Tren Krom Insanity

[bonesiii]

My [Edit: third] attempt at portraying the insanity-causing nature of Tren Krom's appearance, as accurately to Greg Farshtey's description as I could. White dots on main body meant to be implied to be many thousands of the hooks seen on the closeup tentacle, to give a sense of vastness (and due to laziness -- I didn't have time to draw many different hooks :-P). Drawn with a free online paint program.Yes, I know method of painting makes him blurry but I chose that on purpose with the idea that the viewer's eyes are slightly out of focus due to going insane. Other portrayals I've seen give the eyes glows but I feel this is inconsistent with the description of them as mere holes bored in the gelatinous skull; they seem to bring him back towards sanity which is to me the opposite of what a TK drawing should do. And yes, the slight nonsymmetry is intentional too. Made for use in a canon-fit retelling of Bionicle history I'm writing, The Destiny of Bionicle.Is my second attempt at Tren Krom. First lacked hooks and didn't look as cool IMO. [Edit2: Yall had some great suggestions for improvement, and I tried to incorporate them, as well as tiny Mutran looking up at him, in new version. Second version here, which many of you pointed out looked too 'cute' as well as incomplete and not textured enough. For third version I modified the second, making the eyes much smaller and taking out a clear mouth, so it's ambiguous whether he has a mouth of not. Here's a version [of second] without the reflections off the hooks. The reflections were meant to imply the hooks were sharp, but I guess it wasn't clear enough.]

Edited April 18, 2013 by bonesiii

[The 1st Shadow]

Sparkly.... Truth be told, I actually thought your first attempt better captured the essence of TK. This one just looks... cute, honestly. Although, I recall TK's description as not having a mouth. Am I remembering incorrectly, or are the mouth and nostrils added to add to the "maddening" effect? This one isn't bad, but I feel it could be a little better. What program did you use?

Perhaps if you tried to do something like your first image but with the eyes and hooks of this one. I think that would look pretty cool.

 

[bonesiii]

Well, I kinda thought the same of the old one. But it's somewhat intentional that he doesn't look like a stereotypical villainous face, even 'cute' because I would think the normal "scary" feel would be too expected and wouldn't contribute to insanity. Kinda borrowed from the idea of the 'face' of the boss machine in the third Matrix movie.

 

I've never heard anything about a lack of a mouth, although that's how I did the original so maybe it has been said, I forget. But looking through the canon portrayals, at one point Mutran comments that TK does have a voice. So I would assume that implies a mouth. And nothing I saw in the other portrayals stated that he didn't, but maybe I missed it. Lewa at one point says he uses telepathy to communicate, so that could be it. But basically the mouth and nostrils are added to justify the description of a "gelatinous skull".

 

As for the program, it links to a site we can't mention here, so I can't say. I just googled online paint programs until I found one blurry enough. Never even used it before, heh.

 

I'm not opposed to trying yet another version, we'll see. Of course, arguably no image can convey the horror of the appearance as well as sheer imagination (as Greg has said before ).

 

Note: I did just notice one of the canon descriptions (not included in BS01's description) says the eyes are yellow, so I've edited it accordingly, but brickshelf seems to be down at the moment so I can't upload...

[Chro]

Yeah, looks like Brickshelf is unavailable...Is there any other site you could post the TK art to in the meantime? (Assuming it's not back online within a short amount of time, that is.)

[bonesiii]

It's back. Yellowed eyes uploaded.

[Phovos]

I have to say, sparkles don't really make you more scary and crazy. It's almost like Twilight but in red.I think your first image is actually much better. The translucent tentacles, the addition of a cave as scenery, the glowing eyes, they seem to work better. If the tentacles were tidier, they'd be much nicer.

[Kanakalackin]

Pretty cool, but it looks a little too cartoony.

