in mind i tried to make a couple more detailed concepts based on those 3.
Exo-skeleton or skin.
I put a little bit of time in drawing out these 2 distinctively different body styles with similair features. I decided to use my favourite colour pallet for both as well as general appeal, only change the material of which they differ in.
I decided that i prefer the Exo-Skeleton feel to the left design over the right one. It has more of an ant-like feel which is what i am leaning towards to, but it is still not what i want it to be so i will keep working on it.
Photosynthetic feature.
Types of body designs.
Meanwhile i have also created a few body types for the Arethean. Using my more prefered colour pallet for each one of them.
I didn't really like the look of any of them, but the average body type of the first one feels much better than the second (skinny) and third (bulky) So i am going to work on more concepts.
Testing.
I've decided to spend some time and work on more detailed designs.
First I created the left one, as much as I liked it and enjoyed the visual aspect of it, I couldn't figure out a scientific reason behind those plates on the top of his head, so I kept drawing. After I was done with the second idea, I became fairly confident that this is more of what I am looking for in the Arethean.
With the latter concept I have finally came up with a way to show the photosynthesis in the Arethean, I came up with a fairly believable reason for it. Those coloured plates on its head are meant to represent a complex nerve system that works similarly to our modern day Solar Panels. Becoming coloured when presenting itself, but turning darker to absorb more light values, since darker shades do just that, feeding off of the solar energy. Looking at the eyes, i also prefer the design of the red ones, but the colour of the Gold ones, so i will try to mix them up.
Coming back to it I am actually not that happy about the second concept either. Its outer layer was meant to resemble an Exo-skeleton which it doesn't, as well as the Solar panels on its head are not impressive enough. Now that I look back at it, I doubt that anything would be able to gather enough solar energy with those little things.
It is time for a change.
Back to square one.
Good posture.
Meanwhile I have also drew out a more detailed body for the Arethean. I am mostly happy with how the upper body ended up, not so much with arms, legs and stomach though, i am going to work on a more Exo-Skeleton look.
I want to put more emphesis on joints and show the muscle that connects Arethean's Exo-Skeleton, which would make the design more interesting to look at, as well as more vivid.
I want to put more emphesis on joints and show the muscle that connects Arethean's Exo-Skeleton, which would make the design more interesting to look at, as well as more vivid.
In conclusion the answer I got wasn't too far off from my own opinion, in general the middle design won, but I personally like how the Solar webbing and antena look in the 3rd one.
From the most popular ideas of the previous head designs, I have created those 3 concepts. They are not too different from each other, they weren't meant to be anyway. I've put these into 3 different categories individually, Face, Head and Solar webbing, then asked friends and relatives as to which category is their favourite from which concept.
I have decided to now spends some time on making a Front and Side view of a more Realistic looking Arethean head. We'll see how it goes...
2018
Development
This segment of this website will include all of my development on the Arethean design from the very begining. You will witness the history of how the Arethean came to be, and how vastly it changed from the original drawings and art pieces.
You will also witness my experience and skill
in drawing improve throughout those years of development.
2016
The beginning of the
Arethean.
These are a couple of my first ever drawings of the Arethean i could recover. At this point i was still experimenting, but i had a basic idea in my head.
I knew i had a long way to go, and even back then i didn't know how far i will take it, it was still just a random idea i came up with as a sci-fi fan who loves to create things.
Real life-sized Arethean sculpture.
This sculpture is what I created for my Final Major Project in College, back in 2015. I tried to make it a real life sized one to what I wanted a real Arethean head to be, it's almost twice as big as a human's head.
I was mostly playing around with shapes as well as colours. I wasn't too happy about how it ended up and if im ever to create another sculpture which i think i will, the difference will be visible.
Due to real life stuff and the amount of work in my new college course of 3D Animation, I've became too busy and haven't made any more progress in developing the Arethean for almost a year
First body developments
I created one digital and paper drawing of the Arethean. right one looking more exo-skeleton like, whilst the other being a bit more Plant like with vines covering his entire body.
The photosynthetic feature played a big role in deciding if i want to make Arethean look like a basically giant plant, but i thought that a full body exo-skeleton just presents itself way better, i could still work around the concept that way if im smart about it.
3D Arethean sculpture design in Maya.
During the break I was using alot of programs like Blender and Maya, this is my first ever 3D sculpture done in Blender of the Arethean. I tried to change up the color pallet which i kind of liked at the time.
2017
Types of head designs.
So to start off working on the Arethean design yet again, I have decided to take a step back and create a few basic drawings of different head types. I decided to give each one of them, their unique features and colour.
In conclusion i have liked some of the features from the Red, Blue and Purple one, so with that in mind i tried to make a couple more detailed concepts based on those 3.
Exo-skeleton or skin.
I put a little bit of time in drawing out these 2 distinctively different body styles with similair features. I decided to use my favourite colour pallet for both as well as general appeal, only change the material of which they differ in.
I decided that i prefer the Exo-Skeleton feel to the left design over the right one. It has more of an ant-like feel which is what i am leaning towards to, but it is still not what i want it to be so i will keep working on it.
