C.O.W.#146 - Shadow and Flame!!! -- Posting WIPs 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 #146

Topic:
Shadow and Flame!!

Creature Description: Shadow and Flame!!-- All righty. Back to deadly serious dark and hellish topics. JRR Tolkien's demon, the Balrog has been described as being a creature made of 'shadow and flame' Your task this week is to create a NEW creature made of shadow and flame. No, it should not be a reinterpretation of the Balrog. No, it should not carry a flaming sword and whip. Yes, it can be demonic. Yes it can be alien. Now bear in mind....The description of Tolkien's creature is both figurative and literal.While it's described as being made of two ephemeral pheomena, the creature had anatomy, weight, physcial presence. I don't want a blobby, amorphorous energy cloud. I want a physical creature. It's a new creature (species!) that can be described as being made of 'shadow and flame'

Deadline:
Friday, 12 June 2009

Finals go here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159779

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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[Ghostbrush]

sweet! I am in :D

[Marsch]

Sweet!

[grue]

Sounds great! I'm in too.

[Michael Jaecks]

Good! I'm glad to hear people chime in so quickly with their approval. Let's keep up that enthusiasm over the week. Quality, quality, quality. Toss some WIPs up when you have them and let's start pushing each other just a little bit harder.

We can only benefit from it. :)

[MoHog]

awww cool
interesting that the definitions for shadow and flame are complete opposites, really want to play on the notion that shadow is something that exists in the absence of something/ behind an object - spooky/hunter style

[Razorleaf]

omg .... even I want in on this one :)

[faelic]

i'm getting in on time this time

[Labrynthine]

Yes, yes, YES! I finally have a week of no extraneous commitments, and I get a sweet prompt like this. Heck, this will be a great way to work on my fire. :)

Umm... shadow and fire. For some odd reason, I'm thinking a dark wasp. Fire is chaotic and fast and such, maybe I can run with that crazy nature. Then how could the shadow come in?

[grue]

Ok, here we go. Please tell me if I'm way out of topic so I can start another one.

The basic concept here is the "light at the end of the tunnel". This wormlike creature produces dark shadows around it to hide in deep caves. It also has a fire producing gland way in his single and somewhat reflective intestine. People or creatures lost in the dark caves mistake the lit cavelike mouth and throat for a way out of the caves so they enter and continue in until they slip into the stomach acids.

I'm usually quite unpatient on my executions but I will try to work on this for a couple of days.

[acb]

wow @_@....mj i have to congratulate you on this cool subject @_@.... tho i wish there were blobs T_T....but anyways here are my initial idea after a quite short ideation phase and its the first time i tried doing negative sketches and according to the resault it wont be the last time ^_^ had a couple of cool ideas in mind which included LOTS od eyes and a big mouth....
so here it is :
version 1:
http://i42.tinypic.com/ipuom8.jpg
version 2:
http://i44.tinypic.com/3460y3a.jpg

which one do you think is better @_@?
idk if it fits well to the subject but exept those tentacile arms which will be like changing its state from air dust to solid (which toy gotta have it cuz thats shadow) all will be quite solid ^_^

gl everyone and hf and dont stop yourselfs if you wanna crit someones work ^_^

[MoHog]

plenty of interest, this week will be a gudd'un

ok sum thumbs to spark a creation here - basic concept:
maybe look at the wendigo legend, check it out on wikipedia is awesome, idea of ravenous hunger (the flame)
to make it less human was thinking creature would be shadow in looks/form and the flame would be some characteristic rage it has due to exposed nerves or sensitive sense organs (maybe glowing to give a more literal link)

crits ideas are always welcome

690035

[Labrynthine]

Some head ideas for him.

Which head do you guys think gives the best vibe of a balance between passive and agressive? I imagine fire as a very active, agressive element. Like a fire dominant creature would be out running around, bringing itself to the prey. Shadow seems really passive, like an ambush predator. I want to find a balance. Maybe a whole other head design?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/SpectralArtist/blarrog.jpg

[zimfin]

Haven't participated in a while but this is worth stepping in for I think!

[Michael Jaecks]

So far entries like MoHog are most on track with what I expect. I like where Labyrinthines heads are going too...

This is still a creature. The notion that it is literally made of shadow may not be a good direction for folks who have not done a lot of finely detailed rendering. The notion that Tolkien's Balrog was made of 'shadow and flame' is really not literal nor figurative.... it's poetic, which an economical hybrid of both literalism and metaphor...

Think about it this way. You're an adventurer making his or her way through a dungeon or cave. You walking unsuspectingly into some horrible creatures lair. It's huge, and clawed and loud and fierce, it's body is jet black, maybe furry, maybe scaley, maybe chitnous, maybe a combination of all those things. Wreathed around it's head or perhaps coming out of it's nostrils... or claws or wings is this intense, bright, nearly blinding raditation of heat and light. Maybe fire seems to seethe beneath its skin, visible through holes or ports or cracks in it's body...The very sight of it betrays it's power and you are TERRIFIED. You bolt. You run for your life. Are you sure you saw what you saw? You keep running. It (fortunately) doesn't follow you. An hour later you find some other adventurers. You're still terrified. You try to tell them what you saw. You're confused. Not making sense. A wreck, obviously scarred by the horrific creature you saw an hour ago. One of the adventurers asks you, sort of shaking you back to your senses... "WHAT. DID. IT. LOOK LIKE?"

You say: "It looks like it was made... from shadow and flame!!!!"

Okay... so now you're not the adventurer anymore. Now your the artist responsible for designing this horrible, ebon, burning monstrosity. You're the person responsible for terrifying the viewer. You're designing a creature so malevolent anyone who encountered it inside the framework of it's fictional world would describe it as being made 'of shadow and flame.'

Does that make sense?

NO BLOBBY SHAPELESS ENERGY FIELDS...

And grue Aren't you kind of bored of worm creatures? We've seen worm creatures a million times here.

Let's try not to be so clever with our concepts in our heads... lets think about making awesome inspired creature designs ... In fact... seeing as though I think it is fair warning given that it is the beginning of the week:

BLOBBY SHAPELESS BORING THINGS WILL NOT GET TAKEN TO THE POLL... Along with poor renders and rushed entries...

I'm serious.

[acb]

grue- its a cool idea and i think that as long as it involves fire and shadow in it its ok but i think mj needs to decide about that ^_^ looking forward for updates ^_^

mo hog- thats a nice idea too and i rly like those sketches @_@ looking forward to see how yull progress with this one :D

labrynthine-hmm thats a nice aproach to take about the fire and shadow ^_^
and about the faces i think that no 1 is already is assaulting (but it has a rly rly cool face @_@) no 3 and 5 are in that momeny when the creature is drooling whike it sees it's pray and befor it storms.
no 4 is rawring but its face seems like its too passive when its not rawring
and no 2 seems like the stalker and i really like its design although from the side its too flat ^_^
i think in terms of favourites its 1 and 2 but according to the poses and the question you asked maybe no 3 is the best out of the 5 in temrs of passive and active and thats only my opinion ^_^
looking forward to seeing the updates on this one ^_^

hf everyone and gl ^_^

hmm so mj...is my crit considered bloby @_@ ?or should i ask after ill clear things out with this sketch >_> ?

[Michael Jaecks]

acb: the first one is too humanoid. The second one looks a little stiff.

Think about what I said above about scaring the adventurer

(or.. say... an astronaut... this creature COULD be alien too...)

[grue]

Michael Jaecks: Thanks for clarifying boss ;) Although that's just my 2nd entry in these parts of the woods. I haven't done any shapeless wormlike creatures before :D

I'll think of something else :)

[Rabies]

Exactly what i was in the mood for, perfect for my first round of Cow, good luck every one :D

[MoHog]

labrythine: nice work, really fluid + original. no 1 is my favourite atm, looking forward to seeing how that develops

[grue]

Here's a non-wormy WiP. :D
Mane of fire and various dents and cuts on places that let out fire and thick smoke that cover the creature in dancing shadows.

[hunchback]

first cow baby!!

uh my mind keeps thinking of hurricane's demon lord sketch

gotta get to work

[Rabies]

Grey scale sketchin'
Trying to get the composition right, theres something about it that bothers me. Ill sort it out laters, C&C welcome

Edit#
I think ill alianize the goat, its too goaty :P
MJ can you use your mod powers to make this thread visible as the current cow thread on the frontpage? :3

[bangalore_monkey]

Great topic, made me want to join in. never tried COW before.

here's my first idea, not that original, was going for a different kind of dragon.

[Rabies]

Bangalore
Looks promising, is it going to have wings?

Heres my last update today, and probably the last B&W unless something comes up. Ill probably change the whole damn thing once i start coloring... i really sux at coloring : /

This is just the action pose, ill make some technical ones where the whole creature is visible with side views and all that shizzzz

[matejkovacic]

This is a giant creature holding and throwing flame and by the fire always following it also throwing it's frightening shadow on the ground.

[pahavasa]

Interesting topic. I'll go for bioluminescence, this reptile lives deep in the caves of mountains where it is wet. They live and work as ants do, they have one queen per one "family" and she's completely attached to the surrounding ceiling and walls. The light serves as an important guide to the workers as they make their way home or go fetch her and the hatchlings food.
690259

Edit.
Quick update.
690313

[Mara644]

great topic and cool ideas so far.

pahavasa: this is stunning! i really like the textures on the 'face'.
Michael Jaecks: thanks for your very inspiring second concept description. it really painted pictures in my mind (which was more or less blank before)!


i'm still struggling with the structure since both shadow and flame can be both soft and hard... hope to gain some believable and interesting contrast.

[sojujoe]

My own quick rough start. was going for a Deep sea Vent camo-type crab, though now Ill probally just focus on losing the crab parts and bringing some more meat/texture to the body.

[Blonde Bomber]

I do like fire.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/Raydart/146.jpg


Can someone PLEASE tell me if this sucks as much as my last one. I don't wanna bother developing a concept that has no aesthetic appeal to anyone else. I can't seem to gauge this crowd correctly. You won't hurt my feelings by telling me it sucks.

