The only problem I have with this design is how lanky they look. One of the main aspects of Dwarves in fantasy is how robust & sturdy they are; in many ways, they're just like the minerals and resources they mine. Dwarves should be built stocky and brawny to reflect this, whereas these Dwarves almost seem frail. That said, it's still an amazingly unique design. Love the detail put into it first and foremost, he doesn't just draw them a certain way for shits & giggles but explains the evolutionary process behind this look. Adds a lot of depth.
that's probably because modern fantasy is too akin to dnd style of fantasy. In the sense that people want to be those species. And if they're absolute murderous assholes, there's less people who will like that. My theory at least
@@MaindexOmega This is partially why I believe the best fantasy RPG would restrict you to playing a human. Darkvision for example isn't interesting when players have it, but it becomes terrifying when enemies have darkvision and you don't. Also in a heroic story it's important to create a distinction between the "ordinary world" of the protagonist's daily life and the unfamiliar "special world" they must delve into, and if all the players are obscure magical races then you're really hamstringing yourself there.
@@SquishypuffDave I love this. In RPG’s, the most enjoyable sessions were definitely the ones where you were limited to humans or human-adjacent builds and good aligned characters. The bevy of options now is culturally and mechanically non-sensical.
You mean like that Danish folktale where an elf offered sex to a man who was engaged to be married? Where she was all cheer and frolicking until he turned her down once too many times and she flipped out and cursed him. Like her entire personality flipped on a dime. I try to preserve that with my elves. Where they can be jovial and sweet one second then you say something mundane that they took personally and suddenly they are considering how to ruin your life for it.
An idea to expand upon their skin markings. You could add a saying along the lines of "To gauge the trust of a dwarf, check their back" Dwarves can't mark their own backs as they cannot reach them - so others do it for them. Whether or not a dwarf is trustworthy depends on the markings that others gave them (whether or not other dwarves 'have their back'). A blank back could mean that the dwarf doesn't trust others - or perhaps they've tried to hide their own untrustworthy nature by having their markings removed or covered. A tell tale habit of an untrustworthy dwarf is one that rubs their back on hard surfaces and claiming it to be an itch (but infact, it's a habit from frequently trying to scrape off the undesired markings themselves) By this same virtue, dwarves tend not to trust any race with 'markless' backs.
If dwarf 1 trusts dwarf 2 and marks that on their back, and then dwarf 2 betrays dwarf 1 in some way, why would dwarf 2 erase the markings that dwarf 1 made on their back? Unless dwarf 1 was able to add another mark to dwarf 2's back that indicated the untrustworthiness...
@@autumngalix4616 I think it's a good story telling mechanic in that you can have all sorts of variations. There's betrayal, trust, mystery - not just to the trolls, who know what the markings say. There could be hidden messages; only those who know how to read Dwarven markings could find such messages. The trust component could be deeply cultural, and thus it's taboo (on a personal level) to even look at your own back's markings, good or bad. You could have guilded markings (similar to 'Kintsugi', a process of repairing ceramics with gold and lacquer), filling in the grooves with a gold like material to make the markings permanent. Kind of like a sign of status. However this is a ceremony that is bestowed by dwarven leadership AND community vote, you cannot ask for it (it's considered very rude). Pure gold filled markings are a sign of honor and prestige. But especially notorious criminals may have had this treatment - forever marking them as untrustworthy. The gold used in their marking is tainted with the blood of other traitor dwarves; giving the resulting gold a deep, crimson rose hue. Thus any dwarf with rose gold gilded markings is not only likely evil - but highly dangerous.
I LOVE the designs with the whole concept of "Not Meant for Humans" that reminds you that these are entirley different species not just short humans with beards. Making them seem mildly uncanny in their humanoid and familar appearance yet giving them an alien feel is just awesome!
I actually have a problem with it, because he’s redesigning a race. So the whole “not human thing” isn’t creative with that in mind. That’s like saying you are going to redesign a motorcycle and then you give it four wheels. That’s called a four wheeler bud. I get it, it’s “creative”, but it’s not a “cycle” anymore. So you didn’t really redesign crap. You made something new with something known.
@@shadowcard3998 huh? They arent suppose to look like humans anyways... they arent going to be short humans or humans with long ears. They are really different, what he is redesigning are the tokien dwarves or elf
@@exzyyd392 Idk if it'd be painful, considering their skin is made of metal, though, they could be like a tortoise or turtle and have nerve-endings in the "shell".
@@sandmaneyes Orcs but they're frankenstein's monster, they reproduce by taking corpses from the battlefield, both enemies and their own and "repairing" them by carving away whatever's too damaged to use and grafting together spare parts from bodies that are too heavily damaged to be worth repairing, an army of patchwork men that live to make more of themselves, the reason they're so reckless and battlehungry is because they take for granted that the same methods used to create them in the first place will be used to resurrect them should they fall, all they need do is Win so their brothers have ample bodies to work their craft.
I love the "condenses into jar-shaped mass when sleeping" bit, it reminds me of Gorons looking like boulders when they curl up. Maybe these dwarves also eat the ore they process? They would need some way of growing their carapace, perhaps even recycling shed shells?
This feels like a race you would see in a fever dream. The uncanny valley is so strong. I can imagine feeling very uneasy around these creatures despite their hospitality and friendliness, just because they are so alien. I probably couldn't spend too long in their home because I would crave the familiarity of human cultures so much. An absolutely incredible design!
I Wonder if dwarves would feel the same way about humans. Maybe dwarves cant handle human foods like how we cant take more than a sip of there drinks without burning are thtouts or if a dwarf was at a human gathering and they are just having a silent panick attack because of our unnerving apperence
If you lived in their world and saw them regularly, they probably would be a bit more familiar from your perspective. It depends on your exposure to them really.
Yeah, I really like this juxtaposition between its, at first, unfriendly look and its real friendly "inside". This could lead to really interesting emotions, exactly like you said, kinda dream-like - you don't completly understand WHAT you seeing, but you kinda like it. Interesting trope, usually we get to see it used other way when friendly looking stuff has its darker side, but I really like it reversed, I feel it a lot more interesting and in general healthy to do it this way, because "friendly at first glance and hostile in reality" is only could work in some way of a dark twist situation when you either get betrayed by them or get scared, while this type of twist could work in many more interesting setups
Ive always thought that gnomes were far too close to halflings or dwarves in terms of design so it would be really cool if you could put an interesting spin to them
Gnome arguably derive from the much more sinister “red cap” mythological figure (hence why gnome usually wear red hats) which was similar to a small goblin, that lived in abandoned castles and other ruins. Having red caps and gnome be part the same species, but differing primarily in ideology, would be an interesting starting point for some gnome lore
@@4dealliance598 that fits very well, because mushrooms primarily feed on either tree sap, or decaying matter. That would fit with mushroom gnomes living in forests and red caps being attracted to places where battles and deaths took place in traditional mythology Edit: if one sub-species of gnome only fed in a specific type of rare tree, that variety of gnome could potentially become hyper-warlike to protect their trees and forests 🤔
That is kinda why I got confused with reading halfling and gnome in fantasy settings, since in English at least they are very much too similar. While in Norwegian folk tales Nisse or fairies are way more chaotic creatures, that you had to appease to not have them mess with your farm or home
I don't know where this video came from, but I'm incredibly glad that UA-cam suggested this to me. This is literally what I do, I love to see other concept artists out there.
