C.O.W. #142 Alien with Exposed in the Dark Brain(s) --WIPs Posting Thread

[Michael Jaecks]

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 #142

Topic:
Alien with Exposed Glow in the Dark Brain(s)

Creature Description: Alien with Exposed Glow in the Dark Brain(s)-- This is a theme that has followed me throughout my life and can probably be credited as being my earliest artistic influence. I hesitate to describe specifically what inspired this week's topic because I do not want to unduly influence people's designs. I'm really just interested in seeing what folks come up with on their own from this broad description. If you are familliar with this pop culture reference from the 70s, try to keep it under your hats until folks start posting thier own designs. And if you are not familliar with it, don't go Googling it just yet. Start in on your own work first. Maybe by Thursday or so, I will reveal the answer...

So, in short... design a new alien creature. It has one or more brains which are visible on the outside of their body. This brain or these brains glow in the dark. Yes, the brain(s) can appear to pop through the skull or another opening on thier bodies, BUT, the brain(s) should be mostly, if not completely, visible. It must be a member of a species. No weapons, accessories or clothing that would make it an individual character. Biped is fine, but not humanoid. Alien. Exposed Brain(s). Brain(s) glow in the dark. That's it.

Deadline:
Saturday, 9 May 2009



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://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=157002)

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

[Liffey]

First idea is for sort of a part machine part organism kinda deal:
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/122/b/9/Glow_Brain_WIP_1_by_theoryC.jpg

[rushwolf]

Honestly I dunno how something like this could survive. Brain exposed for all the hungry zombies to see.

No likely. This topic is highly unrealistic and is a blatant INSULT to the zombie community's diligence in the field of brain location and consumption.

:D

EDIT: DO NOT GOOGLE "GLOWING BRAIN" You will find this -> http://images.fact.co.uk/mktg/skinterfaces/KiraOReilly2.jpg

[Liffey]

^Maybe this creature is too fast for zombies and likes to taunt them or something :/

Here's my rough colors. I'll probably have to rework the pose and while I'm add it add more detail to the anatomy.

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv269/LiffeyArt/glowBrain.jpg

[Dragonictoni]

I think I will enter this time around. Plenty of pondering as to whether or not I'd enter.

Anyway, here is an idea sketch I did.

[Reymus]

Rushwolf, that girl (shim?), obviously has a glowing brain, the glow is subtle but if you check the swan's gullet, then reflect that light onto the pigs shoulder, then follow that into the mirror, past the camera, into the library, on the shelf, a glowing brain.

[gatling]

rushwolf: NSFW lol! o_0

[electric goat]

theoryC- It's been a while since I've participated in the COW but I'm pretty sure mechanical parts are still not allowed. You could easily change the machine-like parts into something more organic.

MJ- Congrats on your new throne! I hope that drunk bear we had before is doing well. You scare my children.

[Reymus]

psychic floater wip

[scorge]

Alright, Electric Goat! Long time no see.

Man, brains are one the hardest thing to draw correctly. All those intricate wrinkles and shit. This'll be some gooood practice.

Rushwolf: First of all, that's my ex girlfriend. Always knew she was hiding something. House always smelled like pork and KY. Secondly, how dare you assume that zombie's won't go for the easy meal. All my zombie friends love it when they don't have to work too hard for their grub. Roadkill, industrial accident victims, unskilled parkour wannabes. Besides, the aliens love to tease those undead mofos with their over sized buffets riding around on their shoulders. So you gonna draw something this time or just complain?

Reymus: Looking spooky! Awesome.

[skullbeast]

stuff...

[Verehin]

:sungod:

[Pic]

I bet no one else is doing a cute little birdie

[gunnarsson]

cools!

[sketchius]

I'm thinking of a nocturnal predatory species that lies dormant in the daytime, soaking up solar energy into it's exposed brain and then at night it uses the energy to project a glow from the brain, using a part of the spectrum that it's prey's eyes cannot detect. It uses the light the move swiftly and quietly through the night and pounce on unsuspecting victims.

