C.O.W. - #123: Feeds On Sound

[Fozzybar]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/cow/cow.jpg

For more infos and details about the rules go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110879


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Round #123

Topic:
Feeds On Sound

Deadline (extended):
Wednesday, 10 September 2008



note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know ;)
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How to post

In this thread you can post all wips, questions, comments etc
However if you are done with your entry, post the final image in the following thread.

THREAD FOR FINAL ENTRIES (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135815)

READ THE INFO IN THE 1ST POST OF THE FINALS THREAD TO SEE HOW TO POST YOUR FINAL IMAGE!!!

[Fozzybar]

Thanx to mattbyng for the topic idea ;)

ADDITIONAL INFO

1. The creature feeds on sound. Literally. Sound is its food.

2. Sound can be anything acoustic: Noise, Music, Voices, whatever.

3. No individual/character!!! Make a concept of a species!

[gmblfdz]

Great idea! Looking forward to doing this one.

[tex tin star]

very interesting topic, just trying to think of ideas at this point

[tex tin star]

quick sketch im liking the idea but still wip

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq207/tex_tin_star/firstsoundcreaturecopy.jpg

[DefiledVisions]

cool topic Fozz. Here's some thumbs.. I somehow managed to get every typ of creature, form mammal to reptile.. oh well.. can't decide.

Tex tin star - good start.

[Rarebit]

Good topic,
Are we treating sound as a vibration, something that facilitates a reaction in the animal so that it may create its own food or as a kind of spirit or cloud that is heard and can therefore be collected and eaten? Does it matter?

[HareTrinity]

Hm, different...

Doubt I'll enter into this one, but here are my first random thoughts for others:

- Rainforests: Some cockatiels can sound as loud as a plane taking off, and gibbons are famously noisy.

- Space: Rockets are loud.

- Sense alteration: I expect a fair few ears in this round, but when a species hunts by something different (e.g. snakes, body heat) it might use different senses than the "norm".

Clubs are loud too. Hm...

Ah well, good luck all!

[Fozzybar]

Good topic,
Are we treating sound as a vibration, something that facilitates a reaction in the animal so that it may create its own food or as a kind of spirit or cloud that is heard and can therefore be collected and eaten? Does it matter?

Sound IS the food! :yum:

[retter]

Sound IS the food! :yum:
*throws all rational thought out the window*
okay, time to have some fun!

[UCT]

Dvisions - I like the hairs your roughs have got, deffinately a good start with those. Top middle is best for me, possibly just because i can see it more clearly.

I got any idea for this one.

[Antne]

Done-
http://images.livescience.com/images/freakyanimals_mouse_ears_03_10.jpg
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:P

[C0mBineD]

lmao thats a great one.

I might just do this one

[Chillpepper]

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2499/soundeaterek3.jpg http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/7159/screamervj0.jpg

Well, I guess it could hang in a tree and produce its "food" by doing nothing but screaming in its own ear(s) the whole day. :rocker:

[DefiledVisions]

UCT thanks. Went with top middle.. not overly influenced by you :er: .. hehe.

Update.

[Moai]

Ehh...I couldn't think of any remotely plausible way for a realistic creature to derive enough sustenance simply from the energy in sound, so this one's going to be fantasy.
My idea for the creature design is somewhat similar to a frilled lizard (with a little bat thrown in), only the frill will act as a giant ear, directing sound towards an odd-looking mouth in the center.
I hope you don't mind, Defiled Visions, but my "giant ear" idea owes some of its inspiration to the giant ears on the bird-like creature in the upper right corner of your thumbnail image.

[EricT]

The creature is only a place holder for now, it will probably be some kind of big larvae thing...havent figured how it eats the sound yet...

In the future when we have conquered some planets, we find this creature and use it as a prop in metal shows by hanging it over the crowd. It never stops eating, so at the climax of the show it explodes and the spectators love it

[DefiledVisions]

No problems at all Moai.

um.. worked more on this.. until I worked it wrong.. I still suck att values and stuff damnit. Re-doing the entire thing. oh well :)

[tex tin star]

been working on mine a bit i hope i have enough time this week to finish this one
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq207/tex_tin_star/soundcreature.jpg

[Tommoy]

Time for a COW.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/COW123Dk.jpg

[DefiledVisions]

tommoy.. insane! so much energy! what the hell man ?! :)

[benu]

Interesting topic.
454608

[septomin]

Er, well, I'm probably not going to finish this...I mostly just wanted to say that a 15 watt speaker puts out the same amount of energy in 8 hours that the average American consumes via food in a day. So technically, this is sort of plausible. :P

My idea was that it would wrap those flaps around a noise source, which would prevent any sound from leaking out.

[Tonic]

Yeah, Tommoy - you did a great job with dynamic, which is one of my favorite factories.

Hm, after struggling to get a interesting idea, I've remembered my friend's paper model for topic: Sound. I've used this model as reference. There's how it looks, more or less:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7325/papermodelsa3.jpg

And there's my sketch:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8599/sketchcc3.jpg

The concept is that it has "guitar" strings, which can be stretched by neck. Stretching them changes the resonance frequency - when the sound is inside creature's area, creature stretches strings, so their resonance frequency matches the sound frequency. Thanks to that, the resonance occurs and the sound strength/volume or whatever is strenghtened by few times. More sound, more food :P This picture describes how it would look:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4979/adjustingvv1.jpg

But I'm still not convinced, the idea sounds fun for me, but this isn't much creative for my taste.

