An Exclusive Insight Into The Demons Of DOOM

With DOOM dropping this Friday, May 13, we got some of the game's character designers to give us an exclusive look into how the new set of demons came to life.

Hugo Martin

Cyberdemon

The lore of the Cyberdemon drives the visual design of the character. The remains of this beast were found during an expedition through Hell. His lifeless body was brought back to our world and re-animated by the UAC using their technology. This model was created by Jason Martin based on a concept I did at the beginning of the project.

Hugo Martin

Mancubus

This design was completed very early on in development. We wanted to push the comic book, heavy metal aesthetic as far as we could. He has exaggerated proportions with realistic details and textures which is a visual theme we tried to maintain throughout the project.

Hugo Martin

Prowler

This design was originally concepted by Alex Palma. This rendering was my take on the design but many elements from Alex’s version remain intact.

Hugo Martin 

Possessed Engineer 

Playful but deadly, that’s the theme used in a lot of the monsters in DOOM. This Welder shambles along, looking for a good place to ignite himself. The rendering is meant to communicate the personality as well as the design of the character.

Alex Palma

Baron of Hell

The Baron of Hell was my first task on this project.  My job with this was to make the Baron look intimidating and fierce. This is what the final concept ended up looking like, although the final design for the game did change the colour of the Baron for the better.

Alex Palma

Cyber-Mancubus

Taking the calcified bone armor of a Hell Mancubus and replacing it with top-of-the-line UAC weapon technology, a big, heavy and tank-like beast was created making it the Cyber-Mancubus.  

Alex Palma 

Revenant

A great thing for me in this project was helping design this demon. A lot of iterations came before this. Sticking to the original Revenant as a source of inspiration, while adding new and modern ideas, were the keys to recreate this demon. A running demon skeleton with a jet pack and mounted guns sounds very silly, but using our artistic experience we managed to render this demon out into something not just believable and scary, but iconic.

Hugo Martin

Cyberdemon Orthographic

Orthographic drawings are an important part of the design process; it’s where the design is truly laid out and finalized. This image helped establish the proportions of the Cyberdemon.

Hugo Martin

Lost Soul

Heavy Metal album covers of the ‘80s were a big influence on the visual style of this game. The Lost Soul is a screaming skull with horns and flames coming out the back, a heavy metal inspired demon design if there ever was one.

Denzil O’Neill

Baron of Hell Render

The Baron is another classic demon. One of the key aspects to hit with The Baron was maintaining a chiselled read to his form in order to visually reinforce his brute strength.

Denzil O’Neill

Cacodemon Render

My first task on the project was the Cacodemon designed by Hugo Martin. The ‘Caco’ is a very iconic demon so it was important to retain the original appeal but also evoke a fierce modern look. Originally tentacles flowed from his back, but we opted for classic horns in order to create a more aggressive silhouette read.

James Martin

Imp Render

Fast, nimble and a real menace. The challenge here was to make him stand out, yet also be very much part of a hive mentality. Many artists worked together to bring this iteration to life.

James Martin 

Pinky Render

Bringing the Pinky to life was a fun challenge. We went through many design iterations from Alex Palma and Hugo Martin. It was important to really dig deep on this iconic Doom demon and do the Pinky some modern justice.