Animal design - help!

[Natalia Soleil]

Hello guys!

I wanted to post some creature in progress, and hopefully you have some tipps and opinions!
I am creating little animals for a university project. The idea behind this was to sort of come up with some creatures, that exist in our lives, without us noticing them.
This hamster-like creature here, is the one that is always stealing my hair ties (which is supposed to explain why they always mysterious disappear in my flat.)

I wanted to make an animal, not really a monster, so that you could eventually believe it exists. I looked at many refs and did tons of sketches. Until i finally came up with this sort of hamster thing, which i liked.

On the other hand, i am kind of afraid that it is boring, and just a hamster after all.. so im kind of lost here at the moment...

bellow are some pencil sketches, as well as a quick rendered sketch.

i hope you have some opinions and ideas on how to improve this one! dont mind the messy rendering, its not final, im looking for design improvements in the first place!

also, if you have some ideas for other everyday mystery animals on mind - it would be great!

thank you!

[Natalia Soleil]

not a single suggestion? D:

[saan356]

spam.

[xLouisax]

I actually really like this design, the only thing is, maybe it should be a different colour? As you've coloured this little guy to look just like the bog-standard hamster (which sounds like you're paranoid about) Maybe if his fur was a different colour (a weird colour) and maybe patterned or something, but the actual physical design I really like he could hide the stuff in his cheeks .

[TinyBird]

This hamster-like creature here, is the one that is always stealing my hair ties (which is supposed to explain why they always mysterious disappear in my flat.)

Well, my crit would be that it doesn't really look like it would steal hair ties. Like it looks like a monster hamster with strong jaws, but does it use those strong jaws to eat them or something (why would it need jaws like that to eat something so soft)? Or why does it steal them and does that have anything to do with the design (like if it needs them to its nest, why would it target hair ties specifically)?
With those jaws I would be much more likely to think it's a creature that breaks things in half or something like that.
Shortly said its design doesn't look like it supports the idea.

On other note, the teeth look pretty unrealistic compared to the rest of the animal and very flat, so I'd suggest you look some bulldog images: http://cdn-www.dailypuppy.com/media/...1.jpg_w450.jpg

[Natalia Soleil]

@ Louisa thank you! you are right. i definitely will try more colors!

@ tinybird yeah... you got the point.. exactly - i was thninking that it will make a nest out of hair ties. im not sure myself why exactly it would only want hair ties. :/ do you have any ideas?

[TinyBird]

Well, think of the qualities that hair ties have. They're generally colourful and round, so one way to go would be a creature that's attracted to the colours (like some birds) or might build their tube like (like you can create a tube out of the ties) nest (like if the critter is tube like too) out of them or it uses them as a camouflage or something. It wouldn't fit this design, but...

[Lightship69]

You could make its young ones really hairy! and show them in a nest with the hair ties on them! just a thought.
I dont care what he pinches actually I rather like him / her.

cant wait to see more all the best

[Stormslegacy]

My favorite creature designs detail behaviors, much like you would find in a nature book. Maybe you could have one of the pictures demonstrating the method it uses to steal, or what it does with them. I like that nest idea mentioned, or maybe it uses them like the Bowerbird does to decorate a special hoard that he uses to attract mates.

Design is about the impact, and unfortunately this looks a little too much like a hamster. Could you consider a tail? it could sting them along it, or maybe it would have hooks to hang them.

[Natalia Soleil]

@tinybird thanks! well, im not sure about making him tube like.. i had some sketches going in that direction too, but i did not like them.. also, mice and hamsters fit well into tubes and holes.. camouflage is a cool idea, i will try adding that!

@lightship69 hahaha okay this could indeed be awesome! i will totally make some little hairy ones thank you!

@stormslegacy yeah! i wanted to make something like that too, these animals will go into some sort of an unrealistic encyclopedia with some details explained.. attracting mates is a cool idea too... maybe i should make him way more hairy after all! i did not really think of it but its a great idea.. tail, sure, i will try. i had some sketches with tail, but failed to make it look useful so far ;O

[dehlirium]

I like the design, but I agree with the tail idea. Maybe you could make it have a long, hairy tail that it puts the hair ties in? (like a girl's ponytail).

[Natalia Soleil]

@dehlirium hehe yeah, or maybe i will add some sort of a mane to put them in...

thank you guys for your sugestions, it helped me a lot! i will post the new version to show you soon

[MariRosa]

When I saw the jaw I immediately thought of a pelican and his scoopy mouth...lol. Perhaps you could consider a different exaggeration to make the hamster more believable. Is this is a creature of evolution, scientific experimentation, fantasy world, etc? Is this an exaggerated cartoon? Is it trying to be realistic? Ask yourself these questions, and I think you will have better results. If the drawing is just for fun, it's a good drawing and great practice. However, if you are looking for something more, your plan is interesting but I think it just needs to make more sense. Just remember that even if looks cool it still needs a purpose. Lets see...what could we do to a hamster? Maybe he could have long front teeth, bigger eyes? Maybe you want to hybridize him with another animal and see what happens?