[bonesiii]

I have to say, sparkles don't really make you more scary and crazy. It's almost like Twilight but in red.I think your first image is actually much better. The translucent tentacles, the addition of a cave as scenery, the glowing eyes, they seem to work better. If the tentacles were tidier, they'd be much nicer.

Fair enough, I suppose. It was meant to imply those hooks are sharp, re: the 'sparkles' often used for reflective metal in the Bionicle comics. But I do have a version without the lighting. Better that way?

 

The eyes actually weren't supposed to be glowing per se, as far as I recall, but just tinted yellow re: Greg's description. I kind thought deeper eye sockets would seem creepier. Also, it would be nearly impossible to put hooks into the original. Again I might try a third attempt some time fusing the ideas of both somehow, we'll see. In any case, I thank yall for the useful feedback.

[Kanakalackin]

Yes, much better. Try adding a little more shadow, how about creases in the body?

[Hitoshura]

The face is frightening. I would say that the sparkles don't really match with Tren Krom, thought, but otherwise the face would scare the life out of me, if it were to be real. The first attempt looked better than this one IMO.

[Sumiki]

Creating a portrayal of Tren Krom is a daunting task, and it's really quite hard to get across the terrifying aspect of what he looks like in the story. However, I have to agree with those who say that it's cute - compared to your first attempt, this one is kind of adorable. I just want to reach in there and ruffle its tentacles.

 

Mainly, though, it's just sort of incomplete. Your first try had this great sense of scale and dimension, this Cthulhu-like vibe about it that made it quite disturbing. This one looks like a two-dimensional Pokémon.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Sumiki

[bonesiii]

Yall have raised some great points. I've taken some of them into consideration in a third attempt, which just painted over the second with the same program. I also added something I considered yesterday but didn't have time to try -- Mutran in the foreground, really tiny, looking up at TK, helping to give scale (and it's for the scene with Mutran in-story).

 

Better? Maybe more likely to drive you insane if you were the little dot that is Mutran?

[Phovos]

Oh, much better! But that foreground tentacle looks out of place.Reminds me of Miraak from the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim...

[Kanakalackin]

MUCH better I always kind of imagined him as a mix of Davy Jones and the Kraken.

[The 1st Shadow]

Definitely much better! Definitely adds to the magnitude of his more maddening traits. Although I liked how you had the bigger eyes before--made it feel more like huge gaping holes that you could fall into and never find your way out again. Still, this is much better. Great work!

One quick note on Mutran, though: he's too close to the edge of the screen. I feel like it would be easy to miss him due to his position. If there was a way for him to be closer to the center, that'd be better. Just a thought.

Edited April 17, 2013 by ~The 1st Shadow~

[Kanakalackin]

So that's what ir was. I thought that it was a bat.

[bonesiii]

One quick note on Mutran, though: he's too close to the edge of the screen. I feel like it would be easy to miss him due to his position. If there was a way for him to be closer to the center, that'd be better. Just a thought.

True, but that's kind of intentional; I wanted it to be easily cropped to remove Mutran while still seeing most of TK. Still, maybe I could move him down to the middle of the rock platform (visible) instead of the left. He'd be more visible contrasting the brighter 'mouth' tentacle there. I'll see.

 

Edit: Or maybe light Mutran better? That would be easier...

Edited April 17, 2013 by bonesiii

[Taipu1]

This is actually quite unnerving. Its certainly a step towards portraying the insanity inducing appearance. I never imagined him being quite that vast though.

[Dual Cee]

Really good indeed, making Mutran light would be good, also maybe you should make his eyes more round.

[bonesiii]

Well, I don't know how successful it was, but I worked on Mutran. I lit the tentacle behind him better to give more contrast, and tried to clarify him (he was only a silhouette earlier even though the light's coming from behind him). Still kinda hard to see, but yall can judge if it's better.

