Kwama Worker (A work in progress)

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Hello everyone,

Right now I'm concepting the Kwama Worker in ZBrush, and i'll be sure to attach a few progress shots, including a reference sheet of different things that might help create this creature. Please note this is an early concept, and im using the Skyrim Spider as my silhouette form (minus the extra legs).

You'll probably notice that the Kwama Worker Im trying to create protected by layers of carapace-like armour, because I see the Worker as the unaggressive (unless provoked) type. The front legs will probably be more protected than the back (or the same lvl of of protection). I intend on making the legs thicker eventually, but I want to get feedback and suggestions if I can in the meantime as this is far from finished.

Thank you all and I look forward to seeing what everyone says!

i wonder how do you make this

i wonder how do you make this model from that references.
That not looks as kwama worker at all for my opinion.
i made quite different concepts/models based on Gryllotalpa mostly and vanilla concepts.

MY CONCEPT

[External image]

There are good concepts by Dragomir and Monopteryx
(kwama concept is pretty unusable, but can be combined with his concept for nix-hound to get main idea -
it must be less robust, more gracile - alike bear aforementioned)

ARTISTS CONCEPTS

[External image]
[External image]
[External image]

My old model suck, but i hope to make updated one with relation of this new concepts after finishing scrib.
Not overloaded with details, and more good to animations/rigs (that will be bear, i don't see any other suitable candidate).

OLD MODEL

It's because it's an attempt

It's because it's an attempt to use the spider skeleton for animations. Compromising.

Bear is much more good rig.

Bear is much more good rig. Bear have stand up animation.
Spider is for kwama scrib.

What I also forgot to mention

What I also forgot to mention is this: " Kwama Workers dig the colony's tunnels and chambers and tend the queen and the eggs"

Extracted from the Wiki. So I'm thinking the worker has to have a body part suitable to excavating tunnels and a all-round protective exterior, so rocks from the ceiling don't damage the Worker while it's tunneling.

I have to admit I'm not a fan

I have to admit I'm not a fan of this departure from the old appearances. I've given some thought to how kwama could best be represented. I wasn't aware we had any new people working on creatures, though.

I thought about same features

I thought about same features. Even stranger that you made your concept like this with this in mind.
Spiders or jesus bugs (your worker looks like it) are not good in burrowing.
But anyway, that too different from vanilla form, and not suit IMHO.

Contact me via PM/Chat if you want more materials on issue.

I could see this very well

I could see this very well being a great ambient creature for ashlands, so that the work doesn't go to waste, but after so many kwama attempts failing to create something that feels like the original I don't think going completely away from it is a good idea either... Kwama have a very specific life cycle, part of which is forager being a parasitic "controller" of a dead worker chassis:

[External image]

And I tried to simulate that in my concept:

[External image]

As you can see, it has burrowing front legs.

But all that aside, I know animation is a huge pipeline here. I don't think Skyrim has any creatures that would rig with Kwama well. However, they are insects, colonial insects. Their movement patterns would be very repetetive and robotic so to say. I know making a full animation set is a hell of a lot of work, but we have had many, many volounteers for that departament coming in. I could give exact instructions as to how the creatures from my concept would move, and I'd be happy to provide step by step animation sketches to illustrate that. If there's any alien creature of Morrowind that'd really warrant new animations, it'd be this one. Even Cliffracers can use dragon as a base.

Thank you all for your input

Thank you all for your input and I everyone continues to discuss the Kwama worker further. The concept everyone saw was a very rough early stage to show that I'm using the Spider silhouette. In the meantime I'll try to compromise to everyones taste/preferences and try to come up with multiple forms using the Bear and Spider. In addition, I've got the kwama eggs in progress.. Playing round with speedtree to get the design in order.

@drago: wouldn't the legs

@drago: wouldn't the legs/arms of the warrior be the other way around if they took the workers body as a base? Still I like it, so please keep it this way ;)

@Gothic_Freak Such anatomic

@Gothic_Freak Such anatomic error was in game and original concept too.
Soldier and worker body not are the same, as if it weirdly deformed after forager infestation/symbiosis.
Not sure that we must copy that state, though. Just worker+forager=soldier without anatomical deformations would be great too.