General Discussion

I love that we have all the Giger fans in the thread, he is a really phenomenal artist!

@twistrose There are some mods for minecraft that are so cool, they're like whole games in themselves. I love Thaumcraft for that reason, it really makes you feel like you're a wizard. And I can't help but research Forbidden knowledge EVERY TIME with that mod, because it's just so cool! Your sanity goes down and you start to get server messages that say "something is behind you", and eventually you start to ooze purple slime randomly that can make othe people sick? 10/10 , love some fun minecraft body horror.

@quetzalmuse also your art is super cool! Thanks for the tips. I know I watch a lot of videos of junji ito drawing trying to absorb his technique. There's also this comic artist I really admire, Tom Sidell, whose comic Gunnerkrigg Court you might like. It's more on the science diagram like side of body horror, but i like how strange the later story gets, with robots wanting to be Made Flesh. Your art kinda reminds me of how the comic evolves to look in the middle, I like your use of color!

[font=American Gothic][size=4]@QuetzalMuse I adore eldritch beasts! I draw and write about them a lot and, since I'm a big science nerd, I take a lot of inspiration from things I research, such as deep sea invertebrates or really out-there astrophysics. Reality is often a lot stranger than fiction. My favorites are really, really eldritch marine dragons. Hydras. The oldest ones from mythology; they could scare gods. Sadly, it's so niche I don't see many people discuss them often. [emoji=guardian sad size=1] And all the games you mentioned? Amazing creature designs. I'm especially fond of Demon's Soulsbornekiroring (that's a mouthful) designs and Monster Hunter in particular! If you're alright with Monster Hunter Stories 2 spoilers, check out my Non-Lore tab for a design that audibly made me gasp when it appeared. Love the new RE Village designs as well. They knew what they did bringing in Gothic Horror. All of the Bosses were really fun and unique.

This got... WAY more attention than I thought it would oh my god-

@Xionahri

Oooh yeah! They look so cool!

@Hiros

That's true, though for my i think it's more my specific tastes that feel more 'niche', they're really oddly specific when it comes to horror. That and maybe it could be because I've barely ever met anyone as into that specific thing? Could be, though I do know there's of course all that horror stuff around and it had to come from somewhere!
I'm less a fan of slashers than I am the real creepy... Horrors side. Like uuuh... The warped and terrifying that makes no sense, plays on the edges of your mind. Honestly probably why I really love creepypasta readings (about the mysterious, subtle things) and scp logs.

Thank you though ;-; That means a lot to hear... I don't tend to make too much art often outside of comms unfortunately, my motivation is pretty slim hahaa;; I have a tumblr where I post any art I'm particularly fond of (comm or not) but it's barely ever art and mostly just reblogs of stuff I'm into at the moment. Wish I had more motivation to work on things a little more often.

Plague flight is such a fun one, I've been considering moving there myself! I'm so jealous that it always gets the best-looking apparel. I feel like it says something that I have an entire Plague-themed tab in my lair despite being a Lightning flight fhnfdhfdjgfhj

@Pawfectplayer12

Nyesss...... Spooky creatures good >:]

@quincely

While I haven't watched the whole thing myself I did actually watch a kill count for it! You may've heard of the channel Dead Meat? The host is really reliable and does great explanations of not just the movie plot, kills and the like, but even talks about behind the scenes stuff and shows footage from them! It's really awesome, I loved the practical stuff he showed from clips of the making-of the Thing.

The practical effects in the movie are really awesome, I especially love that part where they go to use the defibrillator on the guy and the whole thing goes crazy (won't say what happens because spoilers, but you'll know what I mean!).

That sounds so fun though, I love it!! Parasitic shapeshifters... Parasites always have the best concepts to them, the weirdest too. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of my own stuff too (and that I didn't already have a parasite species or two for myself as well).

@NameChanged95

Oh my god... We'd get along SO well you have the exact interests I do!!! I'VE WATCHED SO MANY- I'm totally obsessed with biology, everything about it, especially evolution and adaptation!! It's what drives my art, I frequently search up so much biology-related stuff to give species from shows and movies accurate biology as best I can. Everything I know about the subject is completely self-taught!
I watch Roanoke Gaming's channel, he does breakdowns on biology and pathology and the likes of horror/sci-fi movie stuff and it's so awesome and in depth... I really enjoy just watching a ton of his stuff for hours on end.

A great example of the stuff you just mentioned is Trevor Henderson, that guy makes some of the best and freakiest art of the eldritch and nightmarish. Totally offputting stuff, I hate but love looking at it because of the way it makes me feel... Like my fascination with the deep ocean, despite the fact I fear it so badly I won't even play Subnautica (even though I've watched so many videos and really wanna play it myself anyway). Such a strange love/hate relationship with the idea of horror, probably because my brain knows it's very much bad things but the part of me that loves horror tells me to keep watching. A morbid fascination is the best description for it I think.

