C.O.W. - #127: Strange Walker - VOTING!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #127 VOTING

Topic: Strange Walker


Deadline for the voting: Monday, 27 October 2008

Posting thread (closed):
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=138869


------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK - before voting/posting read this!!!

1. Please give c&c or a reason why you voted for the image!

2. Feel free to comment on any or all entries, the artists will appreciate it!

3. No voting for your own entry!!! If a participants votes for his own entry, every member has the right to call him a stupid lame moron in this thread! And i will delete his/her vote anyway...

4. The poll is public. Your vote will be seen.

[stevethebunny]

http://www.stevethebunny.com/cow127swood.jpg

Artist: stevethebunny

Concept: Orange Footed Skupel


A small amphibian, the Orange Footed Skupel uses its six feet to scurry along cave floors and walls while using its bio-luminescent tentacles to attract small insects and mammals. The most curious thing of all is the creatures fanned tail which resembles that of a crayfish. Many believe it is a throw back to the creatures ancestors and that it simply was never removed form it's dna.

[dan j levy]

REJECTED - NOT IN THE POLL
Reason: Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq97/danjlevy/walker2-1.jpg

Artist: spazizoner

Concept: Bassett Boy
Little is it known that licorice laces are actually made from the stretched legs of Bassett Boys. Bassett Boys were first discovered by the confectionary giant 'Bassett' (hence the name), and were almost made extinct due to being over-eaten by small children. They now only exist in a remote underground warehouse somewhere in Sheffield, where they are bred for their sweet tasting legs. Due to their 'creepiness' it was thought unwise to use the Bassett Boy as their trademark mascot, so they instead opted for Bertie (who is arguably just as creepy).

[schwager]

http://www.solitudo.com/ca_pics/COW127_schwager.jpg

Artist: Schwager

Concept: Bouncy Bobblebug

Native to the marshlands and grassy valleys of Hillyria, the Bobblebug is a peaceful creature that feeds on insects, worms and other small creepy crawlies. Nomadic by nature, it spends its life prancing around the countryside, swinging its big belly and showing off its bouncy bobbles. The bobbles themselves contain the creature’s eggs, which are fertilized and nourished by the parent's body upon its death.

[J]

493645

Artist: J_90

Concept: Gontah
A gontah is a beast of burden found throughout the desert continent. This hexaped is renowned for its endurance, and its stability under the hot sun. The sure-footed mammal has tanned skin and thick protective plates to reflect sunlight. The gontah's docile temperament makes it a top choice amongst traders and transporters.

[Windfalcon]

http://www.falconmoon.com/images4/cow127_windfalcon.jpg

Artist: Windfalcon

Concept: Seven-Legged Snow Runner
This arctic creature prefers the snow-covered northern wastes. Its four, long hooves are perfectly adapted to sliding on the frozen surface of the snow while the sharp, hard claws on its other three feet propel it across the vast snow fields of its habitat. There are a few documented cases of Snow Runners being raised in captivity and trained to pull sleds.

[Vorace]

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/6320/cow127voracetp6.jpg

Artist: Vorace

Concept: The Walker
The walker is one of the beast I discovered during my travel to the east. We saw them first in the savana, but they were also present in the rocky desert. These creatures are fast, much more than our better horses. They didn't seems to be bothered by us. They hunt in pack, using their sting nose to wound their prey. When the prey is too tired because of the blood loss, the walker pack devour it, always starting with the head. I ordered my men to capture one. They did try a lot of different tricks to lure them, but without any result. My only memory of this mysterious specie is one of their ''living gems''. I am eager to go back to my laboratory to study this interesting piece !

