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CONCEPT DESIGN / GREEN LIGHTTeesside University · Year 2 team project

Horror Hotel.

Creature design and visual storytelling for a psychological horror team project.

PROJECT PERIOD2025.9–2026.1

The team trailer assembles character, creature, storyboard and environment work from the project. Individual artists are credited in the video.
Horror Hotel

Horror Hotel is a team visual development project that builds tension through a dark hotel, fleeting glimpses of a creature and a missing-person clue. My contribution includes the Darkness creature concept, the storyboard and key images developed from that sequence. The team trailer brings together work by several artists, credited on screen.

01 / CONCEPT DESIGN

The Darkness creature

I explored the Darkness as a presence that might be glimpsed in a mirror, in a corner or overhead. Unpredictable movement and partial views keep its shape uncertain. I gathered skeletal and animal references, sketched several silhouettes, then developed the crouched creature with exposed rib-like forms and red accents.

Creature moodboard · anatomy, skeletal motifs and atmosphere. FULL SIZE ↗
First group of silhouette studies. FULL SIZE ↗
Further studies of posture and anatomy. FULL SIZE ↗
Development · line and colour passes. FULL SIZE ↗
Final Darkness creature design. FULL SIZE ↗
02 / CONCEPT DESIGN

Storyboard and key scenes

The storyboard moves from the corridor and a parted curtain to the creature encounter, a chase and a newspaper clue. I used the curtain reveal and the shadowed face as two key images, developing each through framing and lighting studies. One uses a narrow opening in the red curtain to guide the eye. The other leaves the face largely in shadow so the eyes and smile emerge first.

Storyboard with shot order and camera notes. FULL SIZE ↗
Curtain reveal · from sketch to colour and lighting. FULL SIZE ↗
Curtain reveal · variations in framing and visibility. FULL SIZE ↗
Curtain reveal · final key scene. FULL SIZE ↗
Shadowed face · sketch, colour and lighting development. FULL SIZE ↗
Shadowed face · lighting and visibility alternatives. FULL SIZE ↗
Shadowed face · final key scene. FULL SIZE ↗
03 / CONCEPT DESIGN

Horror references and shot planning

The genre moodboard studies how light, shadow, unusual spaces and familiar objects create psychological tension. The handwritten planning sheet records camera angles and the order of the corridor, creature reveal, chase and missing-person hook.

Horror genre moodboard prepared for the team. FULL SIZE ↗
Storyboard task sheet · beats and camera directions. FULL SIZE ↗