[tokuku]

first ever COW...here's a quick sketch...not happy with face or chest.
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/156/6/0/COW_Wip_by_tokuku.jpg

[scorge]

I'm in. WIP soon. Great topic to come back on MJ. Gonna be evil.:devil:

[GrayMind]

Hey everyone... I'm new to the website but love drawing... especially beasts and the like. Figured "shadow and flame" would be a good place to start, so wish me luck! (or not, if you really don't care).

[Blonde Bomber]

I think I like this better. Turned out like the first's one big brother.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/Raydart/146-2.jpg

[lkjhgfdsa]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/Speedpaint/CA_ShadowFlame_wip1.jpg

[ghoulio]

Wraaahh nice ideas here...
Here´s my first sketch, think it´s got to be more brutal, nasty and viscous:skull:
Gonna do some more today, let me know what you guys think of it ok...

Cya...

690605

[Droid]

Oh, phew!
I saw the voting thread and thought I'd missed the deadline.

:wtf:

Lol, sick concepts guys, I'll see what I can drag up for this week.

;)

[grue]

Here's the next stage.
I'd like some advice on the feet guys if you will. Something bothers me about them...

[MoHog]

need to post frequent paint updates to learn as much as possible from this
690664

just painted in basics for a section - crits on colour/ application etc. please

[SMILEFACE]

everybodies look'n wicked so far
im gunna push the form alot more an base the anatomy off a lizared this is just the basic idea

[Black Sun]

So, my last attempt at COW flopped since I jumped in too late, but I'm giving myself enough time on this one.

None of these are concrete, and I'm not entirely sure which direction I want to go in. Also, I'm still very new with this digital painting stuff. I'm most likely going to stick with the blue, I might even make it a purplish blue.

[Crowsrock]

Work in progress

Hell Salamander, also known as Lava Eater.

[Luuds]

Well an initial doodle for my first cow (and anything conceptart.org related really) *bounces a bit*. It started out as a cross-breed between a Tarsier/Bushbaby and a Gigant anteater .... and now it has flames .... I realized early on that there was no way I could make some grand and monsterous entity from the depths, I just don't have it in me so I just started in the other end of the spectrum .... with fuzzy....

[pahavasa]

Looking good so far, everyone.

Update.
A question: since the male and female differ from each other in this species of mine, do I have to draw the male here too? Is it a must or is this queen of the herd enough? I don't know if there's a rule for this.
690932

[Rabies]

C&C For page 2

Tokuku
Awesum' looking sketch. you could clean up the face, who says a fire centaur has eyes? Not sure about the chest tough : /

Blonde Bomber
The body and legs fine, but the head bothers me. Looks too fragile around the mouth, idd say :)

Lkj
Pretty fckin awesome as allways. looking forward to seeing it with some more shadows on the BG - more contrast.

Ghoulio
The torso and arms looks good, but its hard to judge the lower parts since its just a sketch. Thumbs up :)

Grue
Concept looks good, but the pose might be a little weird. The perspective might be a little off on the feet, could that be it? The anatomy could use a bit of work, theres some joints thats too thin, but just keep working on it - i think you can get a pretty decent pic out of it ;)

MoHog
You need to blend that. I havent seen any of your work so i dont know how experienced you are. Forgive me if you allready know this: Blending can be done in variouse ways. Some uses the blur or smudge tool, some goes over the painting with decreasingly sized brushes again and again, and some just uses a very low hardness on their brushes.
Besides that the head looks good so far. I think the toes and fingers might be a little too long and thing to be realistic :)

grandmassa
I love your style of working. Id love to work like that, but i need more structure in my work process. keept it up :D

TomatoFish
Hehe i love the salamander :D If your going with blue or purple just make it obvious that is flames, otherwise id might look like a "Shadow Spirit" instead of a "Fire/Shadow beast" Good luck with the Digital practicing :)

CrowsRock
Looking decent, it would be great if there was allso shooting jets of steam out of the tubes.

Luuds
Lol judging from that your perfectly capable of designing a beast from the deepest depths :P Reminds of those fiery horses, cant remember their name oO
Anyhow, looking real good :)

Pahavasa
I love the mouth with the teeth and the skin. Awesome lightning only thing i can spot right now would be the hands and feet. I dont know anything about the male / female issue : /


Phew that took a while. Now fo' mah' oawn' shizz'
Changed the concept, the earlier one didnt really suit the topic. WIP:

[Marsch]

This is a quick shitty scattch(pun intended), im going for a hyena/horse with fiery gills and a bony face, and lots of smoke and fire and brimstone and gargoyles all a giant castle with lots of hydras and robots and....

[matejkovacic]

Nice work everyone ...

grue - I think the nails of feet shouldn't be reaching under the ground level.

This is what I managed to do so far ... any crits welcome ...

[lkjhgfdsa]

Had to make a b/w so as to judge the contrast between the centre of focus and the rest of the picture... always a handy manouver...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/CA_ShadowFlame_wip2.jpg
update...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/CA_ShadowFlame_wip3.jpg

[Reymus]

A thumbnail, not happy with this, but it'll be *something* like it.

[.pc]

Quick paintup. I hope i don't fizz out on this one..

http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/immelmann_turn/hellhound_sketch1.jpg

[Freedezigner]

first time I'm participating in COW. I guess I'll finish it in time.
quick sketches.

[Blonde Bomber]

I love all the tiny people getting burned alive.

matejkovacic - I like the design of your creature, though the feet on it suggest it would only support something light aquatic, or one that would hardly move. That beastie seems like quite the go-getter, so i'm interested on where it would live --*feels weird giving critique*

pahavasa, lkjhgfdsa - Those look phenomenal, it's going to be tough to beat.


I completely changed everything again. But this, i like.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/Raydart/146sm.jpg

I'm probably going to change the butt out: if i'm going for that concentrated contrast point under it's mouth, i can't have a glowing butt in the distance. I am interested in conceptual butt-changes.

[dragon4lunch]

lkjhgfdsa that is promising to be a great piece! Man, that is a scary creature! The entire scenery is great! Good job!

[Michael Jaecks]

Rabies:

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the question? The front page of this part of the forum? It automatically bumps to the top when someone posts a message

[NakedZergling]

Do i like this so far??? I really don't know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/rabidwombat/fireshadowcopy.jpg

[Michael Jaecks]

Rabies:

Never mind, I see what you mean. No one has ever shown me how to chnage that, or even if I have the ability to do so... I will ask another mod for help and get that changed as soon as I can... thanks for pointing that out I don't think anyone has noticed it before...

[grue]

Here's today's progress. I still have a problem with its feet and legs but I'll try to fix it next time I grab it.

[faelic]

some early thumbs, been doing over the past few days. for some reason i'm hung up on a wolf faced, buff, with long ears, antler style horns on either side of its head, long flowing mane or ruff with a possible second one near it's waist area, two arms, two to four legs, possibly an upper torso with ah a sort of centaur style lower body; ie the two arms four legs thing, and cave dwelling. the creature itself will be dark once i get to color, and it's mane/membranes will have fire. at this point i may just push this creature, any feedback welcome, but bear in mind these are only at the thumbnail stage still.


691518

[SMILEFACE]

a lil' brainstrom'n w/ the origanel idea but the fire is mess'n w/ my comp tonz o' reconfigerate'n

[rushwolf]

hmm...

[Rabies]

MJ: Thanks, i actually thourd the Cow was dead untill i checked the forum :P
Looking good guys, ill see if i can thief some time from my not existing examination preperation plan

[Michael Jaecks]

Rabies: I just got word back from another mod that it is supposed to update automatically, so obviously something is wrong. It hasn't updated since I took over by the looks of it.

We're asking around to see what to do about fixing it. I logged in to the mod control panel to try to do it manually, but couldn't find away to update that section.

For the most part I think folks find us as soon as they hop onto the forum. Our participation has been up, even in the slow summer months. But you're right, it would be better if we can get that section to work properly. Thanks for the feedback.

TomatoFish: Those are interesting starts for designs, but I would like everyone to follow the brief as much as possible. Not sure which direction you're headed in but the blue and the grey doesn't really evoke 'shadow and flame.'

I'm really going to insist that creatures which go to the poll follow the brief. But I think you can get one of your designs to work within the parameters of the topic.

[Labrynthine]

Took head #2 and got a creature design kinda going. Hopefully I will get cracking on the actual picture tonight. Will probably also alter the feet as well.

I dunno, I have this idea of a creature with a fiery core, but with shadow slathered all over the top and the face like some sticky tar, and the fire makes the shadow bubble and steam and flow off of the creature's back into the air. The problem is, I don't know which view would be best to show this. I want to show a clear view of the creature, but I also want some motion. I was told last time I did COW that my pose was fairly hard to read, so I'm trying to avoid that. Help!

P.S. design crits would be nice.

[grue]

Labrynthine: I like the bubbly approach very much. The only crit I have is the hind legs (so far since the front ones are not there yet) are too solid and defined compared to the head/body style. :)

[Illysian]

Thought I'd give Creature of the Week a try, I like the topic.

Pondered a few things in my head but eventually it all boiled down to some strange mix of a rat and a bug....Raarr,.

[Michael Morisse]

I am having a hard time getting away from the obvious. I finally decided that my beastie is a sulphur eating alien that is incubating her young in gas filled bags on her back, but this could all change.

ikjhgfdsa nice beastie, thanks for showing us the steps.

ghoulio nice sketch ,but if you are going for evil you can push it more.

Luuds beautiful sketch.

pahavasa Like it a lot, maybe some more inner glow in the body?.

Grandmassa Mr. Spect It is taking on a nice ambiguous feel.

rushwolf Always love your stuff, throw us some sketches.

Labrynthine your sketch looks good to me, the side view is good for showing both construction and action.
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt179/michaelmorisse/ShadowandFlamecopy.jpg

[Razorleaf]

These are some fantastic ideas ......

This is going to be a great cow :)

[zimfin]

Well, since starting mine, and getting to this point I had not been back to the forum to check and I have found mine looks very similar to Grue's sketch. If you would prefer me to find another design I will try. Please let me know!