I happen to also tap into re-imagining classical creatures. What i ended up with is a grid, one axis says "short, medium, tall" and the other "ugly, average, beautiful". In this grid i put the standard versions, like: Orcs are tall & ugly, goblins are short and ugly, elfs are tall and beautiful, etc... As you can imagine, the grid still had spots left. What creature is short & beautiful?, for example. So i tried to close this gaps with new kinds of creatures.
@@astick5249 Yea, but i was thinking about "remotely human sized" creatures. Fairies are normally imagined to be much smaller, at least in modern fantasy.
A lot of people seem to be sadly confused on the intent of the video. Its not him going "dwarf bad heres better one" its him designing dwarves for his own project.
As someone who is a big Tolkien and fantasy fan, and a HUGE fan of Durin's folk and of dwarves as a fantasy race in general (the way they are always portrayed that is), I never thought your reimagining of them as some kind of humanoid, insect-like race would be so weird but also very plausible and interesting. I really like how you envision them while sleeping. So cool and so weird :D
I personally would love to see your take on elves. Im designing my own fantasy world for a comic, and seeing this design be so out there really makes me want to do the same with my races.
My personal take on elves would be to make them really tall, like young elves are human height but as they get older and the centuries go by they just keep growing vertically. The elders who lead society are easily recognizable because they're like a meter taller than the other elves. Also having limbs that are bendy in a way that's just mildly uncomfortable to watch.
@@bigbrainenergyguy This sounds very interesting. It kind of reminds me of Pratchett's trolls being roughly human sized as young and turning into literal mountains over several centuries. Imagine five meter elves.
This isn’t an original idea per say, but an amalgamation of ideas that I had thought of put into one. Take per say, the theological sense of the story of Adam and Eve except for Wood elves. Imagine if the god of wood elves were a tree, and this tree grew fruit. When wood elves are born, they cut open a slit in their forehead to plant a seed originating from this particular tree. When a wood elf goes through his life it will reach the natural four seasons both explained literally and metaphorically. The seed will also grow inside this elf showing a depiction of how old they are. When the time has come for an elf to end their pilgrimage in life, they will gain an unquenchable thirst for water, and will be compelled to do one thing. “Dig”. In the process of this occurring for generations upon generations, their forests will flourish, bearing the same exact fruit that has sustained elvenkind for basically since their existence. When elves say I can hear the woods whisper, scream or shout, it is a literal sense. Despite what humankind believes, the elven woods are living, breathing things, a network of pooled consciousness and of this original tree. The tree has goals, fears and aspirations. If this tree is threatened, an elf will work similarly like a sleeper agent. Commandeered to act with every fiber of their being. To destroy, to protect, anything that is required of the tree's orders. "I will be watered with the blood of my kin, and my enemies. For this we shall never grow hungry, weary or thirsty. For your service, I will provide you with everything, your clothes, weapons, shelter, and protection."
@@bigbrainenergyguy I once heard someone say jokingly that elves are European catgirls. I took that to heart in my setting. Large, predatory eyes. They still look like a gorgeous human, just with almost alien big eyes set in a more circular skull. I went back and forth on pupil shape, settled for slight ovals- cats and snakes have slits to help see through grass but tigers and bears don't because they can easily look over grass. Somewhat more conical teeth and pronounced incisors. They always keep their lips closed around humans so as not to frighten them... when they are feeling diplomatic. Tall and slender. Elves exhibit sexual dimorphism, the women are bigger than the men, and heavier. Tend to have exaggerated curves, they're related to nymphs after all, where males are like bean poles. Easily exceed six feet on average and the really big ones can push seven. Not obligate carnivores, but most of their diet is meat. Said in a post elsewhere that the big 'cat like' thing is their violent mood swings. Older elves tend to be more reserved but younger ones are very dangerous. The sort you can be having fun insulting each other then you say something absolutely mundane and that is what makes them flip.
The various deviations from the Tolkien dwarf mold have always felt like they're missing something for me. I've liked the Discworld dwarves, Eldar Scrolls pulling more heavily their engineering and art deco ideas, or Artemis Fowl dwarves eating dirt, but they all felt slightly off and didn't resonate with me. But I adore this concept at first sight. You really managed to capture the essence of dwarves but changing them so completely. It just fits perfectly. I'm completely enamored. And as a little added bonus the beard, noses, and eyes give it a face that makes me think of something out of a Studio Ghibli movie. I can't wait to see more
Hi! I'm an RPG Game Dev and I love your videos. I love your design for Dwarves but here's a few suggestions: The design does not seem to fit well with the idea of a "social and festive creature" just by their looks, which leads to a problem to the reason towards drinking alcohol; Why do they drink it? Well, by their looks, I'd guess they're just simply addicted to it, same for the smoking, which complements their eery looking style, however, I have a different interesting solution - Maybe water is poisonous to this creature, so instead, they live off of alcohol (their water) and they found a way to syntethize alcohol from a crystalised mineral. This solution gives more uniqueness to the creature and also gives reason towards their interest in forging and alcohol.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw your design was a scenario: A big cavern, small streams of water flow trough, big stalactites and stalagmites, hints of craftmanship and artistry on the walls You walk trough it wondering what ancient civilization has lived here and then you see the strange pots sitting on every stalagmite turning with you and curiously observing the first human they have seen in centuries
Elves would be tough. Dwarves already have this aspect of caricature to them that if you retain the main distinctive markers, you could go totally wild with everything else. I’d love to see you try elves.
@@davidfrancisco3502These are literally goblins or a generic monster tbh Dont try to always subvert the expectations, make what we know but with a twist
I like how they are still very earthen and rocky. Ideas which tie them to the earth are there like bugs, tunnelling, machinery/arts and crafting, shells/carapace.
I can imagine a scene like that of some first person horror games like Agony, Outlast, RE: Village, etc. Where you've found yourself, after traveling far too deep, in an area where a large population of these Dwarves live. You're sneaking around, traversing through their homes, hiding behind things trying not to be seen because you're unsure whether they are friendly or not, and their appearance chills you. Strange architecture and strange sounds echo through the cavern as these Dwarves simply live their daily lives-but because of their high strangeness-it is scary and unnerving.
My favorite part of your design is the head. These are subterranean creatures, so they need to be short, and have natural head protection. A flat, armored head makes a lot of sense. I've always viewed Dwarves as akin to moles, although I do like your insectoid concept. My elves are the insects in my world building, so my Dwarves are mammals. I love your stuff. I love seeing works in progress, even if unused.
The flat heads remind me of phragmosis in ants - some ants have adapted flat circular heads so they can act as doorways, blocking or opening small round entrance holes into the nest. Makes sense for a burrowing species.
Man, your character design is like something out of an old, Norse-styled fairy tale! I haven’t felt this sort of awe and wonder since I’ve read Tolkien’s books as kid. It’s beautiful!
As a Faroese person, who's been to Iceland, and Norway, and currently lives in Denmark. The amusement of not handelig the local food and drink sounds very Nordic. loved this.
In my own fantasy writing I wanted to depart from classic “human but…” tropes, and it ended with me entirely redesigning all reptile biology so I could have humanoid four armed gecko people with metallic blood that are very distantly the “goblins” of my world.
