C.O.W.#146 Shadow and Flame!! -- VOTING

[Michael Jaecks]

C.O.W. #146 SHadow and Flame!! -- VOTING!!

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ROUND #146 VOTING

Topic: Shadow and Flame!!


Deadline for the voting: Saturday 20 June 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159778.


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OK - before voting/posting read this!!!

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

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

[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: IO Phoenix arachnid
Description at bottom of picture

[matejkovacic]

Artist: matejkovacic

Concept: Flamer

Creature from cold northern parts of Siberia. People know about it coming from the shadow caused by fire, while creature burns everything that catches fire. The creature uses feet for swiming in icy water and is very agile also on land. It lives alone and is usualy angray when bothered.

[pahavasa]

Artist: pahavasa

Concept: Acerbus Ignis

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.

695237

[emerging]

Artist: emerging

Concept: Ignii Centaur

These creatures are believed to have fallen from the sky following the Great Solar Eclipse of the Inner World. Not many people have come across one and those who have were never heard of ever again. These creatures live in unexplored caves of mountain ridge of Tsukhaar. It is said that the creatures cannot exist without darkness or shadow and therefore are put into the evil category usually compared to vampires or other species despite of their believed alien heritage. The mountain people often mentioned creatures that fit Ignii description as masters of hypnotism. They speculated that many who never returned were memorized by the unusual magenta flames covering the centaur's body which made the victims not flee but do quite opposite of that...

[Bralt Hannicart]

Artist: Bralt Hannicart

Concept: Lampyris Aeropisces
The unusual anatomy of the Lampyris Aeropisces is in fact the result of clever evolution. Living in the dense atmosphere of the extrasolar gas giant Niavoiy XII, it relies heavily on heated gas to move around.

The Lampyris Aeropisces does so by inhaling methane and oxygen and collecting it in an inflatable balloon-like organ in it's throat. In a controlled manner and through canals and valves inside this organ it can spark the gas mixture and cause it to combust. Pressure builds up quickly and a spongy sack of bubbles underneath it's skull gets filled with heated gasses causing it to gain altitude (or remain levelled).

To prevent the creature from exploding, it can release most of the excess fire and gas through a duct protrusion which it can aim in various directions, giving it full control of movement. A gland inside this exhaust tube can produce various substances that cause a thick black, stinking smoke when exposed to fire. The Lampyris Aeropisces uses this to it's advantage to evade several predators that rely heavily on sight and smell.

[Takeda11]

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5170/cow146.jpg

[ghoulio]

Artist: Ghoulio

Concept: Lyllikörd

This creature is rarely ever been seen, and if it was, almost nobody lives to tell the story. Living submerged into the earth it feeds on
the natural minerals in the dirt, like plants. The Lyllikörd also has the ability to turn lightning, that strikes the ground, into fire wich it
can transport to every wanted part of his body. It will only come out of his underground shelter after it´s disturbed by anyone who
stays around its territory long enough to really annoy it. If so, the creature will drill his way out, by peristaltic movements of his
muscules in its lower bodyparts and tail, and hunt you down to give you the BBQ treatment and let you burrrrrnnn...

694244

[scorge]

Artist: Scorge

Concept: Tormetus
Doomed to an existence of pain and torment, the Tormetus wanders the vast wastes spreading a dark shadow in its wake spewed from the fire inside its twisted body. Over the course of its life, this huge beast believed to be the father of the mythical Chimera will eventually be consumed by its own devouring embers, but not before it covers the land in its shadow of death and constant destruction.

[Marsch]

Artist: Marsch

Concept: Letigo

These fast and nimble creatures were created when the dinossaurs died with the meteor. In the impact's intense heat and radiation some dinossaurs, instead of being vaporised transformed themselves in pseudo-energy beings.

But no one knows this, for when people survive their atacks, all they can tell is that it was Shadows and Flame!!!!!!!

[Jushra]

Artist: Jushra

Concept: Xaphan Raptor
The Xaphan Raptor is the fusion of shadow and flame that lives in the deep psyche of the human soul. It lives in the false realities we create for ourselves and tortures its victims with its call of unrealized dreams (the flames). The shadows of despair that surround them remind us of our unrealized potential. Usually encountered in flocks, a person's only hope is to stay in the light of true knowledge and reason.

[Gumish]

Artist: Gumish

Concept: Umbramonstrum


I wish I have never set out on this by the God cursed expedition. But to conquer the North pole was the really challange. Chance to become a hero. But all my dreams failed. Siberia became our cold grave. Everything began in the evening when all dogs started to be nervous and scarred. Suddenly everything got dark. We weren't able to defend ourselves. In that blackness I saw only gushes of flames and sparks of its eyes. Everything which found itself in its jaw got burn. Only I had that luck/shame that I was hit by his flaming tail to my chest. Now I'm crouching here on the plains of Siberia and slowly waiting for a death....

http://www.wydle.eu/stuff/COW_146.jpg

[bestow]

Artist: Bestow

Concept: Masklooga
The Masklooga are a race of sentient masks, forever enveloped in flame, this flame is an eternal light and life source. The Masklooga are able to sculpt shadows by their powerful mental will, then materializing the shape they imagined. Thusly these trickster/tyrants can appear in any form, and arm themselves with any weapon. The only possible way to defeat one would be to exhaust their light source, their flame.

tired of balrogs and ogres and shit, this is a little different, and has a little more potential,

inspiration, those kickass tiki masks from crash bandicoot that talked

[ccinabox]

Artist: Ccinabox

Concept: Lanternus Mortika

The Lanternus Mortika or "Death Beacons" are a race of demons which honeycomb brimstone and rock caverns which comprises the hellish planes. Occasionally they have been known to stumble upon natural portals to other worlds with their incessant tunneling. Due to this rare occurrence, one documented sighting describes the creature as composed of Shadow and Flame.
Its name is derived from the blazing inferno at its core, which appears as a dancing lantern when viewed at a distance.