@Twistrose

Happy Halloween >:D

Oh... Ohohooho... Don't get me stARTED on human nature, I frequently explore it myself!! Especially with characters/Ocs, I'll delve right into how trauma shapes things and how the mind/instinct perceives things based on paranoia and the like. I love to see just how wild the brain can get when left in these uncomfortable situations... Delving into the horror that our very own brains can create with nothing but a single stimulus to fuel it! It's why I prefer subtle and quiet horror to the loud kinds of slasher stuff, I love to see the kinds of things that happen when the mind is left to wander and take everything in.

Speculative biology my TOTAL beloved. I 100% agree though, fear of the ocean? Definitely have it. Will I go searching up stuff about it anyway? Oh for sure, deep space, deep ocean, dark caverns and caves? Pitch black night in crowded forests? If i saw them myself I'd have a breakdown but the idea? The concept... Just incredible. Perfect settings for the weird and wonderful.

OHO YES! You may've seen an earlier ping where I talked about it but that kind of parasite stuff is up my alley all the way. I have a couple species of my own (specifically a recent one that's a giant, centipede-like parasite from beyond existence that relies on life as host bodies to interact with the world) that I love to mess with and expand on.
Fleshy horror stuff is so good though, it reminds me of Things From the Flood, you should check it out if you haven't! It's all that kind of weird, subtle, impossible horror stuff that puts you off but gets you just as curious about what's going on in that world.

OH IS- Is that the uuuh... What's it called. Man I've totally forgotten but I think I know the one you mean! Scape and run parasites right? I've actually played with that mod myself!! I really enjoyed it, super freaky at night with all those beasts running around. I installed a few more mods to help that kinda realism feeling, the realistic trees and biomes and stuff. Just amplified it and made it so much more unnerving to wander around the world. A great mod, absolutely adore the models.

I love the Xenomorphs, their concepts are just wonderful. Such a good base for sci-fi horror, if I'm not mistaken also one of the first real big ones? I know that lots of people love that movie for being so iconic. Who can forget those monstrous creatures, those little facehuggers... I feel like the only one who thinks majority of horror creatures are actually adorable- An example being that I find the Snatchers from Gears of War 4 really cute despite their bellies full of slimy tentacles. That's just me I guess haha!!

Oh I know the feeling, I've played Skyrim for 6+ years but still haven't even done half the quests!! It seriously feels like I have, I've done so many but there's still so much for me to find it's crazy! It's overwhelming at times but I really love the games that have that much expansion and stuff to do, means that you never really run out. Guess that's just why I tend to look for open world rpgs more than anything when it comes to new games! While Monster Hunter is less expansive in size, it still has so much stuff to do that I haven't run out yet, same with Starbound (which I've poured like 200 hours into and replayed so many times).

Honestly, it's mostly cause I have a brain chock full of ideas and things that go so far... I can come up with entire worlds in an hour (I wish I was kidding but I've done it before ._. plot and everything) with really cool stuff but... I never have anyone to share it with because my current friends aren't really into it like I am. Not to mention I just feel like I wanna do things with them all. It's a bit of a curse to have a head so full of ideas, yet so little motivation that I can't draw it or write it out, not even roleplay it with anyone because of the aforementioned friends and interests thing. Agony itself... Hoping one day I can find someone to go crazy with like that, not having to worry about wasting so many ideas all the time;;

Ough... Thank you though ;-; It's really cool to see people liking the weird things I make. I mentioned up in another ping (you may've seen) but I don't really post much cause I don't really make much that often. It's mostly because of the motivation issue, I tend to create both for myself but also for other people. For some reason creating for me alone doesn't feel that satisfying at all... I like to please other people by making things the both of us can enjoy. Maybe if I was able to get more people who showed interest in similar things then I'd be more motivated to make more but... Oh well.
I do have some other pieces but they aren't posted anywhere. If you'd like to see them I can go digging for them if you want, send them through pms? I think I'm sitting around on a couple good ones!

@Worrier

CRAB SQUIDS ARE SO GOOD- Sorry you unlocked a sudden squee in me, Crabsquids are literally my favourite creatures in Subnautica because of how totally freaky they are!! I also think they're kinda cute- Big ol' eyes, funny squishy heads and crab legs. It helps that crabs are my favourite animals too!

Oh sick :0 I searched up Oats Studious and opened images to get a quick look and that stuff looks seriously awesome, I didn't even know this existed!! Thanks so much for the recommendation, I gotta check it out... That looks so epic.

