C.O.W. #138 Cannibal Mother and Child! -- VOTING!

[Michael Jaecks]

ROUND #138 VOTING

Topic: Cannibal Mother and Child!!


Deadline for the voting: Monday 13 April 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154067.


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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 and everyone will be able to see who votes for whom. No self-votes.

[Faernen]

Artist: Faernen

Concept: Praying Peabug


Even if they look like peas when they born, the Praying Peabugs rapidly grow up.

When they mature enough, they eventually become too fat to move anymore. In these conditions, finding food is impossible and the creature is doomed to die.

However, the children of this specie offered themselves to their beloved mother as food.
For each one hundred sacrificed newborns, the mother give birth to one thousand, allowing the specie to subsist.

[Reymus]

Artist: Reymus

Concept: Sporecrab


The sporecrab is one of nature's more bizarre animals, the females of the species are the only ones who mature to adulthood. When the mushroom cap on top of their exoskeleton releases thousands of spores, without procreation, which upon landing in soil grow into larvae sporecrabs.

The males mature within days but get no farther than the larval stage and thereafter are eaten by the adult female which then fertilizes the mushroom in order to produce more sporecrabs when the next breeding cycle begins.

[luness]

Artist: luness

Concept: Mala Mala

Ugly? Yes
Dumb? Oh yeah
Here you have some truly silly creatures that never match their breeding season with spring, when food is abundant, so they feed on their own eggs right after they start laying them. Luckily, some eggs slither from their chubby and clumsy fingers and fall around them. These eggs are incubated not by the creature but by the warm nest, made of branches, mud and yes, their mom’s fecal matter. Ewww.

[Pierropod]

Artist: Pierropod

Concept: Sarshadon
The female Sarshadons sometime eat them childs because they know that's good, tender and fresh.
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[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: Jeweled Lyrinx
A slowly dying planet has reduced Lyrinx to predatation of its own species, not just for precious feeding territories but also as a diminishing food supply. Here a mother weeps as she is reduced to eating one of her own children that did not stray far enough from the nest.

[Ironhead]

Artist: Ironhead

Concept: The worm
This is the Mother-worm. She is to fat and slow to eat other creatures.
The little creatures try to get the mothers "milk". So she can it her children like on a table.

[Jerik]

Artist: Jerik

Concept: Arachnidae Primogenitor
One of the many forms of recently discovered critters of the planet Krusk, this arachnid is a creature that abides to a savage way of life. The mother will eat it's young birthed during the harsh winters, one can look upon this as an act of mercy, saving her young from the horrible death the cold brings. Many other insectoids on which this arachnid lives upon willfully freeze to sustain themselves during the winter. The size of a fully grown female is an estimated average, at that of a 5 year old child.

[Crowsrock]

Artist: Crowsrock

Concept: Dread Wolf
The dread wolf is a voracious predator roaming the arid plains of Jakury VII. It preys on everything that gets into its way including its own brood.

[Asettimi]

Artist: ASettimi

Concept: Kinderfänger
Population of this species is low, due to the fact the mother devours its young upon hatching. If days have gone by since last hatching, the mother moves on leaving the unhatched eggs to survive alone. Because of the carnivorous nature of this species, it is known for them to stumble into other nests in search of an easy meal, if nest is unattended, the female will seize nest and wait for unhatched eggs to hatch. However, if a maternal female returns to her nest while a squatter is there, she will fight to the death to protect her offspring, and food.

[zimfin]

Artist: zimfin

Concept: Aerial Cannibalis
These creatures were studied on the planet "Primoria" which is largely volcanic. Observation showed that if the mother's energy levels were too low whilst she floated over dangerous volcanic regions, then she would not be able to maintain height and put herself and her young in danger. In order to "refuel" and gain altitude these mothers were seen to consume one or more of their young.

[Tetrodotoxin]

Artist: Tetrodotoxin

Concept: Cygnus gypsis
While hatching their eggs, the females cannot move away from the nest due to predators searching for these delicious protein sources. They depend on their male partners to hunt for food and feed it to them. Sometimes the males get killed during their search for food or are barred from returning, so the only way to prevent starvation and protect their future offsprings the females decide to eat one of the eggs while still hatching the others.


636942

[David79]

Artist: David79
Concept: zebraworm

in the world of giants worms, is usual to see femal adult to catch and devour is new born! but du the skill of camouflage help, this new born can hide easily from this proginitor, only the strongest survive!

