Last modified: September 11th, 2022
It’s here. It’s October. There are lots of great design and art prompts that circulate through social media during this month, like the famous Inktober which prompts you to draw 31 inked pieces, one each day.
I would like to present to you MonsterBrainSoup’s Monstober, 31 monster design prompts that can be “filled” in any way you desire – a written design description, a short story, artwork, a Pinterest aesthetic inspiration board, an edit/repaint of a figurine, or, really, any other form of creative expression.
These monsters do not have to be original characters, either! Feel free to use these as springboards for fanfiction/fanart as well. I would be delighted and thrilled to know that any of these inspired you in any way.
- An incarnation of your most prominent or irrational childhood fear
- An original “classic” slasher horror movie villain/creature or creepypasta character
- A stunningly handsome/beautiful – but still monstrous – monster
- An unusual were-creature or human-animal fusion (bonus points for invertebrates as the animal part)
- A creature animated or mutated from a single severed body part
- The thing that gives you recurring bad dreams (bonus points for capturing a nightmare or sleep paralysis creature that you’ve actually experienced)
- A creature that has been bred and domesticated to live with humans (bonus points for comparing it with its wild relative)
- A creepy haunted toy that isn’t a porcelain doll
- A creature that has inorganic or man-made parts built in to its body – e.g. glass, metal gears, plastic sheets
- Whatever it is that makes that one noise at night you pretend not to hear
- Something that camouflages itself in a busy city despite being fairly large
- Your imaginary friend who may have changed a bit since you last played with them
- A child’s drawing come to life
- It only moves when you aren’t looking (bonus points if it’s not a statue)
- An ancient god’s true form, be it mythological, eldritch, or totally original
- A creature that is adapted to live somewhere extremely toxic or dangerous
- Something that uses a particular mimicked sound to lure you closer
- A monstrous, “alpha”, “king”, or deity version of a normal animal
- A large creature that represents a disease, bacteria, or virus
- A parasite or “hermit crab” type creature that lives inside something unusual
- Something that looks like it should be living in the deep, dark ocean but is on land
- A thing that eats out of the trash in suburban neighborhoods
- An attempt to revive an extinct or alien creature from fragmented DNA samples
- A carnivorous plant that doesn’t have a giant fanged mouth
- It turns out that something normal and everyday is actually the egg or juvenile form of this
- Something that crawls out of the ocean on rare celestial occasions
- The thing that builds inviting-looking traps to entice a tired wanderer – these traps can be campsites, entire houses, a table laden with food, a comfy couch, etc.
- The guardian spirit of a location that you love or visit often (see: genius loci)
- A food item – or something that looks like a food item – that really wants to be eaten
- Your own personal Grim Reaper
- A god, spirit, or mascot that represents Halloween (similar to Santa Claus’ relationship to Christmas)
If you are inspired by any of these, please let me know! I would be very excited to see what you create, including NSFW content or content for fandoms I know nothing about.
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