I've been playing with the anatomy and I wanted to go with something a little cat-like, but with six legs. Here's some anatomy sketches at different stages:

662340

[skullbeast]

update

[acb]

well i think its my first cow ever but been wanted to join for a long timee and finally found the time to ^_^
well this is my initial design:
http://i42.tinypic.com/euk6pz.jpg

these creatures live in a rocky area inside caves and their legs look weird cuz in their palms they have only 1 fingure and that blue thing they walk with is actually their rock solid fingernail (damn what type of cutting scyzors do they use to cut those @_@) well anyway thats the initial design i had several others befor of it and this specific one is something like 30 mins of work and everything is changeble and i havent been looking at any refrence yet so i hope ill manage to post an update that will be even more anatomicly accurate cuz i know very little about anatomy ^_^

[Michael Jaecks]

Nice starts, guys.

rushwolf: That's seriously worse than getting Rickrolled. ;)

electric goat, welcome back and thanks! I mean about the COW modding, not scaring your children. ;)

theoryC: Yes, electric goat makes a correct point, we stick to biological creatures here in COW. Ocassionally, we make exceptions for accessories that serve the creature's purpose (as we did in the six legged steed round -- saddles, etc) but that's as far as we can really go.

[Liffey]

Hmm... looks like I'll have to rethink it then.

[Tyrus]

Here is my pencil sketch for today. Any comments?

[Crowsrock]

WIP
That creature will use it's brains to lure moth-like animals feeding on them.

[Supervlieg]

Wooo, exposed brains! I gotta do this. Theyre my favorite subject.

[acb]

http://i40.tinypic.com/2jg6ypy.jpghttp://i44.tinypic.com/2lliwzm.jpg
well i made abit of a progress tho i was to lazy to use a refrence for the anatomy but i will from now on ^_^
left image render test tho i know i know i didnt finish the anatomy details ^_^
right image ground render test and body with not render so the anatomy is relativle clearer then the other pic.
im trying to make it look like its looking to the right so i tired making the skin stretching abit but i guess that needs abit more fixing ^_^
well nothing is permanent at this stage im just playing around with ideas and variations and any c&C are welcomed ^_^

verehin- very cool design @_@ i wonder on which enviroment it lives and if you will make one for it :D

skullbeast- a rly nice idea ^_^ tho i didnt like all of the small hands (At least for now) next to hes mouth but well i wont be able to say if i love them or not for sure till ill see how it looks in the final piece ^_^ waiting to see some updates ^_^

gunnarsson- rly cool ideas ^_^ which one will you be working on? or maybe its something thats not one of those creatures yuve sketched @_@

sketchius- nice idea i wonder how yull develope this one ^_^

looking forward for seeing updates from everyone gl and hf btw ^_^

[Rist]

This is my first idea sketch. I was trying to go for something which has fingers and plausible thumbs, but also has features which suggest a primal alien nature. I also wanted to stay away from the cliché reptile alien design. I will try to encourage myself to keep up with this weeks challenge.

EDIT: This second sketch reveals an Alien Bunny Rabbits exposed brain.

[Lander]

Hey all. not much glow so far but there will be if I get the time.

[Lander]

This server can sometimes be somewhat slow. Sorry bout the double post. (no I didn't refresh or klick 2 :))

[Einen]

hai guys I made this do I win now? :^^:

http://www.nintendoplayers.com/praxis/Picture2.png

No but seriously, I might join. It's been a while.

[scorge]

Wow, it's like some kind of COW reunion. :D

[Pic]

Sorry to post another rough WIP, but I've been told his beak looks like its on upside down and his head and wings somehow look upside down and the concept doesn't read well.
Does the reflected brain glow read as an iris?

What do you guys think? Should I just try a different design?

The concept is that the glowing brain attracts insects during twilight and dawn hours and the tongue catches these insects. Any help would be great, if it needs major, major, tweakage i would rather start a different concept (sick of little birdies now)

Edit: Hah! I flipped him upside down and he -does- also look like a bird upside down...a big forehead parakeet...what are the chances of that

[NicHolS]

wow some of these are fantastic so far, i think i may have a shot later tonight and see what ive got... never dont a creature of the week before...

[Rist]

An update. Not really refining anything yet as I want to make sure the colours and forms are unifying.