[ijacobs9]

REJECTED - NOT IN THE POLL
Reason: Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee181/enigma9/COW_127_Strangewalker.jpg

Artist: ijacobs9

Concept: Yellow Spotted Squablebubble
The Squablebubble is a desert creature, named after the orange bumps or "bubbles" all over its' body used to store energy in the form of fat and the "Squabling" sound it makes when calling for a mate. It has big legs and wide feet to help with traveling over sand dunes and in the digging for food and water. The bubbles are seen as a rare delicacy that is only eaten by the most privalaged because of the Squablebubble being a very fast and dangerous animal.

[Mr.Wittmann]

Artist: Mr.Wittmann

Concept: The Y'nar

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/2360/alienlvmw6.jpg

[Paul Kang]

http://fc70.deviantart.com/fs35/i/2008/291/1/0/strange_walker_by_warmll.jpg

Artist: Warmll

Concept: The Root Walkers
These enormous forest gaurdians are very selfless. They walk by sacrificing their limbs. As they take a single step, they violently break off the moving limb. This limb soon becomes rooted and starts growing into a tree. They stand there motionlessly, until the broken limb grows back (in a matter of seconds\minutes), they continue their painful walk, until the once bare field is transformed into a beautiful utopia. once their job is finished they dissolve into the ground, until they are needed once more.

[Edward B]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/Cerebellum/CowWalker.jpg


Artist: Peg

Concept: The sand walker

These creatures propel themselves forward with two strong back legs, the front pair of legs is initially moving with the walking motion but as the back legs picks up the pace, the front pair of legs sort of "floats" over the dunes while the back pair gets into stride.

The creature uses the front legs in order to navigate at high speeds and to anchor itself to the slippery dunes. If the Sand walker needs to make an abrupt stop, the large tail flicks around in order to run a thorny protrusion on its back into the rock/sand to slow down.

[monotony]

494209

Artist: monotony

Concept: Vignerian Pig
The 'Vignerian Pig' frequently appears in the southern vignerian desert and surrounding lowlands. It is the laughing-stock of the whole 4th quarters continent for it's silly walking style.
Evolution had it that the pig's appearance and whole body changed throughout the time to adapt to its surroundings local vegetation.
The Vignerian Pig's bellyfur is long and grassygreen and it's legs resemble the numerus orig-sticks. Rolling on the back when the sacaree-eagle is on the prowl it is completely safe from the predator with weak sight.
The downside of this safety is obviously the deformation of the pig's legs and feet causing it to walk like noone would want to walk...

[meganite]

REJECTED - NOT IN THE POLL
Reason: Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)

494317

Artist: Meganite

Concept: Wall-walker
The wall-walker lives on cliffs. It uses its four legs to scamper along small cliff ledges, running swiftly from place to place, somehow not losing its balance. If threatened, it hugs tightly against the wall, using the spikes along its top ridge to anchor itself to the cliff face. To hunt, it also uses its long legs as a trap, holding prey still so it can sink the long fangs on its underside into it.

[ArtAdonis]

http://www.artadonis.com/Uploads/COW/Strange_Walker_08.jpg

Artist: ArtAdonis

Concept:GulchiousGorgus
GulchiousGorgus is believed to have originated from a scientific catastrophe on the research outpost of Omegatron Simga. Moving awkwardly about its environment with only the sense of touch, it navigates using its trunk in search of blood plasma to feed its insatiable appetite. This creatures aggressive mouth continuously snaps and pulsates creating the appearance of two separate conscious entities as it pulls against the trunk. Gulchious spends most of its time feeding at night and sleeping underground during the day.

[thirdeye]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/thirdeye/cow_walker_fnished.jpg

Artist: thirdeye

Concept: Desert Crawler
Destert crawler is on of the largest (8 meters height, around 16 head to tail) inhabitants of the planet Baoofhra V in the Baoofhra constelation. Discovered by the second mining expedition that came to this planet. Further information at this point consist mostly of assumptions. It probably feeds on the planet's common minerals. Rumor says that this creature can reach quite high speeds when fleeing from danger. It's hard to belive though, taking the fact that it moves using it's large hammer like limbs to drag the rest of it's heavy body. Leaving behind a track which cannot be overlooked.

