Splice: Early concept art for Dren by Vincenzo Natali references the cover of Pink Panther #26

leading from

Salvador Dali's "Daddy longlegs of the evening - hope!"
and

Splice: Early concept art for Dren by Vincenzo Natali
and
Cover of The Pink Panther and The Inspector comic book #26
 

a) A piece of concept art for Splice showing an early version of Dren (2000?) by Vincenzo Natali.

A piece of concept art for Splice showing an early
version of Dren (2000?) by Vincenzo Natali.
(source https://www.vincenzo-natali.com)

b) Cover of Pink Panther and The Inspector #26 (Published May 1975 by Gold Key)

Cover of Pink Panther and The Inspector #26 (Published May 1975 by Gold Key)

c) Salvador Dali's "Daddy Longlegs of the Evening - Hope!'" (1940)

Dali's "Daddy Longlegs of the Evening - Hope!'" (1940)

d) From Dali's Daddy Longlegs of the Evening - Hope!,  Pink Panther cover and the Dren drawing

d.i)  Pink Panther cover and the Dren drawing. Looking for some sort of connection with methods of the past and my assumed use of Pink Panther covers in Jodorowsky's Dune Production  spreading into Giger's and Foss' art along with the Alien production, I thought about how the nodules on the bac of the creature's spine loosely reminded me of the Pink Panther's ears, so I looked further and I noticed a similarity with the cover Pink Panther and The Inspector #26 from 1975, and of course I had worked out that this illustration had referenced Salvador Dali's Dali's "Daddy Longlegs of the Evening - Hope!'" (1940) which was not an unusual thing to do. ( It was later when I looked at further inspirations that I connected the Dren creature with the cover of the Pink Panther  #2 comic book from 1st July 1971 and its connection with The Great Masturbator)

d.2) The compatable parts of Dali's Daddy Longlegs of the Evening - Hope!,  Pink Panther cover and the Dren drawing

e) From ink pots to ears to spine nodules 

e. 1) What I started to notice was that the nodules along the creature's spin had ovals inside, and reminded me of the Pink Panther's ears, and so wanting to see how the Pink Panther could be involved in this and it doesn't necessarily have to reference the ears from this cover, but it might as well

e. 2) The inkpots from Dali's Daddy Longlegs of the Evening Hope, next to the pink panther's ears and the nodules on the spine of the Dren creature

f) From orchid with petals formation to pink panther head with wings to head and spine of Drean 


f.1) This image shows how the features mentioned in B and C are placed in relation to one another in both.

f.2) The three together

g. From petals to wings to cranium

g.1) Here the left green wing becomes the top of the head of the Dren drawing

g.2) The petals from Dali's Daddy Longlegs of the Evening Hope, next to the pink panther's green wing and the top of the head of the Dren drawing

h)  From drooping corpse to inflatable toy to wing

h.1) Here it looks as if the inflatable toy has been transformed into Dren's wings

h.2) The corpse with closed eye from "Daddy Longlegs of The Evening - Hope!", inflatable sea monster and Dren's wing.

i) From cello with tree trunk,  the inspector and the pipe so that you can see the details from E and F in relation to one another

i.1) The inspector with pipe next to beast humanoid's leg and tail

i.2) Comparable parts from all three

j) From cello with tree trunk to inspector with pipe to beast humanoid's leg and tail

j.1) The back of the inspector's coat becomes the shape of the leg,

Perhaps his eye becomes the mid leg muscle

j.2) The three together

k) From tree trunk to the pipe becomes to the upper part of the tail


k.1) The pipe and the beast humanoid's leg

k.2) The three together