695857

[Cloister]

Artist: Cloister

Concept: Sharlohr Agnith


From the shadows came shadow. From the fire came flame.
The demon was not of tormented flesh or bone, but strode out of
the Abyss as living shade. When it exhaled great fires spread across
the sky, and the shadows turned to black stone and coal.
As the heat increased the shape solidified, until the fire and shade
were like a furious mountain. The beast roared in diabolical anguish;
and at once the whole valley was purged in pure hell.
A Sharlor Agnith was reborn. The kingdom gone.

[Rabies]

Artist: Rabies

Concept: Umbra Orcuss


The "Umbra Orcuss" (Litteraly Shadow of Death) is a massive entity dwelling in the infinite darkness that is space. The X-45, or "Joe" as it was commonly called, was first discovered in 1875. Up untill 2010 it was belived to be an astroid, but when it entered earths gravity field Joe woke up.

[darklogik]

Artist: Darklogik

Concept: The Colithien


The Colithien is a massive Terror trapped between the earth crust, moving slowly through the tunnels left behind by ancient underground rivers.

He mainly feeds on the ash he creates through labyrinth of caves and the ancient worms and bugs that still reside with it. Although the occasional adventurer is a welcome treat. Comprised of Molten Fire and Shadow Ash, the Colithien move much faster than it looks like it would making it an even more deadly find to those unfortunate to adventure in its domain.

[Gorgonzola]

Artist: Gorgonzola

Concept: Donovan's Basilisk (Basilicus Helios)


Supposedly discovered by a druid in medieval England, Donovan's Basilisk is a large, cave-dwelling reptavian. Unlike other breeds of Basilisks documented, it doesn't possess the ability to paralyze by venom or stare, and is considered one of the more 'docile' varieties of Basilisk to be found, if such a thing can be believed. It possesses an oily, slick coat of quill-feathers, which seems to aid in retaining the creature's unnaturally high body temperature. Large bioluminescient skin tags line the creature's back, and seem to vent much of the heat off of the creature, while a smoky discharge continuously emanates from the creature's nostrils. This combination of sweltering heat and stifling air gives it a huge handicap when it hunts, often suffocating its prey simply by laying in wait while it pours out this noxious concoction.

[Michael Morisse]

Artist: Michael Morisse

Concept: Sulphur Eater


The Sulphur Eater, or Christmas creature as some call it, lives in the large cave formations on PL13, outside zone 4. It spends it's time digging out sulphur ore which is its main food. the females are easy to spot as they brood their young in gas filled sacks extending from their backs. the young hang like ornaments for about a year and then hatch into their flying larval stage.
The sulphur Eater is usually peaceful but if threatened it will pump white hot blood into its large digging claws and put on a frightening display.

[zimfin]

Artist: zimfin

Concept: Unknown
This is the only image of this newly discovered species's female. Unfortunately, these already volatile creatures seem particularly deadly during pregnancy! The droid responsible for snapping this pic unexpectedly went offline immediately afterward and all contact with the ground team outside the caves was lost shortly after. Naming of the species is the right of the missing team involved and therefore remains undecided until further notice.

[Illysian]

Artist: Illysian

Concept: Heliosaurus
The Heliosaurus is a creature that spends most of its' time in ash, and also mud. Having Fur on it's lower legs combined with it's favorite leisure is the combination used for it's defensive tactics. When forced to run, or confronted with an enemy it's ash covered legs creates sort of a smoke bomb effect to hinder predators from seeing where it's legs are.

[tmyohlaing]

Artist: tmyohlaing

Concept: Dakiyakuni

The creature appeared in north part of Burma. One day afternoon in the mountain of Karazi, a group of research scientists encountered a huge, dark, fire vomitting creature. They all tried to escape, but only one survived.
Inside of the creature body was filled with fire. The shadow and smoke came on the cloud whenever it went.

[LisandroG]

Artist: LisandroG

Concept: Guardian of the Threshold
It's only purpose is to judge those who meet it at the end...

[armetage]

Artist: armetage

Concept: Spaw
It dwells in the shadows of the mountains, hungers for more flesh to consume and be able to spawn more of its kind. In its belly seeds for next generation of spaws await to be fed.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Artist: Sidharth Chaturvedi

Concept: Igneus Gargantuan


The one man who saw this creature and returned to tell of it said that its home is at first completely empty, an endless black cavern with no light except for what he'd brought with him. The shadows, he said, at one point began to shift in the corner of his eye, elongating and breaking up into the form of a giant skeleton. As he turned to look in its direction, there was a spark where its ribs would be and the shadow skeleton stood up, flames erupting from its chest and filling its entire body as it grew to fill the cavern. Its flesh, solid black shadow, was constantly advancing and receding, as if trying to cover up the fire that threatened to spill out of it with every heavy step forward that it took. Why the creature let the man go is unknown, although he's convinced that it's because he went unarmed and alone. None of the expeditions sent to investigate the creature since have returned.

[dforman]

Artist: dforman

Concept: eurypharynx ignis

Descendant of the pelican eel. Bioluminescence mechanisms coopted for flame production. Fire gills for propulsion. Eats whales.

[Jakers]

Artist: Jakers

Concept: Shadow Bringer

The Shadow Bringer travels through to our world, internally burning with toxic fumes. The plane of shadow, from which the beast crossed, follows like a dark companion, now immune to the light of our world.