@@unadventurer_ What the fuck does this even mean? Anime is a medium, not a genre. Why aren’t these designs sufficient to be used in an anime? Because they wouldn’t fit in Naruto?
That bit about them sharing their culture for their own amusement reminds me of my trip to Africa a few years ago. Our guides tried to teach us some traditional dance moves, we failed horribly, and we all had a good laugh. That interaction in your story gives a very human aspect to a very inhuman looking species.
@@ReblazeGaming no, actually. referring to the continent you visited isnt the same as mistaking a continent *for* a country. if i said "i visited antartica", you wouldn't be concerned. as a *european* i dont care much for people referring to the entire continent, because usually the follow up question is "what country?". you're forgetting that in *real-life conversation* you have to start conversations with something to engage with :)
I came across this, and instantly thought "THAT'S GOING IN THE BOOK!" when you said you initially designed them around grubs. But then I got hooked. This was truly mesmerizing.
I love what you did here, and I'm from time to time coming back to this just to see a different approach to worldbuilding. Amazingly well done and creative.
This is amazing! The way your ideas and iterations evolved around a couple of really consistent themes was super interesting to see! There were so many creative variations of the concept and I'm just insanely impressed, it's wild how some brushstrokes and a little bit of lore gave them so much genuine character :) Some of your stuff came across my twitter feed and now having this video recommended to me makes me wonder what nice thing I've done to earn this from the algorithm, I love it!
Thank you for filling the "spiderwick's field guide" shaped hole in my heart! I'd love to see your renditions of the universal studios classic monsters.
I just stumbled across this video and have been wanting to do the same thing in terms of redesigning the common tropes of Dwarves, elves etc. I absoluetly adore this video and has really helped with my inspiration! Keep trucking on because this is awesome
I absolutely love seeing the design process of these. Im struggling a lot with art atm, but I still really enjoy being able to see such amazing design work. It’s very inspiring.
1:55 this idea of their body parts slotting into place and the end result you arrived at is perfect, I love the concept that they can fold down into themselves sitting down appearing almost like a pot lmao, really love the creativity!
Ok this was easily the most interesting redesign of the dwarf I’ve ever seen, and I’m a huge Dwarf lover . It dips hard into science fantasy and Moebius. What a fantastic concept
This redesigning reminds me of drawings in old the hobbit books every illustrator from every country had different ideas of how the characters really looked and all of them were amazing
absolutely awestruck. i LOVE this concept i hate the "human but" problem in fiction and always complain about it regularly so it was really nice to see someone redesign a fantasy race like it was from some kind of semi sci-fi fiction. you're amazing. subscribed in an instant.
I think it works alright when it's more of a 'common ancestor' situation, or even 'alternative versions of the same race from different universes' where there's a degree of cosmic predetermination. But yeah it's a little lazy when they're just weird humans but also completely unrelated to humans
@@Destructocorps Its fine when its fantasy, but I do have problems with it in sci fi. Often fantasy races have common sources. Such as Eru creating Humans and Elves, and Dwarves created by Aule. The orcs were just corrupted elves. It makes sense. Skyrim also does it well.
I had the pleasure of meeting Terryl Whitlatch while I was in college I was being purely impetuous when I gingerly walked into her office to chat with her. My major was not Illustration but I could relate to her work. She would teach creature design and she was demanding on her students in terms of productivity. She would have them not only design a creature but also its bone structure, musculature, breeding habits, and environmental adaptations. In the end they would have a complete presentation of their work. What your doing here reminds me of her creature design class and I really enjoy it.
this sort of approach is fantastic, I'm not a fan of having all that info then dumped on the player, but by having it accessible to the GM and discoverable through play it really brings the world to life.
i could leave glowing comments on every one of your videos praising every aspect of the visuals of your work, but i just wanted you to know that what you do is so inspirational that it's fundamentally changed how i think about the creative process
Vampires could be a fun addition for this interesting dark fantasy style and setting, maybe with some mosquito inspiration with a belly that'll be transparent when full of blood!
I would love to see elves that tap into the cosmic horror vibe of being mystical and unknown ancient entities of the forests. This is such an epic redesign and I’m excited to see what you choose next!
In the book series I'm reading, Freelance Familiars, "Elves" created "The Veil", a multi-dimensional being that constantly adjusts the perception and memory of most of humanity so they never recognize magic. Dragons, which are very much cosmic horrors, have likened the elves to sharks, with the dragons just being big fish, and the main character who is one of the more powerful mortal beings (at that point) as nothing more than krill. They haven't actually shown up in the books though, and have nothing to do with forests.
This is amazing, I love the originality of this so much! It still holds the essence of dwarfs so it’s not some totally new creation all together, yet at the same time it steers clear of the image we all have in our heads of what a dwarf is in order to create something that is new.Amazing and very inspiring! I would love to hear more about these dwarves and their nature, how the similarities and differences you see them having from traditional dwarves!
I made dwarves hyperevolved naked mole rats, having their holds function as more like a eusocial colony than a city. However, I love the merger of insect and artificial asthetics, I did a similar thing with my worlds version of orks. Making them foot soldiers crafted by the gods, an army that arose each spring to continue a war long over. I though the short story was great, really made the dwarves feel like a culture, more than just a concept.
Man, I love this, just delightful creativity to twist a known thing into new and interesting shapes. Thank you so much for sharing this, it's really cool 🙌 (and kind of makes me want to revisit my own work, so thank you for that as well)
This is probably the most compelling dwarf design I’ve ever seen! I love the insectoid inspiration and the way they can fold their limbs in almost seamlessly, not to mention the engravings and inlays that add a sense of culture that developed organically. And your style is beautiful to boot! Amazing work, I can’t wait to see what else you’ve made and will make in the future!
You sir, are a true creature designer. You go far beyond making sure it looks cool, you also think about how it works, how it lives, what its cultural origins are, and how it fits into its respective universe. As it should be. Inspired!
some more "fay" gnomes could be really cool...halflings really are just "what if small people were natural adventurers?" though...weirdly enough if you go find tinypeople in most mythologies before modern they are scary little cannibals a disturbing portion of the time to the point where you wonder where it comes from...things that leave a big impression can stick around a surprisingly long time: plenty of areas still have ice age critters in their mythology.
These are the coolest dwarves I've ever seen. Classic fantasy races bore me to tears, but I love these dudes. I subscribed immediately, and I'm really excited to see more of your work.
As a writer and artist, I am truly fascinated by this. Its such a unique and welcome reinterpretation of dwarves, and I'm also happy that you found inspiration and payed homage to the Norse Religion when recreating them. I'd love to see more reinterpretations of famous folk creatures in the future.
I can't stress enough how awesome this concept is, they are so different, yet they still so recognizable, I can just come to my TTRPG table and introduce this as a dwarf and they will just roll with it. Please, do make more of the classical fantasy races like the elves, orcs and other things in between.
@@lynth The thing is with a lot of creatures in folk lore theres room for interpretation, especially considering how much different interpretations close to the source material are. The mothman is a good example of this as in some interpretations he has an individual human like head while in others he only has a torso with a face. I don't particularly see anything that strictly rules out the stereotypical "dwarf" moniker other than the fact you could argue dwarves are supposed to be a type of human.
In survival videos it talks about how difficult it is to dig a shelter out and how much planning you need to go to dig as little as possible, so this sleeping jar form evolved out a way to save space in their shelters. Perhaps the cacoon form is oversized so this is a evolutionary stand in their race.
