The Emperor of the Goblins

One of my assignments at school was to create a fantasy creature inspired by the movie  Labyrinth (1986). They had to be vaguely humanoid, but ultimately belong between the trolls and gnomes of the movie.

I immensely enjoyed experimenting with different animals and traditional garments from different countries.

I had so much fun thumbnailing, I could've gone on forever, but after a few dozen sketches I decided I really liked the image of a very sturdy figure, with a big mass around the head inspired by the orangutan. I experimented with lots of different clothes, and settled on a rich, imperial sort of vibe.

In the final stage of designing, I'd decided on a royal, androgynous creature with inspiration from Tibetan and Mongolian traditional garments. I was going for an intimidating, unapproachable figure, and I think I succeeded.

I am very proud of this work.