[blobs]

Artist: Blobs

Concept: Nightmare of the Plains


The meteor shower left more than a mess of craters, in the distance on the plains of Renegal. Strange shadows seemed to form, shaping themselves into... something.

An upper torso developed and crackled, it appeared to become flesh. The head never really formed, half shadow, half flesh in appearance.It opened its gaping mouth wide and roared into the air, a red hot stream of visible heat. Huge vents opened on it's twisted spine and poured acidic thick smoke into the air.

It's arms cracked and popped, gaining more form and becoming solid. It roared once more and it's left arm burst into flames, it turned to us and........ grinned.

[volscalkur]

Artist: Volscalkur

Concept: Mantlearis Kerasark
The Mantlearis Kerasark is a very unique species indeed. Native to the fiery volcanic regions at the poles of Mantlearis VI these creatures not only survive temperatures that would incinerate most other life forms, but thrive in this harsh unforgiving landscape. Feeding almost entirely on the large deposits of high temperature bacteria and raw minerals available in the deep lava beds at the heart of most volcanoes in the region they often times wade into the lava until nearly submerged. This causes their tusks and the protruding exoskeleton that covers their heads and runs down their backs to become super heated and glow brightly while giving off sparks and flames as they emerge from the lava. Due to the scarcity of their food sources the Kerasark are fiercely territorial and will charge any creature that dares to venture into their domain. The last thing an unwary adventurer will see before the Kerasark gore and trample his smoldering body into ash will be a massive creature of flame and shadows!

[Nkristian]

Artist: Nkristian

Concept: Gigantuan Malcropus kaho

These species are the inhabitants of the planet filiplotom. The planet filiplotom does not receive any source of light from the sun making the planet very dark. The scientist who visits the planet are already giving up the hope that there might be a living organism here. Until one day they came across a blinding flame. They observe closer until they discovered that it is a living organism. It doesn't seem to attack the scientist. one strange thing they note about the specie is that it lays a balls fire. They're further observation prove that those fireballs were the babies of that species and that as the baby fireballs grow it then develops it's own limbs and lower body after that they soon leave their parent with its own fading flame. As the newly mature species sets it own journey they cast down a shadow to the fading flame of their parent specie.

[Chaos-Shark]

[*B]Artist: [*COLOR=White]Chaosshark[/COLOR]

Concept: [*COLOR=White]Shadow hunter[/COLOR]
[/B]the shadow hunter hunts in packs of 4 to 7 hunters,
they surround an animal they want to eat and start to create the shadow , the creature is headed for the light and walks right into one of the hunters claws before it vanishes again then another hunter attacks , killing there prey with ease.they have skeleton like body's and when they move a fire starts there acting as a energy source 695691

[M!CK]

Artist: M!CK

Concept: Incendia Nematocera

The recently discovered cave dwelling insect comes from the same family group as the mosquito. The parasite uses its internal heat/fire for flotation to glide along cave walls to find food to latch onto, such as bats or rodents. Its internal heat is produced in transparent orbs as liquid which scatter its body. Heated liquid from these orbs are then turned into fire used to illuminate the dark caves and to aid in injecting its prey by burning the hard outer layer of skin. Sizes vary though they do not grow any larger than a golf ball :lounge:

[Crowsrock]

Artist: Crowsrock
Concept: Hell Salamander
The hell salamanders can be found on hot planets circling near their suns. The fact that this species is present on more than one planet and in different sun systems led to the theory that they were put there intentionally by some unknown and maybe long extinct space travelling race.
Hell salamanders also known as lava eaters consume molten rocks presumably to extract radioactive isotope, the burning of which powers their metabolism.

[FishyBoner]

Artist: FishyBoner
Concept: Magma Toad

A primal creature hunted to extinction by early tribes of man, sought after for its unique hide. While not an aggressive creature, it will become salvage when cornered. The lava it is thought to spew is actually the creature vomiting up its digestive juices. Its volcanic secretions gradually cool and harden in layers, growing stronger defenses from the undercurrents of the world.

[SMILEFACE]

Artist: GRANDMASSA MR SPECT

Concept: PIROLKINS
THE PIROLKINS IS A SAVAGE BEAST SENT FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL TO f#$@'n ROCK!!! BORN FROM DARK FIRE THE PIROLKINS HAS CLAWS OF DEATH BIULT TO RIP YOU APART! IT HAS NO EYES AN BUT SENSES THE FEAR IN ITS PRAY

[Droid]

Artist: Touchstone

Concept: Ingni Wolf
The igni wolf (Canis Ignis) is found in remote tunnels, far under volcanoes, and hardly, if ever, ventures out into the outside world. It's glowing eyes and mouth help light it's way, but shadows it causes make it hard to follow, to protect it from the vast predators that prowl these tunnels.

[Luuds]

Artist: Luuds
Concept: Ashskulker

The Ashskulker, rarest of all the members of the elusive Tarsius family. Dwelling in the perpetual gloom of deep volcanic caverns, this shy but fierce being is the prime example of specialised evolution. Since its diet it limited to whatever unlucky creature, daring wizard or lost tourist it can find which happens very infrequently it has developed an unusual survival strategy not to mention digestive system. Basically it feeds on ashes which are much less likely to rot or spoil than meat. Absurdly high metabolism and specialised glands allows this predator to incinerate its victims and stash the resulting product for harder times. Silent and deadly this creature skulks dark narrow tunnels far beneath the light of the surface in search for prey.

[Med]

Artist: danielledeley

Concept: Rufus Fredo
Fierce and cute.

[audit]

Artist: Audit

Concept: Myrmidon Wyrm


Named after the planet of its discovery, this creature predates chiefly on smaller magma-based lifeforms and has no known predators (apart from larger members of the same species). It is geographically widespread although, owing to difficult field conditions, exact populations are uncertain.