Simply amazing design and ideas, it's really inspiring to see how the concepts you wanted to portray shaped the design until the design could do them justice.
Lizardmen would be interesting to see your take on. There's so much variation in their designs across media as it is, but it could be neat seeing a fresh take on them.
What I would like to see is lizardmen that are the ancient civilisation. they arrived at the peak then a natural disaster wiped out their civilisation but not their race. the survivors deciding "reject society go back to 'codile" then it became tradition. And the other races evolved in the vacuum.
Beautiful and creative. I cannot wait to hear what kind of music this species would create. I imagine lots of droning in complex weaving melodies with deep drum beats and the high ringing of bells. Great work!
I just found this channel and I love it, a much grittier and realistic take on classic fantasy concepts is really cool to see, I love this kind of stuff.
I absolutely love this! The final version feels so organic and so inhuman in a way that makes it believable that they would come from the underground. Im especially fond of the way they sit down and how their body make them look like giant sculpted urns!
This has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Idk why but your process of creation really just struck me. You are one of those people that can build something with literally nothing!!!
This remidns me of the process Picasso took to simplify the bull. You took the very core of a dwarf and added your own ideas to it in order to create something new yet familiar.
yknow I've been brewing my own fantasy setting for a while with the goal of having unique takes on the classic fantasy races. so I love to see stuff like this, great inspiration 👍
i can't express how much i love your design. Please keep doing stuffs like this. You are basicly curing the biggest weakness of the fantasy genre. Hats off my Man, hats off!
Thinking about what you said, I feel like Gorons from Legend of Zelda are the perfect redesign of dwarves. Following your design concepts of 'being created', looking designed, 'slotting' together etc. and being organic and inorganic as well as still having key elements of dwarves such as their beards. Gorons kind of fit all this perfectly.
I must say, this is pretty fantastic! Gives me a real delToro vibe for the dwarf design and does make me realise a Del toro inspired fantasy adventure ttrpg would be awesome
I love the concept of taking something very "fantasy cliche" and making it brand new! Thank you for taking us through the process, it was a lot of fun.
I love how they can fit into this small urn/vase shape because it looks almost like they're actually living sentient rocks, as if they were creatures born from stone, or at least thought to be.
This is a very unique take! I run into a similar itch with my worldbuilding with the "human but..." problem and trying to make dwarves, gnomes, and halflings unique. Seeing your thought process and the starting inspirations and how they developed over time was interesting to see.
i meant to save this video for later but it was too intriguing right from the start. the way they fit into that vase-shape really brings across the idea of being "made" and makes them so much more mystical. your art is insanely visually pleasing and i appreciate that you revisited the project instead of finishing with the very first concept or even giving up. thanks for motivating me to be a better artist!
The idea of dwarves compacting into little jar-shaped pods during stasis just rings so true to their subterranean origins. Very cool designs.
I could also see that when they are interred in the earth put on shelves like urns
Yea, Im not sure why but this part of the concept rings very true for me. Im not sure why it make so much sense though lol
For some reason it reminds me dwemer automatons🤔
The only problem I have with this design is how lanky they look. One of the main aspects of Dwarves in fantasy is how robust & sturdy they are; in many ways, they're just like the minerals and resources they mine. Dwarves should be built stocky and brawny to reflect this, whereas these Dwarves almost seem frail.
That said, it's still an amazingly unique design. Love the detail put into it first and foremost, he doesn't just draw them a certain way for shits & giggles but explains the evolutionary process behind this look. Adds a lot of depth.
Bionicles
Elves are so domesticated in modern fantasy compared to how they appear in folk tales, I'd love to see you go back to the drawing board with them.
that's probably because modern fantasy is too akin to dnd style of fantasy. In the sense that people want to be those species. And if they're absolute murderous assholes, there's less people who will like that. My theory at least
@@MaindexOmega This is partially why I believe the best fantasy RPG would restrict you to playing a human. Darkvision for example isn't interesting when players have it, but it becomes terrifying when enemies have darkvision and you don't.
Also in a heroic story it's important to create a distinction between the "ordinary world" of the protagonist's daily life and the unfamiliar "special world" they must delve into, and if all the players are obscure magical races then you're really hamstringing yourself there.
@@SquishypuffDave I love this. In RPG’s, the most enjoyable sessions were definitely the ones where you were limited to humans or human-adjacent builds and good aligned characters. The bevy of options now is culturally and mechanically non-sensical.
You mean like that Danish folktale where an elf offered sex to a man who was engaged to be married? Where she was all cheer and frolicking until he turned her down once too many times and she flipped out and cursed him. Like her entire personality flipped on a dime.
I try to preserve that with my elves. Where they can be jovial and sweet one second then you say something mundane that they took personally and suddenly they are considering how to ruin your life for it.
Hell, most modern fantasy elves don't even try to be on the level of Tolkien's elves. Instead they're just humans with ears who live longer.
An idea to expand upon their skin markings.
You could add a saying along the lines of "To gauge the trust of a dwarf, check their back"
Dwarves can't mark their own backs as they cannot reach them - so others do it for them. Whether or not a dwarf is trustworthy depends on the markings that others gave them (whether or not other dwarves 'have their back'). A blank back could mean that the dwarf doesn't trust others - or perhaps they've tried to hide their own untrustworthy nature by having their markings removed or covered. A tell tale habit of an untrustworthy dwarf is one that rubs their back on hard surfaces and claiming it to be an itch (but infact, it's a habit from frequently trying to scrape off the undesired markings themselves)
By this same virtue, dwarves tend not to trust any race with 'markless' backs.
ooooooO thats a REALLY good idea-
Wow...
Neat idea.
If dwarf 1 trusts dwarf 2 and marks that on their back, and then dwarf 2 betrays dwarf 1 in some way, why would dwarf 2 erase the markings that dwarf 1 made on their back?
Unless dwarf 1 was able to add another mark to dwarf 2's back that indicated the untrustworthiness...
@@autumngalix4616 I think it's a good story telling mechanic in that you can have all sorts of variations. There's betrayal, trust, mystery - not just to the trolls, who know what the markings say.
There could be hidden messages; only those who know how to read Dwarven markings could find such messages.
The trust component could be deeply cultural, and thus it's taboo (on a personal level) to even look at your own back's markings, good or bad.
You could have guilded markings (similar to 'Kintsugi', a process of repairing ceramics with gold and lacquer), filling in the grooves with a gold like material to make the markings permanent. Kind of like a sign of status.
However this is a ceremony that is bestowed by dwarven leadership AND community vote, you cannot ask for it (it's considered very rude). Pure gold filled markings are a sign of honor and prestige. But especially notorious criminals may have had this treatment - forever marking them as untrustworthy. The gold used in their marking is tainted with the blood of other traitor dwarves; giving the resulting gold a deep, crimson rose hue.
Thus any dwarf with rose gold gilded markings is not only likely evil - but highly dangerous.
I LOVE the designs with the whole concept of "Not Meant for Humans" that reminds you that these are entirley different species not just short humans with beards. Making them seem mildly uncanny in their humanoid and familar appearance yet giving them an alien feel is just awesome!
