Sarah Clarity Studios

Chapter 2: Rigging Notes

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Rigging Notes for Creature Concept Artists

Creature concepts become truly collaborative when they include a second layer of information: not only what the creature looks like, but how it is built to move. Rigging notes are that layer. They translate creature anatomy, materials, and design intent into guidance that helps Animation, Rigging, Tech Art, AI, VFX, and Audio make aligned decisions. You don’t need to be a rigger to provide rigging notes. You only need to think clearly about joint ranges, deformation zones, membranes, tendons, and what parts are rigid versus flexible.

This article is written equally for creature concept artists on the concepting side (exploring, pitching, finding the creature) and on the production side (locking designs and documenting them). It focuses on how to provide useful rigging notes without drowning your sheets in engineering. The goal is to make motion, behavior, and gameplay feel more predictable—so the creature can ship with fewer painful surprises.

What rigging notes are (and what they aren’t)

Rigging notes are not topology diagrams and they are not a full rig spec. They are intent statements and visual cues that tell the rigging and animation teams what must be possible, what must remain iconic, and where the design can bend or slide. Good rigging notes reduce ambiguity.

If you have ever heard “the model looks great but it can’t do the move,” that is a rigging‑notes problem. If you have ever seen a creature animate in a way that breaks its character—like a rigid carapace bending like rubber—that is a rigging‑notes problem too. Notes are how you prevent teams from guessing.

Why concept artists should care about rigging early

Rigging is where design meets physics and game constraints. Many creature ideas are possible in 2D and even in sculpt, but become expensive or unstable to rig. When you think about rigging while designing, you can still aim for bold silhouettes—you just make the mechanisms believable and the constraints visible.

For concepting artists, this means faster iteration and fewer late redesigns. You can explore more confidently because you’ll know when a creature needs “special rig treatment” versus a standard biped/quadruped rig. For production artists, rigging notes are part of your deliverable quality. They protect the design when it leaves your desk.

The core rigging vocabulary concept artists should speak

You don’t need rigger jargon, but you do need a few shared concepts.

Joint range means how far a joint should rotate and in what direction. Deformation zones are areas that will bend and compress (elbows, knees, neck, wing fold). Rigid zones are areas that should not bend (horns, teeth, armor plates, large carapace shells). Sliding zones are where skin or plates should glide over underlying structure (scapula, hip plates, belly folds).

When you can label these zones, you become a better partner to rigging and animation.

Joint ranges: designing what the creature must be able to do

Joint ranges are the most important rigging note because they define capability. A creature meant to pounce needs hip flexion and spine compression. A creature meant to grapple needs shoulder range and wrist rotation. A flying creature needs wing root range and folding states. A burrowing creature needs neck and forelimb ranges that support digging.

For concepting, you can treat joint ranges as “pose promises.” If your creature concept shows an iconic pose—like a wide‑armed threat display—then the rig must be able to hit that pose. If you cannot imagine the pose being reachable without breaking anatomy, you may need to redesign joint placement, add extra joints, or change silhouette.

For production, joint ranges should be indicated in simple overlays: arrows showing rotation directions and approximate limits. You can do this with a small secondary diagram rather than cluttering the hero view.

Shoulder and hip reality: the most common creature rig failure

Shoulders and hips are where many creature rigs struggle because they carry big mass and require complex sliding. Quadruped shoulders are especially tricky because the scapula glides; it does not behave like a human shoulder ball joint. If your design treats the shoulder as a fixed hinge, the creature may look stiff or will collapse volume during motion.

As a concept artist, you can help by designing readable scapula and pelvis structures. This can be realistic anatomy or a stylized solution like layered plates, thick tendon bands, or armor segments that imply sliding.

Production notes here are simple but powerful: “Scapula slides forward on stride,” “Hip plate floats over deforming haunch,” “Avoid hard collar at neck base; needs bend clearance.” Those sentences can save weeks.

Spine and torso: how much bend is allowed?

Spines in creatures range from rigid to hyper‑flexible. A crocodile‑like creature can have a fairly rigid torso with bending concentrated in tail and neck. A cat‑like creature can compress and extend dramatically for pounces. A serpentine creature needs distributed bending segments.

Concepting artists should decide early where the bend lives, because it changes silhouette language. A pouncing creature needs a design that looks like it can coil. A heavy tank creature needs a design that looks like it cannot.

Production artists can provide a bend map: highlight spine segments that should flex and segments that should remain stable. This can guide rig segment count and corrective shape planning.

Membranes: wings, fins, frills, and the “ugly stretch” problem

Membranes are a classic rigging pain point because they stretch, wrinkle, and fold in ways that can look cheap if not planned. Wing membranes, fin webs, neck frills, ear sails, and skin flaps all need a clear structural story.

For concepting, membranes should be designed with visible support elements: bones, rays, spines, or cartilage struts. These supports define fold lines and keep the membrane from looking like a flat sheet.

For production, membrane notes should clarify thickness, attachment edges, and fold behavior. Where does the membrane anchor? Does it bunch into folds or does it roll? Are there wrinkles on compression? Is the edge scalloped or taut? These are not “texture notes”—they are deformation notes that influence rigging strategy.

Tendons and cables: using anatomy to make rigs feel strong

Tendons and tendon‑like structures are a concept artist’s best friend when you want powerful motion reads. Visible tendon bands can explain extreme strength and also provide a visual reason for where the creature bends and where it stays stable.

For concepting, tendons can be stylized as thick cords, layered straps, or bio‑mechanical cables. They can also serve as design motifs that unify a creature family.

For production, tendon notes help rigging and animation decide how much to preserve volume and where to add secondary motion. Tendons often want subtle slide and tension changes, not floppy jiggle. If you want tendon snap reads in attacks, mention it. It helps VFX and audio too.