By the way, hi to you since it will be my first "? of Week"' work ;)

[Paul Kang]

yeah almost everybody's concept is real similar
might be hard to vote

[Rizza]

Sketched this during class a few days ago, keeping my description for him a secret though ;)

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp309/RizzaCA/soundeatersketcg.jpg

[dan j levy]

Hey guys, I'm looking forward to doing my first COW here. Thought I'd be a bit different and do a fishy type creature.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/spazizoner/rem.jpg

So, this guy spends his spare time hitching a ride on the underside of whales and such with its sticky dorsal fin, using its tail to feed, picking up on the ultrasound they make. This causes the chemicals and bacteria in its tail to rapidly multiply and go up the tail into the bloodstream, providing it with all the nutrients it needs. It has no teeth, so filter feeding isn't really an option. The tail's expandable, so it can close and open it, depending on whether it needs to swim or not. As sight isn't its strong point, it uses its whiskers as its ears, and, coupled with its cry, are used to "see" sound, much like a bat. It also uses them to look for noisy sea creatures to "feed" from, such as whales.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

You better post something Mike....

[Michael Jaecks]

You know.. one plausible idea I thought of is a creature that has to absorb sound to process all its nutrients sort of like having to absorb sunlight to process vitamin D. Cats are like that aren't they? They have to sit in the sun or they get no vitamin D.

The sound feeding idea could be even more extreme... they have to take in the sound to process everything... or they perish.

And maybe that drives them to seek out sound intensive environments like thunderstorms...

[Arezura]

Hello, I've been lurking on this site for almost a year now I believe and now I've decided to suck it up and give COW a try. I'm not sure If i'll get this done by the deadline but it will be fun to try.
Anywho, here's a rough sketch.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/thestargazer/lyroleth.png

and a description that needs fiddling with.

Lyroleth

These small creatures once only inhabited the lofty canopies in South America but by accidental introduction, now are considered pests in modern North American cities. The Lyroleth feed off of sound, particularly rhythm based noise and before their introduction into rural areas, only fed off of bird song. Sound vibrations are directed to the mouth and filtered through bands in the lips before being converted into energy. These pesky creatures are known to steal ipods, mp3’s, ‘eating’ the music; often until the battery dies, the device is then discarded. Lyroleths are also known to cause unpleasant swarms at concerts to quell their appetite. Studies show that the higher, and faster the beat, more energy is withdrawn. Faster tempo songs are preferred in colder periods and mating season while slower songs are reserved for summer months.

Any tips, pointers, suggestions would be most welcome.

[brandon.leedy]

POST EDIT AS OF SEPT 9TH: Sorry Foz, not gonna be able to finish this one, got socked with family stuff and then couldn't finish it cause of work. Maybe next time. Gotta remember to catch the prompts next time as soon as they post to ensure I have enough time! Thanks everybody for the crits!

Okay so this is my idea for the sound eating creature...

Now, this is my first Cow ever so I sketched my idea to gain some clarity on whether of not I need to go farther with changes of my creature. The rules say you can base a creature off of existing animals and I've seen lizards above... am I "far enough away" from a manatee or should I develop the creature to be more different?

I clearly took my inspiration from a manatee... but the big patch on the back, tail, and fins are a fuzzy (almost mossy) fur which picks up the sound vibrations in the water and creates energy for to feed on.

My idea/thought process:

When I saw "feeds on sound" I thought grazing and then thought "best places for sound" which was underwater maybe by machinery? So I have a species possibly evolved from a manatee when underwater plants they can graze on die off. After the ocean is full of machinery for science, drilling, mining, etc (shown in the canyon/background) the manatees begin to harvest sound as they swim. Since sound travels faster in water, their food is now plentiful. All the "sonicow/audicow" has to do is lounge around the machinery producing sound waves that vibrate into the surrounding waters. The mossy fibers that cover their back accept the vibrations and give them energy... only thing they have to remember to do is go up for air occasionally.


So, do I need to change anything or take it further to not violate the rules? I have some other ideas with adding a bony plates that open to funnel sound or have a sort of jellyfish like tentacles which drape off their fins to absorb vibrations...

Just thought I should run this by people before doing a final and be told it won't qualify... Thanks!

As always crits welcome on composition, etc in this early stage!

[UCT]

guys, Im not doing this myself but...

Sound is vibration of atoms in waves, think of something that could harness the energy of such waves. a dish typ shape would bounce the wave away and therefore could not be digested. A hanging bell shape maybe jelly fish shape would reacted to the wave and vibrate itself as the wave rebonds inside the enclosed space. Since 'sound' can be viewed as energy, it will also be easier to digest/utilise by such animal, digestion maybe isnt that long. stomachs - I think not, this thing could simply be a mouth. Also, alot of animals bodies support their hunting/gathering/scavaging for food supplies, ergo, why would an animal with an abundance of food available (pritty much everywhere) need a muscular body, an animal that lives on sound would not evolve in a silent environment.

Tonic - great idea about amplifying the food source, technically this animal will doesnt need to look for food as there is such an abundance.

There is NO SOUND in space.

Leadster: deffinately try developing the idea so that the creature itself has a original visual impact.

anyway just thoughts, nice work guys.

[ZUPZUP]

http://www.zupzup.com/Art/Sound_Feed_SHEAR.jpg

New to C.O.W....excited to be participating!

I thought ocean beaches, waterfalls, rushing water would be the loudest places in nature. I also figured that the creature through his digestion of sound, has lost the need for a mouth or usable eyes. It uses the drum like forehead to gather sound and convert the sound to a usable energy. These worm like creatures are found on around the beach, mainly nocturnal....as they lack a lot of self defense features.

