Cannibals

Concept doodles for trying to visualize the creatures from Rick Yancey’s book The Monstrumologist. I love the effort that was put into describing the anatomy and behavior of the Anthropophagi. Poor things kind of reminded me of King Kong, spending so much of the story displaced, confused, and abused.

And then I couldn’t resist imagining a scenario where Prankster Wendigo runs into one. Both represent an interesting twist on cannibalism. The Anthropophagi are quite social and affectionate until stress pushes them to attack each other, and Prankster’s kind consider eating each other to be rude and usually only do so “on accident” after an argument gets out of hand. I love thinking of the different ways Prankster shows social behaviors, and imagining how he would fare against different types of monsters. It’s only a few scraps you dope, is it really worth getting mauled over?

I haven’t read the second book, so I don’t know what that version of the wendigo is like. Maybe after I read it I’ll have him fight that too.