Tell that to the koi! (Not technically on the payroll, but if they weren't eaten they lived long enough to outlast much of the staff and be more of a fixture.)
One thing i like would like to see is your take on Chimeras. Presumably , not all the hybrids of the Watchers turned into dragons. What if some Watchers crossed Nephillim and others , using their blasphemous secrets to create a mutant version of some Dragons. For example what if there were Lizardfolk ,which came about after a Watcher wanted to create beings in his own profane image. Or you can tackle Magic. If the Watchers and Nephillim posess forbidden knowledge of the cosmos, one could make a conection that they also know Magic/Mysticsm. It would be cool for example if a nephillim warlord had a Soothsayer or a Diviner to be able to scry into the future or make prophecies using ,for example , animal entrails, just like the Romans used to.(haruspicy) Anyway , thanks so much for the video!! Love your work!
A manticore would be awesome, but a Sphinx would be better suited here. They posses knowledge are draconic in nature ( even though they are often portrayed as half-griffin ) . Plus their sentience can play a role in the Society of the Antedeluvian! Just like in Egypt.
I promise you that there's no shortage of paleo fans who are still in awe at the 'dragons' of old. There's lots and lots of disenchanted peeps out there! I myself have run the gauntlet of becoming enchanted and then shaking it off as I learn more about my favorite prehistoric kids. Smilodon is my favorite, and I know a lot about it! But I'm also very aware that it must have been a monster to be face-to-face with. I have a replica skull of one, and all my other replicas have names but this one doesn't, because "you don't just name a god" SO yes no enchantment here.
that s the best approach to the dinosaur/dragon issue, there s a few attempts to bridge the gap out there but your art is really the final piece of the puzzle
As just a bystander who knows nothing of the composition seeing your struggle with the first two pictures was enjoyable despite or because of your frustration with them. I do not see the same problems you had with them but I'm looking forward to you creating something out of that idea you had and that caused you so much headache to remake into something satisfactiory.
I think I will be here every week as the tendency shows...Getting better and better! :D I would love to see this in animation...Even a "fake" trailer would be awesome o.O
I strongly agree with that re-enchantment message, its something I’ve wanted to express before and its amazing to see such a skilled artist advocating and portraying it!!!
Out of all the world building channels I follow, you are the one with the drawing style I like the most. Its so clean, and really says what it has to say. And you put a lot of work into that. The world also has me hooked, cant wait for more videos
I've been following you from other social medias for many years and youtube decided to show me your work today. Just watched all of the DEAD gODS series. I've been loving all the work that I saw and I really enjoyed the lore you written for them. Thank you for sharing your work, I hope this channel just keeps up growing!
I admit that I would like to see Unique Dragons, something like Individuals who are eccentric among their Class and who are practically living Legends, I would love to see the oldest Spinodragon in the Kingdom or a cannibal Dragon Rex with a reputation for absolute danger.
Random suggestion, I kinda feel like the dragon guarding the hoard has too much pattern stuff going on. I think it breaks up it's shape too much and takes away from it's enormous size. Maybe if they trailed into a vertical gradient or were in more selective areas. Love the video, can't wait for the next one.
I think the pit could be on a perspective where is front view, Giant on top , walls of the pit with a human horizontally screaming with the hands on the air and the bottom full of dinossaurs with the mouth open alost touching the humans back.
I love this, another inspiration that might give you some more ideas is the Dracopedia books by William O'Connor if you get curious. I love his books and they've a huge inspiration to me personally with drawing dragons of my own.
Your videos on DEAD gODS inspired me to work on a new webcomic set in the world of a previous spec-evo project of mine. Currently I'm working on the main antagonist, a warlord riding a big dragon-like predator instead of the sapient mountpeople his species - the riderfolk - usually have a symbiotic relationship with. While he's just a twisted reflection of the mount'n'rider protagonist pair, he does give me big Dg nephilim and dragon vibes now.
