Guillermo del Toro is the acclaimed director of such films as Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, Pans Labyrinth and many more. If one thing stands out in these films it is the creature design.
For this project, Del Toro will influence my creature design; I believe he has a way of creating these ancient looking creatures which while they may be no threat to the protagonist, look like they came from hell itself.
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| This is what a troll looks like in del Toro's mind |
Blade 2 introduced super vampires, named Reapers, into the story. Jared Nomak is the leader of the reapers and the strongest. What makes him so sinister is that he maintains a human like appearance but one that is severely distorted. The Pale white skin is reminiscent of Nosferatu and the veins exemplify this pained look that Nomak carries, which works well with his characters story. What really interest me with Nomaks design are the eyes, seen below as being pure white.
The thing with eyes is that they can reveal a person to you by the first time look at them, People can have kind eyes or cold eyes or even sinister eyes. Del Toro manages to really capture the inhuman evil looking eyes with all his monsters but Nomaks eyes seem to show a tragic, twisted monster whenever the film captures his face.
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| A hideous monster and a vampire |
You can debate whether the Hellboy series was good or not but either way del Toro really captured the supernatural feel to Hellboy’s cast and characters. Not only with Hellboy himself but also the background monsters and side characters. Abe Sapien, Hellboy best friend and partner is a half man - half sea creature, in the comic books Abe was once human and was changed into the creature through an occult ritual. He maintains his human like appearance albeit with a highly changed fish-like form, his skin is almost always has a wet appearance to it along with gills and fins around his body.
Since Abe is to be considered a ‘friendly monster’ there are no fangs or claws to be seen on him and his facial appearance comes across as that of a gormless fish.
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It is important to take into account the role that the creature will play in the game world before designing it, if the creature is to be a kind one then features such as claws need to be toned down.
One final creature that really captures the viewer’s imagination is the Angel of Death. Whilst this character is actually a help to the protagonist, it comes across as a very sinister and evil creature. The monster gives the feeling across that whilst it can help if the situation is needed it is most definitely a force to be reckoned with.
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| Stuff of Nightmares |
Del Toro most critically acclaimed film was Pan’s labyrinth, not least for which was the amazing creature design. Pan himself comes across as a figure that has lived for centuries and is literally part of the forest with his moss like hair and wooden appearance. Pan himself gives both the impression of trustworthiness as well as a sinister feel that you should not trust him at all. This is proven by faun task to bring the young girl back to the underworld (killing her).
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| Moss-like hair, wooden appearance and huge goat horns. what's not to trust? |
The other creature in Pan’s Labyrinth is the ‘Pale man’, a child eating monster that is awakened when someone eats something from the feast at which he lays dormant. Again del Toro captures the essence of the character through the eyes, in this case they are located on his hands, solidly breaking the human form and distancing this monster from any kind of humanity. The pale man also has blackened claws at the end of his hands implying danger.
The pale mans scene is generally terrifying to watch and he comes across as an unstoppable force.
Looking at del Toro’s movies generate many ideas for me and using his influence for my game will definitely give the game a fantastical, fairy tale like theme. I believe I may add a Faun somewhere in the game as a tribute.
Troll hellboy 2 - http://www.latinoreview.com/news/exclusive-hellboy-ii-interview-with-creature-effects-shop-spectral-motion-4976
Del toro and faun - http://mutantville.com/blog/3393/guillermo-del-toro-with-mvps-inspirational-filmmaker-quote-of-the-week/
Pale man - http://fantasticvoyages.wordpress.com/
Nomak and del toro - http://www.gamesradar.com/director-of-pans-labyrinth-and-hellboy-now-making-video-games-4-reasons-you-need-to-care/
Angel of death - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/galleries/the_monsters_of_guillermo_del_toro/the_monsters_of_guillermo_del_toro.html
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