The Dark Crystal
This is a design for a new creature I am exploring. I am trying to create something weird and original, like the sort of creature that would be seen in the 1982 movie, The Dark Crystal directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Its a fantasy story that is very Tolkienesque in concept, but involves no human characters at all. Every individual belongs to a fantastical race.
I started by observing photos of some of the characters in The Dark Crystal, principally the Skeksis and the Mystics. I also looked at aliens from star wars. The one that most inspired me was the elephant like musician in Richard Marquand’s Return of the Jedi from 1983. Henson had to come up with characters that looked weird and alien but at the same time didn’t scare the audience. With this creature I wanted to make it possible for the viewer to empathize with it, rather than be repelled by it.
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