Soft tissue, fur, and secondary motion: what should jiggle and what should not

Secondary motion is a collaboration zone between rigging, tech art, animation, and often VFX. Creatures with bellies, dewlap skin, fat pads, long fur, feathers, or tail tassels need decisions about what is simulated, what is keyed, and what is baked into animation.

Concepting artists can help by defining material behavior. Is the belly heavy and slow? Is the dewlap rubbery? Is the fur stiff like a mane or soft like down? These choices affect readability and performance.

Production artists can include a simple secondary motion map: areas marked “stiff,” “moderate,” “loose,” plus notes like “avoid excessive jiggle; creature should feel tense,” or “allow heavy sway; creature is sluggish.” Those notes help teams avoid mismatching personality.

Rigid parts and attachments: horns, armor, and collision logic

Rigid elements like horns, claws, beaks, and armor plates should not deform like skin. But they do create rigging challenges because they collide with nearby parts. Horns may hit shoulders. Armor collars may block neck bend. Spikes may intersect limbs in crouches.

Concepting artists can prevent this by designing clearance and by showing iconic extreme poses early. If a creature must crouch low, check whether horns collide. If it must roar with head thrown back, check whether armor collar allows it.

Production artists should provide attachment logic: how armor is mounted, where straps run, what floats, what is locked. This helps tech art and physics settings later.

Multiple limbs, tails, and tentacles: complexity budgeting

Creatures with extra limbs, long tails, or tentacles can be extremely expressive but expensive to rig and animate. The collaboration trick is to budget complexity in alignment with gameplay value.

For concepting, decide which appendages matter for gameplay silhouette and attacks. If two tentacles are the primary threat and the rest are ambient, you can design the ambient ones as simpler or shorter to reduce rig complexity.

For production, call out priorities: “Primary tentacles have full control and attack arcs,” “Secondary tendrils are simulated/secondary,” “Tail tip is a weapon hitbox only during attack.” These notes help AI, VFX, and audio coordinate too.

Partnering with Design and AI: rig intent supports behavior

AI behavior relies on what the creature can physically do. If the AI is meant to strafe, the rig needs turn and lean ranges. If it is meant to pounce, the rig needs spine compression and landing poses. If it is meant to grapple, the rig needs reach and hand articulation.

Concept artists can support design by aligning silhouette telegraphs with behavior. A creature that does wide sweeps should have shoulder and torso shapes that clearly wind up. A creature that does fast snaps should have compact head motion.

Production notes that tie motion to behavior—“wind‑up pose must be readable,” “attack arcs should expose weak point for 0.8s”—help design tune fairness.

Partnering with VFX and audio: rigs create emission and timing points

VFX needs emitters and timing anchors. Audio needs impact beats and material cues. Both depend on rig structure.

If your creature has a poison bite, indicate venom gland areas and mouth corners where droplets emit. If it has bioluminescent organs, indicate pulse timing and body zones that should glow during attacks. If it has armor plates that clack, indicate which plates are meant to collide.

Production artists can add a small list of “event beats”: inhale, wind‑up, strike, impact, recovery, roar. Pair those beats with anatomy: chest expansion, jaw hinge, wing downstroke, tail crack. This allows VFX and audio to design signatures that match the creature’s physicality.

Tech art constraints: performance, simulation, and LOD thinking

Rigging notes should acknowledge performance realities. Full cloth simulation on huge wings might be too expensive. Long fur simulation might be limited to hero shots. Extra limbs might need simplified controls at distance.

Concepting artists can help by designing graceful degradation: membranes that still read when simplified, fur that reads as masses, tentacles that can be reduced in segment count.

Production artists can include LOD intent: “At distance, wing membrane detail can collapse to broad shapes,” “Secondary tendrils can be baked,” “Armor clatter physics optional.” These notes help tech art plan scalable solutions.

How to present rigging notes in concept deliverables

The best rigging notes are clear and light. You don’t want to overwhelm the main design plate. A practical approach is to include a small “rig notes strip” on the side of the sheet: a few diagrams and short sentences.

A strong strip might include: joint range arrows for shoulders/hips/neck, a membrane fold diagram, a secondary motion map, and a rigid/soft segmentation note. Add a couple of iconic extreme poses if they are critical to the creature’s role.

For concepting reviews, even one pose plus a joint range note can help. For production handoff, you want at least the joint range guidance and any special deformation requirements.

Common rigging‑note mistakes

One mistake is leaving everything implied. If you don’t specify that a carapace is rigid, it may get skinned like flesh. Another mistake is designing membranes without support structures, which forces rigging to invent fold logic.

Another mistake is over‑specifying with confidence you don’t have. If you aren’t sure about exact degrees, don’t guess. Use qualitative language: limited, moderate, extreme, plus a pose example. Riggers can translate that into numbers.

Finally, there’s the “one pose lie,” where the creature only works in the hero pose. Prevent this by testing extremes and showing at least one motion‑critical pose.

Closing mindset

Rigging notes are an empathy tool. They show that you understand the creature must move, collide, perform, and communicate under gameplay constraints. They also protect your design intent when many hands touch the asset.

For concepting artists, rigging notes help you explore bold shapes without accidentally creating impossible motion. For production artists, rigging notes are part of the contract you hand to the team: what must remain iconic, what must be possible, and where deformation must be respected.

When you include joint range intent, membrane behavior, tendon logic, and secondary motion priorities in your concept package, you become a stronger partner to Design, Animation, Rigging, Tech Art, AI, VFX, and Audio—and your creatures become more alive, more fair, and far more likely to ship as intended.