Elenoh

I’m currently developing a semi-open/closed species called Felisteeds!

They’re a wild feline x equine species with a lot of visual variety and lore potential. I'm mainly trying to satisfy an itch of wanting to draw a variety of fantasy horses.

Right now, the idea is that they’re a newly discovered species, so they’re still fully wild with very little human interaction. I want them to have a big range of natural variants, from tiny fluffy pony/goat-like mountain Felisteeds, to sleek desert types, to big heavy winter draft like builds.

I’m still very early in the concepting/sketching phase, but I’d really love to find a few people who might be interested in helping me develop them. I’m mostly looking for others who enjoy creature design, worldbuilding, trait systems, genetics/variants, and species community ideas. You definitely don’t have to be an artist, but anyone who likes coloring or making designs would be a huge help too!

Honestly I’m also just looking to make some friends, yap about creature ideas, and draw fantasy horses because real life is way too boring x)

If you like original species and think cat x horse creatures sound fun, feel free to comment or message me!

WIP of my v2 horse model! I finally started retopology after getting over yet another sinus infection cries.

I’m honestly so excited to finally have proper eyelids and a much better mouth this time around xD I learned a ton from my first horse model back in January, and it feels really good seeing that progress show :,,, ). I’m still not totally happy with the mane and tail, but those are easy enough to come back and rework later.

Right now I’m taking my time and trying to keep the topology clean, especially around the neck since it’ll need to deform so much for grazing and other animations D: I still have a bit to go, but I think this version already looks so much better. Hoping to finish up in the next few days so I can finally start rigging and animating!

I keep bouncing back and forth between art and game devving whoops x) Life has been pretty hectic lately, but my husband and I are in the final stages of getting our first home, and I’m so excited. We’ll finally have our own 5 acre lot, and I’m already dreaming about homesteading and owning mini zebu and chickens :,)

A few days ago, I started working on a new horse model. Yes, again, I know. I ended up taking about a month off from game devving, but during that time I was still casually learning and thinking about the things I want to improve. This round, I’m aiming for a model with much stronger musculature and, eventually, fur texture as well.

Now that I understand the rigging process a lot better, I’ve realized just how massive the animation workload really is for a game like Wild Herds. It’s going to need dozens, if not over a hundred, complex animations. Because of that, I really want to create a model I feel fully confident in before I commit that kind of time to it. I need something I’m comfortable pouring a year or two of work into.

Each horse (stallion, mare, yearling, and foal) will need a huge range of behaviors to make the game feel alive, especially stallions. Fighting behaviors, idle behaviors, grazing, digging, sleeping, snaking, spooking, and more all need to be accounted for if I want Wild Herds to actually feel like you’re living as a horse.

And if anyone wonders why it needs so many animations, it’s because even simple interactions are not actually simple. For example, if a stallion approaches another horse to groom them from the front, that needs one animation, if he approaches from the side, that needs a different one. Eating grass requires a low head animation, while browsing bushes needs a higher head animation. All of those little details add up fast, but they’re also what make the world feel believable.

My first attempt at making growing grass! It's not the prettiest, but I understand the pipeline now and can't wait to make more realistic plants for the game!

Made some progress! Woohoo! I'm pretty happy with this v1 horse model for WildHerds! I settled on hair cards for now just because I think Rigid Body + Cloth could have some interesting movement potential in the game engine.

All of the model is subject to change, and I will be adding feathering to the legs, jowl, as well as eyelashes eventually ❤️

Im not sure why the muzzle and nose has no texture, but I can rebake the normal maps another time to try and figure it out e.e

funny accident in blender