Designing Zargooran

As a part of my on going challenge to bring many of my characters to a more permanent visual form, I've been trying to get rough sketches done of what they would look like. The first is from the same name which I have gone by on the internet, Zargooran. He's been one of my long time characters. Once a creature of flesh and blood of villainous intent, he was finally killed off only for the forces of darkness to restore his essence in the form of a Dark Entity. Despite his continuing battles, Zargooran felt something was not right. It was through one of his own creations that he learned the truth of his destiny and since then has worked hard to redeem himself, going from destroyer to savior (you know, that old story).

The only visual piece of this character is titled 'Zargooran Amongst Rage'. The description of Zargooran is that he is a form of black space, with stars and faint nebula's seen within him (note: No planets, as that would imply life within him, which there is not). The only thing standing out is his glowing red eyes, the only stability in a sea of madness.

 

 'Zargooran Amongst Rage'

The problem? How do you draw a creature who is a shape shifter with a body that looks like a universe that's trapped within it....with only two (or more) eyes to distinguish that it is a living thing? Each time I sketch a head shape or design, I get the feeling it's somehow a copy of some other character and that's a real pain. He's stance is best described as tall, dominating and menacing (not in an evil sense, but the way he is in comparison to the room around him)in appearance when standing over someone. He still has a dark, evil shape to him, despite no longer being evil and can have as many eyes as he wants, but simply chooses to have two so as to reduce his 'scare' factor when dealing with others. Started with some early sketches:

Felt like the designs was a copy of something else, but couldn't place my finger on what it was (dark energy creatures all tend to look somewhat similar). That said, I did decided on one which felt more appropriate for the character:

 

I'm still not sure if the four spike-like things protruding from his head are horns or ears, but they do give him that more menacing look. His body is also has a sort of organic/liquid like flow to it, with various ends to his 'robe' like body looking (and acting) like tentacles. This would give him a more floating look as he moves across surfaces (well, when he's not moving around like a mist cloud at least). While the eyes stand out from the rest of his body, features like arms only appear when he needs them. The shape of his head here....

....would not show up given the nature of his form (as stated earlier, 'Black space with stars and faint nebula's). Perhaps I can make an exception for the head and give a faint dark grey outline just to distinguish the head from a sort of side angle. As for any arms he might produce, it depends on the angle and how they look (e.g. if it looks terrible from a certain angle, then perhaps a similar faint dark grey outline may work - possibly blood red given his energy glows and acts 'blood-like' in nature).

He does summon energy (if you can call it that) and use energy based attacks, though they use the colour red and seem to look more organic like blood then actual energy (as I mentioned above). This represents his connections to the Bloodclaws as well as his own history of genetic manipulation and evolution. In combat he tends to lash out in rapid, fluid motion with incredible speed. His body tends to form sharp clawed hands, deadly sword/spear like tentacles and other claw/scythed armed appendages. Against a singular powerful foe he would focus on testing his opponents weaknesses up close,but against an army he would kill enough of the enemy to use their bio-matter to forge new monstrous creations from it to continue the fight. This would be through his power, allowing him to create all sorts of killer beasts within less then a minute (he possesses vast amounts of genetic knowledge, so he already knows what to create before he's even started).

Another thought occurred while coming up with his design, a sort of strange comic that I felt I had to draw (Why?):

How does he talk if he possesses no mouth? It isn't done telepathically and truth be told, I never thought about it until now.......he just does.