It is identified as the main cause for the catastrophic failure to establish any form of colony on Myrmidon, and has been deemed a likely suspect in the disappearance of several research teams. However, using nearby moonlets, xenobiologists have been able to safely observe migration and breeding patterns, apparently corresponding to the seasonal currents of super-heated material which rise from the planet's core; information which could prove useful in the planning of future industrial efforts.

696237

[hunchback]

Artist: hunchback

Concept: pyrocowlossius

predators of the night, eaters of chickens!!!



696285

696289

[Doomsquid]

Artist: Doomsquid

Concept: Flare Hound


The less-than fortunate first explorers of the planet known simply as "Flame Rock" were dismayed to discover Flare Hounds. More or less fast, cunning animal manifestations of Flame Rock's raging landscape, Flare Hounds are efficient predators that hunt in packs. Their inky hide and bizarre, fiery organs allow them to blend in perfectly with their tar-black-and-white-hot-lava surroundings. As if it weren't frightening enough that they hunt stealthily and in packs, their front claws are searing hot, infused with fiery chemicals by the sacs on their forelimbs.

[Labrynthine]

Artist: Labrynthine

Concept: Black Lurker

August 23rd, 2012: Just as the tourist season was about to end in the mountain town of Ouray, Colorado, reports came in of hikers and backpackers being attacked on the trails in the surrounding mountains. At first, local rangers suspected a rouge bear or mountain lion, uncommon but still reasonable. However, even stranger descriptions began to roll in, and any attempt to exterminate the creatures failed. The Department of Tourism soon became desperate, eventually turning to local historians to see if such creatures had appeared before. Luckily, they came across a journal entry from a group of prospectors settled near Twin Peaks in 1898:

"July 1,

Why is this happening to us? All we wanted was to stake our claim here in this beautiful country. California was all full of people, so we thought this place was here for the taking. Now look at us... Only Joseph and I are left, and there's no gold. No gold. Only those "black lurkers", and they ain't leaving.

When we first got here, Joseph noticed a weird thing coming up the ridge. We saw a line of lights across Mt. Hayden with dark smoke coming out the top, like some campfires. Never really put another thought into it though, except maybe other prospectors. Nothing big. So we began digging and panning the rivers. Only a few flakes. Maybe a single small nugget. The tunnel we dug, however, turned up some nice finds. We had gold, and this whole mountain was ours! Times were good.

One night, we all woke up feeling all hot and stuff. I woke up Joe and Rick and the rest of em and we had no idea what's going on. Then all of a sudden those lights we saw on Hayden come running down the valley and get bigger and bigger until they're circling the camp. Big, bigger than mountian lions, and black as pitch. It got really hot then, like we were sitting in the middle of our campfire. They were looking at us with those big orange eyes, just sitting and grinning. We stayed up all night, and they left the next morning. We thought we were just dreaming until the next night they came back, and Rick pulled out his shotgun to get one. Bullet went straight through their inky swirly black on their backs. Then one lept out and grabbed him, pulled him into his mouth and he caught fire then and there, then it threw him into its inky back and drowned him. We can still hear him scream.

They're gonna win, and they know it. We haven't slept. We're out of food. Joesph screams every night that we did this, that we woke them from the mountains or its our retribution for invading "God's Land" or some other thing. I can't take it anymore. Tonight I'm just gonna pull out my gun and put lead into em', because we're gonna die one way or another, and I'm not going without pumping some shot into these goddamned black lurkers."

[Black Sun]

Artist: Tomatofish

Concept: The Fire Elk is a small ruminant that lives in caves during the day, and comes out to browse the cliff sides at night. It has a double ridge on its back end that it stores aluminum in. When startled by a predator, it releases the aluminum and water from pores on the inside of the ridge, creating a flame as a deterrent.

[acb]

Artist: acb

Concept: outer dimential invaders


this is the name given to this creature by officials in the goverment. according to the research when you meet one even if its far away from you your chances of survivle are betwin 1% to none.
these creatures managed to find a crack in space to infiltrate into our dimention.they were scary and powerfull befor but now they are way more powerfull.
they took the form of the things we fear most which is darkness and fire and managed to combine them both into the fiend you see befor you.as they are not fully here they can use that to manipulate matter around them and creating those tentacle like arms that are coming out of their body.(fierce :rocker:)
http://i41.tinypic.com/28s0rya.jpg

[benu]

Artist: benu

Concept: Lava Worm


When she is not given what is due to her, Pele, inflamed with rage, sends out the lava worms to take what's hers.

696505

[Michael Jaecks]

Hey guys. First I want to thank everyone who participated this week. It was great to see so much enthusiasm from everyone both for the topic and for helping each other with crits and advice.

I did make nine cuts from the finals for the poll due to quality. The people who's entries did not make it were: Marsch, Jushra, Bestow, Rabies, Chaos-Shark, Touchstone, Med, hunchback and Tomato Fish.

Jushra: Thanks for listening to the crit about following the topic in the WIPs thread, but your final still looks pretty rushed. COW is a weekly activity. Please spend more time on future entries.

hunchback: I had to think a while about your entry. There's a lot to like about the painterly quality you achieve. However, I had a look at your sketchbook and it's obvious to me you've got some rendering skill. Your entry really strikes me as a sketch. Please spend more time on future COW entries.

[lkjhgfdsa]

It was a verrry hard call on who to vote for-
Labrynthine had such a lovely inky quality to the shadows so I had to go with theirs-the movement of shadows flowing out behind it, wonderful!
Well done everyone though!