[Razorleaf]

Oops darn! My first COW and I didn't read all the bloody instructions hahaha :) OK, so its not suppose to be humanoid, well I just won't go to poll, still I thought I'd post it anyway.

[skunk257]

663569
havent uploaded anything to this site for AAAAAAGGEEEEEESSS hope i maganged
it ok and havent done anything stupid what do you think so far?

[CCThrom]

Hey MJ, (singing voice) Iiiii knowww what your reference iiiis... la la la la...

We must be roughly the same age. :P

[Michael Jaecks]

Yes, I think we probably are CCThrom.

I remember when I was a kiddy, I used to STARE at the illustrations on the packages for HOURS. It was the first time I realized or understood that a person could be an artist as a job. I still have all six of the figures...

[Edward B]

Ha Now I'm really curious what the original reference is.

A wip
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/Cerebellum/Brainlien.jpg

[CCThrom]

Edward B - that critter is really sweet!

MJ - I only ever had 2... but DANG did I want the others, and loooved the illos!

[Michael Jaecks]

Ken Kelly is pretty good at what he does, Peg, oh I mean EdwardB, ... oh I mean CCThrom.

Total CLUE!.....

BTW... CC, I'm MJ, not MB. The day I become MB is the day flying pigs will, through sheer power of their own will, have a snowflake's chance in hell.

;)

[CCThrom]

Looks like alphabet soup... my bad, I fat-fingered that one... In a perfect world though, we'd all be MB!

[waynedavis1977]

Here's a wip

[acb]

MJ does the in the pic that yure yalking about theres an alien with blue brain ^_^? cuz if its so then hes brain isnt that glowy :D

[skunk257]

well i think this is as far as im going to get pushing the boundrys of my skill and knowledge :D

i made a vid of it :D >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFaIxRJGitQ

[Razorleaf]

I did a quick sketch to fall within the parimeters of the quidelines .... this was fun, maybe I will try again sometime. :)

WayneDavis1977 - I really like yours. It is most definately alien, Nice!!

Skunk257 - Yours is great too but I'm not getting where the glow-in-the-dark brains are, sorry!

[Wiggles]

Hey everyone! Well, to get to the gist of this, this is my first post on C.O.W.!

It's still a wip and I'm a little lost on how I can further bring out details or shapes with this guy. Any comments would be wonderful!

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm202/SirWigglesIV/Brainshowing.png

[geronimo66]

Well I didn't push to far, but I like the simple idea. A spider which used a massive brain to paralyze its targets. It resides suspended in a large clear liquid filed section of its body.

The glow from the brain attracts prey which it then disables with a mental EMP of sorts. It is 3ft in DIA. as well.

I don't know that I will be able to get the clear section to look right, the clear and depths that I want... any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Please hit me with some feedback. :)

Thanks

[Lander]

geronimo66: try to paint some of the background color into the "clear" so that light behind the object gets refracted.

[barrymcw]

Bah! Didn't finish the last one. We'll see how this one goes.

Listened to a podcast the other day that featured an interview with a guy who studies dung & rhinoceros beetles. Think that was in the back of my head when I read the concept for this week's COW. I'm seeing this guy as a (ridiculously?) horned beetle whose exposed brain is protected by a crown of horns.

Still very early going. Haven't figured out just where the brain lies in relation to the rest of the head but hopefully that shape'll come soon.

Cheers

[scorge]

Still a lot more detail to go but here's the wip. PS, I don't like squirrels.
Hey Lander, nice to see ya.:)

[Lander]

scorge: yea it's been a while. Nice to be back. Hope to do this one so that it doesn't end up littering the hard drive. I dig how your alien hates squirrels enough to make the toes curl like a jesters boots :) Sweet! Now give it all your lovin.

[Lander]

Bahh. how lame is this server? 2x post again

[Razorleaf]

Hey, SquirrelHater hahahaha yours is great! I especially like the illustrative style of the alien with the colors. Somehow it reminds me of the pit monster in Return of the Jedi (I think it was that one haha) without the teeth. :)

[Michael Jaecks]

MJ does the in the pic that yure yalking about theres an alien with blue brain ^_^? cuz if its so then hes brain isnt that glowy :D


No, I'm actually thinking of six different paintings that adorned the packages of six different 70s action figures. In the paintings, the artist, Ken Kelly, did a little interpreting of his own, and no the brains are not all that glowy... my understanding is that he probably only had mock-ups to work with, not the fully manufactured action figure. The action figures themselves did have exposed, glowing, plastic brains.