[Mara644]

this is really getting scary around here (i mean both hellish creatures and technical skills...).

MoHog this is becoming one hell of a beast! i like the wretched pose. but maybe you should be careful with the white/silver on the face, having the smoke and flame brief in mind?

Luuds cool technique and believable 'surface' considering the topic! just the perspektive makes is look a bit small (like dog-sized?).

pahavasa whaaa, this is getting better and better! *respect*


wip #2: quite satisfied with the lovely expression, but hate the foot... let's see where this is getting.

[tokuku]

hmm im pullin outta this one haha mines lookin to similar to yours mara

[Mara644]

tokuku what?! just because of the centaur-like body? no, please go for it! i would hate to keep anyone from participating...

[pahavasa]

Thanks for the c&c, everyone! Keep up the good work.

lkjhgfdsa, apart from having the greatest nickname ever, your piece looks absolutely flabbergasting.

Update, now with more glow and dazzle. Added some males there as well, just to show the difference in their sizes and appearance in general.

[Illysian]

Trying to make it a little more malevolent(sp?) x.x Either way I was gonna make this small to humans first, but I like the scale in this one. Dunno. XP

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Here's some early progress on mine. Going to try for a cartoony style.

[Labrynthine]

Basic sketch and pose. Took Grue's advice on the hind legs, and tried to put it to the front legs as well. I dunno, does the pose kinda seem wonky to any of you guys? He's kinda standing on a slope, so is there anything I should do to the legs or slope to make it look better? I might also shift him further right or something.

The pupil on his eye there is where I'm going to make his eye the brightest.

I have a feeling that the creatures seem too solid. Should a "shadow and flame" creature, although they have form and mass, should also have a kind of hazy quality to them (since fire and shadow are ephermeral elements as Michael Jaecks said?) They all seem dark and hellish, but not particularly shadowy, if that makes any sense. Maybe like the Balrog from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies?

[darklogik]

Think I might enter my first COW this week awesome topic!

[Illysian]

Hey Lab, I think it looks good, but it might be strengthened (the slope part) if you tilt his spine downward then, that's only if you wanna make the whole slope thing apparent--I think it looks fine anatomy wise. n.n

[Iruka]

I've never done a COW before, but i'm trying to expand my portfolio this summer. Here are some sketches for this:
http://iruka.iseenothing.com/cowsketches1.gif
http://iruka.iseenothing.com/cowsketches2.jpg

[NakedZergling]

iruka!!!!!! damn you! now you can show me up in two forums!!

[Iruka]

haha, hey NZ. Small internet!

[darklogik]

Here is my first posted WIP for my first C.O.W.. Comments / Crits always desired please.

Thanks

[Mushroom168]

MJ - i noticed that but, being new to the site, i assumed it was some inevitable aspect of the how things work here. its been a link to the giant canopy grazer since i started on here, so i just bookmarked the creature of the week page.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Progress. Is the cartoon thing working out?

[lkjhgfdsa]

Last wip...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/CA_ShadowFlame_wip4.jpg

[Gorgonzola]

A lot of great stuff going on in here...

Thought I'd give this a shot, it'd at least give me something to work on that's not comic related at the moment. So here's some initial silhouette ideas to generate some neat shapes...the three starred are what I'm favoring, I'm liking the idea of something really sinewy that maybe just has flames rolling off of it in billows of smoke, or skin or fur continuously singed, giving off a noxious smoke...

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

I kind of like the purple/green, but any ideas on which to go with?

lkjhgfdsa, that's freaking badass, but I do think the people down there could use a bit more work to bring them up to speed with the monster.

[OTTA]

็Hmm.. I should not to miss this week topic

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

This is probably all the painting I'm going to do on this, just need to pick a color :P.

[ghoulio]

Started painting, still no idea about BG, gonna add some action to it later.
He´s still not looking that evil, but maybe they aint angry all the time ...

Btw: Nice concept around hellish cute haha...

692224

[Icecold]

hmm...

Trolling ftw! :D


Grandma Wicked sic! keep my fingers crossed.

[clockworksnail]

These are brilliant! its such a good C.O.W too!

[MoHog]

wiiip, I call it the Enerbarus (sounds impressively mythological)

692349

will post my views on other entries tonight

[Luuds]

So a touched up color version of the little creature...I actually wanted to go for the dog-size/lion-size/small-pony-size look because being a cave creature i think it has an advantage being small and nimble ... I can't believe how creative people are I mean the variety of creatures here ... fun challenge...

[Michael Jaecks]

There are some interesting things going on here but I would like to encourage all of the new folks to review the rules at the top of this activity.

Rule 3f is of particular note to me seeing some of these wips. There are a couple of folks who are either cropping their picture or plunging the anatomy of their creature so deeply in surrounding shadow that it makes it difficult to see the creatures design.

This is a creature design activity FIRST. Everything else is secondary including clever lighting and other special efects. We reallly are more interested in seeing your creature's design clearly. I don't object to some interesting light and shadow play in your backgrounds, but don't bury the creature where we cannot see it. As far as I can tell, folks who are doing this just need to dail back the ambient darkness around their creature down a bit.

[matejkovacic]

Another WIP, actually almost finished picture. The most important are the flame
and the shadow.

[Marsch]

A update , not happy with it, need to make it more crazy, and less flat. and a lot of stuff

[blobs]

As usual I'm late in, so having just spent an hour writing in the last CoW I'm just gonna say that there are some 'king awesome pieces showing up in this thread.. hell yeah! :)

And' here's my sketch :)

[Gumish]

Ufff, I'm under time press all time. This is my idea about shadow and flame creature. It should be a black bandog in the dark snowy environment. I know that it isn't very original. What would you recomend me to improve at this early stage?? I am always in the fight with colors:-/
http://www.wydle.eu/stuff/COW_146_wip.jpg

[Bralt Hannicart]

http://www.bralt.be/LampyrisAeropisces_web.jpg

This be mine... I've got pretty much the same concept as lkjhgfdsa I think. Namely the shadow part is a sort of living furnace fueled with an inner flame. Heated air makes this pretty boy fly. When preyed upon, he can shoot flames from it's uhm ... arse and jet his way to safety while leaving a dark cloud of smoke behind to further confuse any predators.

EDIT: whoa awesome, the COW medals have been updated!! thx (Jaecks?)! (sorry, been offline for a few months)

[MoHog]

Bralt: as usual a really well done piece, the shine on the exposed organs(?) is really convincing and the textures are spot on.

Gumish: im not qualified to really give a critique, but atm I think its a fine piece - would definitely benefit from some definition and some small detail that really sets it apart from the crowd..

Blobs: great use of perspective, wish I was as confident with linework as you ar, looking forward to a kick-ass final

Marsch: Agree with your comments; maybe incorporate some real-world anatomy into the legs/ develop the 'arse region' so its less like a stump? intriguing tho, very intriguing

Matejkovacic: noice stuff, the scene + fire is goood. Not sure where the shadow is though (maybe im missing it though)

Luuds: Not sure if the legs really 'carry' the creature, but great rendering

[darklogik]

Here is the progress of mine. There will be background, but im waiting till i have all internal light sources set. There will also be a human element for natural scale.

As this is my first COW I would love some crit / feedback.

Thanks

[grue]

I think I'll pull my work out of this Cow. I don't like my design and the subject is a bit deep for me. I hope next Cow is a bit more material ;)

There are some real diamonds here though :D

[Michael Jaecks]

Bralt: Not quite what I expected, but lovely nonetheless.

Is there any chance you could post a few process shots or maybe a little bit of a walkthrough? If time doesn't allow, I understand, but we have a lot of new people on here and I think we would all benefit in seeing how this gets pulled together.

And Yeah, they finally let me post the COW prizes. :)

Blobs: You go go power rangers with that blob carve scribble. Yer my sensei in every way. :)

[zimfin]

Finally had time for some more on this. I plan on having my guy lit from within with a firey glow showing through the body in places which will cause shadows on the surrounding rocks. Just haven't got to that yet.

[Izer]

I'm back, and wow some really awesome creatures so far (I'll comment on each later). Just wanted to throw my pencil WIP up before i try my hand at coloring it in painter. This is closer to my personal style, the first image is a camera shot of it, and the second pic is a scan and pasted back together, my scanner is 8x11 and my drawing board is 14x17 so it was interesting scanning it. Anyways this looks better on paper, but i hope it turns out well after i color it. I went the more demonic/evil/alien/nightmare scare the viewer type.

[Bralt Hannicart]

Thx Mohog and sure thing Jaecks! Here we go!

STEP 1:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP01.jpg

First things first! You need a good concept so start thinking! Then sketch! Then think & sketch more! I always use Photoshop so the tutorial was written for painting with Photoshop. I always start with a square canvas and background set to a light grey (never white!!). Then i sketch on a new layer with 50 opacity sharp brush. In this case I tried several configurations for my creature. What often helps is to flip your sketch upside down to really get those alien shapes. Trust me, the world looks awesome upside down. When I try something new, I duplicate the layer and flip, erase, cut and paste on the new layer. This way, I can always go one step back if things start to look ugly.

STEP 2:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP02.jpg

When I'm happy with a design I make a new layer under the sketch and fill the shape with a darker grey than the background. Never mind the outlines, this is all still sketchy.

STEP 3:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP03.jpg

Time for some basic lights and shadows. I do this by locking the layer's pixels and pulling some gradients in either screen white or multiply black over the flat grey layer.

STEP 4:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP04.jpg

Now to define the shapes a bit. In this step I use black and white as primary and secondary colors. The brush is set on 20% opacity and the Greyscaled layer is still locked. I switch from feathered to sharp brushes depending on the shapes and use quick key 'X' a lot to switch primary and secondary colors fast.