So, I'm really interested in this setting and project so far - I love the aesthetics and the way you're playing around with Biblical mythology to build this strange, primeval world. That said, in light of your explanation of your idea of 're-enchanting' the dragons of Earth's past, I can't help but feel a little like the dragons presented so far aren't entirely living up to the hype. Don't get me wrong; they're extremely cool - but so far, they've also largely come across as 'just' even bigger dinosaurs, pterosaurs and so on. You've hinted at the idea of them having an uncanny intelligence of their own, and I'd definitely say that I'm interested in seeing that - the forms intelligence can take when not manifested in a human or near-human form; the Serina worldbuilding project has some interesting ideas here in terms of 'solitary sophonts' who don't have a clear social element to their intelligence. Dragons are meant to be weird hybrids of mortal flesh and the spiritual power of the Watchers, right? I definitely think that you could get a little more wild, mentally and physically, than you have so far without harming the integrity of the project - perhaps drawing some elements from medieval bestiaries, where dragons are these bizarre hybrids of different animals (which also could also be interpreted as a writer trying to explain something via simile). Maybe some dragons might have mammalian-like fur, or otherwise incorporate elements from different phyla of life. On that note, I don't know what level of overt magic or supernaturalism you want to include in this project exactly, but it feels to me that the dragons would be a good place for that to appear. I can't help but think of Smaug and Tolkien's dragons with their 'dragon-spell' that can entrance people who speak to them or look them in the eye; I think of dragon-cults, worshipping dragons that can't speak verbally but can project their will so strongly as to drive humans to serve and revere them (of course, it might just be that people worship and feed them in the hopes they get fed, or that their 'prophets' are madmen who only think the dragon is speaking to them). Or maybe they can speak, uncannily mimicking voices as @1Xaria noted - there could be some great horror elements there, though it'd be tricky to capture visually, I guess. Dragons are an opportunity to have this kind of weird, supernatural element without having to explain the details, letting it stay as mysterious soft magic (if it's magic at all), because - well, they're great beasts, not people in the way we think of people. Of course, this is all just my own thoughts. I'm looking forward eagerly to your next videos; whether or not you take this on board, or go in a different direction, I'm sure this project will continue to be cool as hell.
Watching you send those first "drafts" to the bin is paaaainful ^^' I don't know if you are aware of it, but there's a French BD in 4 tomes series called "Les Ogres Dieux" which is about anthropophagous giants ruling over humans. The plot kinda drops down in the last tome (sadly the scenarist passed away), but it is one of my favourite BD ever. The art is gorgeous. There's a lot of this giant buildings with "mouse" sized architecture embedded for humans going on. And some other stuff about how humans handle doing chores for the giants. On another note, I visually it seems a bit unobvious for me to distinguishes between regular dino and dragons. Your work is awesome, and those videos are really inspiring (if somewhat daunting for an aspiring artist -.-').
For the second piece, you could've placed the perspective from the close side of the giants with the steps providing distance from the sacrificial subjects. If not from a side perspective, the scene could take place looking over from behind the giants as we dont have too many backside views.
@ Matt Rhodes I'm not much of an artist, I need to draw more often. But the second image, the sacrifice one, try flipping the bottom part around. Have the nephalim standing almost directly over the priest. It might make the nephalim look more imposing giving it a "ruling class" vibe. It will also lead the viewers eyes down to the pit at an angle. Hope this helps.
I would love to see your dragons explored more in their own element. So far in all your videos in this series, I have seen the dragons essentially as dinosaurs, as giant beasts relative to humans. I feel like the vast majority of what we've seen so far of the dragons is still focused mostly on the giants. But since we haven't yet seen much of the dragons themselves or at their peak, I don't yet fully understand just how impressive it is that giants have them in chains. Which is why that last picture sorta through me for a loop, or re-enchanted them as you said. Suddenly, these things are absolutely massive, and have a horde. Which makes me ask again, are these intelligent? Can they breath fire? Do most giants fear them, and if so, do they fear them like big dogs, lions, or existential threats to a village? Are the flying ones or biggest ones the most dangerous and how big do the flying ones get? Are they viewed as big animals or legends? New discoveries are suggesting that some dinosaurs like the t-rex might have had parrot level mimicking abilities, so if your dragons are intelligent, you may not even consider them talking to be stretch. Anyway, loving it all so far and I look forward to more exploration into this world!
Excellent series, Matt! Hughley inspires me for my own projects. Though, I was wondering, (as much as I love dinosaurs) why not borrow more from the mythological aspects of ancient Caanan (The Baal cycle), Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythology? The Bible after all, is a middle eastern text deeply rooted in the culture and beliefs of the area. Would love to see your take on a Lamassu for instance.
One thing that I really wish could of happen or at least I hope some one can correct me is the concept of the axolotis, could you imagine the hybrids, the myth, legends and story that could of been inspired by the axolotis by the Mayans or Aztec if they were found earlier? Just the infinite possibilities are endless.
Will they instead of creating little pits, do a massive arena on a forest or other entire biome with kilometers of distance, to entertain their society and show the value of hunters or even to traine them like in NARUTO ?
