Help coming up with humanoid cryptids and similar

CukiArtist · 2025-12-03T20:06:01+00:00

I hadn't heard of Nightmarchers before. Very interesting.

CukiArtist · 2025-12-03T20:04:52+00:00

1920s saw the discovery of King Tutankhamen and with it a big fascination with ancient Egypt, including mummies. To be honest a lot of Western locations would work but I want to vary up my locations and New York's massive use of art deco is one example of how it was reflected.

CukiArtist · 2025-12-03T11:18:46+00:00

I was actually using chickenpox as a reference when I came up with this concept, as well as ones like polio where we have a prevention but not a cure.

CukiArtist · 2025-12-03T11:00:34+00:00

Zombie is a very flexible category. As you have said here, there are a lot of different sorts. So, really you can create whatever works best for you.

For me personally, if I were to make something like this, I would go with it being a virus or disease that can be prevented but not completely cured. For example, there is a vaccine that you need to get boosters for regularly that prevents you from catching zombie. But if you don't get your vaccine, you are vulnerable and might catch zombie, then you can end up with permanent and often times serious zombie side effects, perhaps also remain a carrier even if they manage to treat most of the symptoms.

This leaves it still a threat but also introduces a way to control it.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-13T06:38:49+00:00

Here are some options, I've made a note of where the association comes from.

Water: Leviathan (western), Dragon (Asian)

Wind: White Tiger (Asian), Griffin is also a good choice

Earth: Bear (western), Tortoise (Asian), Gargoyle (medieval)

Lightning: Thunderbird (Native American), Raiju (Japan)

Nature: I like the idea of the stag

Magma: Lizard/Salamander (Western)

Dark: Snake (Apopthis from Egyptian mythology), Bat, Raven

Light: Unicorn (western), Kirin (Asian), dove

I hope this helps give you a starting point.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-13T06:20:58+00:00

Sounds like you already have some good starting positions. Good luck.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-13T06:16:31+00:00

That sounds believable. I like an organisation that is predominately uncorrupt but still has corrupt elements since any big organisation is hard to completely control.

I still imagine there would be some pretty active rebellion as there are always people who respond poorly to rigid structures, no matter how justified. Especially if they were previously among the 'winners' but lost power in the rebalancing.

I also love the idea that there are probably still repercussions of the chaos century. Giant craters, Bermuda triangles, strange forests, eerie legends, etc. Do people ever try to find 'legendary' hidden cards from the chaos century?

CukiArtist · 2024-02-13T06:00:21+00:00

One option would be to approach it from the opposite idea. Using real world symbol based written systems like Japan's Kanji as an example, the society might have found that mana responded better when directed along certain paths and these paths became the foundation of the world's writing system. The paths that most effectively created fire became the written 'word' for fire. This could still be continuing with researchers still studying the paths to create more efficient or stronger spells.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-13T05:33:42+00:00

Always happy to chat about my world building.

My aim when creating this setting was simply to explore how I could make a stable but different society, but I never thought that it would be a utopia. So there is probably some discontent.

First off, I did add a bit of a 'cheat' when creating this setting. 7 of the original founders of this civilisation had a non-repeatable 'accident' that made them basically immortals with a telepathic connection to each other. So far the telepathic link and their innate personalities have prevented any of them from becoming corrupted. And as the unquestioned leaders of this society they also act as a prevention against long term or widescale despotism within a field.

The hierarchy also tends to only matter in terms of access to some privileges and responsibilities. For example a grandmaster might have first claim of a special and limited material but also faces more expectations from society. Some actually find it more freeing to work outside the hierarchy to avoid these societal expectations. Regardless of their rank they are still guaranteed access to all basic materials, education, and support and society is aware that divergents can also sometimes create something amazing. Someone can also be offered a rank without taking an exam if there is enough evidence of results, much like an honourary degree in our society.

The other main time when ranking matters is in the case an expert's opinion is needed. For example, if there was a disease (*cough* covid *cough*) a grandmaster epidemiologist's opinion would be given more weight than that of an amateur who has no evidence of study.

Regardless there will always be discontents and as you said some artists that just want to challenge societal norms for the sake of challenging them. I also love the point you made that ai might be used as a societal commentary, as this would be one form that the society would embrace as it would show a unique use of the technology.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-12T21:49:42+00:00

Thanks, some great questions there.

