There’s something about the world of fantasy that people just can’t get enough of. It could be a form of escapism or a need to instill magic in their lives but something about getting lost in a world of make believe doesn’t dull with age, it just gets better. For Los Angeles based concept artist, Shreya Shetty, it was this world of incredible creatures and creativity that inspired her series on Otherworldly Creatures that exist just outside the realms of reality.

Though the subjects of her art my be fictional, Shreya manages to portray them with a realism that is astonishing. She maintains that for her characters to be believable it has to come from a place of logical and biological functionality. “For example, if you were drawing a character from a tribe that lived in the desert, you wouldn’t cover him/her in heavy fur – it just wouldn’t be practical. Or, if you had to design a character that lived up in the Arctic, you wouldn’t design elements that echoed tropical climates.” she tells Creative Gaga

That being said making things too realistic might actually be unwise, a certain amount of exaggeration ensures that her quirky characters are utterly memorable. They range from nightmarish to heart-wrenchingly adorable but each one comes with so much personality that you can’t help but wonder what their stories are.