Chow 139 :: VOTING :: Jiao-Long, Velociraptor

[daestwen]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 139=-
-=JIAO-LONG, VELOCIRAPTOR=-

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http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg
NOT SURE ABOUT THE GUIDELINES? CLICK HERE! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=117390)
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ROUND #139 :: JIAO-LONG, VELOCIRAPTOR

DESCRIPTION

Jiao-Long is no ordinary pet. Found deep in the jungles of a far off land, the all-powerful Emperor had the great beast brought to the Forbidden City as both a prize for China, and as a symbol of greatness to his people.

Jiao-Long is a velociraptor, a vicious predator made half-tame by numerous handlers and a life-time of pampering. He is the last of his kind - a bizarre accident - somehow millions of years from where science expected him to be. He is fed only the freshest food, and the rarest - baboons, tigers, elephant, brought from all over the world. He has presents lavished upon him both by the Emperor himself, as well as all who wish to please the emperor. Though he has been known to kill handlers when he is displeased, he shows a remarkable amount of intelligence and cunning, and the Emperor lists him among his 'most cherished advisers'. Whether this is true, remains to be seen.

He is, however, revered at almost an iconic status - seen as being kin to the dragons of legend and the ultimate symbol of the Ming Dynasty's Power.


Notes on this round:

- A velociraptor
- Ancient China (Think Ming Dynasty, but feel free to fiddle with this as much as you want)
- This is NOT a COW - this is a CHOW. Make sure he has personality!

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ACCEPTANCE TO POLL WILL BE BASED ON THREE CRITERIA:
1: DID THE ARTIST FOLLOW THE BRIEF? (allowance for creative takes will be made).
2: IS THE PIECE ARTISTICALLY SOUND? (Is the illustration "finished?" - did the artist pay attention to anatomy, perspective, other fundamentals?).
3: IS THIS ILLUSTRATION THE BEST ONE?

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SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY:
1: You must submit ONE full sized image.
2: Make sure your name and CHOW # are EASILY READABLE on your entry.
3: Use the Standard format (Below);

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC
:right: SAVE YOUR FILE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT:
Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oregano.jpg"

THE REST IS EASY:
1: No comments before poll is set. They WILL be deleted with utmost malice and petty grumbling. >:{
2: Sit back and enjoy the show. BYOPC (Bring your own popcorn)
3: Good luck to all.

[daestwen]

Please review these helpful reminders if you have not done so already.

:right:ON GETTING TO POLL (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1891823&postcount=15)
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:right:NEW ROUND RULE: WIPS PLEASE! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1910999&postcount=27)
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:right:SUBMISSION FORMAT REMINDER (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1911002&postcount=28)


PLEASE NOTE REVISED DEADLINE:
SUNDAY 14, 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5)

[Alex Boy]

My final image, thanks for looking!

[Artofinca]

Meh final

[zimfin]

Great challenge. Thanks.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee272/zimfin/chow139_zimfin.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee272/zimfin/Chow139_wips_zimfin.jpg

[Clochette]

Final and wip. :)

[Moski]

thank you everyone's comment, while im drawing !
539897
539917

[kelly x]

Hi and this was fun, whew!!

[ozzymaru]

Ok so I thought I wouldn't finish this week but decided to go for it anyway.
Here's the final sleazy scheming slimy politician Jiao Long!
Great work so far by everybody. All the best everyone.

540143
540150

[Kostja]

Halli Hallo Everyone.

It was alot of fun designing this CHOW.
Dont like the fact that the raptor more and more turns out to be a chicken, so I wanted to keep the base of him a little bit more old school reptilian.
The chicken\turkey part I left for his colour Theme and added some feathers to his clothes so he reminds more of a bird.
The funny thing about this chow for me was, that the appearence of a turkey always has something arrogant.
The movement his Headgestures, and his funny little Redskin hanging from his peak...
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/78/chow139kostjawipin0.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chow139kostjawipin0.jpg)
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/chow139kostjawipin0.jpg/1/w800.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img228/chow139kostjawipin0.jpg/1/)

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1413/chow139kostjaur4.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chow139kostjaur4.jpg)
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/chow139kostjaur4.jpg/1/w800.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img218/chow139kostjaur4.jpg/1/)

have a nice rest-weekend everyone.