[jswflomp]

REJECTED - NOT IN THE POLL
Reason: Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp321/jswflomp/COW127smaller.jpg

Artist: Jswflomp

Concept: Bahgrilla
The Bahgrilla was discovered in an alternate Africa by a Spanish explorer.
For this one consider a genetic animal somewhere between a gorilla and a bat. Think of the big shaggy arms of a silver back gorilla and the connective points of a Bat. A bats wings connect along its entire body, so does the skin and fir of this creature. Very stretchy skin, think of a cat. Very Flexible, can walk
on its front 2, back 2, or all 4 legs, can run on all 4 or the top 2 legs. I included the skeletal views of the 3 poses. This would be fun to play around with, its about 3 to 4.5 feet tall.

[Sturnus]

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa297/sturnus/COW-127.jpg

Artist: Sturnus

Concept: The White Back Crab


The White Back Crabs can be found in the Indo-Pacific region, adults can reach up to 1m meter in height and weigh about 50 kilograms,
even though they weigh so much they are able to move incredibly fast thanks to tree pairs of legs. The crab has also been seen using
his two pairs of claws to help him climb high surfaces.

[OTTA]

REJECTED - NOT IN THE POLL
Reason: Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)

Artist: OTTA

Concept: OCTAPOLODON


description: This mollusk creature are the most revolution of mollusk species to live on ground. This 8-legs creature walk by using it's main shell 4 legs,work in a pair,Upper ones and Lower ones. When the upper move backward, The lower move forward, So it's like the way of rowed boat can move. The other 4 legs adapt to be a muscular tough whips,Sometime it uses like hands and arms, The 2 upper whips is round clear shape but the 2 lower whips shape like a hand at the end.It can increase their speed when hunting by using all "arm" whips as a leg too.

"You can run but you can't hide....
...But you may die before you can hide
...How fast can you run?" .... The old journey log with no name...

[scorge]

Artist: Scorge

Concept: Kickapuss
Great wanderers of the swamps, why are you there?
What is your purpose,
Why do you raise my hair?

Your walk I've watched
so strange and serene.
How can anything move like that
it must be obscene!

Well off I go
to mind my own business
Good luck with your weirdness
I can't believe I'm a witness!

[Fozzybar]

New round is up:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=139679

[meganite]

OH NO! I didn't make it :nohope:

Thanks for keeping me in line... I was definitely too rushed, and spent way too much time on that background for how crappy it turned out :er: Maybe I need to go back to the drawing board with my rendering techniques :\ Um, and I need to spend longer on my pieces, definitely.

I voted for schwager because I thought his concept was the most unique, though peg came really close.

[Windfalcon]

I felt all the entries were extremely well-done, but I voted for Schwager's not only because of the high quality of his work, but also because his entry is one of the most unique in terms of being a 'strange walker.' I just love the motion and inertia the creature has, bouncing forward on those legs.

Others I really liked:
Stevethebunny, I love the colors and light! I really enjoyed the paint-like texture. Did you use Painter?

Vorace: I'm a sucker for textures and jewel-like protrusions. The skin on your creature is really smooth, yet not flat.

Paul Kang: You can really tell this creature is huge from the atmospheric lightness of the opposite legs. Very nice effect with the mouth looking like the broken branch of a tree.

Peg: Such movement! I can see that tail whipping around quite fast on this one.

Scorge: I don't know what I like more: the texture of its skin, or the expression on its face! Very dimensional, and your colors work together very well.

[Vorace]

voted J_90, liked the illustration. also, Liked a lot the simple style of Wittmann and the really original concept of windfalcon

Errrh a bit unhappy with my entry, rushed it :(

[OTTA]

I've no execute for being rejected, Good job Fozzybar. I didn't finish it :D

I vote for Schawager Nice concept & Good illustrate.