[skullbeast]

Artist: skullbeast

Concept: Potaut2
On the tributary moon Potaut we revisit it's second major life-form. It seems to be some sort of oversized alien tick in form and function. Potaut has what we call a tragic ecosystem. In such hostile an inhospitable place, life-form 2 has flourished for only one reason. Cannibalism. In the dry season there are many electrical fires. Shortly after the land becomes an inferno, there is not much left in its wake other then scorched earth. So in the dry months food is scarce if its even present at all. The Potaut2 has evolved to devour its young when in need of protein in the dry seasons, hence the biannual birthing.

[scorge]

Artist: Scorge

Concept: Gordat
In her youth, she is power, her legs lean and strong, her teats and belly not yet full until she gives the first, but in no way last, birth of her life. Her first instinct is to consume the newborn while it rests in her pouch, its body already a third the size of hers.
You see, in the beginning of a young Gordat's life she births only one offspring, and it is allowed to live. As time goes on and she and her worthless mate, who is only a quarter her size, go into the heavy breeding season, her body begins to swell and she grows fat and lethargic. Her voyages from the nest far and few in between. When the second and third are born, the third is immediately devoured, while the second is allowed to live. Instinct teaches her that one is more than enough, and she cannot waste the precious nutrients and fats offered by these ready to eat meals. As a side effect of her cannibalism, along with her mates increasing but dwindling quality of sperm, her brood becomes smaller in size, but more and more in number. Eventually the madness consumes her blood and instinct, and she eats, and she eats, while her weak mate stands watch.
Occasionally, a lucky youth escapes, and goes on to continue the cycle of bloodletting.

[the rooster]

Artist: the rooster

Concept: pallbearer
the site of infant cannibalism by the pallbearer is rare, this secret fetish is done deep in the secluded jungle, away from others of it's kind for the same reason as a human would

Note: I just got my Wacom today so this is my first official COW, I'm excited for another

[pepps]

Artist: pepps

Concept: the rainar

The rainar is a lonesome creature, living in caves, feeds out of anything, from insects to worms, from mud to her own sons. Doesn´t like to be bothered and the menacing spikes on her back, keep most creatures away.
But their soft jelly body, is delicious to eat, (if properly treated), and it has been hunted for centuries by brave adventureers in search of glory. This forced the rainarts to develop another defensive weapon wich consists in vomiting acid out of their belly. By sucking her children dry, a rainart can induce a raction in her body, wich causes a large quantity of her body acids to be vomited against her enemy.

ps. i´m sorry i´m late for this, i intended to post earlier but my internet died. This is the same file i posted earlier in the wip thread, i just added the name and topic. i don´t expect to see myself in the poll, but it would be nice to =p

[Chuck,mate.]

Artist: Chuck,Mate.

Concept: heliotrope-Trichina hermaphrodite
the heliotrope-Trichina hermaphrodite eats its youngs when damaged or misshapen, as part of its innate survival instinct,
populating the caverns and cliffs of southern Cruddoria with only the finest specimen of its horrific kind.
this sort of "perfectionism" in nature could be found in other species,
yet to a much lesser degree. possesing both male and female genitalia,
the HTC reproduces, then eliminates any weak links in its genetic heritage, thus perfecting the next generetion every time a new.

[Michael Jaecks]

Sorry the poll is a bit late.

No cuts this week.

New round in a few minutes...but first I have to pick a topic. :)

[Michael Jaecks]

new round has begun...

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2204158#post2204158

[Michael Jaecks]

LUNESS: Whoops, dude. My bad.

They gave me access to the panel that lets me change peoples avatars so I can give out people's COW stars, but not the instructions on how to do it properly. PMing yoitisi now....

You may want to change your avatar back to the super cool fish skull. PMing you as well.

SO... according to my records I have to give COW stars to the following people for their recent wins...

luness has 2
SCORGE has his FIRST comin'! (you go boy. I's been waitng to see that happen for sooo long. So happy for you, you deserve it.)
John Bridges gets one for Colossus from Hell
xagbo goes up from two to three after the dragon round...
Mr--Jack: my records show you got one for canopy grazer already and now you are going up to two for the tie in the Beatific Dragon round. Is that right?

Am I missing anyone? (And don't fib, cuz I can check...)

All righty. I'm making a bunch of bunnies with extra stars for future rounds. My jedi powers sense we might have a couple of new Jakkases-in-training with the way these rounds have been going... :)

More soon.

[Crowsrock]

Scorge has my vote.
There are other great works, but this one I liked most. A hell of an ugly critter! Reminded me of a couch potato gobbling chips! :)

[SirJohanna]

Definitely Scorge this round, it's a creepy critter, yet I find it strangely cuddly at the same time. :O

[Anthis]

Michael Jaecks: Bralt hannicart won the "household pest" round. Also, did you include the "aerial cephalopod" round? Also, nice to have things running again! Thanks for picking it up. Not quite feeling next round but I'll be in once things are getting less bloody ;P.

