Doing a little character creating practice, this time focusing on stretching out the limits of the morphs, but also trying to create something actually otherworldly and truly alien, not something like Star Trek where the actors either had paint or got some elf ears.
The first step, stretch out the proportions. While we have something that had the humanoid silhouette, but stretching it out and thinning the limbs and torso, we have something that doesn't look human. We have a creature that has a humanoid shape but doesn't look like someone in a suit. (Also, lets thank Shannon for standing in as a comparison model, and lets just say she's standing at around 5'10)
Now, we have another look at how something that kinda looks human can end up looking off. Evolution tells us that an intelligent species would need energy and the most efficient way to get that energy would be to eat, thus we have a mouth. Straight away there's something familiar. Only we've twisted it to show sharpened and irregular teeth, teeth that are designed to grip and tear away flesh. Again, something alien. When you do something inhuman to the mouth, it's memorable. You can really see this with the xenomorph and with Predator, with their inner mouth and mandibles respectively.
Also, not seen in the image are "W" shaped irises, something seen in octopi and other cephalopods, which helps convey in a subtle way that this is not a human.
And again, the pose below has a very distinct silhouette, the length and thinness of the limbs really making this creature look inhuman.
Last image. Something that always seem unnatural to us is when a human walks on all fours. Its something we're not really designed for, you can see this in particular in the footage of feral children. With that in mind, seeing something humanoid in a more-at-ease in a quadruped form without looking like its in pain can really ramp up the feeling that you're seeing something inhuman, hence why you sometimes see that in demon/possession movies.
Anyway, this was just a few thoughts on character design. If anyone finds it helpful, great. If not, thats fine too.