I guess at this point I may as well reveal that my inspiration this week are the wonderful Mego Micronaut alien action figures from the 1970s. They were really some of the most unusual and incredible toys in their time. Star Wars of course was huge back in the day, and there was lots of sci fi everywhere, but these toys really went well beyond anything else... They're names were Membros, Antron, Repto, Centaurus, Kronos and Lobros.

I hesitate to post any pics because technically all six of them break two of our COW rules (very humanoid, and very much adorned with cybernetic attachments) but perhaps I can find a few links for those that might be curious....

EDIT: Indeedly, I can find some links. There are a great many Micronauts collector sites out there, but one of the best is www.innerspaceonline.com. Collector and tattoo artist extraordinaire, Dave Waugh, has a might fine collection and does an excellent job of documenting it on the site...

Here's the page for Repto:
http://www.innerspaceonline.com/new%20repto%20page.htm (http://www.innerspaceonline.com/new%20repto%20page.htm)
Here's the one for Lobros:
http://www.innerspaceonline.com/new%20lobros%20page.htm

The rest can be found in series 4 and series 5 up at the top....

Now. A caveat. Let's not use these as inspiration directly... let's stay away from humanoids and NO cybernetic attachments....

Still, you gotta admit these guys are super cool...

(In case anyone was wondering, YES, I am a total action figure geek :D )

EDIT again: Oh it just doesn't get any better than this.... 70s toy commercial featuring all six. Gotta love the way they artificially deepen the narrators voice! This was posted to YouTube by another super cool Micronauts collector, Ray Miller...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVgx-kHOQHo

[.pc]

geronimo66: dammit, i almost drew a spider too. Anyway,you need to make the brain more visible, maybe you could try making the adomen transparent/translucient. and draw the actual brain first, before adding the glow.

My first chow!

http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/immelmann_turn/glowing_brains_alien.jpg

[Michael Jaecks]

Here is a Micronauts Lobros inspired illo I did a while back. This NOT an entry, and yes, this guy could be flirting with the humanoid rule too much. But I do loves me some brains, so I thought I would share for the sake of sharing....

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

[geronimo66]

Here is a lil touch up, a few minor details and a better brain I think... please beat this up a bit. I seem to have a hard time getting from this to the next level of refinement... where do I go from here?

Thanks

[Pic]

geronimo66:
Your concept is simple, but its completely working for me, i think you might need to push the shadow a bit more in areas, Things like water and glass and anything with transparencies tends to jump from very light to very dark quickly.

MJ:
Im loving his alien feet! I didn't notice them at first... but now its all I can see..puts me in mind of some intergalactic brain jester...even though..this is obviously wrong...or he has a particularly twisted sense of humour.

immelmann_turn:
Nice looking wip! Im not sure how well such a large head would work on the thin snake body suggested, maybe thicken up his girth.

scorge:
Can't really think of anything to crit here! Except your excessive hatred of squirrels. Looking good.

barrymcw:
If you going for a general insectoid shape then i suggest having the brain deeper in his body, i'm not buying the first design where it seems raised on horns over the rest of his head.

Wiggles:
It seems quite an early WIP so all i can really say is that i think perhaps you should study a picture of a brain, his brain is reading more like porridge at the moment

Razorleaf:
Same with wiggles really, i think your brain could be with a bit of tweaking

skunk257:
Im loving your design once i saw it, its some sort of badass celestial looking being, i love it, but it can be quite hard to read, perhaps subtle refinements so people scanning it can see it general form easier.

Rist: Hes cute! Maybe if you move the legs a big further up his body, im looking at them and thinking maybe they wouldn't work so well in the position they are.

[geronimo66]

Yea, I tend to be a bit simple, I try to work from a silhouette and make sure it is interesting. Which makes thing trend toward simple.

I think it is heading in a better direction... I just want to get so much better NOW!! I start school in the fall at CCS, call a mid life forced career change (X-auto digital sculptor).