Yeah, would also like to see what elves would look like. Would they be pretty or not
I actually have a problem with it, because he’s redesigning a race. So the whole “not human thing” isn’t creative with that in mind. That’s like saying you are going to redesign a motorcycle and then you give it four wheels. That’s called a four wheeler bud. I get it, it’s “creative”, but it’s not a “cycle” anymore. So you didn’t really redesign crap. You made something new with something known.
@@shadowcard3998 huh? They arent suppose to look like humans anyways... they arent going to be short humans or humans with long ears. They are really different, what he is redesigning are the tokien dwarves or elf
@@jmgonzales7701 the fact that you don’t understand is exactly why modern art exists.
@@jmgonzales7701 you also clearly didn’t read my comment thoroughly because I explained exactly why this doesn’t count as “redesigned”.
I love the idea that they tattoo each others backs as a show of trust and intimacy
Literally "I got your back"
That's gay
Or "Kick Me" lol
@@obscurewondering3162I like your back G"
**Intensely painful tattooing ensues**
@@exzyyd392 Idk if it'd be painful, considering their skin is made of metal, though, they could be like a tortoise or turtle and have nerve-endings in the "shell".
I'd love to see you redesign orcs and minotaurs. The way you made the dwarves looks absolutely astonishing!
He has set a very high standard for himself.
Orcs I can see, but minotaurs are kind of a specific mythical creature. At that point you'd be designing a completely unique race/humanoid entity.
@@arcanine_enjoyer Maybe Minotaurs as in that of Taurens from World of Warcraft?
Orcs as more of an undead would be really neat to see.
@@sandmaneyes Orcs but they're frankenstein's monster, they reproduce by taking corpses from the battlefield, both enemies and their own and "repairing" them by carving away whatever's too damaged to use and grafting together spare parts from bodies that are too heavily damaged to be worth repairing, an army of patchwork men that live to make more of themselves, the reason they're so reckless and battlehungry is because they take for granted that the same methods used to create them in the first place will be used to resurrect them should they fall, all they need do is Win so their brothers have ample bodies to work their craft.
I love the "condenses into jar-shaped mass when sleeping" bit, it reminds me of Gorons looking like boulders when they curl up. Maybe these dwarves also eat the ore they process? They would need some way of growing their carapace, perhaps even recycling shed shells?
dwarven shellplate armour sounds metal as fuck ngl
NGL I thought he was referring to scorn
Reminds me of those real underwater snails that grow shells made of literal iron. So cool!
Not shells. Footpads
I mean Goron are basically Dwarves. Hardy Mountain and cave folk who are often the best smiths.
Zora are also elves mixed with fish.
This feels like a race you would see in a fever dream. The uncanny valley is so strong. I can imagine feeling very uneasy around these creatures despite their hospitality and friendliness, just because they are so alien. I probably couldn't spend too long in their home because I would crave the familiarity of human cultures so much. An absolutely incredible design!
I Wonder if dwarves would feel the same way about humans. Maybe dwarves cant handle human foods like how we cant take more than a sip of there drinks without burning are thtouts or if a dwarf was at a human gathering and they are just having a silent panick attack because of our unnerving apperence
@@spice_maker for those dwarves we would look like how the wendigo looks to us
@@poggestfrog Yeah your probably right. We are much taller and skinnier than dwarves
If you lived in their world and saw them regularly, they probably would be a bit more familiar from your perspective. It depends on your exposure to them really.
Yeah, I really like this juxtaposition between its, at first, unfriendly look and its real friendly "inside". This could lead to really interesting emotions, exactly like you said, kinda dream-like - you don't completly understand WHAT you seeing, but you kinda like it. Interesting trope, usually we get to see it used other way when friendly looking stuff has its darker side, but I really like it reversed, I feel it a lot more interesting and in general healthy to do it this way, because "friendly at first glance and hostile in reality" is only could work in some way of a dark twist situation when you either get betrayed by them or get scared, while this type of twist could work in many more interesting setups
Ive always thought that gnomes were far too close to halflings or dwarves in terms of design so it would be really cool if you could put an interesting spin to them
Gnomes were originally earth elementals in mythology, but you would never know that from modern takes on them.
Gnome arguably derive from the much more sinister “red cap” mythological figure (hence why gnome usually wear red hats) which was similar to a small goblin, that lived in abandoned castles and other ruins. Having red caps and gnome be part the same species, but differing primarily in ideology, would be an interesting starting point for some gnome lore
I always thought gnomes should be based off mushrooms. If you want to be creepy: hivemind of predatorial mushrooms - like the red caps!
@@4dealliance598 that fits very well, because mushrooms primarily feed on either tree sap, or decaying matter. That would fit with mushroom gnomes living in forests and red caps being attracted to places where battles and deaths took place in traditional mythology
Edit: if one sub-species of gnome only fed in a specific type of rare tree, that variety of gnome could potentially become hyper-warlike to protect their trees and forests 🤔
That is kinda why I got confused with reading halfling and gnome in fantasy settings, since in English at least they are very much too similar. While in Norwegian folk tales Nisse or fairies are way more chaotic creatures, that you had to appease to not have them mess with your farm or home
So this is what pure creative talent looks like.
I stand in awe.
don’t mitigate the years of practice which honed his skill to “natural talent”
Creative skill, not talent. It takes years of practice to get to this level of character design/ concept art, not natural born "pure creative talent."
this guy is definitely a redditor
"I stand in awe."
That's not a new idea. I've seen dnd settings with insect like dwarves.
@@groupvucic2235 Nothing's new. Still a very unique idea from him
This was actually really fascinating.
I got huge spiderwick vibes from this
Me, reading this- “OH SHIT IT *IS* SPIDERWICK!”
Same. Definitely reminds me of DiTerlizzi's work overall, and in a very good way.
i love how we just keep zoomiVg iV oV the gobli crotch at 0:39
Changed the dwarf? That’s going in the book, lads!
I don't know where this video came from, but I'm incredibly glad that UA-cam suggested this to me. This is literally what I do, I love to see other concept artists out there.
Here here
I just don't get how he can draw so good but have such terrible handwriting lol
Got blessed by the algorithm god
@@tevarinvagabond1192classic just like me
Rare UA-cam Suggestions W
I'm a huge fan of this concept, I'd love to see as many fantasy races reimagined as you'd want to
I happen to also tap into re-imagining classical creatures. What i ended up with is a grid, one axis says "short, medium, tall" and the other "ugly, average, beautiful". In this grid i put the standard versions, like: Orcs are tall & ugly, goblins are short and ugly, elfs are tall and beautiful, etc... As you can imagine, the grid still had spots left. What creature is short & beautiful?, for example. So i tried to close this gaps with new kinds of creatures.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 Fairies could be considered short and beautiful
@@astick5249 Yea, but i was thinking about "remotely human sized" creatures. Fairies are normally imagined to be much smaller, at least in modern fantasy.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 in heroes of might and magic 5 fey looks very human sized.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 potential new category of "really tiny"? Then perhaps with giants we can go the opposite and do "really big"
A lot of people seem to be sadly confused on the intent of the video. Its not him going "dwarf bad heres better one" its him designing dwarves for his own project.
As someone who is a big Tolkien and fantasy fan, and a HUGE fan of Durin's folk and of dwarves as a fantasy race in general (the way they are always portrayed that is), I never thought your reimagining of them as some kind of humanoid, insect-like race would be so weird but also very plausible and interesting. I really like how you envision them while sleeping. So cool and so weird :D
I personally would love to see your take on elves. Im designing my own fantasy world for a comic, and seeing this design be so out there really makes me want to do the same with my races.