[hungryan]

540628
540408
Original woodcut about Jiao Long! Rare piece. :)
This style is in fact the closest to what I used to study, before trying to venture into digipainting. Had fun with it.

[MJ_Alcazar]

My Final. Dedicated to a friend that passed this week. May he rest in peace.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/chow139_mj_alcazar.jpg

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0013-5.jpghttp://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0014-3-1.jpghttp://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0008-2-1.jpg

[Tommoy]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/COW139s1-1.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/COW139DDk-1.jpg

[k a y a]

My final and wips:

[Claudio Grassi]

It is rumored that the emperor would consult Jiao Long on matters concerning his empire with simple yes, and no questions.. The "dragon" was then taken by his servants to stroll thru the royal gardens to allow him to ponder the problem. Jiao-Long was endowed with a bellowing voice, both terrifying and fantastic. It is said, that within three days time from the question, Jiao-Long would reply in an inequivocable manner. If the emperor heard Jiao-Long's song in the hour of the Dragon, he knew it meant an affirmative reply, however, if the "dragon's" song was heard in the hour of the rooster, it meant a negative one.
Pictured here with one of "The eight Dragon Masters", his personal servants and trainers, Jiao-Long sings to the valley below.

Sorry I didn't have time to color the piece. Hope it's ok like this.

540857

And Wips....
540858

[MarkDN]

540867

DETAILS -> http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=540879&d=1229303814

540872

[Venger]

Aaargh!, well I messed that up!
Forgot to save it full before I made it into a (150dpi) jpg image - now it's all I have :(
(luckily I have earlier work to take WIP from)

- Since he can't speak he communicates with bells - each bell has a different word on it - eat, death, life etc.
Sadly The Emperor usually asks about a prisoners fate, it's sealed with the ring of a bell!

540915
540916

[Adam Schumpert]

Well I wasn't sure if I was going to do this one or not, and now I'm not really sure I followed the true spirit of the brief. Still even if this doesn't make it to the voting I thought I would post it anyway. :teeth:

540908
540909
Ok so not exactly WIPs but I couldn't just leave the story there. :bashful:

I know that Jiao-Long is supposed to be a barely tame predator, but in my defense even bears, and lions and such like to play every once in awhile. :confident

And for a predator who sees humans as potential meals maybe a pug would be just a neat friend? ok... so yeah probably not but ah well.

Now for those WIPs
540910

Good luck to everyone.

Adam

[capnpyro]

Here's my entry!

I like the idea of a raptor being used as a domesticated animal, he has a belled collar around his neck so when he's tromping through the hallways the service staff know to make themselves scarce.

http://tylerendicott.com/chow139_capnpyro.jpg

http://tylerendicott.com/chow139_capnpyrowip.jpg

[daestwen]

NO ENTRIES PAST THIS POINT.

Thank you!

[daestwen]

Only one cut today:

kelly: Thanks for your hard work and support! However, your image did not make the 3/4's rule, which states that you need to see at least 3/4's of the character, so I didn't take it to poll today. Sorry!

[matias]

Doh! I Flunked out! Great round otherwise guys! I voted for Venger, Clochete and Kostja.
Venger: I loved that guy! I thought he was really well done, his bling fit him really nicely and I really liked the idea of having him on a perch like that, maybe in the corner of the emporers court, watching everything and being ready to offer his sage advice!! he's got real cunning behind those eye!
Clochete: Great style, nailed the ancient chinese scroll while still adding alot of your own twist not just carbon copying a style, impressive!
Kostja: I really liked his face Kostja, really well done, his hat really worked as well, I like the idea. That being said I thought the background was pretty rushed along with his robe, I think it detracts from the character, I would have prefered him even on a blank background so you could concentrate on his body a bit more, just to bring it up to the good standard that the face is at.
Cheers guys!
Matias

[Wiggers]

Voted for Clochete, Venger and KuJu

[Chate Noire]

Voted for MarkDN for a raptor with real personality, and for Venger for outstanding design and rendering. Well done. This was a really tough CHOW.

[ghoulio]

Hey guys ´n girls...

I failed to make this in time, but I did have some fun with it though.
Cool entries from everybody, great job...

I voted for MarkDN and Venger...the firt for his lazy spoiled attitude and the second, cause it has some real royalty, emperial look...