Okay guys beat on it harshly... I need it :D

THANKS!!!

[nimzicki]

Hi, never posted a C.O.W before and to be honest this is my first ever go at anything like this so sorry if im doing anything wrong. Hope its up to scratch and any criticism would be very much appreciated, im very new to the digital painting game :)

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i258/Nimzicki/cow142wip.jpg

[Lander]

geronimo66: Here are a few things that come to mind. how many joints does the legs have? looks to me like the ones on the right have fewer than the ones on the other side. The foreshortening can be improved on the two legs that are towards us. The yellow dots are all the more or less facing us or so it seems to me. Add detailes to the body, head and legs. The brain has a higher level of detail and I think that the body needs some love. Did this help one bit? It's just what I think. Doesn't make it true. :)

[geronimo66]

Sweet sauce thanks!!!


Now to see if I can execute it.

[Lege1]

This is my take on the crazy glowing brain creatures. Crits are welcomed =] I am lookin forward to take this one to finish.:yayca:

[Razorleaf]

Geronimo66 your is coming along very nicely, I especially like your choice of colors and the definition you added to your brains. :)

[Razorleaf]

Lege1 - don't make the same mistake as I did when it comes to the humanoid rule! :)

[Supervlieg]

Great going so far guys. Here is my wip.

Its a combination of the brief, my urge to draw monkeys, and giving painter another go. I have to say Im liking painter a bit more now.

[Wiggles]

Pic: Yeah, I know it's really really sloppy looking. I didn't have much time to work on it Tuesday and I just threw out what ever I could in a short amount of time.

Sadly, the time I get to be on PS is short and far in between. I'll get to work on it tomorrow and the next time after will be Monday :( (I have PS at home, but my tablet does not work on my windows version with the download drivers so I can only do it at school)

[Bohnded]

MJ just had to dangle the MICRONAUTS carrot out there!

I don't know if I will have time to get beyond this WIP.

Share and enjoy!

Will Jones

[theHaggard]

Here is my concept in progress, done completely in Alchemy using the speed shapes tool and the pen pressure tool.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p272/t-lark/exposed-brain-sm.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p272/t-lark/exposed-brain-2-sm.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p272/t-lark/exposed-brain3-sm1.jpg

[Pic]

...and here is my updated WIP

[commmandersalamander]

Might actually be in on this one. An amphibious critter, who's brains are coated in phosphorescent bacteria.

[Knarf]

Hi, C.O.W. newbie here.

665029

-Frank

[Gumish]

Oh no, I'm not sure if this is a humanoid allien or not. Unfortunataly I think yes. It never mind I needn't post that in final forum and finish it only for my own. But I'd like to know what can I improve. I have ever only drawed by pencil so I'm not familiarized with colors:-(
http://www.wydle.eu/stuff/CHOW_142.jpg

[Verehin]

:mod:
maybe it help somebody

[skunk257]

verehin thats awesome!!!

i think i preffered it on legs tho some how looked more unerving, awesome stuff

loads of awesome artwork this week

[acb]

well this is the progress i made so far ^_^
http://i42.tinypic.com/mws9bk.jpg
it seems quite finished and i might play with the lightning or adding minor details here and there but if i wont then its my finished piece , although some crits will be nice cuz i didnt get any by now so i have 2 guesses 1.its just too awsome and theres nothing to crit about (which i somehow doubt thats the reason) 2.its 2 horrible and no one even wanna start crit about it (i...rly hope im wrong here but if im not then let me know how i can improve this one ^_^)

verehin- wow thats awsome @_@ although i have a few things to say about it :
i know i liked its long fingures better then those new type of hands.
its anatomy still seems like he pushes hes arms agains the ground which makes his elbows stiff and pointy (At least to my opinion)
i think itll look much better if you added those wings to the ground scene O_O like hes standing and spreading hes wings
other then that great job on that design it i rly liked it ^_^

pic- thats a rly cool idea gj on that one and w8ing to see the updates on that one ^_^

supervlieg-wow...thats an awsome alien yuve created and an even more awsome scene to present it @_@ great job so far :D

thehaggard-alchemy is such a cool program ^_^ and a nice design yuve come up with ^_^

great job everyone cool works in here ^_^

edit1:hmm is it just me or is it looking abit like an alien police unit @_@

[Crowsrock]

Second WIP

[commmandersalamander]

playing with values now. I think I need to push it a bit more on the wings, if anyone can see anything that looks wrong, please tell!

