What Makes A Great Monster Design?

Let's talk about what makes a great monster design. It's harder than it might seem.

[xChikyx]

Also, the conjuring universe sucks, it's just a bunch of jumpscares every 30 seconds

[krlosz]

HUGE tip: when looking for photos of internal anatomical stuff, adding the words "exposed", "surgery", "injury" and other related terms helps with finding photos of stuff like the exposed nose cartilage

[rogerthat]

This really reminded me of the game Outlast, with the "monsters" being just mentally ill people who have been tortured, neglected and experimented on to the point of looking like monsters more than humans anymore, and with the mix of torture and the mental illness they dont even really act very human anymore and you have this overwhelming sadness and dread that plays into the horror. Its more scary I think, when all your fighting are other humans

[bythekinks]

I think the future humans in All Tomorrows are pretty amazing examples of scary designs. I especially like when you take one feature of a human such as reproduction and go buck wild with it bc I think its unnerving to see something that was ONCE human have its entire physical being reduced and morphed to do one thing. Bonus points if it still vaugley sounds human/can mimic humans, that skeeves me out big time.

[catpoke]

I love humanoid monsters and all. They're really effective. But I'm getting kind of sick of them. They feel very repetitive at this point. I really like more abstract monsters that utilize uncanny valley in subtler ways. Imagine a plant coming out of a bulbous, fleshy base, and each plant has eye-like orbs at the top. They suck into and out of the base when you approach and leave them, and can be seen sometimes violently shaking for unclear reasons.

It's abstract, it takes a twist on plants, and it takes features from humans through the eyes and the flesh-like base, the shaking/seizing indicates some sort of suffering. It's creepy and it's new.

[banane]

I think horror is best when you take something comfortably familiar and estrange the viewer from it in an unexpected way. Bonus points if it's recognizable after analyzing it for just a little while.

[someguycalledcerberus]

I always said that one element of great monster design is designing monsters who appear to be themselves in great pain. There's something seriously unnerving about a creature that is twisted and tortured and traumatised. It is what separates a monster from a predator.

[dodachka]

one of the most good examples of a humanoid monster design i recently saw is the grunt from "amnesia". it resembles a human and, although it doesn't really seem to convey any story with its appearance, its face is definitely something of note: its grotesquely distorted, almost torn-out jaw an goggly eyes. it doesn't look intimidating in any way, but its almost human face, as if screaming in agony from the distortion, evokes a lot of unsettlement. it looks like a product of human experiment - the scars, the sewn on pieces of skin on its body. it really grounds the idea that it could be real and makes it even more scary, even when amnesia doesn't has nearly as good ghaphics as for today's standarts and still manages to make the grunt look uncanny. it's, in my opinion, is one of the most iconic horror monster designs.
and i really liked your take on the toothless (teethless?) monster with the emphasis on the ear. if it's blind it relies on hearing i suppose, and, however obviuos it was, the emphasis on the ear with this ring thing is a neat detail for me. and it also looks like something made by a human - as you mentioned, something horrible was done to it, and so it has the "justification" to do something horrible to you.

[Emperor-Quill]

I personally love the idea of really giant monsters that somehow don't get spotted right away, the kinds that are able to hide in plain site, but go unnoticed because people don't look for them, or because the monster itself is very quiet, the kind that only snatches up when nobody else will see.

The entire concept of something so much bigger than you just existing somewhere largely unnoticed, something that can snatch up you or your friends without anyone ever seeing is just unnerving.
How scary would it be, to die with nobody seeing, nobody to realize what happened, and no way to make your end known?

[FandomLurker]

Something I don't see alot of being used is insects/ arachnids, not just a regular really really big bug or just sticking parts on a person, but using the shapes for monster features. Like a mantis has these finger things for its mouth, spiders have multiple limbs that is hard wired into humans to find unsettling, and beetles have hidden veined wings under their back armor (carapace? ). Combine that with these kind of monster making tips could create some pretty scary results.

[Dastankbeets]

I have an idea- what about a zombie type of monster with a biology that adapts to the way it was killed? As in, the body reforms itself around wounds to give them a function. It portrays an almost positive message of retaliation, and adapting to trauma. Whilst being grotesque, you would kind of root for the guys. For instance, a humanoid creature that got killed by having its head split with an axe. Maybe it pulled the axe out, and the massive split in the head grew teeth and reformed into some kind of vertical mouth that allows the head to open sideways, and it now wields the axe with surprising technique and expertise. Maybe the player would have to duel with it or hell, maybe it could join the player in a revenge fight against the killer. Maybe the game is a twist on the horror game formula where you have to escape and survive against various monsters, whilst trying to communicate with them and recruit them in a revenge plot against their killer, who is the real monster of the whole game.

[pureconcentratedtrash]

I think monsters that have flat human teeth obviously not optimized for tearing apart flesh but that bite regardless of that are terrifying

[christophersessions]

I study zoology, and whenever I see sharp, thin teeth in monsters I automatically think of them as exclusively fish eaters. Thin sharp teeth are sort of only useful for catching slippery, smallish animals. Killer whale teeth are more robust, and they eat large fish, and marine mammals. Human/mammal dentition is normally marked by different tooth shapes for different feeding strategies. Reptiles and fish generally have the same tooth shape.

[memo]

There's an artist call Dan Peacock or Dan E. Peacock.
He's got amazing creatures, not necessarily monsters, but monster-esque designs. They look very human but sometimes Dan pushed proportions making them look scary and his rendering is realistic so it grounds these scary characters making them even more terrifying.

[nyxxova]

i still think that the xenomorph remains one of the best monsters/aliens of all time considering how revolutionary it was in film. it was sort of human, with elements of the setting (ship) in its design, the unique functions of it had a slightly sexual connotations and there was this weird blend of technology and human anatomy (like the teeth and 'ribs').

very iconic and changed lots of things in monster/alien design.

[abbe]

“Made in abyss” has some REALLY cool creature designs

[stalepastry-t]

The part about the "monsters can be more scary when they have a complexity to their hostility" reminded me a lot of the warpers from subnautica which have a sort of justification for hurting you, they're really just trying to protect the ocean but when I hear when I am shitting myself, especially knowing they can teleport at my side any moment.

[loqqn]

Junji Ito always has good anatomy and scare grounded into realistic/myhtical settings. I love him for inspiration.

[yoboikamil]

List of things for me :
- make it suffer
- make it look horrorific, have some disfigurement on it
- add wacky features so it's not a human costume
- add some medieval/old medical-like equipment, such as a metal mask or old handcuffs
- make it have a hidden representation of something

That's my guide on monsters.

[Xyotic]

Something thht doesnt get used a lot in in games are very tall monsters imo...
A 3 - 4 meters tall monster is usually scarier than regular human sized monsters.
Lets imagine something like your third sketch and give it a fairly human body. But their limbs are replaced with tall metal bars/stilts which are attached in a similar gruesome way like the face...