My personal take on elves would be to make them really tall, like young elves are human height but as they get older and the centuries go by they just keep growing vertically. The elders who lead society are easily recognizable because they're like a meter taller than the other elves. Also having limbs that are bendy in a way that's just mildly uncomfortable to watch.
@@bigbrainenergyguy This sounds very interesting. It kind of reminds me of Pratchett's trolls being roughly human sized as young and turning into literal mountains over several centuries. Imagine five meter elves.
This isn’t an original idea per say, but an amalgamation of ideas that I had thought of put into one. Take per say, the theological sense of the story of Adam and Eve except for Wood elves. Imagine if the god of wood elves were a tree, and this tree grew fruit. When wood elves are born, they cut open a slit in their forehead to plant a seed originating from this particular tree. When a wood elf goes through his life it will reach the natural four seasons both explained literally and metaphorically. The seed will also grow inside this elf showing a depiction of how old they are. When the time has come for an elf to end their pilgrimage in life, they will gain an unquenchable thirst for water, and will be compelled to do one thing. “Dig”. In the process of this occurring for generations upon generations, their forests will flourish, bearing the same exact fruit that has sustained elvenkind for basically since their existence. When elves say I can hear the woods whisper, scream or shout, it is a literal sense. Despite what humankind believes, the elven woods are living, breathing things, a network of pooled consciousness and of this original tree. The tree has goals, fears and aspirations. If this tree is threatened, an elf will work similarly like a sleeper agent. Commandeered to act with every fiber of their being. To destroy, to protect, anything that is required of the tree's orders.
"I will be watered with the blood of my kin, and my enemies. For this we shall never grow hungry, weary or thirsty. For your service, I will provide you with everything, your clothes, weapons, shelter, and protection."
@@bigbrainenergyguy Like the Tallest from Invader Zin?
@@bigbrainenergyguy I once heard someone say jokingly that elves are European catgirls. I took that to heart in my setting. Large, predatory eyes. They still look like a gorgeous human, just with almost alien big eyes set in a more circular skull. I went back and forth on pupil shape, settled for slight ovals- cats and snakes have slits to help see through grass but tigers and bears don't because they can easily look over grass. Somewhat more conical teeth and pronounced incisors. They always keep their lips closed around humans so as not to frighten them... when they are feeling diplomatic. Tall and slender. Elves exhibit sexual dimorphism, the women are bigger than the men, and heavier. Tend to have exaggerated curves, they're related to nymphs after all, where males are like bean poles. Easily exceed six feet on average and the really big ones can push seven. Not obligate carnivores, but most of their diet is meat.
Said in a post elsewhere that the big 'cat like' thing is their violent mood swings. Older elves tend to be more reserved but younger ones are very dangerous. The sort you can be having fun insulting each other then you say something absolutely mundane and that is what makes them flip.
Stumbled across this at random, but I absolutely love these little guys. Ideas like this can really freshen up a well known concept.
same
The various deviations from the Tolkien dwarf mold have always felt like they're missing something for me. I've liked the Discworld dwarves, Eldar Scrolls pulling more heavily their engineering and art deco ideas, or Artemis Fowl dwarves eating dirt, but they all felt slightly off and didn't resonate with me. But I adore this concept at first sight. You really managed to capture the essence of dwarves but changing them so completely. It just fits perfectly. I'm completely enamored. And as a little added bonus the beard, noses, and eyes give it a face that makes me think of something out of a Studio Ghibli movie. I can't wait to see more
Hi! I'm an RPG Game Dev and I love your videos. I love your design for Dwarves but here's a few suggestions: The design does not seem to fit well with the idea of a "social and festive creature" just by their looks, which leads to a problem to the reason towards drinking alcohol; Why do they drink it? Well, by their looks, I'd guess they're just simply addicted to it, same for the smoking, which complements their eery looking style, however, I have a different interesting solution - Maybe water is poisonous to this creature, so instead, they live off of alcohol (their water) and they found a way to syntethize alcohol from a crystalised mineral. This solution gives more uniqueness to the creature and also gives reason towards their interest in forging and alcohol.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw your design was a scenario:
A big cavern, small streams of water flow trough, big stalactites and stalagmites, hints of craftmanship and artistry on the walls
You walk trough it wondering what ancient civilization has lived here and then you see the strange pots sitting on every stalagmite turning with you and curiously observing the first human they have seen in centuries
I hear the Sound of Rock on Rock when they Turn to Look upon the Curious Stranger.
@@RaydoBaconslayerThat suddenly stops when you glance around
@@ghoultooth I am not weirded out by the fact there is stone grinding but I dont have a clue where its coming from.
Elves would be tough. Dwarves already have this aspect of caricature to them that if you retain the main distinctive markers, you could go totally wild with everything else. I’d love to see you try elves.
What about remaking the elves as predatory carnivores with night vision and even practice cannibalism?
I imagine Kaminoans from StarWars with shorter necks and hair.
I think the best version of the elves is in god of war. They have such a unique look and feel.
For dwarves he went back to their Norse, Corpse-Grubs origin, for elves he could back to their fae origins
@@davidfrancisco3502These are literally goblins or a generic monster tbh
Dont try to always subvert the expectations, make what we know but with a twist
I like how they are still very earthen and rocky. Ideas which tie them to the earth are there like bugs, tunnelling, machinery/arts and crafting, shells/carapace.
I can imagine a scene like that of some first person horror games like Agony, Outlast, RE: Village, etc. Where you've found yourself, after traveling far too deep, in an area where a large population of these Dwarves live. You're sneaking around, traversing through their homes, hiding behind things trying not to be seen because you're unsure whether they are friendly or not, and their appearance chills you. Strange architecture and strange sounds echo through the cavern as these Dwarves simply live their daily lives-but because of their high strangeness-it is scary and unnerving.
My favorite part of your design is the head. These are subterranean creatures, so they need to be short, and have natural head protection. A flat, armored head makes a lot of sense. I've always viewed Dwarves as akin to moles, although I do like your insectoid concept. My elves are the insects in my world building, so my Dwarves are mammals. I love your stuff. I love seeing works in progress, even if unused.
Ahh yes all those famous underground real life animals with flat bucket heads.
@@99Plastics Pink fairy mole, Blind mole rat, Shovel-nose frogs, Badgers, Pangolins, Armadillos, etc.
@@goliathprime Bars
The flat heads remind me of phragmosis in ants - some ants have adapted flat circular heads so they can act as doorways, blocking or opening small round entrance holes into the nest. Makes sense for a burrowing species.
@@goliathprime don't forget antlions. And many species of ants and termites.
It’s perfect.
It’s just “dwarfish” enough to recognize and different enough to be unique
Man, your character design is like something out of an old, Norse-styled fairy tale! I haven’t felt this sort of awe and wonder since I’ve read Tolkien’s books as kid. It’s beautiful!
THAT'S IT LADS, ROCK AND STONE!
*ROCK AND STONE* ⛏️
I love the contrast between how friendly they act and how eldritch they look!
As a Faroese person, who's been to Iceland, and Norway, and currently lives in Denmark. The amusement of not handelig the local food and drink sounds very Nordic. loved this.