Everyone's ideas are looking good!

[Buchmaler]

Abyssilisk

A Deep-Sea-Basilisk. Had no time until today. I hope i will be able to finish this in time.

1. First rough sketch
2. Refinement and some details
3. Coloring and more details/refinement
4. etc.
5. ff.

[Teundeboer]

Thought I'd give this a go.

First time I enter a ... of the week competition.
Would love some feedback, rip it apart!

665162

[Lander]

Update! So I put work aside for a while and workde some on my Critter.

I had a time when I figured it would be kind of cool to have it use other glowing braincreatures as flash lights. Not this time :)

Need to upres this image too. This is my working resolution and to get the neat love in there I'll need to increase the size.

Crit me please

[Sapphire]

Verehin, your creature is really fantastic, I love it. It almost looks thoughtful, despite being really creepy, which I like. I migt try to enter, but only have a couple of days to whip up something, so we'll see!

[longshao]

a new cow after a long absence:
http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu22/hspg/brain.jpg

[Lander]

longshao: Man this is awesome. bring out some beer and let's catch up on old times :)

[dadoalmeida]

First of all,
You guy´s here runs the most crazy activity I can imagine in a art board. Really fall in love for that when a buddy at work show me this COW thing. Congrats to everyone for the creations.

So. I had to start an account (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2246267#post2246267) here in CA.org and I´ll try follow you guys in the next ones comps. Create and Draw creatures, in my opinion, is a really strong exercise to keep our minds sharp and creative.

Anyway, enough talk...(sorry the bad english typing guys.)

I don´t think I have time to bring a more polished idea for this COW in particular, but I still wish to share some of my rough drawings, mainly to show the ideas I got for this theme in a couple of hours sketching and coloring in PS.

In these cases I do prefer to search Forms than Usability. Just after put all the ideas in the paper, I got the one I like most and start to make it plausible in a fictional environment (anatomy, purposes, etc.). The grey creature with two spiked limbs are the one I probably would work more on it.

So. Hope you guys don´t mind to post a non-unfinished-wip.

http://amonsteria.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/dadoalmeida_cow_brainexpose.jpg

ps.: comments and good crits always be acceptable in all my works. Really enjoy to know how my drawings stimulate the other brains. ;-)

[waynedavis1977]

wip part 2

[waynedavis1977]

Buchmaler

Your linework is freaking awesome.

[geronimo66]

uuuug i've hit a wall... I give up!! Grrrr

[skullbeast]

longshao - awesome!!
dadoalmeida - cool designs! #2 is my favorite!

here is another.

[Moai]

Holy hell, it's Longshao! How ya doin', man?

[Tom Garden]

Finally i got around to another cow!!! here are some WIP shots, and final.

[Lander]

Sweeet TG!
Now that is eye candy. I like the tits :)

[Tom Garden]

yaaaay someone noticed the tits!!!

[Buchmaler]

Here is the more or less finished piece. C&C are very very welcome.

[Lander]

Buchmaler: ok I'll go first :)
But remember it's just my opinion. I think it's a bit flat. There is more or less the same value on a local level. It sort of looks like it has been fron lit by a flash. Suggestion: make a new layer on top and set it to multiply. Darken everything that is in shadow of the luminous brain. add a nother layer and brighten the part that are facing the light.

[geronimo66]

Tom, that is brilliant... I think you are the only one to walk away from what we "know" a brain looks like...

[longshao]

lander, moai, long time no see. I haven't been monitoring CA closely. Been busy at work, or just being lazy after work. :P

tomgarden--great design, interesting shapes.
Buchmaler--nice detailed rendering. I agree with lander. Some of the big forms are lost as you put equal amount of details all over.

[geronimo66]

Well I think this is it.... I still like something about the first version but this will most likely be it. I may try to play with the other one a bit and see what I can do.


Crits please!!