Stevethebunny : Good rendering, I like you design But it's walk style don't stranged enough :)
schawager : Good design & concept I like the way it moved
J 90 : Nice illustrate, I love your most but i think your walk is not stranged enough
windfalcon : I like your idea, Skated bird. How can you think that! Good job :D
Peg : Good rendering, I like you perspective & your craeature, Looked Wild
Vorace : Good Job! I like your presentation but walking style isn't stranged enough :)
MR Wittman : Your style is quite clear for looking, I like that.
Paul Kang : Don't clear on your concept&detail , But you dog-like creature is looking good.
monotory : Good rendering, Very cute one! I love that :D
Artadonis : Good design & Rendering. I like your creature man!
Third eye : Good creature! I like your walk's style man! but your creature is too common adding some more on details. Good job man!
Sturnus : Good rendering I like your mood. But your creature is too common. It's not stranged enough. But I love your render man!
Scorge : Awesome man! I like your creature and it's face, I can express it's Feeling very good. I love that man!

[kinonato]

Peg, u has a monster/ creture looks strange enought to mee, but all in all the walking style is just nor mal to me, or i din imagine ur way of it been walking, i guess. sorry :P

Scorge, em..... nice?? hehe, i dunno wat to say, but its a strang creature. but walking?? guess it still used legs, with double muscle group motivating i guess.

well everyone here is doing a good job, but not so conceptually coherent i guess.
ok, if u want to ask, well i crack my brain and i din got any idea, so i drop out on this chellenge. dont look down on me please :P, any way its nice to see the people around that have this motivation on doing something.

*Schwager, i like yours, some what leggy tenticles...

[zephyri]

Man, tough call this week.. it was a real toss up for me between Windfalcon's unique walker/skiier, and schwager's bouncey critter. Vorace's rendering is gorgeous as ever, but I was trying to envisage how on earth that really long leg in the centre that protrudes forward would actually move, without leaving the thing teetering off the ground, which was what stopped my vote going automatically to you!

In the end I have to vote for schwager, as his creature feels more complete... like every part of the critter has a definite purpose and the motion in the still picture is brilliant. The decorative horns and spikes on yours Bren (windfalcon) make me wonder why they're there, which detracts from the brilliant idea, otherwise my vote may very well have gone to you.

Great round guys!

[dan j levy]

Ah failed quality check? Poo. :( Well I guess I didn't really spend that long on it... I'll try and be a bit more devoted next challenge.

[shiNIN]

oh my god. I'm a very tiny noob in animation, I did only a few entry for SAW.
this week I will have not much time with my computer. I thought I skip this round, I can't help it.
but schwager's creature is incredibly tempting... I saw it bouncing with its cute legs, it's showy and everything (those boobles could be a pain if they should be happily bouncing too)! thanks to the 3 pictures, it's absolutely clear where are its legs.
my other favs are ArtAdonis' and Peg's (what a graceful, well-presented one) creature.

(when I will be bigger, I'll do COWs too... I'm a lurker in these topics for quite a while. there are wonderful ideas here. thanks for them - they help me much to improve my minimal imagination.)

[scorge]

Went with Schwager. Very nice rendering, and great whimsical feel to the creature. Leg and arm anatomy is a little tricky to read, but overall perfect design for this topic. Awesome job!
Other favorites:
Steve the Bunny: Great colors
Vorace: Pure evilness as always
Peg: Maybe not the best angle, but really different and unique compared to your other stuff
Artadonis: Very cool musculature and swithcheroo on the mouth and pooper. Love it!
Thirdeye: Close second. Texture and rendering style are excellent.

[HareTrinity]

I wanted to take part in this one, but didn't really have the time/skill to put my idea into art-form... Ah well. Summary!

stevethebunny: Cute face, but the description doesn't seem very likely, and neither does the exo-to-endoskeleton transfer... Still, he is very cute.

dan j levy: One of my favourites for creature-concept, but I relate with the mods that you didn't define it enough, especially its face. Still, this would make a cute puppet! And the description's snazzy.

schwager: I love this thing, though the description's not too subtle in hints for the animators! Ha, it's a vote-winner for sure, gets mine!

