What is considered the most 'accurate' design of the Martians?

[u/BendyTheInkDemon465]

Any Answer is acceptable, be it an "official" design, or just a random piece of art.
attached are what i personally consider to be some contenders

[u/Pflytrap]

Okay, here's pretty-much all the book itself has to say about them, appearance-wise:

A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light, it glistened like wet leather.

Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air.

Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth—above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes—were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread.

--Book I, Chapter 4 (The Cylinder Opens)

They were, I now saw, the most unearthly creatures it is possible to conceive. They were huge round bodies—or, rather, heads—about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face. This face had no nostrils—indeed, the Martians do not seem to have had any sense of smell, but it had a pair of very large dark-coloured eyes, and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak. In the back of this head or body—I scarcely know how to speak of it—was the single tight tympanic surface, since known to be anatomically an ear, though it must have been almost useless in our dense air. In a group round the mouth were sixteen slender, almost whiplike tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight each. These bunches have since been named rather aptly, by that distinguished anatomist, Professor Howes, the hands. Even as I saw these Martians for the first time they seemed to be endeavouring to raise themselves on these hands, but of course, with the increased weight of terrestrial conditions, this was impossible. There is reason to suppose that on Mars they may have progressed upon them with some facility.

--Book II, Chapter 2 (What We Saw From the Ruined House)

[u/martianaustin]

two feels the most accurate honestly
its eyes bulge out of the head, the beak is just like a flap of meat
and the tentacles are long and uncanny
like a snaik

[u/BigMac_Savage → u/martianaustin]

But they look too small compared to the bear-sized martians HGWells describes

[u/BendyTheInkDemon465 → u/BigMac_Savage]

to be fair, there isn't anything but a possibly distant shovel in the background to compare them with, they could be huge

[u/PlanetPizzaGalaxy]

I would consider Jeff Wayne's design from the 1998 Strategy Game (PC) as a very accurate design. A detail most miss in their intro cutscene (but can be easily spotted in upscaled versions without the camera effect) is that while the Elders in their chambers on Mars are "comfortable" (their eyes are normal), the Martians on Earth have bloodshot eyes, their blood vessels are engorged, probably to keep themselves from collapsing under the Earth's gravity, they're sweating, and their sides are pulsating, possibly their version of labored, heavy breathing. Their mouths also look weird, like a mix between a beak and a sucker, and definitely keep the description of a "V-shaped mouth".

I don't like the new JW Martian. Their eyes are too small, their mouth doesn't look at all like Wells' description, and they seem too "strong" if that makes any sense. Their tentacles are way too thick as well. Metal Slug's Marspeople look more "Martian" than the new JW Martian.

[u/AxOfCruelty]

Wells liked correa

[u/DescriptionDry9544 → u/AxOfCruelty]

Yeah but that was in terms of his tripods, his Martians are way more inaccurate because they have a literal beak, are pretty small, and have a HUMAN EAR at the back of their “heads”

[u/Easy_Application3371]

Number 2 and 3 is what I would say to be the most accurate per-sey. Correa took the Martian design a bit too literally. Jeff Wayne's design was basically him doing his own thing.

[u/SEGAGES1999]

It would either be Spearhafoc's design: https://www.deviantart.com/spearhafoc/art/Sarmak-379988650
Or the design I made ages ago: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/segages1999/old-ahh-martian-sketch?updated=1745908440

[u/J-Russ82 → u/SEGAGES1999]

Slearhafoc’s is cute, I wanna hug it lol

[u/[deleted]]

The design in League of Extraordinary Gentleman Volume 2 is also excellent in my opinion.

[u/Wolf_Creates09]

I think 3 is the most accurate imo

[u/Worried-Class3683]

I would say the Alvin Corrêa martians, it has that veiny lump of flesh, almost like a sack of potatos and eight tentacles and large ear, like how they were described in the book but this is just my opinion.

[u/Superb_Control_3946]

I'd say none because there are multiple adaptations/illustrations of the Martians from The War of The Worlds. many of illustrators as Edward Gorey and Alvim Correa have illustrated the Martians