You don't like our snaps? xD
pfff. you should try indian vindaloo if you want to know the real meaning of handling
In my own fantasy writing I wanted to depart from classic “human but…” tropes, and it ended with me entirely redesigning all reptile biology so I could have humanoid four armed gecko people with metallic blood that are very distantly the “goblins” of my world.
These story lines would make an AMAZING anime/animated, darker adult series! This is beyond beautiful and unique.
Nothing about this feels like a good fit for anime.
@@unadventurer_ good thing I put animated right beside it, huh?
@ironicironic379 What he is trying to say, is that you should have omitted the anime part entirely.
@@NachoDaMan I understood what they meant. Why would I do that, when it was based on my opinion?
@@unadventurer_
What the fuck does this even mean? Anime is a medium, not a genre.
Why aren’t these designs sufficient to be used in an anime? Because they wouldn’t fit in Naruto?
That bit about them sharing their culture for their own amusement reminds me of my trip to Africa a few years ago.
Our guides tried to teach us some traditional dance moves, we failed horribly, and we all had a good laugh.
That interaction in your story gives a very human aspect to a very inhuman looking species.
Africa is a HUGE continent... What country did you visit?
@@vivilonrane1330 Tanzania
@@vivilonrane1330 literally people could equally say "i went to europe" or "i went to south america", no need to get snappy!
@@pemo2676 That kind of thinking is why some Americans think Africa is a country
@@ReblazeGaming no, actually. referring to the continent you visited isnt the same as mistaking a continent *for* a country. if i said "i visited antartica", you wouldn't be concerned.
as a *european* i dont care much for people referring to the entire continent, because usually the follow up question is "what country?".
you're forgetting that in *real-life conversation* you have to start conversations with something to engage with :)
i really love the insectoid feel to them, it brings so much alien character to them that clearly defines them as something other than human
This is giving 'Oknytt' nordic elf designs in the BEST of ways, thank you so much! I've never come across your channel before but I'm so glad I did! ❤
I love how the dwarves can scrunch into little jar shapes. Almost suggests a form of transportation or sleeping.
This is incredible. I love how alien they feel while also conjuring a sense of familiarity.
I came across this, and instantly thought "THAT'S GOING IN THE BOOK!" when you said you initially designed them around grubs. But then I got hooked. This was truly mesmerizing.
Yeah I came in ready to issue a grudge, but instead... I want more on these lads.
I love what you did here, and I'm from time to time coming back to this just to see a different approach to worldbuilding. Amazingly well done and creative.
This is amazing! The way your ideas and iterations evolved around a couple of really consistent themes was super interesting to see! There were so many creative variations of the concept and I'm just insanely impressed, it's wild how some brushstrokes and a little bit of lore gave them so much genuine character :) Some of your stuff came across my twitter feed and now having this video recommended to me makes me wonder what nice thing I've done to earn this from the algorithm, I love it!
The "manufactured organic" look is something I'm going for with a personal project, I love what you've done with the idea!
Same
Thank you for filling the "spiderwick's field guide" shaped hole in my heart! I'd love to see your renditions of the universal studios classic monsters.
Oh god what a blast from my childhood. Thank you for making that reference
I like this idea.
oh my god I always keep forgetting about that series but it was such an important staple of my childhood
I just stumbled across this video and have been wanting to do the same thing in terms of redesigning the common tropes of Dwarves, elves etc. I absoluetly adore this video and has really helped with my inspiration!
Keep trucking on because this is awesome
I absolutely love seeing the design process of these. Im struggling a lot with art atm, but I still really enjoy being able to see such amazing design work. It’s very inspiring.
1:55 this idea of their body parts slotting into place and the end result you arrived at is perfect, I love the concept that they can fold down into themselves sitting down appearing almost like a pot lmao, really love the creativity!
I rather thought they looked like boulders
yeah i figured they lived more in the woods and could hibernate as rocks or boulders for a season or two. then waking up and leaving for their caverns
Ok this was easily the most interesting redesign of the dwarf I’ve ever seen, and I’m a huge Dwarf lover . It dips hard into science fantasy and Moebius. What a fantastic concept
I love the design process that you go through, beautiful throughout each stage
This redesigning reminds me of drawings in old the hobbit books every illustrator from every country had different ideas of how the characters really looked and all of them were amazing
absolutely awestruck. i LOVE this concept
i hate the "human but" problem in fiction and always complain about it regularly so it was really nice to see someone redesign a fantasy race like it was from some kind of semi sci-fi fiction.
you're amazing. subscribed in an instant.
I think it works alright when it's more of a 'common ancestor' situation, or even 'alternative versions of the same race from different universes' where there's a degree of cosmic predetermination. But yeah it's a little lazy when they're just weird humans but also completely unrelated to humans
@@Destructocorps Its fine when its fantasy, but I do have problems with it in sci fi. Often fantasy races have common sources. Such as Eru creating Humans and Elves, and Dwarves created by Aule. The orcs were just corrupted elves. It makes sense. Skyrim also does it well.
I had the pleasure of meeting Terryl Whitlatch while I was in college I was being purely impetuous when I gingerly walked into her office to chat with her. My major was not Illustration but I could relate to her work. She would teach creature design and she was demanding on her students in terms of productivity. She would have them not only design a creature but also its bone structure, musculature, breeding habits, and environmental adaptations. In the end they would have a complete presentation of their work. What your doing here reminds me of her creature design class and I really enjoy it.
this sort of approach is fantastic, I'm not a fan of having all that info then dumped on the player, but by having it accessible to the GM and discoverable through play it really brings the world to life.
what course was this?? it sounds so so cool
@@migueloharasleftboob I believe it was an advanced creature and character design class. And it must have been a junior year course or maybe senor.
I love this take on dwarbs. Thanks for sharing and going through your design/thought processes.
i could leave glowing comments on every one of your videos praising every aspect of the visuals of your work, but i just wanted you to know that what you do is so inspirational that it's fundamentally changed how i think about the creative process
Vampires could be a fun addition for this interesting dark fantasy style and setting, maybe with some mosquito inspiration with a belly that'll be transparent when full of blood!
I would love to see elves that tap into the cosmic horror vibe of being mystical and unknown ancient entities of the forests. This is such an epic redesign and I’m excited to see what you choose next!
In the book series I'm reading, Freelance Familiars, "Elves" created "The Veil", a multi-dimensional being that constantly adjusts the perception and memory of most of humanity so they never recognize magic.
Dragons, which are very much cosmic horrors, have likened the elves to sharks, with the dragons just being big fish, and the main character who is one of the more powerful mortal beings (at that point) as nothing more than krill.
They haven't actually shown up in the books though, and have nothing to do with forests.
your way of going into deepdives when designing stuff is so nice, i love to do stuff similar to that but see you calmly explain it is soo soothing
This is amazing, I love the originality of this so much! It still holds the essence of dwarfs so it’s not some totally new creation all together, yet at the same time it steers clear of the image we all have in our heads of what a dwarf is in order to create something that is new.Amazing and very inspiring!
I would love to hear more about these dwarves and their nature, how the similarities and differences you see them having from traditional dwarves!
Art aside, I really like how you connect everything in a one cohesive theme and culture.
