THE WINDGLASS STRIDER FIELD LOG:
Habitat: High desert canyons and sandstone cliffs shaped by constant wind.
Size: Approx. The size of a horse.
Behavior: A cautious herbivore that traverses narrow cliff edges in search of mineral-rich vegetation. During strong windstorms, it travels by leaping confidently between rock formations.
Observation: A lightweight frame supported by elongated limbs. Thin crystal-like structures grow along portions of its body and produce musical soft tones when wind passes through them.
“What aspects of the creature description most influenced your design? Which details did you intentionally leave open to interpretation, and why?”
When first designing my creature I was heavily influence by the environment for my design. As a life-long desert dweller I knew I wanted to focus on what type of animal would actually live in this environment and how this would affect its features. I did this by combining some of our most common animal such as deer and elk. I also did research on how goats and other types of animals climbs and balance on cliff faces and learned about cloven hooves which act as two separate toes that allow the animal to balance!
I decided to leave the wind itself open to interpretation. I had a more visible reference to it in previous iterations but decided to get rid of it after class feedback. However I did keep the ode to wind through my wind catcher inspired antlers.
New Mexico Landscapes for inspiration!
Primarily the deep blues that are cast on the desert at dusk!
Body design of the Windglass Strider was inspired by the New Mexico native, Couese Deer, crystal wind chimes and the horn structure was designed after ancient wind catcher architecture. The cavities throughout the Windglass Striders body represents the erosion of rock formations and allow the wind to pass through without hindering the animals leaping ability, keeping it light weight.