Insectoid Character Design 1

This week's Visual Design Project was to design an insect based character. I wanted to go with a non-humanoid character for this. I created a mood board of insects and a few existing designs which I liked.

Then I created multiple sketches using pencil and markers to find a design I wanted to make. I eventually decided that a bug with an oversized egg sack would be cool.

Then I took the final 3 designs into Photoshop to detail out a bit more before I made a final decision on which one to go with.

I decided to go with the egg sac insect so I took it even further.

So instead of taking this rough and making it into a final concept we had to make a model sheet for it. This is so we can practice making model sheets from concept art to 3D model. Before I show you my model sheets I will tell you the description of this insect.

This insect starts life quite small. It lives on a large, oxygen-rich planet inhabited by huge insects that would tower over humans. This insect starts life by searching for a large colony of another species of insect. When it finds a suitably large colony it finds and kills the queen of the colony and takes her place, in a similar fashion to cuckoo birds with their eggs. She consumes the queen and replicates her scent to prevent confusion amongst the colony. Over time she consumes the colony by eating the workers that bring her food. AS she does this large armour plates grow out of her abdomen which support a growing egg sack. Eventually, this sack grows too large and explodes, killing the insect it is attached to. Hundreds of larvae instantly hatch and begin attacking each other. They attack each other until a fraction of the brood remains. The remaining larvae will eat the corpse of their mother before making their way to the surface. Many will die on the way as they encounter the confused colony. Once at the surface they rapidly pupate and after a short period of time they hatch into their adult form and the cycle begins again.

Anyway, here are the model sheets for this creature at a partially engorged state. I have kept the line work quite heavy in these so that it would be easier to establish shapes to 3D model.
Front:

Side:

Back:

Looking Back at the design after finishing it, I would have made the insect more complex. I would have given the head and thorax large plates of armour to make it look more menacing. I think I should have incorporated some of the wasp insect rough design into this insect. Overall, I am happy with the design but in future I will try to make my designs slightly more complex and detailed where they perhaps should be.