[Tyrus]

I immediately thought of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Babelfish. Good show, better radio show...

[Tonic]

Okay, since I couldn't get another idea, I'll stick with that what I have. Now, I've done more detailed sketches! ;)

Rather a detailed version of sketch that I posted on first page:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9971/wip1nc8.jpg

I thought - it's boring! Pose is too static, nothing happens. So I gave a cat, primarily for scale - after looking at cat, you would get idea how big this creature is. Also, color added, so I enjoy sketching more ;)

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/26/wip2ww5.jpg

But still.. there's a cat and nothing happens? So I worked on interaction:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5210/wip3vi5.jpg

And yet still, I wasn't satisfied. I got a funny idea after remembering what my cat does :P

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6213/wip4bx6.jpg

This cunning creature uses a fish, so cat meows for it. Sadist creature uses this occassion to get his strings resonating with cat meows and fills it's stomach :)

By the way, those sketches look like a frames of short animation! :P A hungry sound creature thinks how to get food.. suddenly a cat came and glared at him. A light of hope shined upon creature, which started to think, how to suck sound from cat and came to evil idea - use a favorite cat food! The results were instant - cat started to meow loudly in begging for fish, while creautre with sadistic smile absorbs delicious sounds :)

What do you think?

[Michael Jaecks]

the thunder sucker:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/neorepto/feedsound.jpg

[Tonic]

And how it doesn't get megavolts passing through whole creature nerve system? :P But it's refreshing idea, though, so keep with it ;)

EDIT: A bad terminology, volts doesn't flow, it's current that do

[Michael Jaecks]

It's amps, not volts or "current," actually.

The creature is made of helium. Or argon. Or positrons.

Who cares? It EATS SOUND for heaven's sake.

calories? fats? protien? carbohydrates?

We've dispensed with science for this round, I think.

;)

But thanks for the feedback.

[dan j levy]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/spazizoner/rem2.jpg

[Moai]

? It EATS SOUND for heaven's sake.

calories? fats? protien? carbohydrates?

We've dispensed with science for this round, I think.

I reached the same conclusion, MJ. I can think up some semi-plausible para-semi-pseudo-scientific explanations for how the creature derives energy from sound (symbiotic microorganisms getting excited and releasing energy in response to sound vibrations, for example), but that doesn't explain how it would get any nutrients, any meat out of sound. So, a magical explanation it is: "Our researcher-mages could not decipher how the strange little creatures derived sustenance from pure sound through empirical means, so sorcery seems the most likely explanation" and so forth.

Anyway, here's my creature design. Despite its feeding methods being magical and fantastic, I still want to give my creature more or less naturalistic anatomy. Its mouth is modified into a giant ear, with the maxillae (upper jaw bones) and hyoid bones hypertrophied and splayed out to the side to provide skeletal support to the huge ear. I'm not sure whether it can actually close its mouth or not; if it can, I'll have another view of it with the mouth folded closed somehow.

455531

Spazizoner- Cool idea. If I were you, I'd gather up some good fish reference, particularly rays and remoras, and use little details from those fish to give the design a real sense of authenticity.
Michael Jaecks- I'd play with this creature's proportions and design a bit more. Right now its proportions seem a bit too "typical" for me. Maybe--just an idea--make its body longer and more sinuous, sort of reminiscent of a Chinese dragon. I think that would make it feel more at home in the air.
Tonic- Neat idea with the strings. The values you used on the creature seem too dark to me, so perhaps throw some more mid tones on there as you continue rendering.
Zupzup- Very cool and naturalistic little creature. I like its little bristles and feelers, and its membrane looks nice. No crits as of yet.
Leadster618- I like that you're taking a naturalistic, plausible route with your creature design, but I do think that it's much too similar to a regular manatee. Perhaps imagine an alien creature that occupies the same niche as a manatee, or simply modify an Earthly manatee a bit more.
Arezura- Nice start. Its hind legs look a little cramped to me, but otherwise its anatomy and form look pretty good.
Rizza- Cool! I'm likin' the alien anatomy. Change the pose of its legs somehow, though. Its front legs and back legs are both in the same position, so it looks somewhat awkward.
septomin- Great invertebrate design, and lovely line technique. I'm disappointed that you're "probably not going to finish it.":[
benu- I'm lovin' its head and mouth. It's body is feeling lumpy and formless to me, though.
tommoy- Very dynamic and energetic (if those words aren't redundant). The perspective of the background is feeling rather topsy-turvy at the moment, so that's something you should probably refine as you finish this.
tex in star- Tone down and add some variety to the reds and yellows as you take this piece further. They look too much like the red and yellow you'd pull out of a 12-color pack of crayons right now. Cool creature design!
Defiled Visions- The head and feet are feeling great to me, but the torso, especially the chest and shoulder region, is feeling flat. The design of its head is very cool.
EricT- Poor creature!
Chillpepper- I love the second one, with the multiple-eared head.

[tex tin star]

yeah i know the colors are quite heavy but its a wip just trying to get the colors i want and then go into it to really flesh it out. i'm liking the pose of yours though moai i was also thinking of how mine would look with a closed mouth with mine i believe it would have some what of a beak looking mouth with it closed, with yours if i'm reading the design right i think it would have a flatter head with puffy or droopy cheeks. lots of really cool designs coming out of this one. it was a difficult topic for me at first

[sp00t]

Ok, this is going to me maybe my second COW attempt (I don't even know if I ever bothered to post the first over two years ago) and I hope I'll be able to finish. I'm not too good (read as "shitty") at painting yet, so please critique me.

