Dante v The Owl Beast

Dante :: Coco (2017)

The Owl Beast :: The Owl House (2020-2023)

Full Owl Beast picture:

my lil Niffler sketch for @light-of-the-room 💚💕

process vid under the cut

So, honestly, I'm pretty bad at drawing animals and creatures since I didn't practice it as much as people (though I can work from a reference usually). But, like, if I would, I'd probably approach the design process by basing the creatures off of real animals. I mean, I think the Hippogryphs are gorgeous and I have no complaints because it looks like animals merged together. a lot of mythological beasts are essentially chimeras of different animals ancient people were familiar with. So something that looks like a Hippogryph feels like it could be real because of the familiar aspects of it. I like the Niffler design for the same reason — they feel like a real animal since they are somewhere between a marmot and a platypus. I think they should've taken this approach for most creatures, since they feal like they could belong in the world.

I hate what the movies did to werewolves. It's implied from OotP that werewolves look very similar to regular wolves, just with slight discrepancies:

“ ‘Give five signs that identify the werewolf.’ Excellent question.” [...] “I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes, and the tufted tail,” he said anxiously, “but I couldn’t think what else —”

(OotP, Ch28)

So, I would probably draw them as regular wolves, just larger, with shorter snouts and tails and slightly longer legs that are wider apart. Like, I'll just change some body proportions a bit, but not anything that would be noticeable from a large distance if your not familiar with regular wolves.

Here's a very quick shitty edit to illustrate my point (werewolf to the left, regular wolf on the right):

Basically, in my head, werewolves look like large wolfdogs (cross-breeds of wolves and dogs) that some of them don't look quite like wolves or quite like dogs.

In Fantastic Beasts (the book), Graphorns are described as:

Large and greyish purple with a humped back, the Graphorn has two very long, sharp horns, walks on large, four-thumbed feet, and has an extremely aggressive nature. [...] Graphorn hide is even tougher than a dragon’s and repels most spells.

They are also mentioned to be living around mountain trolls, therefore in the mountains. So, If I were designing them, I'd probably base them off of a large mountain animal. Like a takin (which even has the humped back!):

Just make the horns longer and forward-facing, replace the fur with rough-looking greyish-purple skin, and you have a Graphorn. I mean, look at it, it gives such Graphorn vibes.

Basically, if I were designing magical creatures, I'd base them on real animals that actually live in the same environment. That would get the best, most immersive results, I think.

Dementors have a pretty detailed description in the books:

was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry’s eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water. . . .

(PoA, Ch5)

So, the movie design is pretty spot on for the description we are given of dementors, so I don't have many complaints there. Especially, since dementors aren't really a beast. They don't need to fit their environment and look natural where they live because they aren't living. they are bred from dispair so it makes sense they look the way they do. They should look messed up and unnatural.

And Boggarts don't really have a form, since they're shapeshifters.