J 90: Why doesn't this sink into the sand? Arranging the legs like that (2 pairs of 3, but front and back instead of left and right) is an interesting idea, but if you wanted it on something big maybe it would have been better off aquatic, or at least on very solid land...

Windfalcon: It's cute, but I'm not sure this counts as walking... Plus I'm sure the skis could look more natural. There's no real point for them to point forwards instead of curling under.

Vorace: It's a Final Fantasy summon! Very epic, but I don't really get the feeling that it would look like anything other than a camel with an extra pair of legs whilst walking...

ijacobs9: Aww, keep up the practice!

Mr.Wittman: Too humanoid for my liking, sorry...

Paul Kang: Description's a very original idea, even in relation to elementals, and definitely a different take on the topic. However, the image lets you down a bit, at a glance it looks like just a biomech wolf. A background or possibly colour could have made this my favourite.

peg: Grr, action pose! Looks snazzy, but it would be nice if the description seemed to be describing the same creature, plus I'd like to be able to see more of the creature's face (lack of eyes can rock). Maybe draw 2 critters in a scene like this next time?

monotony: Haha, look at the little noob. The pic makes me smile but I can't really imagine it'd walk much different from any other pig, maybe just with its legs in casts (and pigs kinda strut anyway).

meganite: An original critter that makes me think of a hash brown with legs? It's hard to understand how, exactly, they scuttle or hunt... Or eat... Maybe draw a group next time you do a surreal critter like this?

ArtAdonis: Aw, that's cute! But why the spike-butt? Or the dung... And again, doesn't look like it's the walking that sets it apart! If there's a "strange hunter/gather" topic this would do well.

thirdeye: Ooh, an elemental-thing. Looks more like it crawls than walks though... And if it's huge, why is its head up so high? Maybe a low gravity planet... Ah well.

jswflomp: Bunny-eared gibbon! No, wait... Ape bat? Fair enough. Generally COW is after more than a straight animal-mix though. Keep up the effort!

Sturnus: Looks like an unlikely crab... Cute, but not really very crab-like... And again why it's not sinking confuses me... It's cute, but would it really move very differently from other invertebrates with similar limb arrangements?

OTTA: A-ha, someone's trying to appeal to the gif-animator crowd, hm? Nice try, but more of a creature than a tentacle-skull would have been nice.

scorge: Bunny-eared boga! Or not? Either way, I just wanna put a saddle on it! Very cute, also looks like a decent puppet (if failing George Lucas creature).

[scorge]

Haretrinity: I'm convinced that you are either a moderator in disguise, gal or guy with bigger balls than anyone here in a long time, or an evil genius. Whatever the case may be, I really appreciate your brutal and very humorous submissions to the COW every week. Ahem, now how about some work? Can't throw around all those comments without something to back them up. This is after all a two way street. Looking forward to it.:devil::wink:

[Timmy the Turtle]

J 90, I voted yours! great piece! I can see it move already! One weird thing though, it's feet are kinda sharp, wouldn't the creature sink into the sand?...

[The_Macedonian]

I voted for Schwager cuz that's one very unique creature

[HareTrinity]

Haretrinity: I'm convinced that you are either a moderator in disguise, gal or guy with bigger balls than anyone here in a long time, or an evil genius. Whatever the case may be, I really appreciate your brutal and very humorous submissions to the COW every week. Ahem, now how about some work? Can't throw around all those comments without something to back them up. This is after all a two way street. Looking forward to it.:devil::wink:

Brutal? Really?

I try to be honest but encouraging, it's not like I dislike any of the art/ideas here, but I try to give the reason I didn't vote along with what I like about it.

"Puppet" isn't meant as a brutal comment, but that would make an AWESOME string puppet!