[Moai]

tex tin star- I agree with this being a difficult topic. Sound isn't anything I've ever thought of as a food source.:blah: My creature's mouth is very flexible, so I think the bones and skin folds would fold against its neck when it wasn't feeding. Looking forward to seeing yours taken further.

Quick update from me. Getting an idea of how the exterior form will look. Any crits before I start painting?

[Kasen Kato]

spOOt really dude? i mean common lol

Moai I think the bottom jaw henges should contour with the bottom of mouth flaps. And you should deffinitaly include a closed mouth veiw.

[sp00t]

spOOt really dude? i mean common lol

Moai I think the bottom jaw henges should contour with the bottom of mouth flaps. And you should deffinitaly include a closed mouth veiw.

Are you talking about the vag-mouth or...

Because I'm fully aware of this. Think it'll be a prob lol?

[Kasen Kato]

Are you talking about the vag-mouth or...

Because I'm fully aware of this. Think it'll be a prob lol?

Ha Of course it the vag mouth. No problem, just funny lol and would have been funnier if you didnt notice.

[tex tin star]

moai- the only thing different i'd like to see and it may just be me, but i'd like to see one of the arms in a different position to kinda make it more assymetrical, and maybe one of the legs. i've just found that poses that are symetrical are less appealing so its only a minor change and an easy one, but i believe it would make it just a little more appealing its looking great so far

[Michael Jaecks]

Michael Jaecks- I'd play with this creature's proportions and design a bit more. Right now its proportions seem a bit too "typical" for me. Maybe--just an idea--make its body longer and more sinuous, sort of reminiscent of a Chinese dragon. I think that would make it feel more at home in the air.


??? Listen to you! I woulda never thought I'd hear you suggest the chimerical over the real. ;) But you're right about the topic. It defies all rationality.

Well see what I do with this little guy. Longer wasn't really the direction I was thinking of, but perhaps that's a way to go...

thanks!

[sp00t]

Poasting color. Should I bother with a background? Never done one before so. I'll get a description up tomorrow. Now I needs sleep.

[Fozzybar]

Any tips, pointers, suggestions would be most welcome.Convert it to the normal mode again, why did you make it negative?

[Rist]

I reached the same conclusion, MJ. I can think up some semi-plausible para-semi-pseudo-scientific explanations for how the creature derives energy from sound (symbiotic microorganisms getting excited and releasing energy in response to sound vibrations, for example), but that doesn't explain how it would get any nutrients, any meat out of sound. So, a magical explanation it is: "Our researcher-mages could not decipher how the strange little creatures derived sustenance from pure sound through empirical means, so sorcery seems the most likely explanation" and so forth.

The Universe is a VERY large place. Who knows what can be found out there, if anything at all? Scientists in the past have always called things fictional that have not been discovered yet. Do you think humans in 211BC would have thought a human flying would be possible? I don't know about you, but I think some species in the Universe actually eat things different from us on Earth. Of course to our perspective it is all fantasy, but we cannot 100% say that this cannot exist.

[Tonic]

Moai, right, a bit of midtones would improve sketch a ltitle. Though, I'm a big fan of high contrast and strong light :P

About your work, I think that pose is pretty nice. Another thing that caught my eye is creature's opacity. I thought that, beside the skeleton, the whole body is made in 99% or so by water, like as medusas. As we know, in water sounds are stronger :) Is it intentional, or did you want to get correct proportions?

sp00t - a well made background, yes. Depending on that how you make it, it may give more dynamic (Tommoy from first page is a great example), light feeling and et cetera :) I'm going to make background, since a one color background looks too dull for me.

Now I must have to drive 300km away :( Luckily, I will take a paper and I'm going to draw a line art for final work. I will post it in monday or tuesday. Then paint as much as possible to wednesday (the deadline is wednesday 11:59:59 PM, right?)

[F-O-X]

My first (fast) sketch in CA^^I hadnt very much time...

A kind of bat Monster wich lives over big cities and never stop to fly as long the people make noises.

Short.I knowXC





Sorry for my bad english:(

[F-O-X]

It don't have a mouth. The energy to life get this creature from the sound waves wich moves his wings.

[MathyG]

Here is my attempt at this week's COW, I'll try to color it tonight. Crits are welcome and appreciated!

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/afe1dfacff.jpg

Komkrash

The Komkrashes are toad-like creatures that live near cities. They catch electromagnetic waves and convert them to sound (music on the radio, shows on tv, voices on the phone...) with a special organ that allows them to feed on the sound. Unfortunatly the humans hate it since the Komkrash rejects a noise in the electromagnetic waves that can make the comms unreadable. (Think noise/snow on a tv channel).

Hopefuly it makes sense, and sorry for my english.

Gotta run now, will try to comment later too, I really like Zupzup's creature!

[Arekkusu]

My first entry in COW..

Everyones designs look great and imaginative! Looking forward to the challenge. :^^:

My intial design.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff313/Arekkusu_01/CA%20Uploads/COW/ca1-intialdesign.jpg

Basic description i've come up with so far is that, using the suspended carapace, it captures sound waves and channels them down into its belly...The waves are manupulated via the structure of the carapace into different frequencies. So that they maintain a stable decay of micro-singularities , fueling the biological processes..... yes it's powered by mini black holes. :^^:

[Timmy the Turtle]

Really difficult topic, raelly great wips!! Moai, I realy realy realy love yours! Want to see it done!:D Well, mine's pretty much NOT outside the box, I'm thinking of concieving it from the ground up... it just looks like a feline with a funny head (for catching all sorts of different frequencies)...