-Now to create something to devour all these deamons!
Muhuwahahahahaa...

[Black Sun]

This was a hard one, but I ended up voting for Labrynthine. I'm just in love with the detail and anatomy, and how the shadows coming off the creature look like liquid tar. And I just love those feet :3 The story was a wonderful read as well.

My second choice was M!ck's. It's kind of hard to tell it's a creature, it looks like it would be some kind of organic alien space ship. But I just love how delicately painted it is; reminds me of a dream.


Looks like I got pulled :P Oh well, I figure I can only improve if I keep doing these.

[Michael Jaecks]

Looks like I got pulled :P Oh well, I figure I can only improve if I keep doing these.

That's precisely the right attitude. Keep working harder and harder and you will get better.

[hunchback]

thanks Jaecks, ill spend more time on the next one :D

[SMILEFACE]

i voted for scorge cause its WICKED' all around i think every body had ROCK'N monsters an i cant wait to see what'cha come up w/ next
THANKS'

[Marsch]

will try harder!

[Doomsquid]

MAN, the choice was incredibly hard! Seriously, so many fantastic pieces, guys. I ended up going with Labrynthine's Black Lurker- I felt it was an intriguing and aesthetically pleasing design, had beautiful (and perfectly ominous) atmosphere, and I was kind of infatuated with it from the start, back in the WIP thread. Top it all off with a sweet description, and you've got one brilliant COW entry.

Again, I was blown away by all the great stuff this week. I am honored to participate with you guys.

[AhkNemet]

Wow, you guys sure made it hard to vote this week! Was a hard choice lol and I have a few more comments than I normally do (Normally I stick to my top 3, but I was really impressed with 8 or so entries this week and want to share my appreciation :) )

Scorge - It was a tough choice but you got my vote this week. I had to debate between this as lkjhgfdsa's one. Amazing concept, wonderfully rendered. Just love that flaming pee lol. I almost expect to hear stories of things one - classic 1970's sci fi piece. I love how there is symmetry with the eyes and those things sticking out the top of its head. - There's just so much to keep looking at in this piece, I never find myself knowing where to look next - each time I see it, I see something else.

lkjhgfdsa - from the first moment I saw yours, I loved it - fabulous scale and vibrancy of colour. Amazing render and concept - I keep wanting to squash it lol I think if scorge had not entered, yours would have had my vote hands down.

emerging - I'm probably stating the obvious when I say yours looks like a cross between aliens and a centaur - but I really loved the purple flames, which were fantastically rendered - was a good choice for your creature to go with a different colour.

darklogik - I wanna warm my hands on yours, he looks hot enough lol - I liked how his expression draws your eye down to the human and redefines the scale, great expression also :)

Michael Morisse - love this - very 'out there', looks cute until you notice the huge claws in the front. Love the mouth, its so cute lol and the flying baby bursting from one of the sacs - absolutely genius design :)

zimfin - I watched you develop this with interest, and the final result was certainly worth the wait! Great head and feet on this :)

luuds - Love the feet, very amphibian - and how the smoke/shadow rising from its back seems like hair, very cool.

labrynthine - Amazing flow down the beasts body, sort of inky and like unburnt globules of something leaking away. Wonderful colour choices - I think you added the colour in all the right places, and had I had more votes available to me lol yours would have been the third :)


Well, it's been a treat to watch these come out this week :) Thank you :)

[JailHouseRock2]

Voted for Grandmassa Mr. Spect, but would have voted for a heap more if I could!!

Some other favs would be:

blobs

armetage

emerging

Bralt Hannicart

Jakers

Takeda11

And Labrynthine!

Great job all round guys!
cheers
matt

[acb]

great topic and awsome creatures everyone ^_^ specially Labrynthine :D damn thats really shadow and fire @_@

cant w8 for the next topic hopefully itll let us that sort of freedom in the creation as this topic was ^_^ when picking the elements as a topic it gives type of magic and freedom when it concerns designing cool things ^_^ at least on my opinion >_>

[Droid]

Bugger.

I spent quite alot of time on this weeks beasty, I suppose mine didn't get in because of the rushed background.

I only starting getting pen to paper on Wednesday, I'll start today on next week's.

Nice entries all round, I voted for emerging, his purple flamed centaur was a nice change to other blobs and weirdly shaped burning things.

Great rendering, and I think you did a really nice job on the lighting from the flames.

Keep up the good work guys, and I hope I'll be competing with you all next week.

;)

[blobs]

Benu wins for me! I think you really leveled up with this one! :)

I'm going to try and comment on all of 'em at a later date!
Well done all :)

[ccinabox]

I loved emerging's centaur purely for the beautiful liquid feel to its skin. The purple flames really added to the feel that even the flames were not not of this world ^^

[Gumish]

I voted for Benu becuase when I look at his picture I can feel surrounding heat of lava and fire. Lava geysers and inner fire of the creature are painted very convincingly. I think that his picture hit the topic of this cow very accurately.

[MasterStryke]

wow nice entries !!

[Chaos-Shark]

ah man if i dint have to go friday on that train i would have improved it :S

anyway next time better

[Gorgonzola]

There were some really top notch stuff among this all. I pretty much ended up saving all of them for the ol' morgue file since they were such cool creatures.

In the end, I voted for Labrythine. I really loved the graphic nature of the inky smoke rolling off of its back, and it gave off an Okami vibe for me. And the really selective use of colors for it went a Loooooong way to making it more menacing than if it was just fully rendered in color.

[Blitz]

BENU, it was a hard choice tho. But his is my favorite.

I had something going for this...just got busy and family came into town....Ill try and join you guys on the next one.