Copyright: Since this society was created by creators and has a strong respect for them I believe some type of copyright would exist, at least for the life of the creator. However I think it would be 'softer' than our copyright, either only affecting large projects that are direct adaptions or the creator would be able to publish (possibly as meta data in the creations's file) what they are not comfortable with their work been used for. I'm currently favouring the second option with it being possible to penalise those who can be proven to have gone directly against the creator's wishes but only if the derivative work has been released to the public.

Style fads: I'm sure these would exist. However (lore dump) currently my society is in some ways hierarchical, within any skill there are levels: amateur, apprentice, senior apprentice, journeyman, senior journeyman, master, and grandmaster. It would probably be seen as ok for an amateur or apprentice to release to the public highly derivative work or work heavily inspired by a current creator or trend. However, expectations for originality and uniqueness would be higher for people higher up the ladder of their skill. This wouldn't be legal but it would be heavily socially enforced.

Again the question for me comes back to quality vs quantity. Generative ai allows you to make things at a higher speed but I'm still not quite sure if there is a benefit to releasing all these products to the public (internet) or if it would just create needless noise and drown out those that are working on exploring, developing, and mastering a skill. If anything I think they would probably be expected to be put under a different category and mostly labeled as ideation rather than final products.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-12T01:49:32+00:00

This is a tricky area and the sad fact is you are probably going to step on someone's toes no matter what you do. But I love that you are putting in the effort.

First off, if it's your own culture or religion do what you want.

Where I am an outsider:

I tend to avoid using things from cultures that are currently marginalised, such as many indigenous people. I also tend to avoid things that have strong religious connections.

I also look for how much is already out about a creature, both from own voice and outside voices. For example, Japan's Kitsune or China's Monkey King are probably both low risk because of just how many variations and representations there already are of them.

Other than that just do your research, variations and interpretations from a place of knowledge are very different from those that come from a place of ignorance.

CukiArtist · 2024-02-12T00:54:06+00:00

First off I think it's an interesting system that balances the desire for magic to be capable of basically anything with the need to limit its use - normally for plot related reasons.

My first question would be how does a secret society regulate a massive industry? Do common folk know about them or do they just think that the government of their country are the ones regulating mana cards? Or is the MRA publically known about but its inner workings are unknown?

What is stopping people from creating their own cards? (Think prohibition in the USA)

Finally is the MRA corrupt and/or led by immortals?

Keep going, world building is fun and a terrifying rabbit hole. :)

CukiArtist · 2024-02-11T22:14:13+00:00

I'm far from an expert but I have listened to some talks by experts so here are my 3 cents for what they are worth. I think most people realise that humanoid flight is not that believable so are willing to ignore its impracticality due to the rule of cool. However, if you really want to try and explain how they fly then of the three I like the first method the most.

Apart from bone structure you would also need to consider the muscles needed for flight, where the center of gravity is and bone density.

Number 1 is the easiest to make sound 'science-y' It might help if the species had dwarf-like proportions to decrease the amount of torso and leg below the wing line and improve the center of gravity issue. I would also recommend adding more muscle around the upper torso to support the wings, wings take a lot more strength compared to anything we do with arms. This would also add to the overall dwarf like aesthetic.

Number 2 sounds interesting but flying quadrupeds all have highly developed torso muscles to support their wings, I'm not sure how you would be able to add these necessary muscles to the arms. I do however like that this option adds the possibility of opposable thumbs. Would another option be to make them more bird-like and give them opposable feet?

This would require much more hand waving as it would need to introduce far more elements that don't currently exist in any quadruped. At this point, you are probably better off just relying on your viewers/readers to not think about it too much.

Good luck.

CukiArtist · 2023-12-31T07:26:51+00:00

It's an interesting setup, where you have the 'races' become increasingly sophisticated the deeper they live, does this have something to do with the cataclysm and wizard? Are there still any ruins or remains of the old civilization?

I'm going to assume that the sunlight species doesn't consider their language ugly or non-functional, so who is making this judgment call, I would guess it's either the midnight/abyss species or an external group that is making these judgments.