[scorge]

Wow, nothing like a little brain action to bring all the old cow masters out of the woodwork!:party: Looks like I'm really gonna have to step it up this time. Great to see ya Tom G., Longshao, and SuperV. Missed your skills.
Tom that is freakin amazing dude.:bow:

Almost finished with mine. No wip for now, but it'll be in the final soon. Great work so far everyone.

[Buchmaler]

Thank you for your help :). Better that way? (i will add some blue cracknels (? sorry ... my english is a disaster) and refine teh area where the wing-like fins hit the body.)

[Razorleaf]

Geronimo66 - your most recent image is nice but I gotta say that I like the one with black legs and blue brains (on pg 2 I think). Your recent image looks almost like a different character. Still, they are both great so for gawd sake don't listen to me when you go to poll hahaha :)

Buchmaler - your cocktopus is coming along great. I really like how you added scale with the hand, nice!

[Supervlieg]

Wow this is getting more and more like a reunion. Nice job and welcome back Tom!

[geronimo66]

Yea, this one lost something that the first had.. i dunno... I am still a digi-noob so more practice will help!!

[scorge]

Can we say Cocktapus in here? That's hilarious in so many immature and dirty ways.;)
Alright, I figured I'd throw this in here, probably the final unless there's any last minute criticism which I truly love. Included a couple of the crappy initial sketches to show some direction, and the fact that rarely do these things ever start out as masterpieces. Not to say they finish that way either of course, but it's always a matter of how far you are willing to push it. That's all I'm saying. I'm gonna go have some humble pie....

One more note, meant to give a big sloppy welcome back to Einen in my last post but I'm an idiot. Anyway, good to see ya man. Still fighting for truth and justice I hope?

On to the art!:D

[Rockstaritus]

Hey guys am new :D,

I'm new to the whole photoshop painting thing but i really wanna learn, so this is my actual first attempt. Came in Duotone here! ;) a nice green-blueish swamp. Didn't wanna miss the deadline :o started late.

It's a Luminous Jellyfish. While feeding on the toxic fumes in the swamp planet Kao it's brains turn a bright seagreen color. It grows a surprising 4 brains that are much more dense than the planet's water. This jelly's daily routine consists of floating around and illuminating the moonless nights.

Some Scholars believe that this Jellyfish is the smartest animal ever found. They say that with it's 4 brains this Jellyfish, while floating around aimlessly, contemplates existence, equations and the meaning of life. Most scholars say "This Jellyfish is the dumbest creature in existence. That much brain power and it does nothing? Get a job, Jelly!"

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[Tom Garden]

ok guys, some quick crits from me, i hope i can help!!

acb - Your current design reminds me of the infamous "Domo (http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/domo_kun.jpg)" I suggest you try and alter the face or position of the eyes to offset this initial look. Also the whole piece is very reddish brown, and it means your creature doesnt quite pop out from the background - either put some blues into your background or blues onto your critter. Maybe even have another harsh light source from inside the cave where his glowing brain buddies might be. Also i just saw your initial idea where we saw the eyes connect to the bain inside its translucent dome, i like that muuuch better than what you have right now, so perhaps try this out on a new layer and see what you get! :)

Skull Beast - nice design, but the whole thing needs a little more contrast in a few areas. Considering the extremely bright backlight you have given it you should be seeing that effect the lighting on the creature. also your glowing brain looks a little washed out, so try on a soft light layer, to but a rich saturated colour over that part.

Razor leaf - Its very very humanoid, dont forget to go crazy with these creatures!! hope to see you again next week! :) You have a nice mood in this piece tho

Scorge - Nice rendering! A little bit off here and there but as a whole quite solid. To be honest i think you should loose the typical UFO in the background as it detracts originality in the piece.

supervlieg - Fun character, good render, but i hate to say it, its a gorilla...i've seen you do some wicked entries before here, and i'd love to see you take this gorilla to another level and see what you get out of it.

Buchmaler - I wont say much as others have already given you some great crit - i just think that the chicken head is too apparent, i'd try and make it look a little different around the head.