[Slanderbot]

I would say that a good majority of these entries all reached a very high level of quality, and because of that I had to create even more detailed criteria to judge these pieces as to only pick one.

I picked out 9 or so pieces that I thought were all amazing works, through both story and execution. Since I obviously couldn't pick 9, I had to further analyze these pieces.

I then picked out which of those pieces I thought met the criteria the best for this CoW, narrowing it down to 2 pieces, Labrynthine's Black Lurker and M!CK's Incendia Nematocera.

Both of these pieces fully captured the essence of this weeks CoW criteria, developed excellent and unique creatures, and had intriguing background stories.

In the end I voted for Labrynthine's Black Lurker. The deciding factor that lead to me voting for the Black Lurker over Incendia Nematocera was the story behind it. At first I wasn't really drawn into Labrynthine's story as it didn't directly say anything about the creature, like most of the other stories have done, and then I thought, isn't it only fitting that the description of a creature purely of shadow and flame is to be somewhat untelling and mysterious?

[DKHutcheson]

Labrynthine's was my final choice. I really loved Sidarth's design though, and a couple of others.

[Labrynthine]

I voted for Blobs beacause I think his creature has the best balance between flame and shadow. I'll do a full comment of everyone's pieces later as well. :)

I'll tell you, it was really difficult to choose someone to vote for. There were excellent entries this week, and I'm excited about next week's prompt.

[Razorleaf]

There were lots of excellent entries this time around but I did note that most people went the "creature & flame" angle as opposed to "smoke & flame" as was the theme this week.

Cloister - I like how you stayed true to the theme. Your technique supported the intensity of the red in your rendering to give it that smoky appearance. Nice!

Blobs - Although yours favored the creature aspect of the painting you did incorporate the smoke and flame theme, ending up with a very nice rendering. :)

I went with Cloister because I feel that his painting is truest to the smoke and flame specifications.

[IndigoSummers]

Voted for lkjhgfdsa. I just can't get that creature out of my mind. Really freakin cool. I love the colors as well. This creature feels hot to me. Great intensity.

There were so many others that I loved, it was really hard to choose. Some others that I really enjoyed were pahavasa, emerging, blobs, Lisandrog and Labyrinthine.

[Bralt Hannicart]

Voted for Benu. I like the design, the dried magma like crusty skin and ofcourse the lava oozing from it. Besides that, it is painted with vivid colors and controlled strokes and layers. There were many favourites which I will discuss more thourough later...

In retrospect I think, once more, I drifted too far from the subject given. Though that only happens because I want to give a logic, scientific character to my creatures. Drawing demons and mythical creatures often drifts towards designing single creatures, individuals, not a certain breed of species. I always try to do the opposite for the COW (unless specified) and trying to do so, often results in coloring outside the lines of the subject. Ofcourse that is my approach to things, no way I'm trying to define right or wrong here, just expressing my euhm philosophy of the COW. :p

[emerging]

great round!quoting cuz im not sure what u mean by "smoke"? its a shadow and flame creature not smoke and flame


There were lots of excellent entries this time around but I did note that most people went the "creature & flame" angle as opposed to "smoke & flame" as was the theme this week.

Cloister - I like how you stayed true to the theme. Your technique supported the intensity of the red in your rendering to give it that smoky appearance. Nice!

Blobs - Although yours favored the creature aspect of the painting you did incorporate the smoke and flame theme, ending up with a very nice rendering. :)

I went with Cloister because I feel that his painting is truest to the smoke and flame specifications.

[emerging]

voted for benu, great entry man, love the head design

[volscalkur]

Wow this was a really really great round and a very hard decision! I couldn't make up my mind!
I wish I could vote multiple times!

Nearly everyone's was killer this week! Great job everyone!
It was very hard but I narrowed it down to:

emerging amazing flame work! I'd love to see how you do that! :) Your creature is excellent- from the rendering to the color choices to the anatomy!

Bralt Hannicart I actually like the fact that you went a with a much more scientific approach! Your rendering and technique(as well as your tutorial!) were very inspiration to me! However it did not contain a significant amount of the "shadow" element and I think in light of the brief that was important. If it was the same creature- only at night with more emphasis on the flames from the back and the glowing gut I would have most defiantly gone with yours!

Labrynthine Of course yours was one of my favorites! Excellent in every way from your story to the creature it's self! Lovely! I've actually been to Ouray CO too! :)

benu I love the anatomy of your creature, and the rending of both the creature and background are exceptional! Also I like the historical/mythological reference to the goddess Pele. (Hawaiian fire goddess)

My vote went to benu her creature seems more creature-like
and fit the fire and shadow brief the best in my opinion as well as being really very well done!

Exceptional round!!
Can't wait too see what everyone comes up with this week!
Now I gotta get started on some Devilish Demon Devourers! :devil:

[M!CK]

I voted for Michael Morisse, his creature really appealed to me with originality and strangeness criteria on which i base my votes. Very different.Very good =) :lounge:

[ghoulio]

Phewww...that was hard!

eventually bralt hannicart got my vote, love his creature design, rendering and nice presentation...

Others I really really liked are from: lkjhgfdsa, emerging, scorge, armetage, blobs and benu.

Great work everybody, thank you all for this round was very helpfull, hope to be back more often...

Cya...

[Marsch]

went for emerging loved the purple flames and the design of the creature.

[Razorleaf]

great round!quoting cuz im not sure what u mean by "smoke"? its a shadow and flame creature not smoke and flame

Emerging you are so right .... sorry. I've been so pre-occupied this week I barely know what day it is. :)

[emerging]

Ok im finally going to do the comment thingy hehe, my first time so let me know if im not saying or doing something right hehe


lkjhgfdsa - i love the sharpness and curvature within the creature! great work! no wonder pple are voting for it because they should be!


matejkovacic - good choice of positioning your creature to aid the composition. One idea i had for yours is to make the creature look like it's fused with its own shadow and its coming out of it with flames. Just a thought :)

pahavasa - yours piece is really pleasant for the eye with its blue/orange contrasts. Great sense of form!