I've got a cartoony style that I'm working on refining, slowly. Entered 2 so far (catapult and shave it), and though I didn't get rejected in either case I'd like to enter something better next time, especially in terms of digital colouring. But I will enter again, feel free to comment then!

EDIT: This said, re-reading I guess I could come off pretty harsh sometimes... It's not meant like that though (sorry if that ruins my ballsy/evil image).

[J]

Haretrinity J 90: Why doesn't this sink into the sand? Arranging the legs like that (2 pairs of 3, but front and back instead of left and right) is an interesting idea, but if you wanted it on something big maybe it would have been better off aquatic, or at least on very solid land...
and
Timmy the Turtle - One weird thing though, it's feet are kinda sharp, wouldn't the creature sink into the sand?...

Fair question, but something I have thought about.
I have to ask why does a camel not sink into sand? or a giraffe? To a certain degree most of these creatures would and mine is no exception. When anything stands on dry sand it sinks to a point where there is enough friction to stop it from sinking any more. We're not talking up to its neck in sand or anything close to that. I would think that my creature could sink up to a foot at times, but that wouldn't be a major problem. I think pointy legs would actually help to walk up and down dunes. It uses the "sink" to its advantage and uses the sand around its leg to push against.
That's my thought process, what do you think?

[HareTrinity]

and


Fair question, but something I have thought about.
I have to ask why does a camel not sink into sand? or a giraffe? To a certain degree most of these creatures would and mine is no exception. When anything stands on dry sand it sinks to a point where there is enough friction to stop it from sinking any more. We're not talking up to its neck in sand or anything close to that. I would think that my creature could sink up to a foot at times, but that wouldn't be a major problem. I think pointy legs would actually help to walk up and down dunes. It uses the "sink" to its advantage and uses the sand around its leg to push against.
That's my thought process, what do you think?

Camels have specially adapted hooves in order to be able to walk on sand without sinking. I think this picture (http://www.nma.gov.au/shared/libraries/images/events_and_bookings_images/mike_smith_signs_of_a_lost_world/expedition_pics/camel_foot_w480/files/19369/Foot_2_w480.jpg) helps to show that?

Although the foot tips are flat on your creature, its spike-shaped limbs make me doubtful, combined with the shear size of the critter.

I suppose the said spikes could help in helping to reduce the effort needed to lift its limbs up, and I hadn't really looked at it that way, though I suppose even in a desert-like area there's a limit to how far it would go down.

And giraffes live in the savanna, grasslands and so on.

Mostly it's the size combined with the legs and terrain. Otherwise it's all good and down to just my personal preference which made me pick Schwager (little, skipping, bobbly creature makes me smile, though yours had the cuter face).

To be honest, I didn't think anyone would really read my comments, so the reaction this time is a surprise! Again, I'm sorry if I came off discouraging or uninterested.

But hey, your critter was the first to be animated, and quite nicely at that!

[Timmy the Turtle]

Fair question, but something I have thought about.
I have to ask why does a camel not sink into sand? or a giraffe? To a certain degree most of these creatures would and mine is no exception. When anything stands on dry sand it sinks to a point where there is enough friction to stop it from sinking any more. We're not talking up to its neck in sand or anything close to that. I would think that my creature could sink up to a foot at times, but that wouldn't be a major problem. I think pointy legs would actually help to walk up and down dunes. It uses the "sink" to its advantage and uses the sand around its leg to push against.
That's my thought process, what do you think?

Yes, good point! :) It's acutaly a good choice of shape, now that I think about it :)

[schwager]

Hello and apologies for the late reply.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all who voted and commented on this round... very much appreciated!

Still can't quite believe I won... and being voted the winner among and by the incredibly talented people around here, this really means a lot ot me. So thank you again!

:teeth:

Cheers,
Christian

[DJ Moon Boots]

owite.. newbie here, so im just workin everything out.. seems purty bad ass! expect to see some pics up soon.. i hope =) x