[Lander]

Last round was fun. Lot's of interesting stuff beeing created So I can't stay away. Here comes my initial idéa.

[tex tin star]

well this is mine so far, i dont know if i'll be able to finish it in time, but i'm gonna try my best, i just really need to hammer this one out though

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq207/tex_tin_star/soundcreature1copy-1.jpg

[Lege1]

..................................

[benu]

changed the body of the creature!

456672

[Lander]

update on my wip. cc please.

Made a few changes. Also uprez to 2k

[FredF]

Mine isn't nearly out there enough. Plus the fact that it's head is upside down doesn't really translate.

I could picture it running around looking for air raid sirens, P.A. systems or barking dogs.

So far I see a bunch of great ideas.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w84/fmfsdg/feedsonsoundsketch-tonal.jpg

[Michael Jaecks]

Lander: your critter looks like its loosely based on the structures of the inner ear. Is it? Its an interesting idea.

[FredF]

ZUPZUP, that's a great story and creature.

[benu]

I think this is finished.

457042

[Lander]

MJ: sort of yes. I figured that to make the most out of the environment it would need some kind of structure to capture all the frequencies. And better two spiral shells than one :)

Benu: That is a cool, strange and plausible creature. I'd say you could work some more to make it shine as a picture. Unless you want it to look very loose. You have about the same value all over its body and tail. I'd let the tail almost vanish into the blue and let the colors be more saturated in its mounth. But that's me.

Fred F: That is one nice design.

[Demo]

umm fox are u using MS paint to do this

[Lege1]

Making some progress slowly but surely. I plan on going into the coloring eventually. I've just had a good'ol time doing the value rendering. Let me know what you all think. My concept is as follows:

My sound eating creature is an underground dwelling creature that resides in sewers and subways. It feeds off the millions of sounds from rushing rain water, subway cars passing by, and cars occasionally going over unfitted manholes. My creature stands about a mans height and uses it's sound pad which is located at the end of its snout to capture and absorb sound which it feeds off of. My creature also comes equipped with alligator like armor to protect it in the underground terrain. My sound creature is an ultimate survivor like the cockroach and rat and can emit high frequency sound waves that can cripple predators, break glass and make humans go deaf. It's a lovely creature that for the most part leads a pointless existence with a soul purpose to just absorb sound to feed and reproduce.:yayca:

[Paul Kang]

um hey guys i know this is random but when i complete and save a picture project(photoshop,sketchbook pro), it slowly starts to disintergrate and look more pixalated. is there any way to stop it or is this as natural as my disgust toward the jonas brothers?
any words of advice would be great

[Lege1]

Paul Kang: I'd try uninstalling the current software and reinstalling. It sounds like you got a serious bug in your programming.

Lander: I like what you got going here. Your creature kind of reminds me of the turtle from the movie "Never Ending Story." Nice values...

Benu: Looking good. What's the concept? I like that painterly look that you are going with and how the colors are blending together. Definitely looks like a creature of the sea.

[dan j levy]

um hey guys i know this is random but when i complete and save a picture project(photoshop,sketchbook pro), it slowly starts to disintergrate and look more pixalated. is there any way to stop it or is this as natural as my disgust toward the jonas brothers?
any words of advice would be great

Are you saving them as JPGs? Each time you save as a jpg the quality gets reduced substantially. If you're working in photoshop then it's best to save your stuff as PSD files. if you plan on coming back to it afterwards. That way the quality stays the same and you get to keep all your layers. Not sure about sketchbook tho.

[Wulgar6565]

"Fred, your talent will shine through, I've seen a lot of your work and it's very impressive!!" -K

[Lander]

Lege1: Thanks. I find that when I start early enough on a COW (not the last couple of days) My brain starts to work on the story. I guess those are my cows with a concept description longer than one sentence :)

Here is my concept: As these creatures are born they are very colorful since they can absorb a whole range of soundwaves. As they grow older and their sound absorbing organs start to fail they loose color. Depending on the area failing will cause different colors to fade. In the beginning of time they could live for a very long time. Slowly growing on the sound of the wind, birdsong and crickets. Occational jumps in growth as a thunderstorm or a stampede passed by. With the comming of the industrial revolution they tended to die young as broiler rarely reaching puberty. Now as we get more and more aware of the negative influence noice can have on our health an increase in number has occured. The scientists agree that we are now at a healthy level of reproduction. They make great pets as juvenile. Still being quite small without needs of the likes of cats and dogs. Cause of their ability to absorb sound they make great use when in a noisy environment. Some people even wear them on their shoulders to lessen the ambient noise. Only problem is that is you are very fond of your pet then you'll want to starve it so that they don't outgrow your house too fast. As they grow they develop glans that will produce alot of mucus. This slime is a very potent coloring. Hence the intense colored clothes seen in some cultures. Alot of creatures that outgrow their hosts find shelter in reserves close to airports, marshalling yards, sound studios and club districts.

[bleupencil]

Interesting topic :)
It reminds me of this animation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Li6_6Qfrw

[tex tin star]

heres a wip of mine any crits on it would be nice. this has been a fun one. lot of really good looking ones too.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq207/tex_tin_star/soundcreature2copy-1.jpg

[Lander]

tex tin star: I like the concept but I think you need to work on your values and foreshortening (is that the word for it?) Right now it looks kind of flat.

I have made quick paintover. Not saying this is the way you should go. But it's the way I'd go :) I converted to grayscale to make sure I have the values "right" (yea right) anyway. This is a before and after. Lot's of people around here can do better But maybe it can act as food for thought.