Cya

[Shydrow]

Artofinca - I really love the style you used and worked on this. Plus i feel like the character actually feels alive.

[panic_attack]

my vote goes to MOSKI

great lightings, great job all around.

sorry for my english :)

[Daniela Blanco]

Sadliy I couldn't finish it in time...............but it doesn't metter.....because I had fun doing it..........and seeing all the WIPs from everybody......it was just great....
I couldn't vote for just 1......it was impossible.....so I gave me a maximum of 3 votes......and this are:

MarkDN: for the personality of character.....and great mood....
Hungryan: for the paint style...........really creative and unique....
Moski: the mood of the scene is perfect.......... it have a great touch of colors and light......

Congrats for all.........there are really nice works there!

[AndreRuben]

Auh, I finished my piece right now but the poll was already up..

nice jobs on the velociraptors!

Moski i guess your raptor is the only one that seems not to fit the real structure of it, it seems more like a camel or so.. but i love the paint job and his beard :D

[The_Macedonian]

I voted for Zimfin and Venger

[daestwen]

Auh, I finished my piece right now but the poll was already up..


You're welcome to post it in the Revisit and Revision thread! We'd still like to see it!

[zimfin]

It was a hard choice, but I went for 2 in the end. MarkDN and Venger who produced excellent pieces. Well done!

The_Macedonian: Thanks for my vote. I appreciate that!

[mayhemunited]

My vote this week had to go to Jiao-long. Excellent utilization of colour.

[kelly x]

dash, that's ok my as I said this is my first and I did not read the rule properly... I had fun and these pieces all turned out amazing I think this one boosted the imagination in general for all!! KF

[MarkDN]

Alex Boy – Hehe, there's plenty of character here, and a simple but effective design. The character expressed here is totally whacky and I'm not quite sure it fits how I see the theme. Maybe this is Jaio-Long's errant pot-head brother.

Artofinca - This is really nice in parts though it's let down by a background that looks like an afterthought and a wobbly attendant. It might look a lot more convincing without the attendant, cropped close to Jiao-Long. His head is really good, as are the cloths, although both the cloths and pose are quite effeminate. For this reason my mind wants to insert an alternate caption – something about a dude asking for an anthro-raptor's hand in marriage.

Still, I'd love to see what you could do in this style with more time.

Zinfin – there are some really nice details here – you've put in a lot of work and covered everything really nicely. Jiao-Long's feathers, the tree and the architectural details are nice and crisp. There are couple of things that let this down for me, however. Artistically, it's the perspective.

There's nothing that suggests to me that the path is anything other than straight and of an equal width along it's length. However; All horizontal parallel lines should converge (at a vanishing point) on the horizon. The lines of the path converge at a point somewhere near the top of the composition where as the horizon appears to be around the Emperor's eye level, which is considerably lower than this. This breaks the sense of depth that would otherwise be there with accurate perspective.

The major CHOW crit, however, is that although I love your Jiao-Long's plumage, he looks to me more like a hungry dog than an expressive character.

Clochette – Love the style, and texture. It's a really nice illustration. The attendant is a really nice touch. This could really work as part of an illustrated story book.

Moski – Purdy painting, really nice armour and environment. He looks a little dazed to me – a bit more like a sphynx than a velociraptor. Also, putting him in a cave detracts from the atmosphere of the described theme, as I saw it, with the Forbidden City, etc. Still, I really do like your painting manner.

Kelly x – It seems like you're hinting at something interesting but the design is really hard to make out. I see feathers. I kinda see armour. I see eyes. But mostly I see girl and swirly colours. You had fun with this, didn't you? ;)

Ozzymaru – in the WIP thread I was liking the sense of character and thought the setting the setting and cloths were really groovy but hated the details. When I saw it reduced in size I actually though “whoah, that's really cool”, so it seems the design is actually works better than I'd thought. I still don't like the details but it has bundles of character and cracks me up so overall I like it lots.

Kostja – I like the cloths – you've really worked out how to make the robes fit a velociraptor! I think I preferred your first pre-detailed background WIP for both the background itself and the lighting. The pose has some character although I'd need more of a description to explain to me why the Emperor's advisor is wandering around in the mountains (it doesn't convey to me the character described).

