Life Form Turnaround: Hellhound

Finally I've had time to finish my final turnaround design. I would've liked to have done this sooner, however I've been focused on moving stuff into my new flat, getting IKEA furniture built, and deep cleaning everything. The amount of spiders I have seen/killed (from a great distance using a bug killing spray) and the amount of grime I've cleaned away will haunt my dreams for weeks to come. In between looking after my mother's giant Boerboel puppy, I've found enough time in the last two days to finish my life form design. I was between thumbnails #64 and #92 and after looking through reference photos and other artists work, I decided to go with #64.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, I was debating about making it more of a sort of plant-creature with thorns or making it a sort of Resident Evil inspired zombie dog. However, after trying out several different colour schemes, I went with a Hellhound idea. I really struggled with the front view, I always have a hard time drawing dogs head-on because of the foreshortening of the snout. I also had a bit of a hard time with the legs and paws, but I think I did a reasonable job with it. I tried to make the skin look leathery instead of furry since it gave me the opportunity to define the muscles underneath to make it look more menacing.

The life form was the one I was most excited to draw, but I also found it the most difficult one to refine. Overall, like my other two turnarounds, I'm happy with the final result.