STEP 5:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP05.jpg

This is basicly still the same as step 4, only more detailed. I also flatten the linework and the greyscale layer underneath (but only after duplicating both of them so we can always turn back a step!!). Defining texture and also how reflective some surfaces will be. For instance the three gut-like organs should look slimey and wet so I use sharp contrast and specular lighting on those. I also use smudge a lot in this step (I know, concidered a no-no but it works best for me) to blend the gradients together. When I'm done, I erase everything outside the lines so I've got a clean and sharp shape again.

STEP 6:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP06.jpg

In this step, I refined the look of the creature a bit more, made some changes by simply copy pasting and smudging the sharp cutting seams back together. I also added a simple gradient background, an underpainting, so we can get the main color pallette right. To blend my greyscale creature a bit with the background, I CTRL + click on the creature layer in the layer window so it gets selected, I make a new layer and click the 'mask' button in the layer window. This will basicly make a cutout mask of my creature in that new layer. I set my layer to 'overlay', I select a nice blue from my background and fill the layer. You will notice that only the creature gets filled with blue because of the mask we applied. Now mess a bit with the opacity of that overlay layer to make things look right.

STEP 7:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP07.jpg

Remember the overlay layer with the mask? Now I make a new layer with the exact same mask (see STEP 6 how to) and set this new layer to color or multiply or overlay (depends a bit, it's fun to try out different settings!). This will be the color layer for the creature. I chose some nice colors, set my brush to normal, feathered and opacity 15 to 25 and start filling in colors. This is one of the most fun steps to do. Try different colors and blend them together. I used purples, reds and yellows to get the basic colors down. On layers below the creature but above the background gradient, I add some details. I used a feathered brush, darkblue colors, layer set to multiply and lots of smudge to make these clouds.

STEP 8:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP08.jpg

On different layers I add effects and particles. The yellow fire like glow from it's belly was made by setting the layer on 'hard light', setting my feathered brush on opacity 5 to 10 and giving the layer an 'Outer Glow' setting (Double click the layer to see the layer styles and settings). The colors used range from pure white to pale yellow. The smoke from it's rear was done the same way explained in STEP 7 but also on a different layer on top of the creature layers.

STEP 9:
http://www.bralt.be/COWTutorial/LampyrisAeropiscesWIP09.jpg

We are almost finished! Before this step I Usualy make a folder in my layer window. Drag ALL the layers needed to make the final compostion ready into that folder. Duplicate it and merge that duplicate folder to one final render layer. Then before doing anything else, I duplicate this layer again and start messing with contrast, brightness, levels, colors, etc...

STEP 10:

finally, as I do with all my images, I add a filmgrain effect to the last layer that pleased me. Add a nice border, add text and BAM...done!

Hope this helps a bit. Sorry if I haven't commented on the WIPS here, but hope to help out with this tutorial. Remember, there is no black or white answer to 'how do I paint in Photoshop?', this is merely how I do things, not how everyone should work. Some prefer working with colors straight away, I prefer the greyscaled methed and add color later. Anyhoo, get paintin', you swaggin' scurvy dogs.

[SMILEFACE]

all yall are ROCK'N

fin brain storming now gunna dig in w/ the paints

[Iruka]

Very nice step-by-step, Bralt!

more Wip:
http://iruka.iseenothing.com/shadowandflamewip1.jpg

[blobs]

Update..

[Michael Jaecks]

Gorgeous Bralt. Really loverly. I love the control you have, the way you break down image making into simple logical steps. The layers management is really great. And I think *I* know the blending modes well, but you've got me beat. Plus I love they way you admit to things like using the smudge tool and making it work. Me, I gotta try more of that to clean things up in my work a bit more. Very cool.

So... Blobs... are you perchance saving your steps too? Pweeeze? Fer me? I know from personal experience that Blobs has a completely different but equally valid way of approaching his work. Do you have time to show us a step by step? I'll love you for all time if you do.... :)

Very cool guys.

[blobs]

I forgot to say, Bralt.. kick ass! :D

Will do Michael, but I'll do it tomorrow.. sleep time for my creaking old bones!:mod:

[Michael Jaecks]

That's cool man. Thanks for posting it. Love you QUADRUUUPLE.

[tmyohlaing]

some sketches of the creature.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/tmyohlaing/COW/COW146Sketches001.jpg

updated June 9

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/tmyohlaing/COW/COW146Sketches003.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/tmyohlaing/COW/COW146Concept001.jpg

[Labrynthine]

Laid down base values. Next, time to expand and add more contrast and details.

Any last things before I expand it? Composition, etc? I really hope it flows smoothly so far. Most importantly, am I not obscuring the poor fellow with too many shadows?

lkjhgfdsa- awesome pic there. I can't wait to see the final.

Gumish - I love the creature design, but whenever I scroll down to see the creature's name it's brought out of my sightline, leaving me to look at un-shadowy-flamey snow. If you could crop the bottom and bring the name up closer to the creature, then I dunno, it would feel easier to read/look at.

Mr. Spect - I like the approach you're taking colorwise, and it contrasts neatly against the background. But I can't find the creature's face very well.

These are some amazing creatures!

[Marsch]

update need to puut volume in shadows and correct the back leg and lots of stuff

[Wazbot]

I dont have time for this one this week :(

Everyones work looks freaking great.

Awesome tutorial Bralt! thank you very much!

[Lior Schiller]

Hello,
I think I took the shadow part ways too literally, it's too dark to see on low quality screen.
Perhaps someone got a trick for that in Photoshop?

Anyway, I'd love some comments :)

Amazing works, everyone.

[Razorleaf]

Darklogic - love yours, it reminds me a lot of the creature on the Outlander movie. :)

Blobs - your is nicely intense, looking forward to seeing this one finished :)

[stirpicus]

*raises hands quietly* I think I'm going to do this.. my first one ever. :)

[emerging]

Nice ideas!
mine is pretty much done
here is the version

[Labrynthine]

Stirpicus, welcome to CA! And go for it; these are a lot of fun on top of improving art!

Now starting on the detail.

[LisandroG]

Hey guys,

this is my first time doing a creature of the week, or any community activity for that matter (I couldn't resist this Tolkien inspired topic), here is my work in progress -

[GrayMind]

Here's my first sketch... Not sure whether I should leave him like that coming out of the lava or add a body of some sort. Constructive criticism most welcome! (the end is a mouth by the way... it sorta looks like a tail fin right now without lava dripping out)

[Labrynthine]

Graymind- You need pretty much a full-body shot of the creature to be eligible for the final round, so yeah, a body would be good. :) Otherwise, I see some neat potential for the creature, especially with all those neat little eyes sticking up around the body. Can't wait for future WIP's

[Doomsquid]

Bralt- Wow, gorgeous rendering and textures! I love the concept, too-- I was also playing around with the idea of more of a passive Shadow & Flame creature. I really enjoy the colors, too; the purple and yellow jive quite nicely, as well as the red and green.

Gumish- I think I might have a color recommendation: if you push the purple in the creature (or perhaps background) it would set off the glowing yellow bits.

blobs- As always, friggin’ sweet! It’s very dynamic~ the motion and perspective really make it pop and give it wonderful depth. Massive and scary! >:D Love the purplish grey skin with the green flame.

Marsch- I’m liking the bird/dinosaur/totem face. Perhaps if you toned down the highlights on the limbs on the far side of the body it would help alleviate the flatness?

matejkovacic- I’m digging the glowing flame organ-stuff shining through the creature’s skin. Nice lighting and wagon and driver, too.

Luuds- I like it! I’d like to see the form a little more distinctly, though. It looks like there’s some cool detail that’s obfuscated by the darkness. The creature certainly evokes “Shadow and Flame”!

MoHog- I’ve really enjoyed seeing your process-- your creature heads in the beginning signaled that there was awesome stuff on the way! The painting looks really nice, my only suggestion (and this is probably just a matter of preference) is maybe adding a little more (not too much) red to the body-lava. I think it would help carry the color scheme through to the face with the red eyes. Just a suggestion. I’m looking forward to the final!

Ghoulio- Looking good! Is there any way we can see it a little closer, so the textures and details would stand out more? It looks like there’s plenty there to take in.

Sidharth- Both colors are cool, I think maybe the purple one evokes shadow a bit more? At any rate, both are gorgeous!

Gorgonzola- Neat sketches, very strong silhouette. I especially like the one directly above the worm in the lower right.

lkjhgfdsa- Wow, just... killer~ It’s dynamic, it’s badass, it’s dead-on the theme, it’s terrorizing hapless adventurers! I can tell you’ve put a whole lot of work into it! My only qualm is the green border... it seems a little clashy, you might try something more neutral.

darklogik- Lookin’ good so far!

Iruka- I love your creature’s head!I assume the right hind leg is not there yet?

Labrynthine- Your sketch made me go “wow”, beautiful textures and head design-- looks like the detail is starting to show through in the further iterations.

Illysian- I’d like to see the value range pushed further- go for that contrast!

pahavasa- Beautiful detail, contrast and atmosphere! Is the creature emerging from the ceiling?

Mara644- I’m digging the pose and multiple mouths. I see what you mean about the foot. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Keeep truckin’ :D

zimfin- I like how it’s opening itself-- very cool concept! Neat face, too. the legs and tail seem a little unresolved, but it looks like you’ve got stuff in progress.

Michael Morisse- Yours is so very quirky, different, and cool! Hooray for back-bubbles and tentacle-like head appendages. Can’t wait to see the final.

Grandmassa Mr. Spect- I’m getting the sense that your creature is enormous and epic, but everything seems kind of unclear. I think it would benefit from some more clarity. The color scheme is great!

faelic- Looking forward to seeing the stages to come.

grue- The pose feels a wee bit stiff. I like the overall anatomy of your creature, can we see some more detail?

NakedZergling- Neat! I like the unconventional shape. Looking forward to seeing more.

Blonde Bomber- Nice colors! Looks dynamic and interesting, looking forward to seeing it finished.

freedezigner- The wings are reading a lot more clearly in your sketch than in the colored version-- you might try to keep it clear that the whispy darkness above the creature is part of its wings.

immelmann_turn- Nice painting-- It rather resembles a fairly ordinary (aside from the four orange eyes and glowing ribs) wolf. Perhaps you could push it farther as an unfamiliar creature?