Why would they become Apex Hunters if the dinossaurs don't look that dangerous by facing human weapons, i mean if i was them i would make the other creatures into ranches, if your world had creatures more dangerous like Monster Hunter World, i could see why would treat hunters like kings, the top pride on their own culture.
Im not sure how anyone could be bored of dinosaurs, dragons, and other prehistoric and fantastical beasts. To me, it's about presentation! I can see why the people in Jurassic World are bored with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are incredibly lame in both look and behavior.. unlike the more unique and fascinating representations of current paleoart, real life animals, the badass antediluvian saurians, and even the bizarre retro reconstructions with the kangaroo postures and more reptilian features. But of course this is all my opinion.
The Quetzalcoatlus reminds me of how Japanese Emperors and later Shoguns kept Cranes as pets. Except that they couldn't eat their staff.
I wouldn't put it past a Crane to eat someone... or an Emperor to have one to do that
Tell that to the koi! (Not technically on the payroll, but if they weren't eaten they lived long enough to outlast much of the staff and be more of a fixture.)
that spino dragon makes me happy holy shit HE'S GOT GOLD AND HE'S HOARDING??? HE'S LIVING THE DREAM
Love bringing back the idea that Dragons were inspired and based upon real creatures - both living and extinct
One thing i like would like to see is your take on Chimeras. Presumably , not all the hybrids of the Watchers turned into dragons. What if some Watchers crossed Nephillim and others , using their blasphemous secrets to create a mutant version of some Dragons. For example what if there were Lizardfolk ,which came about after a Watcher wanted to create beings in his own profane image. Or you can tackle Magic. If the Watchers and Nephillim posess forbidden knowledge of the cosmos, one could make a conection that they also know Magic/Mysticsm. It would be cool for example if a nephillim warlord had a Soothsayer or a Diviner to be able to scry into the future or make prophecies using ,for example , animal entrails, just like the Romans used to.(haruspicy) Anyway , thanks so much for the video!! Love your work!
I would kill for a manticore from this guy
A manticore would be awesome, but a Sphinx would be better suited here. They posses knowledge are draconic in nature ( even though they are often portrayed as half-griffin ) . Plus their sentience can play a role in the Society of the Antedeluvian! Just like in Egypt.
I promise you that there's no shortage of paleo fans who are still in awe at the 'dragons' of old. There's lots and lots of disenchanted peeps out there! I myself have run the gauntlet of becoming enchanted and then shaking it off as I learn more about my favorite prehistoric kids. Smilodon is my favorite, and I know a lot about it! But I'm also very aware that it must have been a monster to be face-to-face with. I have a replica skull of one, and all my other replicas have names but this one doesn't, because "you don't just name a god" SO yes no enchantment here.
that s the best approach to the dinosaur/dragon issue, there s a few attempts to bridge the gap out there but your art is really the final piece of the puzzle
It just keeps getting better and better and better
As just a bystander who knows nothing of the composition seeing your struggle with the first two pictures was enjoyable despite or because of your frustration with them. I do not see the same problems you had with them but I'm looking forward to you creating something out of that idea you had and that caused you so much headache to remake into something satisfactiory.
I think I will be here every week as the tendency shows...Getting better and better! :D I would love to see this in animation...Even a "fake" trailer would be awesome o.O
Love those polydactyl giants at 3:45! Would make a really slick setting for a TTRPG as well. Im excited to see where this goes next.
Polydactyl?
@@natanm.v8145 It means someone with more fingers and/or toes than is normal.
@@JonathanGhost42 intresting
All the giants in the dead gODS series have 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes, since that is in line with the source material, the Bible.
I strongly agree with that re-enchantment message, its something I’ve wanted to express before and its amazing to see such a skilled artist advocating and portraying it!!!
love seeing how this is progressing, great inspiration for art
Out of all the world building channels I follow, you are the one with the drawing style I like the most. Its so clean, and really says what it has to say. And you put a lot of work into that.
The world also has me hooked, cant wait for more videos
I've been following you from other social medias for many years and youtube decided to show me your work today. Just watched all of the DEAD gODS series. I've been loving all the work that I saw and I really enjoyed the lore you written for them. Thank you for sharing your work, I hope this channel just keeps up growing!
Wow really good video
Your idea of dragons and giants is a lot more interesting then most others
I can’t wait to see more of these ❤
I admit that I would like to see Unique Dragons, something like Individuals who are eccentric among their Class and who are practically living Legends, I would love to see the oldest Spinodragon in the Kingdom or a cannibal Dragon Rex with a reputation for absolute danger.
