Conjure Brief:

• Create a Conjure inspired by dream catchers. Within the dream catcher is a malicious entity composed of pure nightmarish energy that has been concentrated into it.
  • The entity is to take inspiration from horrific imagery, utilising common human fears that could be the subject of nightmares, such as spiders, snakes, skeletons, blood/gore.
  • Imagery should be nothing short of evil and demonic to connote nightmares
  • The entity is to be shown trapped within the dream catcher, its full form heavily obscured, its legs or arms may protrude through the webbing in an attempt to anchor itself in ‘reality’.
• Experiment with colours to find suitable choice, pinks, reds, desaturated greens could all work here to varying extents, experiment to find most fitting colour.
• Conjures primary means of attack will be through concentrating nightmarish energy into a laserbeam-esque ranged attack.
• Nightmarish energy is to be presented being channelled into the dream catcher.

Sketches and Ideas

Designing Sigil

1. I began by blocking out the shadows and highlights, and I started adding some cracks in the space at the ends of each leg, to signify that Sigil is attempting to break free.

2. I then began making some glitchy effects to put around the cracks, and inside of the dream catcher.

3. Messing around with effects. I also added the thread within the dream catcher.

4. Using the previous effects, I swapped the saturation of the exterior effects and interior effects to emphasise the focal point.

5. I then experimented with glow around the legs, and started adding some colour.

6. I ended up removing the glass cracks as they felt a bit too messy. I then added a desaturated glow around the legs, with noise around them and no shading as to symbolise the evil within the dream catcher. I also gave the thread a glow, as to symbolise that it is holding Sigil back and suggest its magical properties.

7. To fill in the empty space, I added the detail of energy being channelled into the dream catcher, as a suggestion that Sigil is consuming nightmares and growing stronger.

Final Default Artwork

8. Although I liked the pink colour, I didn’t think it quite fit the Sigil concept. I also had a few pink/purple Conjures by this point as well, so I experimented with some different colours. I opted with a teal/green, which I think works really well.

Lifeline Protocol

1. Since I’m an aracnophobe, I really didn’t want to make a face that was definitively a spider. To get around this, I wanted to make a fusion of both arachnid and mammalian features. I made eye structures akin to spiders, then jaws/noses like mammals. Thankfully, none of these triggered my arachnophobia. The designs I like the most are the top left, and the one directly below it. I like the idea of putting a pair of eyes in the mandibles, as I don’t think any creature has that sort of feature, so it’d be quite unique and unsettling. I also like the idea of it not having a bottom jaw, just to add to how unusual the design will be.

1. To realise the design, I went into Blender to mess with shapes until something began to stick. I kept the arachnid inspiration, but once again fused it with mammalian features so I could actually produce it. I ended up with a design where the arachnid abdomen is a ribcage, acting as the point from which the legs emerge.

2. Trialling different poses.

3. Trialling another pose.

4. I began drawing by blocking in the shadows and highlights. I did the lighting coming up from the dream catcher, as to serve as a visual metaphor for the nightmarish energy breaking free of its prison, along with Sigil.

5. I added some of the threads of the dreamcatcher, some clinging onto Sigil for dear life, attempting to hold it back, and some that have snapped in their attempts. I also started to show energy flowing out of the dream catcher.

6. I then added some bloom and some noise to add to the corrupted feel of the piece.

7. Messing around with glitch effects to see how I can better the piece. I trialled a layer mask to show a noisy gradient that grows stronger at the point where Sigil is coming out of the dream catcher, to further signify a transition between prison and the outside world.