the design isnt vitaly"s. its kevin lannings. he was the lead modeler for the 2 gears of war games and vitaly bulgarov even gave credit to gears of war in his thread.
and i quote- “I was inspired by awesome “Gears Of War” It’s not an attempt to copy an original game style.
I just wanted to make something worthy of such cool universe and put all what I love in 3d shooter games”
then he made a gnomon tutorial. because it is a tutorial, if people happen to own it, they proboboly have at least attempted it or finished it. so it wouldnt be so outlandish that they would have a similar piece of work. if you do a tutorial of a car, would you not come out with a car?
either way… gears of war inspired alot of people. but the gear modeling style and the crazy detail in the scarring and the texture of the skin is kevin lanning. no question. vitaly was essentially learning lanning’s techniques when he did the character everyone is referring to.
not everyone that does the terminator, the predator, or a t-rex gives credit to stan winston. not everyone that does an “alien” gives credit to h.r. Giger.