Hungryan – Wow, a wood-block print. That must have been a labour of love! It's radiant, like a stained glass window. I love the colours and the detailing around the bust. With the head, hands, feet and tail it feels like how I'd want a traditional Chinese dragon illustration to look however the body lacks the grace and flow of a dragon, which I feel Jiao-Long should also have. Still, that's awesomely good work.

MJ Alcazar – love the plumage. That's quite a curiously sweet yet threatening expression your Jiao's got going on there! Your raptor is really nicely drawn, and the rocks are nice too. The the box he's standing on and the attendant are a little on the wobbly side.

Condolences on your friend, I'm sure he'd be honoured with your illustration.

Tommy – Hehehe yeah, that's Jiao-Long, for sure. Anatomically, it says 'T-Rex' more than 'velociraptor' to me and the bling and background aren't definitely 'Ming', but the pose and character are spot on.

Kaya – Woo, that looks gorgeous. Really nice painterly manner, albeit in black and white. Good, solid composition, but for me it doesn't particularly say 'Jiao-Long' as described in the brief (the same silhouette could be used for a native American Indian witch-doctor galimimus).

KuGu – Wwharh, kick ass. That's one menacing imperial duo. Lots of character here, and it's all menace.

Me – focused a lot on character, would have liked to have done more work with costume, and a more interesting background and atmosphere.

Venger – Dude, this rocks. It looks stunning both as a thumbnail and full size. So yeah, it works all round for me. I'm just sorry we don't get to see your finished version.

Adam Schumpert – there's something strange happening here – your WIP drawings are excellent and have bundles of character, but it looks like you completely loose the plot when it comes to CGing them. Those lil cartoons are great and your first character wips are none too shoddy either, but the compositions for your final are really awkward, as is the painting technique. Seems like you could've done 10x better. What's going on?

Capnpyro – Heheh, nice idea. Like a gigantic high risk labrador.

[Venger]

My vote this week had to go to Jiao-long. Excellent utilization of colour.

They're all Jiao-long, that's the name of the character :D

MarkDN This is the finished version, It's just a small jpg now (rather than a 300dpi multilayered document :()

[ShockWave]

I voted for Artofinca and MarkDN because I think they were the only ones who portrayed their characters with a "remarkable amount of intelligence."

[a la bapsi]

my votes went to venger, hungryan, kugu, and kaya.
you guys all did so well this week! great job. :D

[Adam Schumpert]

Adam Schumpert – there's something strange happening here – your WIP drawings are excellent and have bundles of character, but it looks like you completely loose the plot when it comes to CGing them. Those lil cartoons are great and your first character wips are none too shoddy either, but the compositions for your final are really awkward, as is the painting technique. Seems like you could've done 10x better. What's going on?



I agree completely MarkDN, I totally dropped the ball on this one. As it goes mainly there are two reasons for the discrepancy between my wips/cartoons and my final. First I really waited until the last min to work on this CHOW. I had a hard time getting inspired. Secondly I was trying to go for a different painting style than I had been using, and ended up mixing up several bad ones :S (I'm still really new to the digital painting. I've only had a tablet for about a month. So, I'm still playing around a lot.) Still in the end there isn't an excuse. I was actually commenting to a friend today about how I let myself down with this CHOW by not pushing myself to do better. I actually learned more from working on the comic strip than the painting. Still, I did actually have a lot of fun working on this character. If I find time I'll revisit this one. :) Thank you very much for the crit. I'll do better next time, I promise.

[hungryan]

Thanks to all the guys/gals who voted for me, I didn't think that my printmaker style, which I used to do for years will work so well for some of you. It feels so good. My girlfriend always tells me that I should do more of that stuff, and I didn't believe her! :)
I experimented this look in this CHOW, didn't try it digitally before, if I had done this as a print traditionally, I'd spend a month with it, it'd need 3-4 blocks at least fully cut.
Adam Schumpert: I agree with MarkDN, your sketches are so much better than the actual painting! I love the little doggy, it's very cute! And it's good to see someone learning comic stripping, and narration. Sorry for not voting for you, you'd have deserved it!

[kelly x]

how many people can I vote for???? and Markdn, yes I had fun = next time I'll read the instructions!

[daestwen]

kelly: As many as you want, it's a multiple vote :P

[kischi]

I voted for MarkDN and Venger!
MarkDN: I like yours most because it's not just a standart raptor out of the book. And I like the narcissisticly feel he radiates.
Venger: Well he is more the standart raptor version but he is dresst up well and very well made.The background is doing the rest.