I dig the "retro dinosaur" vibe. 😉
Merci du partage! Jolis graphismes! Stéph.
Dinosaurs in fantasy world?
COOL!!!👍
This deserves its own animated series
Thats an unusual and unique concept of dragons, love them❤🔥
The world is not just stuff! Re-enchantment!
THIS IS AWESOME!
Random suggestion, I kinda feel like the dragon guarding the hoard has too much pattern stuff going on. I think it breaks up it's shape too much and takes away from it's enormous size. Maybe if they trailed into a vertical gradient or were in more selective areas. Love the video, can't wait for the next one.
I never did buy the "people are bored of dinosaurs" angle. And you're right, dinosaurs are dragons. We just missed them by a few million years.
I think the pit could be on a perspective where is front view, Giant on top , walls of the pit with a human horizontally screaming with the hands on the air and the bottom full of dinossaurs with the mouth open alost touching the humans back.
I love this, another inspiration that might give you some more ideas is the Dracopedia books by William O'Connor if you get curious. I love his books and they've a huge inspiration to me personally with drawing dragons of my own.
I love this keep it up never give up❤
Your videos on DEAD gODS inspired me to work on a new webcomic set in the world of a previous spec-evo project of mine. Currently I'm working on the main antagonist, a warlord riding a big dragon-like predator instead of the sapient mountpeople his species - the riderfolk - usually have a symbiotic relationship with. While he's just a twisted reflection of the mount'n'rider protagonist pair, he does give me big Dg nephilim and dragon vibes now.
So, I'm really interested in this setting and project so far - I love the aesthetics and the way you're playing around with Biblical mythology to build this strange, primeval world. That said, in light of your explanation of your idea of 're-enchanting' the dragons of Earth's past, I can't help but feel a little like the dragons presented so far aren't entirely living up to the hype.
Don't get me wrong; they're extremely cool - but so far, they've also largely come across as 'just' even bigger dinosaurs, pterosaurs and so on. You've hinted at the idea of them having an uncanny intelligence of their own, and I'd definitely say that I'm interested in seeing that - the forms intelligence can take when not manifested in a human or near-human form; the Serina worldbuilding project has some interesting ideas here in terms of 'solitary sophonts' who don't have a clear social element to their intelligence. Dragons are meant to be weird hybrids of mortal flesh and the spiritual power of the Watchers, right? I definitely think that you could get a little more wild, mentally and physically, than you have so far without harming the integrity of the project - perhaps drawing some elements from medieval bestiaries, where dragons are these bizarre hybrids of different animals (which also could also be interpreted as a writer trying to explain something via simile). Maybe some dragons might have mammalian-like fur, or otherwise incorporate elements from different phyla of life.
On that note, I don't know what level of overt magic or supernaturalism you want to include in this project exactly, but it feels to me that the dragons would be a good place for that to appear. I can't help but think of Smaug and Tolkien's dragons with their 'dragon-spell' that can entrance people who speak to them or look them in the eye; I think of dragon-cults, worshipping dragons that can't speak verbally but can project their will so strongly as to drive humans to serve and revere them (of course, it might just be that people worship and feed them in the hopes they get fed, or that their 'prophets' are madmen who only think the dragon is speaking to them). Or maybe they can speak, uncannily mimicking voices as @1Xaria noted - there could be some great horror elements there, though it'd be tricky to capture visually, I guess.
Dragons are an opportunity to have this kind of weird, supernatural element without having to explain the details, letting it stay as mysterious soft magic (if it's magic at all), because - well, they're great beasts, not people in the way we think of people.
Of course, this is all just my own thoughts. I'm looking forward eagerly to your next videos; whether or not you take this on board, or go in a different direction, I'm sure this project will continue to be cool as hell.
Thanks for sharing.
Watching you send those first "drafts" to the bin is paaaainful ^^'
I don't know if you are aware of it, but there's a French BD in 4 tomes series called "Les Ogres Dieux" which is about anthropophagous giants ruling over humans. The plot kinda drops down in the last tome (sadly the scenarist passed away), but it is one of my favourite BD ever. The art is gorgeous. There's a lot of this giant buildings with "mouse" sized architecture embedded for humans going on. And some other stuff about how humans handle doing chores for the giants.
On another note, I visually it seems a bit unobvious for me to distinguishes between regular dino and dragons.
Your work is awesome, and those videos are really inspiring (if somewhat daunting for an aspiring artist -.-').
