DILLON
CORSAIR

SUMMIT IMPOSSIBLE

A hiking excursion turns nightmare after a sudden encounter with a terrifying beast. In this suspenseful animatic, I aimed to create a feeling of danger. As my first time-based illustration project, I gained experience developing characters and building narrative through design, gesture, composition, and pacing. 


I really enjoy Netflix’s animated anthology series Love Death + Robots, which puts you on edge with grim sci-fi worlds and shocking twists. The forest setting and creature antagonist from the project brief presented an opportunity to do something similar, but grounded in nature. 


CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS
Cady Camper is a lanky, uncoordinated, and aloof dude who comes over-prepared but still manages to get in over his head. His tall, slender, and crooked frame is designed with long rectangles, giving him a stiff and fragile appearance.

Grumpy Guide is a no-nonsense kind of guy. His high intensity mindset has delivered him both an impressive physique and a toll on his hairline. He holds people to high standards and can come off judgemental, but means well. Triangular shape language infuses aggression into his heroic figure.

Ranger Roy’s round and sturdy form reflects his kind and dependable personality. He’s driven by an altruistic sense of duty and will always offer a helping hand.

Barko, the loyal and athletic trail companion, is designed with round shapes to complement Ranger Roy.


CREATURE DESIGN PROCESS
I wanted the mysterious creature to be fearsome yet grounded in nature, so I avoided horns and spikes that, while scary, are rare to find on predators in the wild.

I started with head silhouettes to explore a wide variety of influences, such as from felines, canines, reptiles, birds, and sharks.
 

Experimenting with body silhouettes helped clarify the direction that I wanted to take the creature in. 

Light and agile builds could be vicious but didn’t appear intimidating enough when next to the characters. Larger builds inspired by bears were imposing but too lumbering. Adding tiger influence brought athleticism. I was arriving at a predator that could race between trees as effectively as it could plow through them.  


 I was inspired by the posture of entelodon and features such its thick neck and cheek horns.


The final creature is a unique yet believable forest predator—athletic, powerful, and brutal. It captures the dichotomy of nature’s simplicity and ferocity, delivering an impactful presence in Summit Impossible.