It's Skywatch time, or should I say it's Nautilus time?
As the title suggests, this week we're introducing our Nautilus creature to you in all its glory. We've shared some concepts of the Nautilus with you already, back in Skywatch #5, but today we're giving you a full look at how our Nautilus has shaped up, from early concepts through to its current stage.
Early Concepts
First up, let's revisit some of those early concepts of the Nautilus, sketched by our super talented artist, Rebecca. In the two early pieces below, Rebecca did some early sketches and exploration of larger island fauna. You can see the beginnings of what would ultimately become the Nautilus as we know it today.
In the top image above, you can see the top left and top right sketches quite closely resemble what would eventually become the Nautilus. In the second image, you can see some of the reference material that Rebecca was using for inspiration. The top middle, top right and bottom creatures in that image all feature characteristics that would eventually go on to be included in our Nautilus creature.
Below you can see some more early concepts/sketches as Rebecca further explored the idea of a tall, long-legged island creature. Rebecca explored a few different ideas for the creature as you can see - a more insectile version, a version inspired by an elephant (complete with tusks and a trunk!) and of course, the shrimp version which was ultimately what was taken forward. The left most concept in the bottom image below is very close to how our Nautilus ended up, even down to the stripe patterns on its back.
Detailed Concept
Below is a more detailed concept of the Nautilus with colour. This is ultimately how our Nautilus turned out. The 3D model of the creature as it will appear in the game is very close to this in appearance, other than some slight differences in the creatures leg anatomy.