It all started back in 2013, when he stumbled across a piece of H.R. Giger-inspired fanart by fellow illustrator Stjepan Å ejić. “I’m a big fan of both Alien and Jurassic Park,” Pabilona explains. “So seeing a mash-up of both, well, it was love at first sight.”

Using Šejić’s creation as a guide, Pabilona carefully blocked out the belly of the beast in all its 3D glory, filling the missing pieces with his own designs. “Creating the sculpt, finding the likeness, and staying true to concept is only half of the battle,” he says. “Breathing life into it – adding the right color, texture, and light direction, making it look massive and scary – that is the challenging part for me.”

Interestingly, Pabilona’s dive into computer illustration happened completely by accident. A diehard gamer from a young age, he initially wanted to be a programmer. But everything changed when, as part of a university computer science class, he was tasked with reviewing an existing piece of software. “One of the other teams reviewed 3Ds Max [a sculpting a rendering program],” he recalls. “I was intrigued by it so I searched the internet, and was amazed by how realistic the renders and models could actually be. I remember seeing the works of Kjun and his wife (korean 3D artists). I was so inspired and amazed by their work that I self studied and decided to pursue gameart and 3D character design as a career.”

Check out more shots of the G. rex in the gallery below.