Reymus- I like it so far, cool wedge-shape :D

Rabies- Digging the texture on the horn and skull! The lava-crackle texture seems a little haphazardly-placed, though. Is it going to be on the other plate-bits as well?

Crowsrock- Interesting to see a more earthy color scheme. Neat! Look forward to seeing more.
TomatoFish- Those look really cool! Not sure about the blue and grey for this week’s topic. Looks damn slick, though!

tokuku- Lookin’ pretty colossal and cool. I’m sure you’ll find something you like for the face and chest.

Izer- WOW. That looks amazingly detailed and wonderful. Holding my breath for colors!

tmyohlaing- Some interesting-looking sketches! Neat.

Tipa- Interesting! Fiery-winged butterfly with bullish head XD

emerging- When I looked at it I literally said “Oh, wow”... Man, that’s stunning... *gawks* Lovely color choices, lighting, pose...

LisandroG- I like what I see! Looks like you’re off to a great start!

GrayMind- I’ve gotten the impression that worm creatures generally don’t have the kind of... anatomical complexity (?) that folks look for in COW... Damn cool worm, though--



Here's mine so far-- I've taken to calling it a "Flare Hound". There's just a bit of value on its head to hint at the contrast between its cranium and the underlying glowy tissue. Those are "flame sacs" on its front forelimbs, they infuse its clawing attacks with searing heat~ Time to color!

[darklogik]

Looking for changes, fixes before I post this as my final. Thanks

[Gorgonzola]

Stuff is looking great around here...I'm already seeing some stand-outs popping up.

I guess I'm a little behind compared to the rest of you, as I haven't even gotten to painting it yet...ah well. I'll catch up, working on this an hour or two at night is a good way to unwind...

Here's some more sketch ideas of the head, and the initial sketching for the critter in PS. I might print it out at this point and refine the linework traditionally, just to have some greater control, before I scan it back in to paint.

[Nkristian]

wow so many amazing artist here!!!!

Bralt - thats a nice tutorial!!!!!

here is mine still in the WIP, this is my first attempt to post on COW :D

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/norze/shadowandFlamecreature.jpg

Ok this is all for now, I'll update this as soon as i get home. :D

[Blonde Bomber]

I'm pulling out. I know mine's probably not going to make it anyways, it's in worse shape then the last one, and I don't want to paint it anymore-and i've got commissions n' stuff to work on. I'll try again next time.

[matejkovacic]

This is going to be a tough round to decide,
so much awesomness ...

blobs - looking great, I wonder what it will look like, when fully rendered
emerging - nice flame, even if ... especially becouse it's not yellow, and rendered
very realisticaly, the creature rocks, too

[Chaos-Shark]

it isnt too late to have a try now is it?

or is it already over?

[Labrynthine]

Chaos-Shark: You still have plenty of time. Entries are due by Friday, so take a shot at it! :D

[SMILEFACE]

wicked' works everybody!

[Labrynthine]

Last WIP for the night. 2A.M. and God I'm tired.

P.S. Does the lighting seem a bit wonky to you guys? Seems odd to me. How am I going to get that larger shadow to fold in with the rest of the piece well.

[Chaos-Shark]

awsome :D i gotten pretty far actually already for my first try :D(with a tablet that is)

[Chaos-Shark]

ok i have a qeustion :

what is the max limit of creature in mb, or dunno , because i tried to upload some drawings and it didnt work so what should i do?

[scorge]

Wow, I've haven't seen this place jumping like this in a long time. What a beautiful array of badassery.
Bralt, lkjhgfdsa: You guys are crazy. ;)
I didn't realize we had so much time left for this one, so I'm really gonna pour myself into it.
WIP

[Bralt Hannicart]

Is he really pissing fire? Aah good old Syphillis.

[grue]

Rocking tutorial Bralt, thanks so much. :)

[Wazbot]

Found some time after all :)

Edit: Stage 2 :)

[blobs]

Ok, as per Jaecks request..

I do work a bit chaotically, so this isn't exactly the way I work EVERY time.

But here we go... oh I work in Painter X, btw.

I start off with a very loose sketch just to get the idea and shapes in there.

I then add a multiply layer and add the grey/brown base colour.

Then I add another multiply layer and wash over some saturated.

I flatten the image, add a normal layer, then using a very large oil brush I start to dab and blend in the paints with the original sketch... working the lighting as I go.

That's basically how I work through the entire image. If there's a sudden colour change I've just added a multiply layer and gently washed over the areas I want changed with a saturated colour... cyan for the background for example... which turned to the grey/green/yellow.. lubberly :)

I expanded the right side of the canvas as he was getting cramped in there.. poor sod.

As I work on I constantly flip the image regularly to pick out any glaring errors.

I basically start with massive brushes to get the lighting as 'correct' as I can and slowly but surely work to smaller brushes to pick out detail. There's no need to be fussy at the start of a painting I find. It's easy to get carried away with the details and ruin a perfectly good image.

It's also a good idea convert your image to greyscale occasionally just to make sure your levels are ok to go... then undo and rework the areas that you notice are a bit cack.

Brushes used.. cover pencil for inking, artists oils and oil pastels for painting :)

Like Bralt, this isn't the only way to work, just follow your mojo and find what suits ya.. hopefully this'll help a few of ya out there :)

Cheers all.
Scott.

[-HAWK-]

I've never tried COW before but I thought this one might be fun ^^ Went for a smaller animal concept. I figured they would "herd" together in the presence of an intruder, making themselves more impressive by shear mass and using their bright speckled patterning to confuse the eye - Not letting you focus in on any one individual ^^ Not nearly as cool as all the other pieces here, but I think I'll just start off small and work my way up to larger creatures in future COWs :)

-I'm still figuring out how the anatomy would work and once I get my computer back up to 100%, I'll mess around with it more and add more red into the pattern. Any crits would be great, hopefully I'm not totally off the mark...I do tend to stray a bit when I'm coming up with designs.
*edit* looking back at the brief It looks like it needs to be just one creature and way more freaky, sigh...I'll start over...

Everyone's pieces are crazy impressive, thanks for the step by steps too! They help a ton :D

[Michael Jaecks]

Holy crap, Blobs. You sexy all over the place. Thank you, many times over, for posting that walkthrough.

As much as we can be impressed with Bralt's very organized and logical approach to painting, Blobs' approach makes just as much sense, just in a very different way. You can approach the image with a lot of energy and confidence. Dig in, make the broad and powerful gestures first. Keep the color choices controlled, but intuitively dynamic. Working dark to light can be a real pain with traditional media, but most of us are working digitally, which means we are essentially painting with... light... dark to light makes perfect sense to work an image up from broad and sketchy to refined and detailed. Stay with the large brushes as the image takes shape and worry about the veins and the bumps and the hairs and the fine details as you near the end of the process.

Two completely different approaches to painting and yet both work. Both make perfect sense as artistic processes. I know there's a lot from both Bralt and Blobs for me to learn. Thanks to both of you for posting those...

Sidebar: Scorge thanks for coming back! I love the way yours is taking shape. Yeah, deadline is still a ways off. You have plenty of time yet to bring it! Pissing fire is GENIUS.

Everyone else: Thank you for taking this round so seriously and spending the time to help each other out. I know everyone at every skill level is trying to bring their best game. Keep on keeping on.

[Black Sun]

Wow, I've never seen so many entries for one COW before. There must be something about this topic that really gets people working.

So, here's my concept. It's an herbivore type animal that has a double ridge of bone along it's back end, and it stores aluminum in pores along the inside, so that when it's attacked by a predator, or communicating with a friend at night, it squirts water and aluminum into the ridge to create flames.

I just learned this morning that aluminum is the the most common metal on earth, and that it can be combustible with water. So, other than the possibility of this thing burning it's self to death, it's plausible, I suppose.

I just need to tweak the design and get it painted. C&C is much appreciated. :)

[Chaos-Shark]

wip :D

i am going to add more flames and such at the hands claws and head later on :D first attempt

i imagine this creature being in a hunting pack along with its pack
when a prey is spotted it will create a thick fog to hide their presence , due to the flaming body.
it will surround the prey and when the prey is covered in the thick shadow fog it will try to run out, most of the time towards the light.
one of them slowly advances towards the prey strikes and then runs back into the cover of darkness, then another one strikes
attacking while the prey is confused by the fog the creatures will be most of the time hidden so they can hit and run continuesly,
bringing down creatures many times its size

[benu]

HAWK Hm, not a bad concept, but he certainly doesn't look like a scary monstrosity from hell... He's cute! Maybe a pack of them attacking would be more fiting to the brief.

blobs Thank you so much for the tutorial! That's one impressive creature. The exaggerated perspective makes it loook really really gigantic. My only crit is that the hindquarters look somewhat blurry.

Wazbot Before you go on with rendering, find some nice refs of arthropods- crabs and spiders to make the anatomy more convincing, esp. the legs.

scorge The poor thing got kidney stones? Love the head/upper body.

Labyrinthine Hm, it looks like most of the light is coming from its paws and belly, so the inside of the legs, bottom side of the jaw etc. would be more brightly lit? It's looking promising anyway, nice head!

Grandmassa Mr. Spect Yay, blue fire! I like the blue and purple colors on the beast. It's hard to read in some places though. I'm not so fond of the knight and the building to the right.

Nkristian I like the 'alien' shape of your creature, and the warm colors and textures too.

Gorgonzola The head's shape and details are cool.

darklogic It's a little hard to read the form. The half-frozen lava texture is a good idea, but you could do more with it I think. Some refs of lava may help you.

Doomsquid Something is bugging me with the position/angle of the hind legs. Apart from that, nice sketch!

Don't have more time now. I'll post my own sketches today!

[Black Sun]

So it does have to be a scary monster? Please excuse me for being dense, but I didn't gather that from the brief. I know Balrog is big and scary, but I gathered that the prompt was just "fire and shadow" Damn... I guess I'll have to start over.

This is going to be 10 times harder, bug and scary really isn't my thing.