Geronimo66 - ok so its a spider, already you set yourself a hard task with taking on an existing creature. It looks like the brain is a photo you ahve textured in there, which is fine, but it means that the rendering overall looks a little inconsistent. the brain is very sharply rendered whereas the face isnt at the same level of detail. So i'd suggest you get onto that face and add some more stuff, like little hairs, more mouthparts, antenas anything really:)

Verehin - Not bad with that creepy design, but its very monotone in colour, i'd add some deep reds to the bottom spiken art, and maybe yellow to the wings, something to give it a bit more colour definition.

Lander - Lovely design here and lighting, i hope you really nail that eye, make sure you do some ref practice from something like an eagle eye first, and then see if you can improve the one you have. The glows are looking nice and lighting your character well. Make sure you define some larger solid shapes in your creature so that the general shape is clear.

Skunk257 - I like the abstract nature of your creature, but why cant we see all of it below the frame? its hard to tell if those are legs with feet like an elephant, or if its suspended in space with long tentacle legs perhaps. Great originality tho, and i hope you can extend the piece downwards, maybe add a few more of its species far away in the distance, like a flock of them traveling around

sorry if i missed anyone, hope this has helped!

[Pierropod]

I'm back !
I tried to do my best with the few time that I had yesterday night.

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[Supervlieg]

supervlieg - Fun character, good render, but i hate to say it, its a gorilla...i've seen you do some wicked entries before here, and i'd love to see you take this gorilla to another level and see what you get out of it.

Yep, youre absolutely right. I was thinking of alien in the way you seen in star trek. Aliens in star trek are more often then not resembling humans from earth. I figured the same would apply to other species as well. I didn't think it would have to necessarily be a far out design. And I guess my only excuse is that I really wanted to do a big ape variation :).

I like your entry by the way. Youve grown a lot!

[Tom Garden]

cheers dude, i hope i have at least! Your render is really awesome, but yeh i know the feeling to paint a big gorilla is just to tempting sometimes! :)

[acb]

O_O tom where have you been this past week :D i was looking for any crit on it and well i think its better later then never ^_^ thx ALOT :D

well first of all my overall painting style (apperently from what i understood so far ) is a humorouse one and i tend to alter any cool idea i have into a humorouse pic ( T_T ) and i tired to shoock that off of me in this pic but i guess ive left some pieces of it in here like this domo thingy you mentioned which i gotta tell you i rofld hard when i read it LOOL.
any ways thx alot ill try to alter it tho i hope you can alter a pic once yuve posted it into the finals thread >_>
and i liked that idea too but i guess i didnt thought the design that deeply to execute it ^_^....next week ill add an ideation phase to my design (which i kinda jumped on the second design i had this week ^_^) and then itll be well thought and well executed ^_^....i hope T_T

and yours looks really awsome tom gl ^_^

[Lander]

Holy crap! Deadline is today.

[skullbeast]

Tom yours looks killer! It may step off the page!!

final..

[Michael Jaecks]

Holy crap! Deadline is today.


YES it is. Which in Michael-mod world means you have until ten am CST the next day to get those finals in...

You guys are seriously rocking my universe with these aliens.

Keep on, keeping on....

[Michael Jaecks]

Update... poll is about five hours away as of this writing.... which means I have five hours to think of yet another awesome topic....

This is gonna require a bit more coffee... probably delivered intravenously...


SECOND UPDATE 7:39am: Important note for folks... it looks like a few people aren't quite famillar with how to use the attachment manager and your images are just showing up at thumbnails. I'm not entirely sure how to fix this from my end as I don't have your full size images. All you have to do is upload your regularly sized final to ConceptArt.org with the attachment manager... directly from your hard drive using the Paper Clip icon you see next to the smiley face. Please try to fix this within the next few hours... there are some nice entries that are not being shown off, but I will not be able to take your entries to poll at such a small size....Also... if anyone has ever encountered this problem before and has an idea about how *I* might go about fixing this remotely, shout it out here. I will leave the finals thread open a little while longer than originally planned to give folks an opportunity to sort things out... say 12 noon or 1pm CST... approximately six hours from the writing of this notice... hopefully folks will have a chance to check these threads...

[skunk257]

wow thanks tom great crit sadly im out of time had to leave this weekend so i wont be able to extend the image, but if it helps imagin elephants feet :D