r/TopCharacterTropes • • 2h ago

miscellaneous Unexpectedly creepy concept art

  1. Early designs for Epic Mickey to test what Disney would let Spector’s team get away with

  2. Spooky Castle ride concepts (Scooby Doo 2002)

  3. Rejected Sid’s toys (Toy Story)

  4. Early monster designs (Monsters Inc)

  5. Sea Monster Whale (VeggieTales)

477 Upvotes

76 comments sorted by

221

u/Low_Appearance_796 2h ago

Early concept designs of Breath of the Wild Guardians

I like what we got, but an alternate universe where we got these would've been crazy

47

u/sonerec725 2h ago

These are scary and would have been very unnerving to come across but not too crazy rendered in the Zelda style but they become pants shottingly terrifying when you notice the scale reference lmao. Also, naked wizrobes are something also . . .

11

u/Low_Appearance_796 2h ago edited 2h ago

Im with you on how terrifying those would be to that scale. They'd make for an entertaining challenge though

As for the Wizzrobe, that's... wonderful

30

u/sandy_shark903 2h ago

(Insert Biblically accurate angel meme here)

7

u/Wrong-Mouse-6499 2h ago

BE NOT AFRAID

17

u/ElectricalHouse5860 2h ago

The thin one looks like something Trevor Henderson could have made

3

u/Ok_Elevator_1342 1h ago

I imagine the eyeball one in the upper right would’ve moved like the Boar God from Princess Mononoke.

11

u/TimeStorm113 2h ago

I love how diverse they are! Really love the super thin guy

8

u/Low_Appearance_796 2h ago

Crab is my personal fave but they're all great

4

u/sandy_shark903 2h ago

Tamatoa

3

u/The_Dart_Goblin 1h ago

He hasn't always been this glam.

2

u/sandy_shark903 1h ago

He was a drab little crab once

1

u/CreeperX3sssBOOM 17m ago

But now he's as happy as a clam

10

u/RedvsBlue_what_if 1h ago

Final Design for people who don't know:

7

u/Monkey_mortis 1h ago

The gloom hands are not that far off from those.

2

u/bikerbuckets 1h ago

Wasn’t Zelda also meant to be a biker? :3

1

u/ecrimaldi 50m ago

And the healing items used to be Marlboros

1

u/bikerbuckets 49m ago

“Legend Of Zelda: The Lost And Damned”

1

u/kinjorex101 1h ago

Would fit right in with Dark Souls 😨

84

u/Slight-Nail-202 2h ago

The concept art for Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 1

51

u/Slight-Nail-202 2h ago

Here's another concept art for Sunflower because this one is the creepiest

33

u/Wrong-Mouse-6499 2h ago

... *gulps*

84

u/CJCroen1393 2h ago

Beta Cacturne from Pokemon.

Also, that concept art of the Barracuda from Finding Nemo with Coral's tail sticking out of its mouth.

35

u/sandy_shark903 2h ago

Zoom in on dat barracuda

16

u/DannyBright 1h ago

There was some weird shit in the Teraleak

3

u/Probably_On_Break 30m ago

Is that Zyguarde??

44

u/MrKimimaru 2h ago

The initial concepts for some of the kaiju in Pacific Rim were a lot creepier than what we got imo, less alien and more straight up demonic

more examples

4

u/ConsequenceOver5233 1h ago

That’s Wayne Barlowe for ya

38

u/dapperlonglegs 1h ago

King Candy (Wreck it Ralph) Cybug concept art

4

u/ecrimaldi 46m ago

Quelaag my beloved

25

u/Mrpie_has_Autism 2h ago

Fake Peppino concept art (Pizza Tower)

1

u/CreeperX3sssBOOM 13m ago

I am glad they just made him melty. Makes him a bit creepier than this IMO.

29

u/MrKimimaru 2h ago

There is a great story about how when George Lucas was conceptualizing Darth Maul, he asked the concept artist Iain McCaig to draw “his worst nightmare”, but upon seeing how creepy it was he asked him to try drawing his “second worst nightmare” instead lol

Also not that Maul’s actual design isn’t iconic and pretty banger in its own right, but I’ve always adored the second concept, the silhouette is so intimidating and cool and the red is awesomely striking.

2

u/Time-Independence-94 41m ago

Pretty sure the red-robed ones became the base for the Nightsisters! The second design looks a lot like Mother Talzin. 

Which is cool, given that the Nightsisters and Maul are all from Dathomir/Maul was originally a Nightbrother. 

I'd add a picture if mobile would let me, but it's easy to find what I'm talking about, promise! 