[Chaos-Shark]

it doesnt have to be scary right? it just has to folow the rules : shadow and fire XP

[volscalkur]

Holy Crap there is some awesome stuff so far!
Was a bit busy this past weekend and hadn't had a chance to check this one out yet and there are already 5 pages with some killer stuff! :teeth:

Special Thanks to Blobs for posting that sweet walkthrough! I found it very enlightening and I'm sure others did too! :)

Somehow I missed Bralt's tutorial first time around!? That sir, is freaking marvelous! Thank you very very much! Very enlightening, and the creature and concept are top notch! Excellent! Interesting take on the topic too!

Based on these helpful tutorials I think this time around I will try working from black and white to color instead of coloring and shading all in one go like I have been. I've seen that used before, but never quite understood how it worked!

Running a bit late with my creature this week but I'm doing my best to pull out all the stops and do my very best since this topic is fricking awesome!

So far I have an idea for a fiercely territorial, multi-limbed, bovine-like creature that lives far under ground and likes to wallow in lava like pigs like to wallow in mud- this super heats it's body so when it emerges it appears to be a hulking shadow that is on fire to any unfortunate adventurer unlucky enough to encounter it!
Will post some WIPs as soon as I have something worth posting!

[Doomsquid]

Doomsquid Something is bugging me with the position/angle of the hind legs. Apart from that, nice sketch!

You're right! I have noticed this as well, I will fix it. Thanks, benu!

Chaos-Shark: Preeetty scary-- Something is off about the pose, though. I would recommend working out the forms, gesture, and pose just using basic shapes. Draw through the creature's form (don't worry about the shapes overlapping for the sketch). This will help with the shape, gesture, and silhouette. Best of luck!

TomatoFish: I wasn't terribly clear about that myself, but I'd say Bralt's creature is evidence that the creature doesn't have to be a demonic killing machine.

-HAWK-: I like the beak. Looking forward to seeing more.

Wazbot: I give you the same recommendation that I did Chaos-Shark; try starting your sketch with basic shapes, and really work out the shape, gesture, and silhouette.

scorge: I really dig the complexity of your creature's many mouths. Nice job!

Labrynthine: I think once you add the light cast from the creature's body onto its surroundings the lighting wonkiness should be resolved. Do you mean the large shadow emanating from the creature's back? It seems fine flowing into the upper left.

Grandmassa Mr. Spect: I can read your creature better now, nice job! I dunno about calling it the "Jrrtolkien", though :P

Nkristian: Very cool! I like its bulbous appendages and many limbs. I think it would help to evoke the "shadow" side a bit more it some of the upper arms were shrouded a bit more in the dark.

Gorgonzola- I like the combination of furry/spiny with the odd, beakish snout. Good stuff!

And of course, many thanks to Bralt and blobs for their excellent tutorials! I feel like I have learned much from just the week and a half or so I've been active on CA, and I owe it to folks like you!

[MoHog]

final wip - will clean up lower area/blending + a bg before final post

critique moi sil vous plait :)
693416


thanks to Bralt + Blobs for the fantastic processes, most educational C.O.W ever ( cheers Jaecks for prompting it + the great topic)

final thread will be a dark fiery place

[Iruka]

MoHog, I like the creature. When you clean up the lower area, you may want to try and have the leg hes sitting on and and the arm hes resting on it recede in space more. Right now it reads a little flat.

Hopefully I'll be able to dive back into this, but something else just got priority in my schedule:
http://iruka.iseenothing.com/shadowandflamewip2.jpg

[Swellzombie]

I want to git in on this. There are already so many great designs. What I see are so many demonic sharp and evil creatures. I'm more prone to come up with something that seems more logical. This I think is going to hold me back. Here's what I came up with last night. I'm going to work up another creature in a different direction. Some critiques or inspirational words would be useful.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/3611099371_cda56dda81_o.jpg

[Jakers]

wow theres some nice stuff going on here! I just found the topic yesterday so I spent some time last night. Like most, critiques would be awesome in case I get more time as this is only the 2nd COW i've ever entered. Hes still taking form from beneath the swirling shadows...more to come

[Icecold]

Woohoo nice to see you around here Jakers.
Blobs yours is great as always and your getting better and better every week.

Personally i think i'll pass this week i lack the will to paint somehow, and with no inspirations comes no serious results, so good luck guys!

[LauraGarabedian]

Still very rough, and critiques are welcomed!

This creature lives on a planet of nearly liquid gasses. It's bones are malleable, more like cartilage and it's 'flight' is almost like swimming through the thick atmosphere.

[zimfin]

Great work and tutorials folks! Very nice to be back here and seeing this. Worked more on mine tonight. Plenty more to go yet!

[Swellzombie]

Alright. So I whipped up my second idea for the creature. I'm obviously using a found photo background which gave me color reference and just a physical reference of a cave. I wouldn't use it for the final of course, but it's useful here as a sketch.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3612079194_561d1e9a76.jpg

This came from the idea that a creature would be Shadow then Flame. Giving an appearance of the darkness of the cave when closed up. Concealed until disturbed, then a display of its firey insides. Whether it really is an organic lava or just bioluminescence I don't know yet. Either way...

[Chaos-Shark]

awsome stuff uploaded people :D

heres my second wip :D

[Kabu]

@emerging: i really like it :)

wip:
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[benu]

Some monster heads. I'm indecisive which one I like best. 693526

[Bralt Hannicart]

Definitly the one in the first row (far left) in the middle! no doubt.

[pahavasa]

Acerbus Ignis, step-by-step. Will add a side-shot of the character to the final rendering as well.

[Tyrus]

Benu, my choice would be Left Middle or Left Bottom

[scorge]

Thanks for the compliments guys. We're gonna have a massive poll. Tough choosin' on it's way.

Benu: Heads up! Nicely done. I think I agree with Bralt.

Blobs: Thanks for the tut! We need more of em!

Progress....getting there. Possible final. Don't want to over work it. Any suggestions please let me know.

[Izer]

Threw some ink over the pencils in painter, left the pencil layer underneath, without it it's hard to see whats going on, which i hope to make it more ''readable'' when i color it. Not sure of what type of style i want to color it though, really gettin into these painting styles i keep seeing here, really good stuff. We'll see. Small size for this pic.

[LisandroG]

Here is my second W.I.P., quite a bit to go...

[emerging]

Hey benu i prefer the far left head in the middle row as well as the eagle-looking head in the lower right corner..

this cow is evidently becoming better than the last :)

[OTTA]

I think I can't join this round coz a lot of work I had, So sad T_T.
Nice work for everyone, This is some comments from me :).

scorge - I like your design & rendering. It's really remind me Flame&shadow
Swellzombie - I really love your idea, but I think your character doesn't have a
Jaker - That's great! Shadow maker, I'm waiting to see more further
Grandmassa Mr. Spect - Flame blue! I love that!
Labrynthine - Your design is great! love to see more :)
Bralt H. - Thanks for W.I.P. You're such a good man. I like your creature's idea.
Blobs - Thaks for your W.I.P. too. What a huge massive creature, I love your action design :)
lkjhgfdsa - Lovely desgin, I like your character very much! Flame&Terror shadow!

[Gorgonzola]

Wip update, the lineart's more or less locked in, so now onto the painting bit! I think I'll be taking him from PS to Painter now to start doing that...still unsure if I want to keep the guy in there, or keep 'em but not render him.

[lkjhgfdsa]

I don't like to post without a picture but I had to say that this is the most helpful COW in ages- so many people helping each other to improve (I rarely critique- anexiety thing),
It would be great if we could keep this up as a community- practice makes perfect!!

[SMILEFACE]

GO TEAM!!!

[Cloister]

Okay... so I really wanted to do this COW, but had no time for it... so I decided to contribute to the mood at least, and to arrange for 4-5 hours of painting. It has no visible legs... and it might be very Balrogish...etc. But it was very fun! :)
Shadow and Flames to all of you!

[Izer]

Nice turn out for this COW, a lot of excellent creature concepts. I tried to comment as many pieces as i could, i started on page 4 so if i missed yours i apologize, it's just a lot to go through and i didn't want to comment on one wip when there could be another update on a different page. I'll comment more on the finals, for now though a few, not many crits though:

@Bralt Hannicart, awesome painting and conecept first off, and thanks for posting that process, helps a lot. Thanks for taking the time to post.

@emerging, those flame are awesome, the minatour/alien concept is cool as well, nice mix on a classic.

@LisandroG, i really like where yours is headed, i see all sorts of demon in there.

@greymind, maybe a bit more is needed, has a nice bateria feel to it.

@Doomsquid, nice start there, It has that RES licker look to it.

@darklogik, looking good, nice and volcanic looking but it stil manages to keep it shape.

@Gorgonzola, pretty cool sketches there, be even better when you paint it, hope to see wip of that as well.

@Nkristian, that's one odd creature, but original for sure, nice progress and style, very silent hill horror looking.

@Grandmassa Mr. Spect, loving the colors you used for this, cool concept over all, you have your own distinct style, i like that.

@Wazbot, it has a comical scary to it i link, nice work so far.

@Blobs, the perspectice is awesome, all in your face. Great process as well, thanks for taking the time to post.

@-HAWK-, cute little fox (firefox, lol), but yeah jokes aside i like it, you probably don't have to start over, even though it's not like the rest, scary or mean and such the cute facade could just be a cover to it's more deadly and scary personality, one doesn't have to come off as scary to be scary.

@TomatoFish, maybe push away from the actual creature represented, play with a bit, mix and match, find inspiration in it, but take it your own way and i'll bet you'll be surprised where your imagination takes you.

@MoHog, pretty scary looking creature, has a luminating alien look to it, maybe a bit more shading to make it pop a bit more.

@Iruka, i like your creature's face a lot, mean lookin.

@Swellzombie, nice wip so far, not sure what else you're going to come up with so i'll wait to comment further, but there is nothing wrong with taking the logical approach.

@Jakers, awesome, rising out of the ground like that, i like whee you're going with it

@scorge, pissing fire, priceless. Looking good over all.