MOSKI I liked the wip of the walking raptor very much also the color and mood in the final pice is very good, it's a pity that the resting position make him look like a quadruped and not like a biped.
Cheers

[kelly x]

had to vote for four...
MarkND and Tommoy, the pieces are well done and the attitude is really why.
Venger = Iconic genius in this piece!! the color's and stature.
Clochette, The style, energy and colors = you had me in the progress shots!!

[kelly x]

Oh yeah, I also voted for Zinfin, the gizzards made me roar!! I like the perspective, different.

[HareTrinity]

Trying to limit myself to 5 votes. And failing...

Alex Boy: Cute, but where are his nostrils? It's nice and colourful, and a matching background would have been nice, but I was more interested in realism in this round...

Artofinca: I like the use of art style used at the time, but that looks like a guy in a costume...

Zimfin: Gorgeous, colourful and looks like you put effort into background accuracy too! A bit more happening would have been nice (more people or some signs of what the meat is maybe) but I think all the effort put into the background (woah, path detail) definitely makes this one of my favourites!
--- Voted ---

Admittedly I liked your original sketch too, but it does look like a pic from Jurassic Park, whereas your finished product looks much more original.

Clochette: Very nice use of colours and style here, and I like the human's obvious submissive role. A bit more realism in the character's structure (I know ancient depictions of animals had a huge variety of accuracy, but the lack of pelvis bone strikes me as something out of place). Still, I particularly like that he appears to be decorated (scarf and possibly painted) in China's lucky colour.

Moski: It's gorgeous. I love the armour detail, and his depiction as maybe still wild-at-heart, with more like a valley to sleep in rather than a courtyard. The facial hair is an interesting and original touch. My main problems are that the pose doesn't look right for such a hip-heavy creature (his shoulders are very high up) and that the tail is somewhat forgotten. Can't deny the wonderful attention to detail on the face though, you must have a lot of patience!

Kelly_X: An interesting take, but I can't really see much of the character? What I can see looks very humanoid...

Ozzymaru: He's cute, but I do favour realism. Also, something about where the legs enter the water seems off, like you were using 2 different art styles? Also, since you used a lighter style, it's strange you chose such dark colours... Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it stand out less.

Kostja: Interesting dino colour scheme! A bit more definition on the lines would have been nice though (you've stopped about the same place I do when I'm trying to colour something, so I'm not sure exactly what comes next but I know it makes the objects more clear). Also, he looks like he has a little bit of underbite? The anatomy looks a little off, but then he also has the clothes that appear to be weighing him down, which is probably quite accurate for a light-build predator dressed up as important! So I like it, I do, but it looks only partially finished, and I'm not sure about the stick. It is a shame other people didn't have the same take on his clothing though, I think that really works.

Hungryan: Is your name meant to be the pun I'm reading at the moment? It's really throwing my concentration... But anyway! I'm going to say it's too humanoid for my liking, but that's clearly your intention. I think that clashes somewhat with the dragon-like features (e.g. exposed claws, which indicate a high rank for this dude) but maybe that too was your intent, that this dinosaur was considered a human/dragon cross, thus the emphasis of his importance. Mostly I'm in awe of the amount of distinct line detail there. Makes the smoke look a little out of place, but it's still impressive!

MJ_Alcazar: The picture's lovely and while I suspect digital colouring could have come out better (and maybe some clearing of scanner noise if that is an unintentional dark smudge in the middle), the lineart and pose are great and I've been sure I was going to vote for this since I first saw it. Sorry to hear about your friend.
--- Voted ---

Tommoy: Aww, pudgy and pampered! Shame we can't see more of his face (especially eyes) though. Again, I was looking for realism in this round, but the style works very well apart from background behind the cushions. Also, the nearest foot looks a little too flat/wide... It's still a good piece, it would have just been nice to see the detail of the cushions, carpet and belly put into the rest of the picture.

K a y a: Ooh, black and white. Also, like Moski's, the feeling that he's been dressed up and then let loose, a wild animal in a strange environment. I like the concept, but I feel that he looks quite underfed? And the face also looks... Somewhat off... I do like the very basic take on his accessories however. Personally, I wouldn't want to try to put some of the other artist's clothing onto a pet rabbit, ferret or cat, let alone a wild-caught prehistoric predator!

