Log Topiary Centaur Creature + Process

This started as a simple challenge to create a log monster concept over at ArtOrder. I began with a few simple ideas of monsters that looked like the tree guys from Lord of the Rings, but that wasn't really my thing so I scrapped those designs. I wanted something more intricate and interesting, so i started thinking more along the lines of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy 2, since Guillermo Del Toro had some awesome concepts.

This was the first sketch, trying to get a general look and feel.


Once I had his look down, I just started building his tree sections and figuring out how i wanted to render him.


His branches just had to keep growing from his back.


Here's where I started thinking about what I was going to do for the lower half of his body. For a while I was considering just cropping him at the arm so the main focus would be his back tree section.


These are Just continuing rendering and small changes.


This is where the bottom half of his body started taking form for me. His pose and posture would never look right on a regular pair of legs.


This was the first shot at fitting him to a horse body, The proportions we're way off with the bottom half being way too large.


This was after making the proportions all fitting together better as a whole. Also various small small changes and rendering.


And here's the final.


I didn't expect to get this complicated with it. Of course. I really didn't plan anything at all and just kept changing it to see what ever looked best, so I didn't know where it was going to end.