Edit: Bro... That Zygote thing immediately made me think of the Panzermorder from CoD, which is actually one of my favourite creatures/monsters ever because of just how freaky and... That it is!!

@Saintlucky

So many giger fans... As the guy deserves, it's some seriously cool stuff! You know it's good when everyone loves it hehe~

Thanks so much though- I'm getting so many nice comments on my art and I wasn't expecting it at all I'm- Gonna sobdgmsdhnfdh... It makes me so happy to see people enjoy what I create.
There's an artist on youtube I watch called Neytirix, she does really awesome body horror/gore and you should totally get a look at her stuff if you haven't already! She's also Aussie like me which is pretty funny. She does really well when it comes to the 'cutesy on the outside, dark and messed up on the inside' stuff, which is one of my most beloved horror tropes.

@Skedaddles

SCP is the place to go for the really wack stuff, I made it a goal to try and read through every one! Of course that's at a slow pace because wow, that's a lot of stuff, but I tend to enjoy like every single one I read. Just really strange stuff, I love seeing what other people can come up with! So much of it is so... Spontaneous and feels so random, but that's why I love it to death. Things no one would ever imagine, right there in a whole document!

@Requacy

Oh hehey! I've seen your name around a bit! Welcome to the thread that I didn't think would get so many responses, but has actually exploded-

It's so cool seeing how many people here are so inspired by the deep ocean and biology, really cool especially because of the fact that it really is the best place to look for reference and inspiration for the things that we wanna make! I always look at life, biology and evolution, whenever I create new creatures and headcanons for character species from shows and stuff. To me a big part of horror is how believable and real it feels, so the more you know about that stuff in real life and can incorporate it into your creations the more impact it has! I also just love to explain to people how my beasts work, makes me feel smart sgjkdfhdfh... It's super fun to think about.
If I wasn't so absolutely terrible at remembering things I would've gone into biology in school, unfortunate that I got my ADD diagnosis like one year before graduation. Couldn't do anything about the focus by then. I'm hoping that maybe there's a way I can still get into something more biology based in the future, if I plan on wanting a bigger job sometime!

I love Leviathans, whenever I think about the open ocean and deep-sea beasts I think those giant... Lizard-like monsters that swim down in the depths and emerge every now and then to the surface like strange islands... Hydras are so good though, I know there's actually examples of both of these in Greek mythology! Charybdis (being the leviathan) and Scylla (being the hydra), both of which I believe were in the same legend! I never see people say anything about it, but I actually really like the design for Charybdis from the Percy Jackson movie >-> The massive open maw like a Lamprey, the fact we like don't even see the body... Just imagining what that thing looked like below the surface sends shivers down my spine. I LOVE it!

Oh I'm totally fine with spoilers, considering I've listened to Monster Hunter Stories 2 final boss theme on loop for hours- Gotta love the osts for all these games, absolutely stunning compositions. I've got into this one guy on youtube recently, I think his name is David, but he's a video game composer who listens to themes from games and breaks them down and the fact that he so accurately predicts the characters/monster behaviour despite never having seen them... JUST listening to the music, astounding. I always appreciated themes in games and the power they had but never knew they could be that in depth to the point an entire character could be predicted through them-
Oop, a wee bit off topic but how can I not mention the soundtrack for MH when all the themes are so beautiful!
Part of me thinks I know what design you're talking about too (looked at the tab, I KNEW IT!! That's the exact theme I had on loop!! The design for that monster and the concept behind it is a solid 10/10, I adore it to death).

Oh, oh, getting me started on RE 8. I LOVE those designs and the whole megamycete thing going on, it's so cool... I actually had a big breakdown after watching it when I made the realization that Rose is kind of like a subspecies of human if you think about it. Because both of her parents were eventually converted fully into the megamycete yet retained all of their humanity and functions because of the fact the fungus mimics them perfectly, Rose is essentially... Well, a human but not! She's made purely of that stuff, but it's the fungus itself mimicking humanity and of course that begs the question of whether you consider her 'human'. Like... She is! Yet she isn't... Since the megamycete essentially recreates all functioning parts of the human body (which I imagine is proven by the fact that Ethan and Mia were even able to have her at all in the same way a human does, that the functions remained exactly identical despite not being human material), even though it's not made of flesh it's still... Like... A working human body.
Idk man that drives me mad, it's totally wild. I spammed my partner about it hardcore it was hilarious- They just sat there listening to me try and go on a biology ramble (despite only being self-taught </3) about this whole thing in a game. The speculation, it felt like a high honestly. Good stuff... I adore it when games and shows and things really get me thinking like that.