[Faernen]

I chose Scorge because the art is great and it's very obvious that the little ones are from the same species.
The fact that the mother takes her sons from her ventral pocket (like a kangaroo) is definitely disturbing (is it a kind of fridge ?!)
And I don't even speak of the details like the little one that tries to escape.

I also like Tetrodotoxin's entry, because it's shocking : the creature seems very innocent, pure, immaculate... but she eats the baby !

[DeeLock]

You guys are grossing me out...:P

[pepps]

i voted for luness, loved the creature, i would host one in my garden if it goes along well with the dog =) great image, style, presentation. !!

runners up where chuckmate and scorge =)

[Reymus]

I voted for Luness, the mother reminded me of it being an endless cycle of the mom eating whatever food there was and passing the children up as they were born. And the little guy on the bottom :yum: .

[Michael Jaecks]

Anthis: I'm still afraid I will either add one too many stars or not enough. There was a transitional period in there before Canopy Grazer and Colossus from Hell when I think a couple of stars got awarded, but not everyones went through... so lets make this announcement:

If you are still owed COW stars, PM me with links to ALL the rounds you won... or at the very least the round NUMBER....

Bralt, I will check yours next though. That one I know about at least... (now)

Again, there were some rounds in there between the stewardship of yoitisi and me where no stars were given and I'm still working on which ones I don't know about...

No worries, we'll piece it back together...

OKAY, UPDATE: I got Bralt's from Household Pet and Arthur-gl from the Cephlapod and then discovered that the Sound Creature was a THREE WAY TIE, which means Wiggers and dwinbotp both got one plus Arthur-gl got a second.

Man, you kids were burning it up before I ever got here. I'm really kind of happy to see the ties. There have been three in recent weeks, and I am happy to see so many folks trying their best. Keep it up.

[Luvecerviere]

The explanation of the Chuck-mate's reasoning behind the cannibalism is interesting. In a few of the other cases I find it hard to believe that the young would be eaten in such large quantities, and yet the species survives/evolves. In this case the cannibal habit would not be quite as widespread, and even if it were, the creatures are hermaphrodites so they wouldn't need as large a quantity of children to continue the species.

[rushwolf]

Per usual it was up between Luness and Scorge.

This week I went with Luness. I love the lines and flow of the design. I wish it would have been fully rendered instead of just washed with colors, but its still a sweet design.

[Mr--Jack]

Had to go with luness this round, just perfectly disturbing enough for the topic; and I love the procession of arms that feed the eggs up to the mouth. Lovely (if that can be applied to an image of such a creature) linework too, as usual :D

[Ironhead]

I voted for luness! I like the design of this creature. And i like the colour wash over the sketch.

[skullbeast]

scorge - you just have mad skills! you really conveyed the mother aspect. I also like the abrasive horn-teeth, thats a nice touch. you won my vote.

[Jerik]

really like chuck-mate's creation... but Scorge gets my vote because of that BRILLIANT maw!

[luness]

Alright folks, this time will be quick. My internet connection has been on and off, it’s quite annoying. I’ve tried to log in to leave comments, to say thanks, all that, but it’s been a pain you know where.
Some crazy good entries (scorge, lkjhgfdsa, skullbeast, among others). Congrats to those who got new bunny ears, yay!

My vote goes to Chuck,mate. It’s poetic, it’s sad, I love it. The back-story is clever and easy to understand too. Good work!

Thanks so much for the votes and for the kind words.

[Pierropod]

Once again there are a lot of excellent creatures in this COW like Luness, Skullbeast and Scorge. I voted for Scorge because we can really see a female creature eating his child. And he did a great design on his creature specially the mouth with all those kind of teeth.

[scorge]