Bralt Hannicart - im going to state the obvious - the instestine-like tubes are just so wet and slimy, great job

Takeda11 - i think you have a lot of potential. I can totally see this work being chosen for a fantasy book cover. I guess the only problem i had with it was its certain lack of originality


ghoulio - nice beast. But i just have to mention the little figure and the exclamation marks above the head.. im sorry if im coming off as harsh but its such a banal thing to draw nowadays.. its strictly my opinion though!


scorge - i love the rendering and common to north america color contrast - blue/orange which i also use a lot in my works hehe. I also like the fire pissing idea haha. You are such a typical guy!!! (in a good funny sense of the phrase haha cuz i am too!). The only thing i have to mention is the fact that the overcomplicated features of the creature confuse me a little bit and take away from the design.

Marsch - you captured the demonic feel of the creature! props on that! i would really love to see it rendered more carefully with more hard edges and details thouhg :P

Jushra - this reminds me of phoenix. I like the idea of purple yellow contrasts but to be honest i enjoyed your original more of a monochromatic color scheme more

Gumish - it is a nice creature but i would watch out for the form a little more. Keep it up!

bestow - dude it is a "lol" indeed. However, it sparks my interest in how it moves from place to place? and i think you succeeded once you sparked an interest with something! So good job!

ccinabox - it is a nice concept and pose i just wish you had more time to render it further, it has a lot of potential!

Cloister - i like the different style you got going. Stands out a lot. As a suggestion i would advice you to try varying the amount of fuziness from one area to another to emphasize certain foci


Rabies - interesting take on shadow and flame. I think this kind of idea would work even better with even a more of abstract design (altho i know it would then bear potential risk of not being accepted to the poll)

darklogik - its nice man, we got a similar approach to the idea of shadow and flame (holes :))

Gorgonzola - interesting and different take. it reminds me a bit of odd world's wild inhabitants

Michael Morisse- it is pleasing in its own glowing way! It doesnt give off a dangerous feeling.. which i personally consider a plus because it is something different from other works

zimfin - sweet rendering! i like the green addition

Illysian - looks like it is a nice design but i feel it needs more refinement

tmyohlaing - there is something about your work i really enjoy. The design of your creature really stands out and so do the colors, great entry!

LisandroG - you have a nice painting style! the only crit i would have is for you to start utilizing more fine brushes in certain areas to add some occasional details and contrasts(face for instance)

armetage - your work is amazing! i love the colors and the design of the creature!


Sidharth Chaturvedi - great sense of skeletal structure. I just wish it had a little more contrast (yes i am a contrast freak haha)

dforman - i like the idea of taking the creature under the water but i think it needs a lot more refinement


Jakers - interesting design and summoning of the creature! nice rendering too! i just wish it had a more dynamic pose


blobs - I KNOW you are in love with than light salad green :P :P haha you used it in previous cow too and it works in both paintings! great work!


volscalkur - cool idea but needs more attention focused on anatomy and rendering

Nkristian - great work! i like the composition too! and i am a fan of warm colors hehe

Chaos-Shark - your work has potential and i think you should not stop here and no matter how sick you are of it put it on critique center and try to improve it! i guess my suggestion would be to make the anatomy of the creature a little more clear as well as use some color contrasts to make the picture vibrant and interesting to look at

M!CK - great creature! reminds me of a moon fish

Crowsrock - we also have a similar concept with our creatures having holes. I just find your picture a little difficult to look at since there is so much of the black and white hard contrast everywhere.

FishyBoner - loving your style, amphibian-like creature and use of textures, my only concern is the out of perspective head of the creature


Grandmassa Mr. Spect - great work, i can tell it a mile away for its unique style of yours. and thats a biiiig plus!


Touchstone - its a great idea but i really wish it was more clear what we are looking at with more details of the canine-like creature

Luuds - great colors and glow elements! really nice creature design too.. reminds me a little bit of some kind of evil land seahorse lol

Med - i applaud you for being rebellious towards "no puffs or cloud-like characters". This would lead you to a very distinctive style. More rendering could make the work better

audit - nice sharpness and textures, a more dynamic pose of such kind of creature would emphasize its designs and beauties

hunchback - i really enjoy the form and anatomy of this flee-like creature. I only wish there were some hard lines too to bring the form out even more

Doomsquid - it is a creature of shadow and flame! i think its nice that you made it translate so well

Labrynthine - great shape-work on the shadowy parts flowing to the top left corner! nice choice of colors! Composition is also strong

TomatoFish - i was really afraid your creature would end up looking too much like an ordinary moose or something in those terms. But you managed to break my negative expectations.. I especially like the design on the left

acb - it is a truly different design but i'm just wondering how it is able to move along the ground?

benu - great work i voted for you. as i already said, i really enjoyed the rendering and the design of the creature especially its head. It reminds like a little bit of some half-life 1 creatures. Very successful use of blue and orange

[churapsoy]

Voted for Labrynthine, Lovely use of colors for me and a baddass design too! :)

[Cloister]

acb got the vote for bringing some black spiritual dimensions to the theme.
benu: fantastic render!

[Pixelestial]

Although Bralt's was by far my favorite design for its alien wierdness, I had to vote for Labyrinthine in the end. Just a perfect fit for the topic.

[Aaron Death]

emerging rocks. I vote for him.

The rendering is incredible.