Types of body designs.
Meanwhile i have also created a few body types for the Arethean. Using my more prefered colour pallet for each one of them.
I didn't really like the look of any of them, but the average body type of the first one feels much better than the second (skinny) and third (bulky) So i am going to work on more concepts.
I have decided that having one pair of arms on the back seems, very pointless and a huge handicap. All I really changed here is the position of this pair of arms, making the shoulder extend all the way to the front of the body.
I am now more than happy to take that idea and draw out a more detailed body from it.
Photosynthetic feature.
I've decided to spend some time and work on more detailed designs.
First I created the left one, as much as I liked it and enjoyed the visual aspect of it, I couldn't figure out a scientific reason behind those plates on the top of his head, so I kept drawing. After I was done with the second idea, I became fairly confident that this is more of what I am looking for in the Arethean.
With the latter concept I have finally came up with a way to show the photosynthesis in the Arethean, I came up with a fairly believable reason for it. Those coloured plates on its head are meant to represent a complex nerve system that works similarly to our modern day Solar Panels. Becoming coloured when presenting itself, but turning darker to absorb more light values, since darker shades do just that, feeding off of the solar energy. Looking at the eyes, i also prefer the design of the red ones, but the colour of the Gold ones, so i will try to mix them up.
Coming back to it I am actually not that happy about the second concept either. Its outer layer was meant to resemble an Exo-skeleton which it doesn't, as well as the Solar panels on its head are not impressive enough. Now that I look back at it, I doubt that anything would be able to gather enough solar energy with those little things.
It is time for a change.
Back to square one.
I decided to take a 180 turn with the design. Although I was happy with the previous head design shown, I felt like I could do better, so I've decided to draw out some more ideas I had in my mind.
This is also the first time I started asking for feedback from friends and relatives.
In conclusion the worst ones became G, J, C while the best ones were B, D, H, I decided to do more detailed design work based on those 3 ideas...
Meanwhile I have also drew out a more detailed body for the Arethean. I am mostly happy with how the upper body ended up, not so much with arms, legs and stomach though, i am going to work on a more Exo-Skeleton look and improve on the problems with this piece as well.
Best of three.
In conclusion the answer I got wasn't too far off from my own opinion, in general the middle design won, but I personally like how the Solar webbing and antena look in the 3rd one.
From the most popular ideas of the previous head designs, I have created those 3 concepts. They are not too different from each other, they weren't meant to be anyway. I've put these into 3 different categories individually, Face, Head and Solar webbing, then asked friends and relatives as to which category is their favourite from which concept.
I have decided to now spends some time on making a Front and Side view of a more Realistic looking Arethean head. We'll see how it goes...
2018
Front and Side piece.
This is what i came up with after trying to make a more detailed Front and Side view of the Arethean. Overall i am happy with the result, it is definitely an improvement from the earlier version.
I asked my friends about feedback, few of the problems with this piece that they see, is the position of its neck in relation to the head. Also the side view's face seems too flat which i now realise and will try to make adjustments to that as well. Eyes are too flat which i will try to change also. I have to make it so that the eyes are in balance with the Solar Panels on its head so that all the attention is not taken away from its face.
Arethean vs the world.
This art piece is what actually changed the style of how the Arethean's head would look like. Funny enough it is because i ran out of space to draw the rest of the head.
Whenever i create something, especially if it's on such a scale like the Arethean, i'm never satisfied.
So I began making some digital doodles in my spare time, to experiment and try out different features and shapes on the alien.
This was my first drawing, I tried to use existing shapes on top of its head that you can see in some of my earlier Arethean drawings. I'm not a fan of how it looks here, too basic, so i kept going.
My second drawing looks a bit more similar to the latest versions I made with some slight change in features scaling etc.
In my opinion it looks pretty dull, in shape, i do like those muscle areas sticking out off of his head exoskeleton but that's about it really. I will continue experimenting.
My next doodle was slightly different, i put more effort into shaping the eyes, i got rid of the segments on the side of the eyes, which are simply replaced with muscle instead which i like.
Otherwise i have focused more on the neck area and how can i make it look more interesting, i do want to make the neck long and thick.
It's getting closer to what i want the Arethean to look like, but it's not there yet.
So this is my attempt at creating a body for the Arethean, i took some inspiration from insectoid-like creatures i found online. Ofcourse im still keeping with the insect approach to the body.
I do like the way it looks, although im not sure if the bulkyness is something that i find appealing for the Arethean.
I will put body drawings on halt for now as i want to focus more on the head/neck features as i feel that i can do more in that area.
But now i have a good picture in my head, i will be using this as reference and drawing out a more detailed piece with realistic effects.
This drawing is where i actually started to like the overall shape and features of the Arethean.
Top of the head doesn't look flat anymore, i do like the curvature of it. Same with the neck, i put more details into the muscles involved, making it long and visibly flexible. My only two problems are the mouth area, that looks too out of place. As well as the 2 eyes which are too far apart, reminds me of a Hammerhead shark, which is not the look i'm really going for here.
First step forward.