Is it just me or have these last few rounds been fiercely competitive? The suspense is killing me. Over and over again.
Very nice job everyone. My only question is, why so many dragon-esque designs?
And now for the scathing hot crits.
Faernen: I like what you're doing with the textures and the ideas are definitely there. Could be a lot more focus on the design of the creature and its pose and values. Even if it is a fat slovenly beast, it should still have the appearance of anatomy somewhere under all that lard.
Reymus: It looked like you were off to a great start and there's still potential for this one, but there's a real sense of being rushed. I think if you dropped that background down to a way lower saturation and put in a little more ground you'd have a pretty decent image. I like the colors. You've used some of my favorites that I for some reason always get chastised for.
Luness: Another great one. I love the feet, the overall complacent look on her face and the way you get those subtle textures boggles my mind. Congrats back at you for the two new stars and thank you for the nail biting action in the polls. I love the challenge and believe it or not, I'm really glad you started doing COW. Even if you are making my life more difficult.:P
Cheers!
Pierropod: Left leg and jaw look a little awkward. Everything else I like!
lkjhgfdsa: Beautiful colors, textures and drama! But, it's a dragon. A well drawn dragon of course, but not IMHO what's called for with this topic.
Ironhead: Quite the imagination you have there. Gnarly stuff! Some more texture around the torso I think and maybe take the edge off of that super black shadow some and this one will pop.
Jerik: Very cool design. The detail is great and the textures for different surfaces(chitin, muscley tendony ligaments) are pretty sweet. Green eggs are a great touch.
Crowsrock: Evil. Looks flat in some areas, especially along the back and rear leg. Love the pose and look of menace.
Asettimi: Still some cropping issues, a lot of room up top there. Maybe a simple background or backdrop to offset all that white. Creature looks good and I like your style.
Zimfin: Side note, I saw your stuff when I was thumbing through ImagineFX the other day. Congrats!
The background on this one really washes out the creature. Hard to see. Cool concept and I still dig the balloon and wispy fins.
Tetrodotoxin: You've got a great technique and the details are way cool. Who says swans and vultures can't mate? Heh-heh. The originality needs some work, but I'm looking forward to what's next.
David79: Really taken by the colors here. Very intense, borderline too much but just right for this image. Nicely done.
Skullbeast: Man your stuff keeps getting more and more creative with better rendering skills every time. Thanks for the congrats it really means a lot. Crit would be to play with some more colors, really make that alien skin shine, undulate and breathe.
the rooster: Pretty murky, hard to make out any anatomy. I'm diggin' the effect you were going for with the lighting. That can be challenging.
Pepps: One of my favorites. Could have used a little more spit and polish, but pretty cool concept.
Chuck,Mate: What can I say, looks beautiful. Eating one's young never looked so epic. Edge lighting's a little strong but the detail and presentation more than make up for it. Oh, and you got my vote.:D

Well, that's all I've got. See ya!

[the rooster]

thanks scorge!
your right it is murky, i'm definitely going to focus a lot more on design and readability than lighting next round and hopefully for one vote =)

[Lege1]

I voted SCORGE this round because I feel he came really hardcore with the concept. I love how the creature is just popping these babies in its mouth like extasy pills. I love the creature off in the distance too, I am taking it that, that is the dead beat father watching the grass grow or some shit. Good job as always Scorge!

-=Lege

[HareTrinity]

Ha, this is such a sad round. You've all drawn these awesome creatures at least twice, but at least one of them is dead/dying! Exception being Tetrodotoxin's, who not only does it for the good of her other eggs but leaves only bloodstains.

Keeping this short, my favourites were Jerik (I like the creature's head/abdomen), ASettimi (simple but badass looking critter), Scorge (got to love that crazy mouth) and Chuck,mate (I like the creature's look, though I'm not sure why you decided the 'mum' should be a hermaphrodite). Also like the blobby entries from Pepps and Skullbeast.

Eventually went with ASettimi. Not huge on the art style, but I do like that creature (who looks mean despite the cute ears) and the description works.

[Spydr]

to chuck, mate: too bad humans don't perfect there genetics this way. we'd be advancing and evolving so much faster and more efficiently.

[Chuck,mate.]

thanks for the votes and the very kind words, guys. :)

I voted for luness`s piece which was awesomely done, this guy have such a wonderful style. the design of his creature is just eerie and well crafted.
I also liked the head design on david79`s creature, though the colors are very distracting and overpowering.
scorge`s work gave me a great chuckle, with a stupendous scene, fantasticaly lit. a great idea too.
I enjoyed pepps work as well, especially the colors and BG. very live and moody. not sure I understood what`s going on in the scene, though...

again - thanks everyone!


Pat.

[Mordus]

lkjhgfdsa was my vote. Reading the description, seeing the sadness and drama inherent in forced infanticide...it made me almost cry. A truly lovely creature design as well, a dragon, but with subtle, almost alien changes. Especially that mouth. That is scary!
Im rooting for ya!
Other choices could have been Chuck, Mate, but I felt the creature design was rather generic. Just your classic lizard/worm thing. Seen it a billion times. Of course, ive also seen a billion dragons, but lkjhgfdsa made the design his own. Like the backstory though. Luness! You so nearly grabbed my vote! (saw you in ImagineFX BTW...congratulations!) Yet something about it drew me away. Hmmm...maybe the seemingly superficial horns... I dunno. By all rights I should be in love with it, like I am with all your other art, yet something just isnt there. Pathetic excuse I know, but....
Anyway. Good luck to all in the next round!

[Michael Jaecks]

Well now.

Would you fucking look at that?

Patri squeeks it out by a single vote.

so completely fucking awesome I can barely believe it.