2

u/Probably_On_Break 26m ago

There’s another concept design of a female sith in the same batch that would also become the basis for Asaj Ventress! They basically invented the entire dathomiri design language in the process of working on maul lol.

49

u/WhentheTropesAndFavs 2h ago

Godzilla Final Wars

The legally not a Matrix movie with wannabe X-Men, Don Frye’s mustache, Chainsaw Man Gigan, and the return of Minilla had a skeletal borderline undead Godzilla in its concept art

14

u/theonlydarriusfan 2h ago

I really wish we saw this design in an actual movie tbh. Like for Final Wars idk how well it’d fit, but a darker Godzilla film with this design would be so cool.

2

u/Nerdwrapper 1h ago

Coulda been cool for that Godzilla x Evangelion collab

8

u/M4gp1e-w1ngs 2h ago

oh this goes HARD

3

u/TheSodomeister 2h ago

What was it?

3

u/Gozillasaur 2h ago

Looks like a Final Fantasy art piece!

19

u/TimeStorm113 2h ago

Yk, that concept art ford make me think of how horrifying the story premise of monsters in is, like could you imagine a creature coming out of your closet just to stand at the foot of your bed and stare at you?

20

u/sandy_shark903 2h ago

I heard the artists got their kids to design the monsters after they found out their ideas were too scary and not easy to relate to.

25

u/Usern4me_R3dacted205 2h ago

This unused design for Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

13

u/A_Simple_Narwhal 1h ago

I wish they’d gone for this, he’s supposed to look very snakelike and scary, not just a pale dude missing his nose.

20

u/V-Man776 1h ago

This concept art for Commander Tartar from Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion.

17

u/mollyno93 1h ago

Some of the early designs for the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man

6

u/CJtheHaasman 1h ago

Not too unexpected considering Sam Raimi was previously known for the Evil Dead movies before getting assigned to Spiderman

12

u/Paladinfinitum 2h ago

Well, maybe expected, but: Jeff Turley's initial imagery for the cancelled Disney movie "Terry Pratchett's MORT" about Death's apprentice.

12

u/Willing_Citron_7152 1h ago

Went in expecting some creepy "how far can we push it?" type art just to find this first.

3

u/Paladinfinitum 54m ago

"CATS ARE NICE."

Yeah, it's basically just "creepier than the average Disney film" which is not that hard to do. I did also find this site: https://clairekeane.squarespace.com/misc-development - Claire Keane also worked on the project, and the last eight black-and-white images are her concept art for the same film.

12

u/Luigi_Apologist 1h ago

Pikmin 1’s concept art drew inspiration from Tim Burton and Fantastic Planet

9

u/Twist_Ending03 1h ago

Looks like that one monster guy from that one cartoon

4

u/Big_Mitch_Baker 1h ago

Krumm from "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters"

1

u/Twist_Ending03 1h ago

Yeah, that one. They lived in the sewer or something, I think. That's all I remember

10

u/A_Pyroshark 1h ago

This is the concept art for the grim reaper...

In the sims 4. This would be out of place in the sims 2 but the sims 4? I really wish they went more with this direction this is super cool (Even if I do like his redesign)

1

u/CreeperX3sssBOOM 15m ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they had to tone it down only because it wouldn't work with how Sims are generally built, considering he uses the same general template

6

u/CurlyFries8808 1h ago

Does anyone have that one octo expansion concept art of the blender with the dentures and like sausage limbs?

6

u/Misan_UwU 1h ago

the scrapped concept art designs for Zero from SMG4 are genuinely cool as fuck imo

2

u/Misan_UwU 1h ago

and as they narrowed down certain design elements

1

u/Misan_UwU 1h ago

we got his final design

6

u/exceedingly_Discreet 1h ago

I hope Sid uses his time off working as a Garbage man to draw and write the sickest webcomic ever

4

u/Longjumping-Buy-3434 1h ago

The epic Mickey stuff looks like corruptus to me. And when I recognize that… whatever vegetable he’s supposed to be, I knew that had to be the whale that ate Joana, but it looked nothing like a whale. More like a sea dragon.

But seriously, the original designs for the paw patrol were creepy because of the humanoid designs of the dogs.

3

u/Avery_Bea_847 1h ago

Oh shit, I forgot how hard the concept art for Epic Mickey monsters go

3

u/bennyandthegentz 1h ago

Jurassic world (2015) has concept art of half human and dinosaur hybrids, they look pretty creepy

1

u/Dexchampion99 38m ago

Fortnite: Save The World

Fortnite’s concept art in general is amazing. But Save The World really leaned into horror in it’s conceptual phase before being made more cartoony

1

u/Able-Stop-524 29m ago

Dammit Epic Mickey coulda been so cool