As to size, I think he was said to be really big. It may be exaggerated here but it's all in the name of insanity. I was estimating based on the huge size of the Codrex exit, re: this picture. He would just be able to squeeze out of there as I have him (of course, he could be even larger since he's gelatinous).I actually had the eyes more round when I was almost done with this version but I didn't think he looked intimidating enough that way, personally. Edited April 17, 2013 by bonesiii

[fishers64]

The second version (in terms of this topic) is a definite improvement, although it is still quite different from my vision of TK as an enormous maroon pufferfish. Probably more accurate to the storyline portrayal though.

Edited April 17, 2013 by fishers64

[CeeCee]

Wow I love this. It just really grasps something out of this worldly. Its great. You did an amazing job on all the textures and made TK genuinly intimidating. Only gripe is the tentacle in front. Just looks wierd

[Kanakalackin]

Only a little. It looks like TK is about to grab Mutran or something.

[Sumiki]

I really like the new face - it's certainly more menacing than your other attempts. However, I'm still getting that 2D vibe ... oddly enough, I think the curling arm in the front throws it off. I put up a few fingers to block that section, and I'm getting more depth out of the picture.

 

Maybe that's just me, though.

[FallenCor]

The first version you posted in this topic was fabulous; and when I opened the full-sized version, the eyes and the mouth actually had this weird effect of looking like they were moving. Like the edges were swirling and receding ever so slightly, if that makes sense. I'll admit that he appeared somewhat cute, but by golly did he look creepy. Bravo!The final version looks fantastic. I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest for the foreground tentacle, but otherwise he's completely spot-on, IMO. *rapturous applause*

[Taipu1]

As to size, I think he was said to be really big. It may be exaggerated here but it's all in the name of insanity. I was estimating based on the huge size of the Codrex exit, re: this picture. He would just be able to squeeze out of there as I have him (of course, he could be even larger since he's gelatinous).

 

My thoughts to the size were that Carapar would attack him with a sword. I know Carapar isn't that smart, but against something this big, I don't think even he would kid himself he could sneak up on it with a sword. I mean it would be like attacking someone with a pin. The size works great for giving off the insanity, but for how I picture him specifically in the scene in Federation of Fear, it just seems too big.

[bonesiii]

Well, I don't want to turn this into an S&T topic ( ) but some of the other reasons I see him as vast (so tried to put that into the art) include this quote from Mutran:

 

 

it was a view into a mind as far beyond mine as mine is beyond a fireflyer's

I just have trouble seeing such a mind as belonging to a being of anything but such huge size. Also Lewa's statements:

 

And when the shadows cleared away, Lewa was staring at ... himself.

He looked down, for only a micro-second, long enough to see a huge tentacled mass grafted to stone. Instinctively, he knew that was Tren Krom's body – and his mind was inside it....

 

Lewa tried to pursue, but the great bulk of this body was a part of the island itself. He could not move.

"huge" and "great bulk" being the operative phrases. As for the Carapar scene, I thought he was just trying to chop off part of a tentacle (to free Lariska), and yeah, he's not too bright, plus I always saw that scene as basically just to demonstrate how TK could attack someone, so I wouldn't see that as seriously limiting TK's size. Here's some statements from that section:

massive tentacle shot out of the cave, wrapping itself around Brutaka and pulling him inside...

 

“Would you shut up?” hissed Carapar. “Rule number one: don’t annoy the giant, tentacled monster, or don’t they teach that one in The Shadowed One’s school?”...

 

Carapar edged slowly to the side, sword in hand. No one paid any attention – all eyes were on Lariska, who had been grabbed by one of Tren Krom’s many arms...

Every size descriptor emphasizes hugeness -- even the individual tentacles are "massive", plus they are "many", so I really don't see any other way, yanno? (Note that I see there as being way more tentacles than I showed in the frame of this version, which is more of a closeup on the face.) Maybe Carapar was thinking that being gelatinous he would be weaker than a solid being of such size would be?

Edited April 23, 2013 by bonesiii

[Indigogeek]

I like the scale of Tren Krom, it makes him look rather menacing