>>5810960Definitely learn real animals. Big cats / dogs are probably your best base for mastery, since they're relatively easy to understand and more similar to humans than reptiles or bugs.
just doodle a bunch of animals. the better you understand their musculature and anatomy the easier it will be to meld traits you enjoy together.
Dinosaurs are a good place to look into. If you just want fantasy, there's plenty of that, but if you're looking for something more realistic- or at least grounded in reality on how parts of animals actually function- research dinosaurs and their evolution over time.
The "Your Dinosaurs are Wrong" video series is a good place to start. The newer videos are way too long to stomach but the older ones are a little shorter and will give you a good idea on what stuff is feasible and what is not.
The creatures from the images you sent look uncanny because there's no way in hell those things could survive. Exposed teeth is a one-way ticket to tooth decay, and those shells aren't protecting anything vital- if anything, they'd probably be easier for a predator to latch onto to drag them to the ground.
however, sometimes uncannyness is OK- these still look appealing because they're clearly not trying to look believable, they just want to be creepy.
Just have fun anon. don't stress yourself out too much!