After that when your values are right in grayscale you can add a color layer and paint in the colors you want on top of your detialed painting. That's the way I'm working on mine right now and I think that's the way MJ works his art. It's one way of painting. Do as you like. I hope I didn't mess up your painting too much. It's probably my second paintover ever. :)

[F-O-X]

My new COW.
It's the fusion of a delphin, a Bat, a Grammophon^^ and an Elephant.
This Creature has no eyes,
it only hears and smells his setting
and it lives in little groups.
They follow different sound waves in order to live.
Additionally they use their snout like a vakuum cleaner to swallow the sound waves.

It's the sole creature that hears (feels) all types of sound waves.

[ZUPZUP]

Thanks Fred and Moai...appreciate the comments. Both of you have some pretty interesting ideas yourself......in fact there is a lot of great stuff being worked up. Look forward to seeing them fleshed out.

[tex tin star]

thanks so much lander, that helps out a lot, i've been staring at this thing for hours all this week and its nice to have another set of eyes looking at this. you went deep with the values and i'm gonna try taking that into consideration, and i'm gonna do it more with next weeks creature. this is my second cow and i've gotten immensely better with my digital painting.

[Moai]

Thanks for the comments, everybody. I don't really have time to do any commenting myself, but here's the state of my WIP.
I'm really trying to get a convincing sense of light and shadow in this one. In most of my past renderings, my shadows haven't been distinct enough, either in terms of the values I was using or the edges I was rendering. James Gurney wrote in his blog that for a subject in direct sunlight, the values of light and shadow on that object will be about five steps apart on a ten step value scale. So, in Lab color space, the "L" of of the lit portions of my creature is about 90, while the "L" of the shadows is about 40. I think those two values look about right.:rendered:
The values are about right, but the colors aren't. The colors of the environment aren't really working together for me, and there's going to be more interesting patterns and color variations on the creature.

[Lander]

I've learned two things this evening.
1: what Moai just wrote and
2: That some people do hear color and vice versa. In short they hear a specific tone to a sertain color. Kind of cool and not to far from my color generating sound eater :)

Moai: It's gonna rock.

[benu]

Lander- that's an interesting idea with the inner ear, but if the creature's body is symmetrical, the perpective of the snail-shaped things on it's back seems off, if not, it could be much more asymmetric.

Lege1- I think you could work and the lighting; I suppose the manhole is the only lightsource, so the creature's snout, shoulders and front legs would be brightly lit and almost eveyrthing else in deep shadows.

Moai- That head/mouth design is really cool. The walking one reminds me of these sausage dogs. :D

[Lander]

You're right. It's been odd looking but I havn't figured it out. Thanks.

[Lege1]

Awesome Benu and thank you much. I'll definitely consider that as I start to bring my entry to a close here. I think I am going to insert some other foreign light source coming from outside the picture. That seems to work pretty well sometimes. Will post shortly....................

[ROBOT_TANK]

Nice concepts, but man, what's with the big mouths on most of the creatures? Is that the topic?, I'm lost...

[Tonic]

Finally, it had to be line art, but I thought "more contrast there.. there.. and there" and ended with nearly complete drawing :P

I'm going to paint it over, there I'll post progress shots.

[Tommoy]

I have an idea for my concept, it involves vibration of soundwaves, need to work out the specifics.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/COW123Dgk.jpg

[BANNED_For_POOPY_PANTS]

spazizoner, I love your creature!

[chrislomaka]

http://colors.brombra.net/details/6375-Audiophyte_by_clomaka.php
My entry, done on my DS, so everyone can watch it be painted:) I had a sort of babble-fish eel design, but it was pretty boring looking. This one might not be so specific, but i like the design better ;)

[SocratesJackson]

Me and arezura are in the same place, apparently.
Anyway, here we have it; a sketch of the dreaded MonoCat.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/3/1043533/eye-cat2.jpg
Yeah, I've got no idea where this came from. And that foot sucks...Feedback is appreciated though. Also, is this pic too huge?
I will very likely not have this painted by Wednesday, not only because I have little time, but also because I suck at painting still.
Off I go.

[Lege1]

Paint and draw this life away.........:yayca:

[Culture_Vulture]

Hey everybody. This is my first COW. Some very creative people here and interesting designs, especially like zupzups. Thought i would try to enter this round but dunno if i will be able to finish in time.

Here is mine so far. Supposed to be a face hugger of sorts. Latches onto an animals face and collects its screams/ noises through receptors on its inside for sustenance. In need of crits.

[Pulse]

just a little thing i noticed about some peoples sound muncher, if it feeds purely on sound does it really need teeth/fangs or a beak?

[Lander]

Maybe it's Metal mixed with Soul :)

[Tonic]

Today I've had to work, but after messing with it I've said "Arrggh! Screw it, I'm going to paint my COW!".

And there are WIPs (They're pretty big, 1200px width, so if it breaks rule, or for another reason width is too big, I can resize to 1000px or 900px, but I wanted to show details):

Painting background with oily brushes, chalk&papers combination and sponge&dodge tools:
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7344/wip2fb2.jpg

There I lay color blocks:
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1121/wip3db5.jpg

Then work on light and shadows, so they're more detailed:
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4148/wip4pn3.jpg

Next, I created Gel layer, on which I drawn with Chalk with low Grain setting and use a few papers to create textures on creature. Then, with eraser, I've erased the colours outside creature (it was *consuming* quite time, I must ask here how to paint linearts in comfortable way..). Then, finally I've created a Color layer and played a bit with colours. The effects are interesting, so I will work on it more. Now I must take break and return to work :(
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/4348/wip5xc6.jpg

A to-do-list:

- refine details
- work with colours and background (probably in Photoshop, since it has a easier in use color adjuster tool)
- add a cat!
- put image inside black frame, add few sketchs to show creature's concept and add description.