Awesome, i like where this is going
When you started talking about the re-enchantment and all that, I started thinking "If he doesn't upload anymore after this video then he was correct.
Thank you Matt
For the second piece, you could've placed the perspective from the close side of the giants with the steps providing distance from the sacrificial subjects. If not from a side perspective, the scene could take place looking over from behind the giants as we dont have too many backside views.
love your art!
I love your outlook
Love your work!
Calling a Quetz a bird is agony….
playfully teasing my dino-loving friends with some pre-modern-taxonomy terms ;)
@ Matt Rhodes I'm not much of an artist, I need to draw more often. But the second image, the sacrifice one, try flipping the bottom part around. Have the nephalim standing almost directly over the priest. It might make the nephalim look more imposing giving it a "ruling class" vibe. It will also lead the viewers eyes down to the pit at an angle. Hope this helps.
I like the picture of sleeping Giant Spino/Dragon.
I would love to see your dragons explored more in their own element. So far in all your videos in this series, I have seen the dragons essentially as dinosaurs, as giant beasts relative to humans. I feel like the vast majority of what we've seen so far of the dragons is still focused mostly on the giants. But since we haven't yet seen much of the dragons themselves or at their peak, I don't yet fully understand just how impressive it is that giants have them in chains.
Which is why that last picture sorta through me for a loop, or re-enchanted them as you said. Suddenly, these things are absolutely massive, and have a horde. Which makes me ask again, are these intelligent? Can they breath fire? Do most giants fear them, and if so, do they fear them like big dogs, lions, or existential threats to a village? Are the flying ones or biggest ones the most dangerous and how big do the flying ones get? Are they viewed as big animals or legends?
New discoveries are suggesting that some dinosaurs like the t-rex might have had parrot level mimicking abilities, so if your dragons are intelligent, you may not even consider them talking to be stretch.
Anyway, loving it all so far and I look forward to more exploration into this world!
Excellent series, Matt! Hughley inspires me for my own projects. Though, I was wondering, (as much as I love dinosaurs) why not borrow more from the mythological aspects of ancient Caanan (The Baal cycle), Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythology? The Bible after all, is a middle eastern text deeply rooted in the culture and beliefs of the area. Would love to see your take on a Lamassu for instance.
For sure, while the Bible will be the primary source, I’m looking at MANY secondary sources
This is great!
One thing that I really wish could of happen or at least I hope some one can correct me is the concept of the axolotis, could you imagine the hybrids, the myth, legends and story that could of been inspired by the axolotis by the Mayans or Aztec if they were found earlier? Just the infinite possibilities are endless.
If dragons are dead, what type of creatures besides the aquatic ones during deluge would be alive ?
Heck yeah
hell yeah
Will they instead of creating little pits, do a massive arena on a forest or other entire biome with kilometers of distance, to entertain their society and show the value of hunters or even to traine them like in NARUTO ?
Tales of kaimere also has sick mammal dragons
They where domesticated but went feral
I look forward to seeing what other reinchanted creatures and figures(the nephilim are the pagan demigods in the Bible) you add to the setting
Wen will there be an animation ?
I said, ‘You are “gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.’
But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler
I really want see how will you draw red dragon satan from book of revelation how will you interpret his form in your universe
Not me only now being able to understand the title in the logo
Love it! Technical question for your final line stage, are you leaning more towards the brush or pen tool? Inspiring stuff.
I've never really used the pen tool. Just brushes.
❤❤
Nefelim' s children ?
Yeah, i like dinotopia too.
Hey, whenever you aren't to busy let me know if you feel like doing a collab sometime :) big fan of your work
Was that a bloodborne reference 👀
Moon presence when
Are all the dinosaurs dragons or just some of them?
So will you introduce satan/lucifer?
❤
hi
can u add a sea leviathan?🐙🐳
Why would they become Apex Hunters if the dinossaurs don't look that dangerous by facing human weapons, i mean if i was them i would make the other creatures into ranches, if your world had creatures more dangerous like Monster Hunter World, i could see why would treat hunters like kings, the top pride on their own culture.
Im not sure how anyone could be bored of dinosaurs, dragons, and other prehistoric and fantastical beasts. To me, it's about presentation! I can see why the people in Jurassic World are bored with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are incredibly lame in both look and behavior.. unlike the more unique and fascinating representations of current paleoart, real life animals, the badass antediluvian saurians, and even the bizarre retro reconstructions with the kangaroo postures and more reptilian features. But of course this is all my opinion.