KuGu: I find the lack of feathers and accessories rather disappointing (admittedly cloth might be ripped up, but you think they'd try a few metal bands)... However, I like what he is wearing, the art style, the original take on giving him a frog-like air pouch under his chin, the basic but atmospheric background and how you managed to put detail on both his face and his depicted 'Dragon Master'. Not to mention the little story, it's not too long and adds to the picture. Jiao-Long's chest seems a little shallow, but that's minor, the pic's great.
--- Voted ---

MarkDN: I laughed to see that one of his little harem hens got into the final piece, and oh my! A little cross-species reproduction going on there! Wouldn't be advised based on size difference, but it's damn cute. Despite the overall cartoony attitude and the lack of detail on the tail and in general the feathers, it's a great piece with a lot of character.
--- Voted ---

Venger: I'm not sure your spiky take on this critter's supported, but it does look very cool. And the feathers could have been gelled up at any rate! The texture and detail are good, and the ambiguous background works (I'm not sure how high up he's meant to be, but this doesn't bother me). His helmet with the dragon antlers is especially awesome.
--- Voted ---

Adam Schumpert: It's like front half of a little Chinese dragon! The background seems rushed, but I love the additional comic panels too! The comic style is consistant and colourful and... Yeah, I've fallen for this piece very quickly.
--- Voted ---

Capnpyro: I always find this style confusing, so sorry if what I say is irrelevant... However, the left arm looks oddly position, and he appears to have a bit missing from his right foot? And the neck looks quite strained to reach that position, even though the rest of his body appears relaxed. He's also a tad big and I doubt they'd have been able to stick their tongues out like that... I don't understand what the girl's doing there, but the teddy-panda-bear is a nice touch. Maybe a bit more colour would have helped this picture (I know green is a classic lizard colour, but even the green ones tend to have patterns). Something about him keeps making me think I'm looking at a robotic dinosaur...

6 votes total. Oops.

Great job all!

[Nightblue]

Voted for Venger and Clochette because your takes on the character fits my understanding of Jiaolong. It's in no way an ordinary pet, rather a godly beast that bestows power to the chosen one, true "son of the heavens".

Venger - your depiction is very kingly, and the bell concept is fresh. I love the use of your colors and traditional Chinese symbols.

Clochette - I love the storybook look of your illustration. The dragon has an out of this world feel. It works out very well as a western take on the eastern legend.

I was a bit taken aback by how close to dinosaurs almost all the entries are. I guess the point is to have one's own flavor on the character, but Chinese dragons have snake bodies rather than dinosaur bodies, and their appearances are almost always majestic and highly dignified, even the evil ones are proud. Good round otherwise, on a fresh yet challenging topic.

[Venger]

Nightblue: the reason they look like dinosaurs is because that was the brief: see below.

ROUND #139 :: JIAO-LONG, VELOCIRAPTOR

Jiao-Long is no ordinary pet. Found deep in the jungles of a far off land, the all-powerful Emperor had the great beast brought to the Forbidden City as both a prize for China, and as a symbol of greatness to his people.

Jiao-Long is a velociraptor, a vicious predator made half-tame by numerous handlers and a life-time of pampering. He is the last of his kind - a bizarre accident - somehow millions of years from where science expected him to be. He is fed only the freshest food, and the rarest - baboons, tigers, elephant, brought from all over the world. He has presents lavished upon him both by the Emperor himself, as well as all who wish to please the emperor. Though he has been known to kill handlers when he is displeased, he shows a remarkable amount of intelligence and cunning, and the Emperor lists him among his 'most cherished advisers'. Whether this is true, remains to be seen.


He is, however, revered at almost an iconic status - seen as being kin to the dragons of legend and the ultimate symbol of the Ming Dynasty's Power.

Here's hoping I got the Chinese symbols right (not sure if the 'water dragon' is how it is written?)

[daestwen]

Yeah, sorry for the confusion on that one... the internet failed me. a_a

[Wiggers]

Well done Des and Happy Christmas to you .

[Venger]

Thanks John, have a brilliant Christmas and New Year yourself.


Oh and thanks to everyone who took part and voted - cheers!