Roughly 3 weeks later im back with a new doodle. I think that i like this style of 'Solar Webbing' (the thing around its head) better, also i'll be trying to do a drawing where the solar webbing is roughly 45 degrees on its head. Because my other latest drawing has its solar webbing flat, side to side by its face, which in reality wouldn't work if he needed this to consume solar energy with, it needs to be tilted upwards.
After spending around 8 hours I have managed to complete this Arethean piece. I used different techniques of blending colour which really helped me in the end. I tried to capture features from the previous doodle but make it a bit more realistic, detailing the muscles and Exo-skeleton as well as fixing the proportion problems and position that the last drawing had.
Some problems became clear, especially with the shoulder area and the exo-skeleton which seems too large, and the solar webbing on the sides of his head is too flat infront of his face. I will try to improve that and angle it more as if it collecting energy from a star.
Also i will be making some changes to the top of its head, as well as the 'mouth' area, I got a few ideas.
Improvement.
After a few hours of drawing, i have came up with this art piece. I have worked on making the Arethean's neck longer to make it seem more imposing, as well as made the Solar webbing more detailed and obscure. I tried to shorten the mouth area slightly as he doesn't need it for anything other than communication. I also worked on the shape of its head and tried to make it look more 3D than my previous drawings. I also slightly worked on its body exo-skeleton, making the Arethean seem slimmer in shape, which is what i want.
Overall i prefer it to my previous completed art piece of the Arethean. Now i will want to create a full body Art Piece.
3 body concepts.
I always imagined this alien to have absurdly long arms and legs, very slim and physically imposing. (Think of SlenderMan or Hollows) I wanted the upper arms to be exceptionally shorter compared to the forearms, which is best shown in the 3rd body type shown above. I will be working on making its palm and especially fingers longer, as i imagine the Arethean to have snake-like fingers.
This is what i made using my favourite features from the previous 3 drawings. (Low detail)
Im most happy about how the entire arms are looking, although the stomach and chest area are not what i want them to be, they look too basic and familiar. I will be making drastic changes to that.
Arethean Vs Human
Here i made a size comparison between an average sized Human being with an average sized Arethean for visual scale.
I drew the Arethean semi-realistically just so he doesn't look out of place next to the photograph of the human.
I am starting to like the overall anatomy of the alien.
The only things that i really want to be changing, are the feet as they look too out of place, lower leg (shins) and the stomach. Also i'll be trying to make changes to the webbing on the Arethean's head.
2019
Brainstorming.
These are just a few doodles i made in my spare time to let my imagination run, mostly i focused on the different shapes of the head, but with the last one i meddled with the shape of the upper body and mouth area as well, which gave me some ideas on how to develop Arethean.
The left drawing is one i drew on a University lecture, as interesting as it was i decided to distract myself with it, i designed my alien, especially the mouth area in a more realistic way, as well as improved the webbing around its head. I will use that drawing as a reference for a digital piece to recreate it realistically..
The right drawing is just a theoretical female of the species!
Arethean.
This new iteration of the Arethean is my favourite so far, the position of the webbing around its head, long neck and low shoulders really give out the sinister vibe that i was aiming for from the beginning. As well as the introduction of a realistic mouth, which makes him look like he's always smirking at you with his 3 golden eyes. I will settle on this design, maybe making minor changes here and there, but next one is going to be a full creature design based off of this.
Arethean has went through an impressive transformation over the past few years, i feel like it is starting to look exactly how i always wanted it to be: Unique, one of a kind, unlike any other creature design i've seen. I will still be doing changes to the shape and colour, as i planned to recreate the Arethean as a 3D Model to use in my film idea. I want to make sure I have the finished product with a refference sheet as the summer begins so that I can find the time to 3D Model, Rig and Texture.
I was doodling a new concept for the Arethean's overall appearance in terms of the body and it turned into a full drawing using cold and warm shades of Copic pens.
It gives me a good idea of how i want the Arethean to appear when it's finished and i will be soon working on a digital piece using this as reference.
My plan now is to show that his surface skin layer is made of 2 different materials, but not to make it into an exo-skeleton like i initially wanted, rather the brown (what used to be an exo-skeleton) being the thick almost hardened but still flexible material whilst what used to be 'muscle' is the more softer yet still tender material that usually binds joints together and the webbing around his body.
Perfect
proportions.
This is by far my ideal body-type for the Arethean, something i was imagining from the start but couldn't exactly draw it out. The proportions of this piece are ideal and seem feasible for an organism to survive. Tall, lean posture with long grappling arms are reminisent features that helped them survive on their home planet in the early stages of evolution using star energy as their main sustinance.
This posture and shape of Arethean body is intimidating in my eyes and elegant at the same time, he doesn't seem like a monster but an intelligent collective species which is what i intended him to look like.
Now i will use this drawing as refference for a full body digital piece which will show the Arethean with realistic lighting and possibly scaled next to a human for comparison.
I made these drawings during my 4 hour plane trip to Greece for a holiday with my girlfriend. I drew the heads of each from memory, trying to improve my memory of the Arethean without having to use reference. I began playing with shapes and proportions of the alien trying to make him look as intimidating and visually appealing as possible.
contact.