I made dwarves hyperevolved naked mole rats, having their holds function as more like a eusocial colony than a city. However, I love the merger of insect and artificial asthetics, I did a similar thing with my worlds version of orks. Making them foot soldiers crafted by the gods, an army that arose each spring to continue a war long over. I though the short story was great, really made the dwarves feel like a culture, more than just a concept.
This is wonderful, you're a fantastic character and setting designer
Man, I love this, just delightful creativity to twist a known thing into new and interesting shapes. Thank you so much for sharing this, it's really cool 🙌 (and kind of makes me want to revisit my own work, so thank you for that as well)
This is probably the most compelling dwarf design I’ve ever seen! I love the insectoid inspiration and the way they can fold their limbs in almost seamlessly, not to mention the engravings and inlays that add a sense of culture that developed organically. And your style is beautiful to boot! Amazing work, I can’t wait to see what else you’ve made and will make in the future!
I love the idea of boiling these species down to a conceptual level and then designing based off that extremely awesome video
I feel like too often we all base ideas on for example Tolkien's ideas instead of basing them on what Tolkien's ideas are based on
i love this take on them! it definitely still feels and reads dwarf to me! absolutely am loving this
This are beautiful designs! Thank you for sharing them, and even more importantly the process behind them
You sir, are a true creature designer. You go far beyond making sure it looks cool, you also think about how it works, how it lives, what its cultural origins are, and how it fits into its respective universe. As it should be. Inspired!
Halflings or Gnomes being resigned is something I'm most interested in
some more "fay" gnomes could be really cool...halflings really are just "what if small people were natural adventurers?" though...weirdly enough if you go find tinypeople in most mythologies before modern they are scary little cannibals a disturbing portion of the time to the point where you wonder where it comes from...things that leave a big impression can stick around a surprisingly long time: plenty of areas still have ice age critters in their mythology.
this is such an amazing reimagining of this idea, and a wonderful look into your creative process, thank you so much for sharing this I feel inspired
These are the coolest dwarves I've ever seen. Classic fantasy races bore me to tears, but I love these dudes. I subscribed immediately, and I'm really excited to see more of your work.
As a writer and artist, I am truly fascinated by this. Its such a unique and welcome reinterpretation of dwarves, and I'm also happy that you found inspiration and payed homage to the Norse Religion when recreating them. I'd love to see more reinterpretations of famous folk creatures in the future.
I can't stress enough how awesome this concept is, they are so different, yet they still so recognizable, I can just come to my TTRPG table and introduce this as a dwarf and they will just roll with it. Please, do make more of the classical fantasy races like the elves, orcs and other things in between.
I just wouldn't call them dwarves at all. He designed a whole new species that deserves a whole new name.
@@lynth The thing is with a lot of creatures in folk lore theres room for interpretation, especially considering how much different interpretations close to the source material are. The mothman is a good example of this as in some interpretations he has an individual human like head while in others he only has a torso with a face. I don't particularly see anything that strictly rules out the stereotypical "dwarf" moniker other than the fact you could argue dwarves are supposed to be a type of human.
In survival videos it talks about how difficult it is to dig a shelter out and how much planning you need to go to dig as little as possible, so this sleeping jar form evolved out a way to save space in their shelters. Perhaps the cacoon form is oversized so this is a evolutionary stand in their race.
Simply amazing design and ideas, it's really inspiring to see how the concepts you wanted to portray shaped the design until the design could do them justice.
THIS is fantasy/d&d content! So tired of rehashed jokes and tired designs. It’s creativity like this that makes a fantasy world feel wondrous-bravo 👏
Lizardmen would be interesting to see your take on. There's so much variation in their designs across media as it is, but it could be neat seeing a fresh take on them.
What I would like to see is lizardmen that are the ancient civilisation. they arrived at the peak then a natural disaster wiped out their civilisation but not their race. the survivors deciding "reject society go back to 'codile" then it became tradition. And the other races evolved in the vacuum.
Beautiful and creative. I cannot wait to hear what kind of music this species would create. I imagine lots of droning in complex weaving melodies with deep drum beats and the high ringing of bells. Great work!
I just found this channel and I love it, a much grittier and realistic take on classic fantasy concepts is really cool to see, I love this kind of stuff.
its amazing to see pages like that go from sketches to full blown decorated page
I absolutely love this! The final version feels so organic and so inhuman in a way that makes it believable that they would come from the underground. Im especially fond of the way they sit down and how their body make them look like giant sculpted urns!
This has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Idk why but your process of creation really just struck me. You are one of those people that can build something with literally nothing!!!
i love the lore and thoughtful details!! the engraving on the metallic skin especially and their amusement at/openness to sharing their culture
This remidns me of the process Picasso took to simplify the bull. You took the very core of a dwarf and added your own ideas to it in order to create something new yet familiar.
This is most def a genre of youtube video I've wanted all my life, so creative I love your work.
yknow I've been brewing my own fantasy setting for a while with the goal of having unique takes on the classic fantasy races. so I love to see stuff like this, great inspiration 👍
i can't express how much i love your design. Please keep doing stuffs like this. You are basicly curing the biggest weakness of the fantasy genre. Hats off my Man, hats off!
I love the Norse mythology inspiration.
Could you do elves next? Also inspired by old myths?
There is something in Norse mythology called ‘dark elves’ wich are normally confused for dwarves, so some inclusion of that would be awesome!
amazing designs. just randomly found your channel but I already love your art!
Thinking about what you said, I feel like Gorons from Legend of Zelda are the perfect redesign of dwarves. Following your design concepts of 'being created', looking designed, 'slotting' together etc. and being organic and inorganic as well as still having key elements of dwarves such as their beards. Gorons kind of fit all this perfectly.
I am IN LOVE with this, I would be so stoked to see your take on other classic fantasy creatures in the future!!!
I must say, this is pretty fantastic! Gives me a real delToro vibe for the dwarf design and does make me realise a Del toro inspired fantasy adventure ttrpg would be awesome
I love the concept of taking something very "fantasy cliche" and making it brand new! Thank you for taking us through the process, it was a lot of fun.
Nice designs! I've subscribed. Love this format
This fucking ruled. I was immediately hooked by your redesign. Instant subscription. Can’t wait to check out more!!
I love how they can fit into this small urn/vase shape because it looks almost like they're actually living sentient rocks, as if they were creatures born from stone, or at least thought to be.
This is a very cool, very creative take on the dwarf. I'd play the shit out of a Dwarf if you introduced this as a playable race in a ttrpg.
I really enjoyed the video, and the process you went through to get this result is amazing. Really like this look on a dwarf.
This is a very unique take! I run into a similar itch with my worldbuilding with the "human but..." problem and trying to make dwarves, gnomes, and halflings unique. Seeing your thought process and the starting inspirations and how they developed over time was interesting to see.
I'm so happy someone remembered they were maggot-lads. Absolutely outstanding work.
I love how alien they seem. Not outer space alien, no. The unknown alien. Something outside of man's predispositions of existence.
I watched 2 videos, you are my fav creator now. I've been struggling with my own story and your level of creativeness is inspiring.
i meant to save this video for later but it was too intriguing right from the start.
the way they fit into that vase-shape really brings across the idea of being "made" and makes them so much more mystical. your art is insanely visually pleasing and i appreciate that you revisited the project instead of finishing with the very first concept or even giving up.
thanks for motivating me to be a better artist!