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From dinosaurs to dolphins and birds, one artist has been inspired by nature to create incredible images of concept airplanes.

Alex Brady set out to create aircraft that look streamlined, futuristic and beautiful, but experts are not convinced that machines based on the designs would ever be able to fly.

The '100 per cent whimsical' drawings are also influenced by popular sci-fi films as Mr Brady, 31, from Cambridge, wanted to draw 'instantly recognisable craft' as iconic as Star Trek's Starship Enterprise.

Alex Brady set out to create machines that look streamlined, futuristic and beautiful, but experts are not convinced that machines based on the designs would ever be able to fly. This concept is based on a swan

While he has no background in aircraft design, Mr Brady has drawn jets for films and computer games that look like they could soar though the skies on other planets and in future times.

'They look like they might fly but are strange and silly,' he told MailOnline.

Among the creatures which Mr Brady has based his designs upon, are: Warthogs, zebras and woodlice, marine creatures like manta rays, dolphins and jellyfish, birds such as swifts and swallows as well as the pterodactyl, a new extinct ancient flying reptile.

While he has no background in aircraft design, Mr Brady has drawn jets for films and computer games that look like they could soar though the skies on other planets and in future times. This fighter jet looks a lot like a manta ray

The '100 per cent whimsical' drawings like this plane with flexible wings, based on the shape of a swift, are also influenced by popular sci-fi films as Mr Brady, from Cambridgeshire, wanted to draw instantly recognisable craft¿ as iconic as Star Trek's Starship Enterprise

Artist Alex Brady said that he is fascinated by dinosaurs and this terrifying war machine is inspired by pterodactyl, as well as his favourite films such as Space Odyssey and Aliens

He set out to draw machines that also act as 'characters' because of their animalistic qualities and hopes one day to design futuristic transport full-time for films and games.

'I wanted them to look instantly recognisable and to make them look kind of friendly' despite the fact that many war planes are built to kill people.

He admits that he has never grown out of dinosaurs and is 'stealing from the best' that nature has to offer.

They might look like classic visions of UFOs, but these innovative aircraft concepts were inspired by jellyfish. However, an engineer told MailOnline that they would need a new propulsion system that has not been invented yet to fly

The mechanical-looking monster is based on a warthog and was imagined over a physical model built by Steve Wheeler, who made the knives for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film and Mr Brady has worked with to illustrate ideas from his sci-fi books

This futuristic mode of transport came about beacuse of Mr Brady's attempts to draw a kind of zebra. It would be driven by a human inside the machine's stripy body

'You can't come away from watching a David Attenborough documentary without thinking about how beautiful and interesting nature is. And I'd love cars and planes to be beautiful and sculptural – a little like yachts are. Not just about the function of sailing.'

He said that  Steve Wheeler particularly inspires him because of his work for film director Peter Jackson, models of sci-fi vehicles and writing as well as films such as Star Wars and author Iain M Banks.

Mr Brady creates his amazing drawings by first making 3D models using computer software called 3D Studio Max.

He then draws on top of them in Photoshop and said that while the technique allows him great accuracy in his work, there are also 'happy accidents of the pen' that gives his work impact and lets them flow.

These fighter jets with distinctive curved wings are inspired by seagulls. 'They look like they might fly but are strange and silly,' Mr Brady told MailOnline

A strange vision of the future? 'The vehicle in the foreground is something along the lines of a scarab or woodlouse. The plane is rather like a manta ray,' Mr Brady said

This design shows the wings of an imaginary aircraft flexing. 'I think from this angle it looks more like a porpoise or dolphin,' Mr Brady said

While some of the futuristic aircraft concepts certainly look like they can fly, Professor Ian Poll, of Cranfield Aerospace who is an expert in aerospace engineering and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, is doubtful that the ideas would create a real flying machine.

'Birds and dinosaurs are nature's ultimate evolved flying machines,' he told MailOnline

He said that Mr Brady's art is fanciful and creative, but would probably not make for efficient aircraft built upon engineering knowledge.

While some of the futuristic aircraft concepts certainly look like they can fly, Professor Ian Poll, of Cranfield Aerospace who is an expert in aerospace engineering and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, is doubtful that the ideas would create a real flying machine. This rather convincing-looking fighter jet was inspired by a dragon and a chicken and look like it has jaws

These sleek looking concpet aircraft were based on a bird called the storm petrel. However, an engineering expert said: 'Birds and dinosaurs don't have jet engines or propellers to accommodate and their propulsion is limited by bone and muscle - meaning that they have to flap - which is not very efficient at all'

Mr Brady revealed that this curvy aircraft is based on a stylised painting of a swan on wall of the White Swan pub in Cambridge, showing that inspiration really is everywhere

'Birds and dinosaurs don't have jet engines or propellers to accommodate and their propulsion is limited by bone and muscle – meaning that they have to flap – which is not very efficient at all.'

Professor Poll explained that if you design an aircraft around a bird, the best thing you could come up with is a copy of a bird.

'If you design one around a jet or propeller you get something appropriate to the power those technologies generate and probably a large wing span for efficiency as well as a blended wing and fuselage (the aircraft's body that holds the crew, passengers or cargo).

Aeronautics expert Professor Poll said that some of the designs look as if they do have wings that integrate seamlessly the body of the aircraft, which could help them to fly. A line of forbidding fighter jets are lined up for imaginary action here, but were inspired by chickens

This futuristic aircraft looks at first glance like a marine monster, but was inspired by a small starling

He did concede that some of the designs look as if they do have wings and the body of the aircraft, which could help them to fly, but the circular design inspired by a jellyfish, which also looks like many popular visions of UFOs, is 'out of the question' in terms of engineering.

'It would be really inefficient and you would need a different kind of propulsion system [than currently used] to make it fly,' Professor Poll said.

However, he said that Nasa's prototype X-48B craft - which is a blended wing body concept and a cross between a conventional plane and flying wing design – does bear some resemblance to some of Mr Brady's designs.

This cockpit-like structure was inspired by 'how starfish puke out their insides to eat', which Mr Brady finds fascinating but disgusting

Professor Poll explained that if you design an aircraft around a bird the best thing you could come up with is a copy of a bird. This drawing shows a line of planes inspired by swans