What do you think?

[Michael Jaecks]

Tonic, very interesting structure and the face has a lot of personality. The background is really competing with the creature for my attention. I sort of would just like to absorb its strange anatomy without my eyes getting drawn away to the background.

Nice work everyone.

Here's the color on mine.... Filaments on his back 'see' the static discharge that preceeds the lightning strike so the creature gets close but not too close. :)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/neorepto/COWMichaelJaecksFeedSoundThunderSuc.jpg

[Lander]

MJ:Way to go :) Now that's clean. Only crit would be that The lilghtning is very bright so that calls for high contrast on the creature. Now I think it's to even. It looks like it has a rim light fron the lightning on the right but no light at all from the lightning on the left. Still very slick.

[Michael Jaecks]

Thanks Lander!

Do you mean you want more light on his face? Like a flash bulb?

I'm not always sure how much is too much or not enough with these special effects. I think if he were that close to the lightning, it wouldn't be much different than being near a bright lamp. Hmmm... I am also assuming the lightning extends above and below him to some degree.

Any photon experts out there want to weigh in?

Truth be told, I have this nagging desire always to 'show the creature clearly' which is always a bit of a cheat, I admit.

[Lege1]

Pulse: You're a genius!

MJ: Tight work man. Always with that MJ flavor. Your work carries a signature look.

Tonic: Great breakdown! I like the finished product. Well it's never finished but I am sure you know what I mean....

[Misplacedhippos]

Here is mine so far. I wish I wasn't so slow at digital painting, this is taking me way to long. I will hopefully have time to make a completely different background environment.

It absorbs sound through the many "ears" on it's body. It spends most of it's life in rapids in rivers and streams(noisy). The three splayed out legs are designed to provide stability against the current. The thing on the top is a nose/blow hole.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/onion204/COW-SSSS_850x567shkl.jpg

[Tonic]

Here is mine so far. I wish I wasn't so slow at digital painting, this is taking me way to long. I will hopefully have time to make a completely different background environment.

It absorbs sound through the many "ears" on it's body. It spends most of it's life in rapids in rivers and streams(noisy). The three splayed out legs are designed to provide stability against the current. The thing on the top is a nose/blow hole.


Uh, as everyone tells, the begining is the hardest moment :P To be honest, it's too similiar to elephant - I personally think it's a good idea to use animals as references, but they have to only help (you can, for example, mix parts of different animals, or develop own parts basing on animals) - try to be more creative (I know it's very hard, but if you practise regularly and search for inspirations, you will enlarge brain with new ideas :P). The idea of using waterfall was shown before by ZUPZUP and Lege1's. When I was participating in preparation school, we've had exam's simulations. If a work has a original idea (I mean, the interesting one and that no one else has), it gets high marks. If there are few works, that have the same idea or they're similiar, then marks goes down a lot. I think this rule applies there as well. Now, for cheering, I'm going to say using legs as stabilizer is a pretty nice idea :D


MJ, well I'm not photon expert, but I've played with Tesla coil, so I've easily found the references from other coilers for lightning:

http://scopeboy.com/tesla/fryingtonight1.jpghttp://scopeboy.com/tesla/fryingtonight2.jpg

http://stevehv.4hv.org/DRSSTC2/sparks/spk1-3-18-05.JPG
http://www.drspark.org/images/wwt2007/191.jpg
http://www.drspark.org/images/bigsgtc/Dscf5760.jpg
http://www.drspark.org/images/andy/Dscf5800.jpg

Looking at those pics, I think you got pretty good lightning. When I had Tesla coil working in dark room, the area in 2-3 meters were covered in subtle blue and the elements laying close to coil were covered in highly saturated blue.

Well, my (arcs, to make sure) 20cm is nothing compared to true thunders, but better than nothing :P

[Michael Jaecks]

Tonic: those tesla coil pics are great.

Have you ever seen the video of the big tesla coils programmed to play the Mario Bros. theme song? Its hilarious! Easy to google...

[Moai]

Michael Jaecks, I think that's your best work yet! The color palette is wonderful, and your rendering of the lightning and atmosphere is fantastic.

Here's the current state of mine. I'll probably get rid of the suggested shrubbery in the background, because the lighter sky color will give the rear creature better contrast, and the two creatures' tails are probably making too much of a tangent. Other than that, everything's pretty much finalized in preparation for rendering.

[Misplacedhippos]

Uh, as everyone tells, the begining is the hardest moment :P To be honest, it's too similiar to elephant - I personally think it's a good idea to use animals as references, but they have to only help (you can, for example, mix parts of different animals, or develop own parts basing on animals) - try to be more creative (I know it's very hard, but if you practise regularly and search for inspirations, you will enlarge brain with new ideas :P). The idea of using waterfall was shown before by ZUPZUP and Lege1's. When I was participating in preparation school, we've had exam's simulations. If a work has a original idea (I mean, the interesting one and that no one else has), it gets high marks. If there are few works, that have the same idea or they're similiar, then marks goes down a lot. I think this rule applies there as well. Now, for cheering, I'm going to say using legs as stabilizer is a pretty nice idea :D


Thanks for the help. Before I started this I only had a quick glance through the thread and didn't see anything based on river noises. Just a bunch of big ears. My thought process was pretty much:

What is a constant natural noise maker? Running water. Rapids.
Most noise in the water. Can use water to hide/camoflouge.
How does it stay put in the water. Needs to be heavy.
Heavy water animal that can walk in water. Elephants/hippos.

