There are no new ideas...

For better or for worse we live in a wold that is saturated in design. It is often easy to see the origin or inspiration of many designs thanks to years of being exposed to visual entertainment media. However this makes it seriously difficult to come up with a truly original piece of design.

But it is something that needs to be balanced  knowledge of how natural forms work, what is pleasing to the eye remain constants though design. and having a wide mental visual library to draw reference from can also help to create designs that viewers are more ready to expect, because their form or color already carries connotations

Even innovative and fresh designs often reference the natural world in some way. in creature design, particularly humanoid body types (though this goes for allot of bipedal designs) it is important to be mindful of the feasibility of the design, with regards to the technical working of the body. this is because w are so used to looking at the human figure, if something is trying to closely replicate it we pick up on it as strange looking, this can be detrimental to an artist, though it can also be a tool, if the design is perhaps meant to look unnerving, or twisted bastardization of the human figure. the same goes for figures replicating, other things that we might be familiar with. an alien creature, that has a feline body shape, carries the connotations of a sleek stealthy hunter, as an artist i have to be conscious if were i take my research from to make sure it also has the same feeling what i want to convey with my design. 

Black Panther

Thanator (James Cameron's Avatar).... remind you of anything?

The design of the Thanator is clearly reminiscent of a panther  despite obvious difference they both carry a similar shape dynamic. The thanator design also shares the same joint layout of the legs as cats (digitigrade- meaning walking on the digits) where the bone of the foot actually forms the lower half of the leg.

Mood boards:

This first moodboard i created to generate ideas of bipedal aliens that are more characters than creatures, this will be for my "hunter".

Also for my hunter moodboard, here i gathered images of the level of technology and feel of the clothing that i think i might use for the character. 

Reference Material:

I felt i had to include this character from district 9, i thought it was appropriate to the type of character i could design