Ooooh I was gonna say if anyone here hasn't played the game Inside, play Inside. I'm not sure where all you can aside from ps4 but I think its on steam. It's a short game but it's perfectly creepy, weird, and the body horror is subtle but there in a really cool way.

@QuetzalMuse

Actually, those are the videos I was talking about!! I just.. forget how to spell his name. I cant wait for him to cover The Calysto Protocol which comes out in December... which looks horrid /pos

I LOVE Trevor Hendersons art, but I just cant pick a favorite of his creations. Maybe NeedleHorse? Long Horse? Anxious Dog? I love them all. His works are truly a master of his genera.

also, our brother loves Subnautica! Im more of an Iron Lung type of being personally. ^^"

I love me some good ol' body horror/eldritch horror/monster horror. Lately, I've been thinking about potentially adding some monstrous elements to my current project, and even more for a future project I have in mind.

I know that Bloodborne (never played the game, but I have seen playthroughs and I've read the lore and stuff. PEAK aesthetic!) and Giger are getting some love and attention in this thread (though I did see someone mention Pacific Rim, hail yeah.), so I'm gonna give some love to Junji Ito.

I just love his style of horror, and I've started collecting his mangas. If anyone is curious about his work, I highly recommend Tomie, Uzumaki, and Hellstar Remina. The Enigma of Amigara Fault is also a great starting point.

I actually really like that kind of horror stuff now, though I didn’t use to have a tolerance to any of it when I was younger. Always had a major lifelong biology interest that never really went away, ever. I’ve recently been very interested in SCP foundation lore, and stuff relating to that. Also, a lot of darker science fiction horror, such as Dead Space/Arrival/etc. I’ve not gotten to see all of Arrival yet, I have seen some of it. Most horror games I don’t have access to playing, from where I live being so rural. Though, I will gladly research their lore and characters.

I am very particular to how some horror content is portrayed, I have to have guidelines to enjoy some things. I really like speculative horror fiction, I haven’t gotten to read much of it yet. I was interested in fictional aliens some, though that was more so when I was younger. I have seen videos on things like the book series Annihilation (no one’s mentioned this yet?), and Lovecraftian horror. I have no idea where the supernatural horror interest came from, so I have a lot of varying interests there. I used to have such a low horror tolerance, that it took a while for me to get adjusted to some stuff.

I draw horror sometimes for mental health reasons, though I haven’t been as much lately, I’d want to get back to that soon again. It’s good that you’ve been exploring your interests like that creatively!

@QuetzalMuse

Thank you! I am a big eldritch nerd, so the moment I saw the thread I just had to join!

Yessss. It truly is the closest that we know of to alien life. The conditions are so utterly different in comparison to the surface. Especially the pressure and lack of light! Yessss. Even surreal horror branches on something subconscious we understand, as classics like Eraserhead show off. I love using real-life science for whatever I'm writing. And deep sea stuff- especially invertebrates- is so strange, it can easily be mistaken for fiction. Plus, getting to ramble about all my speculative biology is extremely fun. I wish you luck!! As someone who is very possibly add (everyone in my family has it), I can assure you not to give up!

Yesssss. And- considering stuff like giant squid and frilled sharks exist, there's no telling what remains to be discovered. Yeah! Charybdis and (especially) Scylla were both likely dragons (with Charybdis being smaller and hiding under a rock)! The myth of Scylla being a dog-nymph-thingy seems to have been a later invention.Though no less cool. There's something incredibly exciting about how vague her description is. I want to see her whole body... if I don't die, that is! Or not, since dragons are worth it. YEAH! Even if I don't like the film's deviation from the book, I must admit the designs are pretty fun! Big lamprey dragon.

YES I love it so, so much. It was the first time I audibly gasped while playing a game, since I went in completely blind and didn't know about it until I saw it. O h yes! I really need to check if there's been a video on the Oltura theme. It is absolutely epic and sends shivers down my spine. Can listen to it for ages.
All the themes are incredible. I can immediately recognize a monster from its theme.
Yessssss. It's perfect. I love it so much. I have too many screenshots of it since the scenes were incredible. Right before it eats Red's Ratha? And all the larval heads together? Holy HECK. Perfect design.

YESSSSS. We really need to talk about how Rose is essentially a sapient colony of fungus. She's a person, but also a fungus! Which is really cool since a lot of media doesn't acknowledge just how incredible fungi are. THey're not animals nor plants, but are still heterotrophs that can go into symbiosis with various other species. And the mycorrhizal network? Absolutely stunning. Honestly, given just how adaptable some fungi species are- without even being in interspecies symbiosis- it makes a lot of sense for Rose and her parents to be like that.
Good. It's awesome. It's really awesome. Hahaha that's very relatable. I have done that to many a person at many different times. Fungus is very fun....gus!