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Strix - Creature concept art

Strix is a student game made in four months in a team of four students. It is set in a dieselpunk universe where human populations are going through a nuclear winter and spend most of their time on airships. The player must repair and defend their ship against a gigantic flying creature. We had half the usual time (4 instead of 8 months) to create the game from scratch. So we had very limited time to create the environment, characters, and props. It was pretty challenging but we learned a lot during the process.

I was the only concept artist on the project, so my task was to design the main character, the monster, and the overall look of both the exterior and interior environments. The monster was pretty interesting to design because we wanted it to be covered in armor. So the player must destroy the armor to kill it by using the different weapons. Under the armor we wanted the creature to look like its suffering. After all, it is a mutant created to destroy enemy ships and it's constantly wearing heavy and painful metal plates. The fact that it was covered was setting a lot of limitations for the design of the organic form.

Special thanks to my mentor Victor Lahlou, who provided advice and feedback on the concept art throughout the semester!

Go check out the magnificent work of the artists who modeled, textured and animated Razenhai!
https://www.artstation.com/alexandreruel
https://www.artstation.com/amphybius

Team:
François Chiasson (3D modeler)
Alexandre Ruel (Character modeler)
Virginie Juteau (Concept artist)
Nickolas Ménard (Technical artist)

Razenhai is the antagonist in Strix. It is a half-mechanical, half-whale flying monster. A mindless mutant covered in armor and sent by a malicious gang to destroy the enemy’s airships.

Razenhai is the antagonist in Strix. It is a half-mechanical, half-whale flying monster. A mindless mutant covered in armor and sent by a malicious gang to destroy the enemy’s airships.

In the early iterations, Razenhai looked like a feathered Mayan snake. We wanted to stay closer to the diesel punk thematic and used WW2 fighting aircraft as inspiration, especially the Stuka.

In the early iterations, Razenhai looked like a feathered Mayan snake. We wanted to stay closer to the diesel punk thematic and used WW2 fighting aircraft as inspiration, especially the Stuka.

One of the most challenging parts was creating a credible mechanism for the armor covering the best. They needed to be able to rotate and protect at the same time.

One of the most challenging parts was creating a credible mechanism for the armor covering the best. They needed to be able to rotate and protect at the same time.

Several planes inspired the beast but eventually chose a color scheme that would allow camouflage in the sky. The aircraft behind the color palette is the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Several planes inspired the beast but eventually chose a color scheme that would allow camouflage in the sky. The aircraft behind the color palette is the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

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