So yah I did base the legs of elephants, but I really liked the idea. It probably doesn't help that it's grey as well? Tis supposed to look like a rock to hide from predators. I tried to design it so that it could actually function. I think I'm going to stick with it.

Also I think it's more "different" than most of the big ears/big mouth creatures people are doing.

[Michael Jaecks]

Oh Moai, you make me blush.

Your's is looking very promising. Render Mr. Flappyface up. I can't wait to see him. :)

[Pulse]

Maybe it's Metal mixed with Soul :)

hahahaha! touche!

[ImaGEEnation]

Cool! Sounds fun! I might take a stab at this! :D

[Lander]

MJ: I can see the votes comming your way :)

[Pixeltuner]

Hi everyone, this is my first COW and I'm probably not going to finish it (since it has to be done today) but the 'feeds on sound' was that inspiring that I could at least post a sketch. The head is a giant membrane with eyes, which converts soundwaves to energy. Furthermore it has flaps (like jet intakes crossed with a snake's rattle) on its side and back which keep making noise while the creature is fleeing for a predator continuously providing energy and eventually outlasting its attacker.

[Moai]

I hate, hate, hate to say this, but I don't know if I'll be able to finish. I'll try, though.
Here's the current state of it.

[Lander]

Moai: Sure you will. There is plenty of time. I learn alot from seeing your steps. Thanks.

I just posted my final in the FB-tread. :)

[Moai]

Moai: Sure you will. There is plenty of time. I learn alot from seeing your steps. Thanks.

I hope I will, but work is going to eat up about seven hours of my evening. I should be able to make it somewhat presentable, though.

[Tonic]

Have you ever seen the video of the big tesla coils programmed to play the Mario Bros. theme song? Its hilarious! Easy to google...

Of course I've seen :P There are more interesting arcs stuff - for example a Christmas tree made by arcs and some of wire, or staying very close to monster Tesla coil in Faraday cage, or swimming in pool while water is being zapped by big arcs and etc. :P


What is a constant natural noise maker? Running water. Rapids.
Most noise in the water. Can use water to hide/camoflouge.
How does it stay put in the water. Needs to be heavy.
Heavy water animal that can walk in water. Elephants/hippos.


Again I will use preparation school :P There I've learned that using first assocation (I'm not sure if it's a correct word) can give bad results - I mean, if on exams, where are 700-800+ candidates, a majority of them uses first association of examination topic, their works are pretty similiar and profesors gets pisses and give bad marks :P I mean, it's better to try think about second, third association and you might find an interesting idea! When I'm drawing for topic that opens a big area for creativity, for start I think "Maybe this idea? No, something untypical.. oh yes, that might be interesting! Perhaps another idea? Hmmm.. hmm.. no, that's boring. I will try with second idea." or something similiar. Also sometimes I'm trying to break some laws to make work werid or unnatural :P For example, try to image how weird it would look: a creature with heavy body and fragile legs like camels, is standing inside waterfall. There might be others that will say it's unnatural, but hey, that's what fantasing is about! :)


So yah I did base the legs of elephants, but I really liked the idea. It probably doesn't help that it's grey as well? Tis supposed to look like a rock to hide from predators. I tried to design it so that it could actually function. I think I'm going to stick with it.


When I made a first glance at work, I felt they were elephants legs. At second glance I noticed they have rocks on them. I think it would looking better if legs were made by few rocks, for example. Or enlarge those small rocks that cover legs, so person would notice them first. Also, playing with textures/papers can help, without them my works looks dullier.


Also I think it's more "different" than most of the big ears/big mouth creatures people are doing.

You got it ;)

Pixeltuner, to be honest, a membrane is a bit repeating idea here :D

---

Luckily, I was able to finish it in time. But hey, it's pretty scaring to post work a little time before deadline! Hehe :)

Moai, honestly, I think it's a pretty well developed work, even if you say it's a WIP. I love the poses and anatomies, they're so natural..

[Pixeltuner]

Tonic Yeah, I figured that out (afterwards..) but hey, it was a shot from the hip. I'll probably be joining next time as well with a more 'developed' idea. ;)

[njoo]

made it just in time! O_O I hope....

http://www.weewung.com/poo/cow123_andrewhou.jpg

The creature lives in the deadland where food,etc are almost non-existent, the creature's body structure has evoled to the most simple and basic form, it's very light and fragile, only keeping what is needed for survival.

The food source of the creature is the most unique of all, it feeds on sound. Via the ultra thin webbing between the circular shape holes, it absorb sound waves and the energy is process in its special organs, filtering out the good sound waves. The sound nutrients is then store at the pouch-like organ at the back of the head,etc and the different wave nutrient results in the bright multi-colored skin.

At the center of the creature is its most vital organ, it is protected by the structure of the torso and legs. This is also where the creature's offspring inhabits until it is ready to be born.

nJoo
Deviantart (http://njoo.deviantart.com)

[Tonic]

Wow, that's a refreshing design of creature, njoo :) But, don't you have any WIPs? I would like to see them.. anyway, I love how you made the pouch-like organ.

[njoo]

Tonic: Thanks for the comment, I usually do the COW in one sitting so I never bothered to post any WIP, I have the PSD so maybe I can post the wip if you're interested, but I need to check if I merged the layers hehe

[Moai]

Fozzybar, could you be a doll and leave this round open for just a few hours more? I'm almost done.:rendered:

EDIT: Whew, I'm done! Great round, everyone!

[Fozzybar]

poll is up:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135815