Here's a collection of sprite for showcasing my new texture pack: Tooth & Nail for Terraria. Really proud of how this turned out ngl, so yeah you can go check it out on the Steam Workshop if you wanna try the pack for yourself and your friends :3. I'm just gonna nerd out in this post and pour my thoughts behind the design process of the boss sprites.

Lunatic Cultist (LC) - This lil guy is a complete opposite of the the ML when it comes to approaching its design and the thought process behind it. Unlike the ML I can't cram as much details, texture, shapes and objects into the LC, so I had to treat it like spriting a player's armor in Terraria.

I still kept the plague doctor-esque mask for the LC because its too iconic and added a hint of purple and blue to signify the 'mystique nature' of the LC. I wanted to make the eyes glow but unfortunately the sprite does not have a glow mask to do that which kinda sucks, so I'm actually planning to revisit doing the eyes again and consider doing the same simple black hollowed eyes that don't glow. The hood and the cloak is very fun to animate as I apply my knowledge of drapery and how it moves in mid air. I felt like I got lazy with the drapery movements but then again despite the LC being the smallest Terraria boss I know, it also has alot of animation frames (2 of which are unused in game sigh.) I tried out various combinations of colors to give the LC a more "plague doctor" (Green for the gold lining, and darker shades of cyan for the cloak) look but ingame, the sprite was too dark to see so I settled for the original palette albeit with my own adjustments. I personally don't like the VFX but I do like how it adds flare and readability when tested out in game.

Overall, I feel like I finished the LC too quick and there is alot to improve upon if I decided to redo the sprites again. Out of all the animations, my favorite has got to be the floating and laughing animation.

Vortex Pillar - This was first Pillar I started working on and honestly it came out really solid when it comes to the form and shape design. It was obvious that I would go for a more 'hive-like' design because of the wasp or swarm theme the game was going for. In terms of color, it did really well too with the combination of yellow, lime green, and reddish brown, however, the dumb shaders absolutely butchered it in game so I had to compensate for a weaker color palette.

The sacs were very fun to design especially with the circular patters on top to show that it was the 'nest' part of the bigger hive while the lower part served to be the entrances at which the bugs can exit and enter from. The top is where the alien empress and queens would emerge, and also being an exhaust vent for the pure vortex energy the pillar possess. The little holes at the lower part of the hive admittedly may disturb those with trypophobia, I wanted to make it resemble those hexagonal bee walls one would see while at the same time make it resemble like some engine or 'gun' which the critters and enemies may emerge from. I manage to sneak in some reference such as the Aliens movie poster of a facehuger egg hatching on the topmost part of the pillar. Overall my 2nd favorite pillar.

Solar Pillar - This has to be the most painful pillar i've had the pleasure of designing, what I particularly don't like about this pillar is the forms and shape. I feel like I wasn't really sure on what to theme the solar pillar around, I can certainly make it another star themed pillar but this time as a red giant eyeball (That conveniently references the eye of Sauron from LoTR) supported by a structure around it. But the question is how?

Originally this was just a floating piece of volcano with skulls around it, but when put next to the other three pillars, it felt way too 'normal'. I tried combining the idea of a ball of fire floating atop a rock structure that resembles a volcano, which is what we have right now. Despite this, the details feel too cluttered and the objects don't work together in harmony compared to the other three. Despite this, its color palette had more freedom than the other 3 so if a redesign were to happen, colors certainly wouldn't be an issue but the form will be.

Overall, this is weakest of the three pillars despite being the 2nd Pillar I started working on. I wanted this pillar to contain skulls, magma or a huge ball of fire, and rocks, to convey that this pillar is the most brutal and mightiest of the three (like in game lol.), I'll most likely redesign this fellow in the future when I come around to it because of how unsatisfied i felt when it is lined up along with the other 3 pillars.

Nebula Pillar - Unlike the other three pillars, the Nebula pillar felt the most 'inorganic'. This was the third pillar to be designed after the solar pillar, and tbh, it came out really polished early on and is on par with the vortex pillar when it comes to making interesting shape languages. And yes if you guessed it correctly, this pillar is a huge reference to the Deadspace franchise's black markers.

This pillar stands out from the three in a way, it doesn't really feel as alive as the other pillar but moreso 'dead'. I am unsure if the pillar evokes the feeling of nebula formations in real space, empty, cold, and dark despite being colorful formations of stars, galaxies, and dust. I wanted to evoke a sense of mystery for the nebula pillar, hence the reason why it is particularly more darker compared to the other three, and also being the only pillars with patterns around it. The colors of blue and purple were nice to play around with and so far, I can say that this pillar is one of the few (the other being solar pillar) that wasn't affected by the shaders in game as heavily compared to the other two pillars.

Overall, this felt more 'man-made' than the rest, its almost as if this was a worshipping civilization that has gone mad from adoring eldritch beings their minds couldn't comprehend. This was one of the more fun pillars to design because of the way it leads one's eyes to either the tip or the crystal below it; but at the same time, this is also a big departure from both the vanilla pillars (I mean all three of them are WAY different than the OGs) and the even the current 3 resprited pillars, this is the most stand out of the three imo.

Stardust Pillar - This one came out of nowhere to be honest, it was the last pillar that I had to design after the Solar pillar. I initially thought of using frozen coral reefs as the motif or elegant blue sakura trees with an alien touch but decided against it because it doesn't feel 'stardust' enough. So I decided to settle for something more eldritch by using the basic twinkling star shape as my base and I ended up with this monstrosity.

The 'eyes' if you would call that, is literally the eyes of the pillar and an outlet for its ability, in which it can draw constellations in the skies to summon more stardust abominations. I imagined that the tentacles, 'cells' and hands below it are literally parts of itself trying to emerge and become an independent entity. If I were to resprite the stardust enemies at some point, I would stick to this motif and make every enemy in the stardust pillar resemble the pillar itself in someway and be a mass of bluish purplish stardust material.

Once again, this suffers the same problem with the Vortex pillar, in which the yellows get desaturated too much to the point it becomes bluish or an ugly muddy color. Overall, an unexpectedly well received pillar that came out from my hallucinations of sleepless nights and one of the most fun pillars to design around, it is sadly again, held back in the color department thanks to the shaders. This one is more Lovecraft-inspired than any of the other pillars.

Moon Lord (ML) - Now this one is a whole different beast, but ill update the description later and write out my thought process for the final boss of terraria after I rest.