Alien Cat

Animal Anatomy/Creature design
Some Worldbuilding: Enki - Planet is very warm, tropical, strong light, long days and short nights. Lush green vegetation covers the planet, broken only by large bodies of fresh water. Extremely tall (300 ft +) tree-like plants spread out to catch the light and create a virtual canopy over the entire land mass such that at the ground level light is quite diffused and dappled. There is a great amount of precipitation and violent storms due to the warm temperatures and water rich environment. Much of the vegetation on the planet has to outcompete others for access to light and as such have developed a myriad of tools such as toxins, unique methods of seed dispersion through animals and the ability to consume biological matter for energy.
Compared to Earth: Oxygen levels: 30% higher
Gravity: Same
Atmospheric Density: 5x Less
Light: Similar to light intensity near earth equator
Day: 30 hours
The Enkian Jungle Cat (Felis Enki Sylvastris) is a large (1 m at the shoulder, 3.1 from tail to nose, weighs 136-272 kg, comparable to a tiger) cat native to the tropical jungles and rainforests of the planet Enki. It is omnivorous and has keen senses well adjusted for hunting and foraging under the thick canopy and physiology that allows it to easily navigate the dense forest, such as claws and adhesive setae on the undersides of its paws, and strong limbs to leap from branch to branch and a prehensile tail to hang from them. When hunting, it blends into the foliage with fur that resembles treebark and leaves and feeds predominantly on other animals typically ambushing them by blending in and mimicking the vocalisations of its prey, snatching it up when it gets too close and raiding dens or burrows for eggs and bones. Despite this, it is omnivorous, supplementing its diet with plant material (fruits, flowers, leaves, roots, mushrooms, nuts, sap, nectar, honey, bark).

Final Render

Final Render

Pre-Levels Correction
Added foreground elements

Pre-Levels Correction
Added foreground elements

Added multiply shading layer
Added bounce light layer
Added fill light

Added multiply shading layer
Added bounce light layer
Added fill light

Creature looks mostly complete already (drawn on one layer)

Creature looks mostly complete already (drawn on one layer)

Tree branches added

Tree branches added

Background leaves and tree

Background leaves and tree

Background leaves

Background leaves

Speculative Iterations (Forest Iteration taken to completion to be placed in the environment)

Speculative Iterations (Forest Iteration taken to completion to be placed in the environment)

Finished Rough Forest Iteration (to be merged into one layer and detailed)

Finished Rough Forest Iteration (to be merged into one layer and detailed)

Base gray for colouring on clipped layer

Base gray for colouring on clipped layer

Lineart (lowered background opacity for visibility)

Lineart (lowered background opacity for visibility)

Finished Rough Background

Finished Rough Background

Background Leaves

Background Leaves

Scale

Scale

Anatomy

Anatomy

Rough Sketches (more concrete design)

Rough Sketches (more concrete design)

Creature Iterations

Creature Iterations

Sketches (no finalised design)

Sketches (no finalised design)

Initial Concept

Initial Concept