@pahavasa, Another nice look at process, the face and head is great.

@benu, my vote is for the second row first, im sure you've picked already by now but that's one awesome head. Great sketches.

@Cloister, killer style to that, very ominous.

[Droid]

Early WIP

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/Pt5.jpg

As far as I got tonight.

30 mins-1hr work approx.

My first attempt at digital painting!

0.0

[ghoulio]

Haaa, sweet to see how evil itself brings us all together nice and cuddly...
Lots of great designs and awesome skills, think we have to take a day off commenting on the finals haha...

blobs and bralt, I love you guys, thanks so much, really cool to see two very different ways to work like day and night or shadow and flame muhahahahaaa...

And thank you Jaecks for being the COW man.

lllllater...

[Labrynthine]

Another WIP! I think I have the values done, and I'm ready to start laying down colors... I need to figure out how.

2 Things: Crits would be loved, and any suggestions on what I should do with that negative space in the upper-right corner? Or would a simple gradient there suffice? Secondly, should I add some ripply flames to the fire-legs, or at least a heat shimmer? I don't feel like he's firey enough, but I don't want to obscure his design too much.

Hooray!

[Chaos-Shark]

labrynthine you could try to fill the void space with a forrest on fire, maybe a town? then fill the sky with smoke :D might be an idea?

[zimfin]

Labrynthine: Some kind of glow in the sky to suggest a fire would work too I guess. Very cool design by the way. Looking forward to the colour!

I still have a lot to work on on mine, especially in the lower half of body and ground. Not sure the Green flames look enough like fire for me either.

[volscalkur]

I’m blown away by this week’s turnout! Awesome stuff everyone!
Where else can you go and watch such talented artists bring awesome creatures to life every week? Nowhere else that I know of! :teeth: Thanks to everyone that takes time out of their busy days and makes this community possible- from the mods to the artists! It really is awesome to have somewhere like this to grow and learn as an artist! And this week, with all the amazing creatures and great tutorials, was especially helpful to me anyway! :yayca:
Anyways-
MoHog – Awesome creature! Love the head and the combination of molten and solid bits! A bit of glow emanating from the molten parts would be cool imho!

Iruka – Very nice concept I hope you get enough time to finish!

Swellzombie – Awesome!! I really dig your molten, melting creature! :) I’m a big fan of the logical approach too! Whatever direction you end up going with it I’m sure it will be cool, but I really like the first one, although the second bug creature idea is pretty awesome!

Jakers – Nice! Very imposing looming above the mountains like that! Makes me think of some sort of elemental deity! Can’t wait to see it finished!

LauraGarabedian- I really like the story on yours! The planet of liquid glass is a great and very unique idea! Love the face and horns so far!

Zimfin- Killer! The green flames really add a nice touch!

Chaos-Shark –I love the smoke belching out of the creature’s back! A bit of transparency in the flames, and some glow would be cool imho :)

Kabu- I really like where this creature is heading! The mixture of skeleton and flesh is great!

Benu – Sweet concepts! I’m sure you have picked on by now too, but I really like the elephant skull one on the top right! :)

Pahavasa – Excellent creature! I’m surprised we didn’t see more dragon-esk creature this round, I know I wanted to do one! This turned out very well I like the smaller lizards by the eggs!

Scorge - Awesome! I love the fact that he is pissing fire, and it works well with the overall design of the creature!

Izer – Wow that’s looking great!

LisandroG – Still pretty rough but I can tell it’s going to be big, hulking demonic and awesome! Can’t wait to see the finished one!

Gorgonzola- I love your unique approach to the topic! Very cool!

Grandmassa Mr. Spect – Impressive! Awesome blue flames and the knight in the foreground is a nice touch!
Cloister – Thanks for adding this! Looking great so far! Having fun is what it is all about! :)

Touchstone – great start! Keep it up! Hope to see a finished version of this!

Labrynthine – Now that is super cool! I love this creature! Especially the billowing liquid mane and the large mouth! I would think some nice clouds or something in the upper right hand corner would be cool, something that is not going to take attention off from the creature too much.

Had to keep it to one page so if I missed your piece I’m sorry!

Here is how my creature is coming, I’ve been trying a few new things this time around- first I started off drawing from the beginning in Photoshop- up till now I have started the line work on paper then scanned it in to color in photoshop, the next new thing I’m trying thanks to the awesome tutorials posted earlier in the thread is rendering in gray scale then coloring instead of doing everything all at once! This is just to the flat gray step so far, and I may not finish it all the way before Friday, but I sure learned a lot this week!

Any suggestions or criticisms are welcome!

Wow this has gotten rather long… sorry if I posted to much! :bashful:

[GrayMind]

shoot... I can't find the pen for my wacom tablet. Perfect timing, too. :( I might have to drop out if I can't find it.

edit: HA HAH! I found it. someone put it somewhere under some paper... i smell treachery afoot. :P

[ccinabox]

Hey guys, this is my first COW! all your work is amazing, looking forward to joining the ranks :)

I started to develope the idea of the shadowy bones/ chttin which was unnaffected by the light coming from its own internal fire.
After I decided how its body works, in terms of light heat and shadow I moved onto designing it, I wanted it to have a burning core: superheated and pushing fire forth through its exoskeleton and ribcage, often exploding out of joints and seams.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5115/snf1ccinabox09a.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2687/snf2ccinabox09j.jpg

[Jushra]

As this week's entry was to use my take on shadows and flame, I chose to do a simple bird creature, and to use the plumage as such. I know a phoenix is pure fire, but a more sinister type would have to incorporate shadow. As I see both flame and shadow as 'light' objects (as in not having weight), I tried to meld the two together using a simple color scheme. The head sketch was done up on the DS during work... ideas come at strange times.

The WIP is below. Cheers.

[Gorgonzola]

Oh man...so much great stuff popping up. Congrats to everyone pulling through with this, I look forward to seeing all the finals!

Here's an updated wip...grayscale working in painter, and a quick pop over to PS just to start to generate some color ideas. Grayscale isn't done yet, but I figured I could get a start on figuring out what I want this thing to look like in the end.

[SephyCloneNo15]

To those who start grayscale and color over it (specifically in Photoshop) what's your preferred method for doing that? I've tried putting the color on a less opaque layer, but I feel like that loses the contrast on the underlying grayscale layer. Do you use Color Replace, or is there some trick with a Layer Filter or something like that?

[blobs]

Hey Seph, I don't have an answer for you and would like to know myself :)
But someone posted this Matt Dixon tutorial recently that might help you.. http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/bird_catcher/bird_catcher_01.asp

Oh and this round is just chock full of 'awesome' (as you American kids say :))
Everyone seems to be pulling out the stops, I love it :)
LisandroG I'm just gagging to see yours finished! :)

[Labrynthine]

Last WIP for tonight. We have a huge thunderstorm going on here and I don't want to fry the computer. Picture-wise, I added the smoke from some fire going down below. I tried making the legs more flamey, like the eyes and mouth, but it muddled up the design, so I used the smudge to add a little heat shimmer around the legs. Some shimmer might be added to the belly as well if it helps convey more fire element. What do you guys think? All good with the flow and such? Crits will definitely help. If so, I color it tomorrow night and it's all cool.

[blobs]

I think it looks great, it's a lot darker than the last version so I'm going to be interested to see how the painting/colouring comes out.. but yeah, cool design.. I love the flowing blobs! :)

[Michael Jaecks]

All righty, we're approaching the deadline. Friday's the deadline, poll goes up Saturday morning.

This week, I will be pulling entries from the poll for quality as well as following the brief. If it doesn't look like a creature made from shadow and flame (as discussed on page one of this thread) it simply will not get taken to the poll.

[SMILEFACE]

throw'n a ''HELL' MARY'' im only bout hr/half in but i think i can fin befor the deadline yall like this one better ??? yes/no ???

[ccinabox]

Added More depth to the enviroment and start working on the flames. Painter decided to stop working last night! So naturally I was up all night fixing it.

694849

[M!CK]

hey all! jus found this COW thing a few days ago and i thought i'd contribute =)

this is the stage im at on my shadow/fire creature. May be a little hard to make out what im doin ere, jus gotta darken my darks an lighten my lights to show a bit more of whit this creatures about. Any ideas and crits welcome, im here to learn :ore:

[Droid]

UDATE: Early colouring

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/Pt7.jpg

[.pc]

SephyCloneNo15: There is a layer mode called color, it directly colors/replaces color on that area,but leaves values alone. i hope i make sense. : D
___________
great work y'all.
i don't know what im doing,its like i'm making a digimon..

http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/immelmann_turn/hellhound_line1.jpg

[Michael Morisse]

So many great designs!!! I finally had some time so here is a WIP.
any comments welcome.
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt179/michaelmorisse/FSemail.jpg

[ccinabox]

Well I just managed to finish my design today. Thought I'd upload my WIPS, been great fun working on this! Final image posted in the Finals thread.

694983

[benu]

Still a lot to do! I hope I'll finish it in time.

694984

[Michael Morisse]

Trying some color, this is where I usually get into trouble.
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt179/michaelmorisse/Firecoloremail.jpg

[Gorgonzola]

A'right, here's what I've got. I dunno if I'm still totally sold on the coloring for the fur, but I have to take care of other projects, so this is as far as I can go on this little personal side project. I'll be posting the final up with the description in a bit.

[Michael Jaecks]

In the interest of fairness I am going to point out those entries in the Finals thread that I would be pulling if I were setting up the poll today. Remember you have until Saturday morning 10am US central time. For those interested in staying in the running, that's plenty of time to improve, refine or change your entries...

Rabies: It's tough to see what's going on with your creatures anatomy. You spent some time rendering the head, but the yellow cell forms are too hard to read as a 'creature' Maybe lighten your background and invest more time in the creatures body.

Bestow: Funny, but... no.

Jushra: Shadow + flame does not equal brown Sorry. I know in your concept you wrote that your creature mixes shadow and flame, but I'm afraid it just doesnt read that way. It looks like feathers. Stick to the topic. Trying to out-think or over-think the topic is not creative. It just doesn't work.