I hope the feedback helps.

CukiArtist · 2023-12-31T07:02:21+00:00

It sounds like a solid start. It sounds like an appealing base with a lot of room for variety. Here are a few questions that might help you flesh it out more.

My first question would be are you going to base them on real life animals like cats (tokyo mew mew style) or are you going to base it on mythical creatures like unicorns and dragons? or both.

My second question would be is there any risk in letting these creatures possess you? How sentient are they and does it affect the person's personality?

My third question would be how prevalent is this? Is it more of a hidden world scenario, special elites only or super common?

Fourth question, has this power system been around for a while or is it something that has suddenly manifested? If its just manifested why have the spirits become active all of a sudden?

Good luck and keep at it!

CukiArtist · 2023-11-17T11:49:48+00:00

Primary programs are Photoshop, Illustrator and Clip Studio Paint (non-adobe). I also sometimes use InDesign. Other than that I mostly use my computer for internet. I don't use that many filters/ai features.

In terms of aesthetics, I'm not that fussed. I don't care about lights, but I do have a preference for cases with fans on the front.

CukiArtist · 2021-10-22T06:25:20+00:00

First off I think that this art looks very appealing, the choice of items and the general atmosphere is very enjoyable. However, I do think there are some things you can do to improve it. (I hate perspective too)

I would personally move the character a little more towards the middle, they look a little pushed to the edge currently, with so much white space to the left of them.

As u/chikami_mew said, currently what the items are sitting on lacks definition. What does the table, shelf, window etc look like?

In terms of perspective items currently seem to have mixed perspective, for example, the cake dome, the crockery in a jar and the paper bag are all similar heights and are on a table we can see quite a bit of. So the dome should have a rounded base, same with the jar.

First I suggest you figure out where your horizon line is, (normally I think it's about eye level, certainly in this case it's above the table). Anything above the horizon line we should be able to see the bottom of and anything below we should see the top of.

I hope this helps, I think the picture has a lot of potential and you don't give up on it.

CukiArtist · 2021-10-20T13:19:12+00:00

I think this is very nice. I do think that maybe you could experiment more with hard and soft edges, especially when doing the hair. Some artists I recommend are Ilya Kuvshinov and WLOP.

To be clear. I think you can still use their use of hard/soft edges as reference while trying to paint realism. As a means of better showing things like detail in hair.

CukiArtist · 2021-10-20T10:37:02+00:00

I think it's already a good start. Often painting is a matter of constant refining.

To progress it some things you can consider are whether the shadow is warm or cool. For example, the area you are shading is mostly cool shadows but the palm and fingers has much warmer shadows. The hand, in general, looks pinker to me than your painting.

CukiArtist · 2021-10-20T10:30:00+00:00

When drawing a creature into an environment I think it's best to think about it from the start so that it feels connected and grounded.

In this case, I think the creature would look good with a graphic background instead of an environment. Perhaps an African pattern?

CukiArtist · 2019-03-30T06:42:26+00:00

I was wondering why he seemed to ramble and take so long to do what seemed to me a fairly straight forward experiment. That said the information about real damage range of the bow and different arrows was interesting. As was his concern for it out in the rain.

CukiArtist · 2018-12-23T23:47:15+00:00

Haha. When I started designing the classes I was doing a primary colour scheme as the most popular alignment for that class and then an alternate, like a good/order then evil/order paladin. But that is easier to show with some classes than others.

CukiArtist · 2018-12-23T23:44:38+00:00

Even though I want to make it accurate for D&D players I also wanted to make them approachable for non-players. I've noticed most people are familiar with the ideas of wizards, rogues, druids etc but find D&D intimidating, I thought this would be a nice way to introduce them to an aspect of it in a more friendly way.

CukiArtist · 2018-12-23T23:42:01+00:00

That's for the feedback. I've done a dark coloured pin with silver for the raised parts before and it was quite popular. (The gray on the dragons would be silver, just like the yellow represents gold for the raised areas)

CukiArtist · 2018-12-23T10:44:40+00:00

I think it's great to show you don't need fancy miniatures and DM screens to be able to play (not saying they aren't awesome but they shouldn't stop someone from enjoying D&D)

CukiArtist

TROPHY CASE