Tharrithan

The Tharrithan is a deep sea creature that the people of Zraton worship. This creature has a luminous lure in order to attract prey such as sharks and other big creatures on both land and sea. The amphibious arms and flippers allow this creature to walk on land and water. It ascends to the land of Zraton every century in order to lay its eggs and feed. The Tharrithan must consume prior to laying its eggs and the people of Zraton provide it a feast every century, as they believe it will ward off evil and provide abundance. The eggs laid are small and in the sand, once they hatch very few Tharrithan make it to the ocean with the help of the high tide. Many will not make it so only a few survive, some years it is two and others it is five. If the feast that is laid out by the Zraton people is not big enough the Tharrithan will go into the villages and eat their people and crops. The Tharrithan male is small and does not cause harm, it is only used for reproduction purposes so every Tharrithan beast is female. This creature reaches speeds of up to 160mph underwater and 80mph on land.

Below is my process, some sketches I created for this creature I created as well as some thumbnails color studies and value studies. I wanted this piece to look as though it came out of a journal. I love the ocean and especially love deep sea creatures, I wanted to create something with a bit of lore. This is actually based on a creature I created years ago, that I had only sketches of. I wanted to bring it back to life in another way and this felt the best way to do it.

Deep sea creature study, different head.

This piece was the same form with more of an angler fish face

This creature was based on the mouth opening of a pelican eel, I really enjoy it I might redo this one.

This was the original idea I had and I really enjoyed it so I kept it but made the mouth a bit longer

Below will be the two sketches I chose to finalize the piece. I really enjoyed the first piece as it had more information, this felt more like a journal of someone studying the creature. I felt I needed more and decided to add the male Tharrithan. I got the idea from the angler fish and made him utterly useless. I do love a good female villain! I really liked the first piece it was a bit more relaxed and chill as if someone was visiting. The second piece I sketched was far more decorated, it looked like a something that would be in a science book. I liked this piece a lot more it brought a lot more attention to the creature in the middle and was able to bring more of an environment around it. It also didn’t feel as empty as the first piece. Both serve the same purpose and tell about the character, but I ultimately ended with the final piece.

First sketch of journal entry

Second sketch idea more decorated

Below are some value and color studies to look through, I knew I wanted to do this piece on tan paper to give that look of an old journal entry. I was originally going to do the linework by itself, but I really liked the idea of adding color. I did the color studies and value studies in Photoshop just to make it easier. Then I did the linework in graphite. Overall the original piece was done in graphite and colored pencil. I did touch it up a bit in Photoshop afterwards and added some hard light in Photoshop to make the lure shine and the lines near its eyes.