Marsch: quality isn't there. I can't see much anatomy or design. It could be a nice thumbnail sketch for something more refined later, but it need work and development. I don't understand the cone shaped front paws either...

Again, crits like this are not meant to be personal attacks. Just nudges in the right direction to get everyone to invest the amount of time and energy required in COW.

Thanks guys.

[Droid]

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/Pt11.jpg

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/Rocky.jpg

Still looking for colour/texture.

Going kinda stony now.

;)

[Labrynthine]

Okay, I think I kind of art-backed myself into a corner. I did ALL my values in greyscale, and now I'm having difficulty placing down colors without making it look really weird, like the saturation totally off. Does anyone have any tutorials in which they did all their values in greyscale (in Photoshop) then added colors afterward?

P.S. I tired Matt Dixon's tutorial, but he did his rendering in color.

[Bralt Hannicart]

Well Labrynthine, perhaps check page 4 of this thread? :)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2291203&postcount=106

[Gorgonzola]

Labrynthe, maybe you should try and add only small hints of color? Like to the bright areas, do a mix of overlay and color, or one or other, and add in some color, and leave the dark areas desaturated? It really is a terrific piece so far, and could probably stand as is. These pieces don't have to be in color, after all.

[Illysian]

Alrighty, I changed mine up--After getting the post about showing the anatomy and creature and how it's composed--I went to go define the anatomy more on that rat thing....

It didn't work out :P I just grew unhappy with it's design.

Anywhooo I'm still in I went a different way while trying to keep some elements i did like into it.

Mmm Not sure If i want to go with the unsaturated finish though!!

The one right before it has a bit more color in the creature, and I think it'll be less confusing if I enter that one.

Progress....__.' Went for the contrast x.x like suggested--Definitely more happy with this one.

[zimfin]

Michael: Just in case you don't notice, please look at your messages. I left one concerning this cows final image I posted. Thanks!

[Michael Jaecks]

Hey zimfin:

I did see it and responded. Keep trying it the way I described. If it continues to give yu trouble, go ahead and do it the old fashioned way with Photobucket. I dunno if the system is being a little buggy or what.

Illysian: I liked it in the earlier steps where it was a little sepia toned. You also sort of buried the feet in smoke which is diminishing how dynamic the movement looks. Just some thoughts.

UPDATE for zimfin: I can see it now! You did it right. Rawk on!

Keep on keepin' on guys. Looks like we already have 20 entries in and it's only Thursday afternoon. Nice. I will have to try to start thinking of some lame creature topic ideas so my job is easier.

KIDDING. I love a good turn out.

Michael

[Jushra]

Jaecks: I can fix all of that. Thanks for the input.

[Illysian]

Ohhh--I knew it! XD

Thanks Jaecks!! >.> I still have time right?? <.<'' To do some more adjustments?

[Chaos-Shark]

my last wip any crits please :D really need some crits to help me out

and the creature is in the midst of its shadow making process and ready to lunge forward to grab any prey :D

[Illysian]

Mmmm I like the idea! Chaos-Shark Buut there could be a looot more detail especially in the claws and in those boney fin things coming up from it's spine and it's face--Those are gonna be the three selling points so make 'em shine!

Keep it up, and for the smoke desaturate it!!

n.n

[acb]

well this is what i got so far and tommorow i hope ill finish it :D
http://i42.tinypic.com/359zln5.jpg
i still need to define some more things(the flames the tentacle like arms etc) then finish the background then blend it with the background and hopefully (unless the crits (if ill get any @_@) will suggest otherwise :D) thats it :D
omfg @_@ GREAT ENTRIES EVERYONE O_O and damnit MJ that was one hell of a subject ^_^ i wish there were more subjects with ehh....demonic interpertation potential like this one :D
C&C are welcomed....well >_> ....really welcomed ^_^

[Jushra]

Updated, after a Mr Jaecks crit.

[hunchback]

hey guys finally got something D:
i ended up making him much much bigger : D
ill come back to him tomorrow and polish him

comments are always welcome

[zimfin]

Hey guys, I noticed the following people have not attached their Finals properly, (maybe similar problems to mine) and thought I would try to help out. The issue, for me anyway, was that after selecting "go advanced" I clicked "manage attachments" first, filled in all relevant info in the pop-up window and then clicked the paperclip icon. The Paperclip icon should be the first thing you click. It then opens up the relevant small window uploading box and you should be safe from there on!

The guys I noticed in need of this fix are:

pahavasa,
Takedall,
ghoulio,
Gumish,
ccinabox,
Nkristian.

If Michael already informed you, disregard this please.

[emerging]

Izer thanks but i must clarify that it was not an intended mix of alien and centaur.. just ended up looking somewhat alien because his head is turned to a complete sideview. the extensions you see going to the back are actually horns not his head, tehre is a second one but its being blocked by the one closer to the viewer

[blobs]

And here's my final, I really don't have the time to correct what I want, so it's DONE! lol

I'm glad the 'tutorial' I did might have been useful. I'll try and write it up a lot better at some point and post it up in my blog.. hell I've gotta make it clearer than what I have :)

I think almost everyone has outdone themselves this round.. the CoW, she be ALIVE!! :asspat:

I'll comment next in the finals thread when the voting begins, good luck everyone :)

[benu]

Duh. We had a power outage yesterday, which killed 3-4 hours of work. :wip:
Well, it looks like I can finish anyway. Crits are, as always, welcome.

695762

[volscalkur]

Wicked cool stuff going on here! >:D

Benu- I really like the anatomy of your creature! Reminds me of something from a game I played a long time ago... but I can't place it? Freaking sweet though! :)

acb Very creative concept! I'd love to see how your creature moves! Very cool!

I went ahead and put together a progression of my WIPs.
After I read through the tutorials a few hundred times and did my best to apply those techniques to this piece, it kind of became one of those defining moments for me where I went "oh so thats how you do it- why didn't I see that before!" :dur: So thanks again for posting those excellent tutorials!

While I think this is much better then what I have been doing, I think it could still be pushed a whole lot farther- I'm just not sure how? If anyone has time I would really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback and crits on what I can do to improve!

Thanks for an awesome round everyone!

[Labrynthine]

EDIT: Tweaked the colors to have a more teal background. Do the tweaked colors work better?

After dealing with some nasty stomachaches last night and this morning, got colors down for a final WIP. Any last crits, or does it look all good? I'll post the final later tonight.

I decided to go with contrasting greens and oranges for the main colors. Green mixed with orange lights seem to make me feel uneasy, so it felt fitting for these monsters.

Bralt: I did, and it worked really well! Thank you so much for posting that tutorial earlier, and forgive my stupidity for forgetting about it.

[Marsch]

Crap! Away from home, cant refine my entrie in time...
will have to push forward next COW.
And thanks for the advices.

[acb]

damn labrynthine cool design and that teal did the job @_@ my eyes were hurting abit while looking at the previouse darker image but with this teal i think i had an eyegasma @_@

well this is the pic im delivering as a final unless some crits will proove otherwise :D
cmon ppl just alittle C&C here :D

http://i41.tinypic.com/28s0rya.jpg

thx volscalkur ^_^ hmm about your pic i think the yellow is quite intense and im not sure about the source of it and or how it effects some areas of the body.
i think that because the background has some areas where its further away from the viewer then it can be abit desaturated and could have maybe a different sky with a cooler colour.

[Swellzombie]

This is about as far as I'm going to be able to get on this. There's way more work that it needs and I don't have the time. I really enjoy these challenges, what a great work out.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3619950389_ccd0b34fd6_o.jpg

[Nkristian]

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Droid]

Had to rush the last bit, but oh well.

My first digital painting, done on my laptop's touch pad and photoshop.

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/done.jpg

[volscalkur]

Thanks acb! Yes I definitely see what you mean- the yellow is a bit intense isn't it. It's the exoskeleton of the creature which becomes super heated when they submerge themselves in lava to feed- I was trying to make it appear as if it was glowing nearly white-hot but now that you mention it I think maybe I should tone it down a bit and maybe add some more oranges and reds? I also see what you mean about it casting light on other parts of the creature, I need to re-work that a bit too. Yes I think a cooler sky would add depth to the piece, I was a bit tired so the background was a kind of an afterthought... I think it's to late for me to make changes to my final I submitted, but I'm going to do some reworks and then post it to my sketch book this weekend-which I desperately need to update anyway! :}

Thanks for the the crits! I really appreciate it! I'll do my best to return the favor. I like your creature a lot! The only crits I can think of are nit-picky little details, and of course these are only my humble opinions :)- adding a bit more contrast to the overall piece would make the creature stand out a bit more and I think adding some toes like are on the front foot to the back two would bring things together a little? I love the anatomy of the creature, but maybe put some more thought into things like where the muscles are- I'm sure you've heard "form follows function" getting down into the nuts and bolts of how muscle placement effects movement, form and such is fun!(and something I need to work on!) Your creature looks awesome now, just seems to have muscles for the sake of having muscles in some places. :)

Labrynthine Once again I love this creature! Both sky variations look great in different ways, I guess it depends on the mood you are trying to achieve with the piece. As you mentioned the yellow in the first one gives the sky a sickly, noxious feeling and casts the creature in a slightly more sinister light, where as the blue added to the second one to make more of a teal color is more serene and makes the creature look more noble and benevolent to me. I like the second one a lot better personally! But that's just me! :)

There's a lot of freaking awesome entries in the finals page! Great job everyone! :muscle:

** Went ahead and added the updated version after I reworked it a bit. :)
to bad the deadline is past. Does this work better?
Thanks for the crits!

[Labrynthine]

Volscalkur- Yeah, I went with the teal as the background in the final works. The olive is more sinister (teal still is fairly sinister, but not as much) but it made the details really hard to see. (acb particularly mentioned that it gave him some eyestrain) I dunno, I don't think I should sacrifice clarity for mood, so it's all good. :)

Wow, that was an awesome COW week! Thank you everybody for helping me with the picture through good crits.