Golems, and their variants

Golems originate from Jewish mythology, in which a being is animated using elements and objects that are otherwise inanimate. This includes dirt, mud and rocks, and can be made up of almost anything in the fantasy genre.

Blade & Soul
Image result for terracotta blade and soul
Terracotta Soldier, Blade & Soul. [Video Game], NCSOFT.

Since golems can literally be any shape or form, the can practically be presented as human statues. The only differences in such a case is the single colour usage for the entire design of the creature, as is the case for the terracotta soldier from Blade & Soul. It is assumed that this is a man-made object due to the game's lore, but there are more dramatic designs available in the video game art industry.

SoulWorker
Asphalt Golem, SoulWorker. [Video Game], Lion Games Studios.

SoulWorker sports a number of golem creatures. The most notable is the Asphalt Golem as in the image above. This is a more apocalyptic take on the concept of the golem, possessing roadwork based features as well as the obvious stones. Anthropomorphism is heavily emphasised since this entity in particular has visible joints and limbs, making this all the more convincing from a bio-mechanical standpoint. This is by far the most complex of all the golem enemies in the game but is also work noting the simpler models and designs.

In-game screenshot, Granite Ridge Episode 4 - Candus City, SoulWorker.

In the screenshot above, there are three lesser variants of golems in SoulWorker, each with their own distinct features. Golems are anthropomorphic creatures, so their movements and body structure are not too different from that of a human. There are many versions of golems from game to game, and are extremely customisable with natural and possible cannibalised objects, which game design artists can take advantage of to cater towards the game's environment and setting.

Drawings:
Golem designs are very open since they are essentially creature composed from natural and inanimate objects. For these, I threw together jagged shapes to build the creatures. It was important for me to maintain the human-like structure of the golem so as to make it believable as a moving creature.

Unlike the other creatures I am investigating, golem can have a large variance in proportion. For example, the centre body may be oversized, one arm may be bigger than the other, or they could have very short and stubby legs.


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