[Michael Jaecks]

This is actually precisely why I voted for you this round. My feeling is that there are, on occassion, folks who partcipate who try to out-think the weekly topic... or they take it terribly literally... and doing this sort of thing so very rarely works well. It typically runs afoul, resulting in a pretty dodgey concept that requires a lot of verbal explanation on account of the fact that the illustration itself is not conveying something clearly.

But you managed to take what should have been a pretty simple fantasy theme to grasp and execute, turned it on its head with a little pseudoscience, and actually made something that I totally think works, fits the topic, and is just a gorgeous illustration and design to look at as well.

SO that's why Bralt got my vote. There were a lot of other entries I liked a lot including blobs, benu, lkfghdsa, emerging and others.


Voted for Benu. I like the design, the dried magma like crusty skin and ofcourse the lava oozing from it. Besides that, it is painted with vivid colors and controlled strokes and layers. There were many favourites which I will discuss more thourough later...

In retrospect I think, once more, I drifted too far from the subject given. Though that only happens because I want to give a logic, scientific character to my creatures. Drawing demons and mythical creatures often drifts towards designing single creatures, individuals, not a certain breed of species. I always try to do the opposite for the COW (unless specified) and trying to do so, often results in coloring outside the lines of the subject. Ofcourse that is my approach to things, no way I'm trying to define right or wrong here, just expressing my euhm philosophy of the COW. :p

[Bralt Hannicart]

in total it took me 2 hours and 13 minutes spread over two evenings/nights to write these comments :lounge:

lkjhgfdsa

Very nice demon you have there! The colors and textures are outstanding! the entire thing oozes hot liquid magma and the stench of sulfur. I like the pitchblack shadow-like fumes that contrast this bad boy. Only comments I have are the human figures. They feel a bit like an after thought and are slightly too sharp to fit the scene. Perhaps if they would cast a bit of shadow on the surface they're standing on? Second comment is the anatomy of it's arms. The one on the right has two 'elbow' joints, while the left only has the typical one. Not sure if this assymetry was intentional, but it was just something I noticed and felt weird. But apart from these two little nitpicks it is flawless!

matejkovacic

This is quite a dynamic piece but lacks a bit in the harmony between subject and background. The background feels a bit rushed and the creature appears to be on a different plane than it should be. The creature itself is a bit generic but has some nice textures. I really like the way you handled the lights in this scene though. Also the figure riding the cart is really neat especially concidering the fact you painted him with a few brushstrokes!

pahavasa

Though I really like the look of this serpent, wingless mix of a European and an Oriental dragon, I seem to miss the subject of 'flame and shadow', even in the description.

emerging

Lovely unique flames, Emerging! I dig the skull too! I, personally, would not have used a centaur for this. Perhaps put together two other animals would have fitted a bit better for a cavern environment? Walking with hooves on rocks seems slippery and uncomfortable. But I really like the image as a whole though!

Takeda11

You certainly have some good painting skills but the concept is a bit too generic, not something people will remember for a while. Try to think of cooler shapes and combinations to design creatures! Too bad you did not include a description either...

Ghoulio

You have a neat oil paint style which is rarely a boring thing to look at. I think the presentation also deserves a mention because that paper background and the simple but very effective dark square behind the creature! Now, the concept is good! Catching lightning sounds like a very...VERY powerful skill but I cannot see something in your creature's anatomy that shows me how it does that. Perhaps a sort of bio...antennae would do the concept real justice. Also, living underground but have wings too...Dunno about that. Keep it up man!

Scorge

Oh that is evil. I think the weirdness of the shapes was a bit overdone. A bit too much ideas stuffed in one creature. Tentacles, multiple mouths, the weird claws, a fire pissing penis. But needless to say, you pulled it off quite well. Perhaps a bit more work on the background and some more glow on the fire would make it really pop!

Gumish

You have a slightly cartoony style, which is ok, but when I look at your entry, it appears a bit unfinished. A bit more effort on the background would do no harm! Keep posting! I liked your story too! Short but very emotional!

ccinabox

I like your concept and the painting itself has a very good composition. The creature seems very massive although the human figures in the foreground are not that defined. You could draw a bit more focus on them by wrapping their edges a bit in light. The flames, and I know this is hard to achieve, could use some more work to make them less painted and feel more like an actual real lightsource. More glow and intenser colors would improve on that I think.

Cloister

Very mystical and almost abstract! your creature seems a bit drowned in all those nice textures making it hard to read. Good thing you showed the thumbnail because without it, I'd have no idea what it looked like. Overall, it's just a bit too muddy for my taste. I don't like mud.

darklogik

Interesting play of lights and shadows. It certainly feels hot and bright. Too bad you didn't try a bit of a more daring design for your creature. Be bold!

Gorgonzola

Very cool anatomy, especially the head! Those eyes look evil! The figure beside looks very good too. The background feels a bit rushed and muddy, I'm sure with a bit more attention and work on that, your painting would look even better. I can also suggest practicing painting fur. It feels slightly too flat and without volume compared to the head!

Michael Morisse

Beautiful cartoon style! My second most favourite of this competition!

zimfin

You have your own style and I'd probably recognize your work too if I saw it somewhere! So I think that's very positive. Largest advise I can give you is to try and make your creature a bit more dynamic. Now it's just standing there a bit stiff. A bit more explanation on the green and pitchblack protrusions would not hurt either!

Illysian

The creature is a bit hard to read. You clearly have a good sense of lighting and shadows and you have some nice brushstrokes. But some more refinement, definition and sharper edges would make things more clear! I love the horn chimney thing on it's nose!

tmyohlaing

Interesting color palette, very warm without relying entirely on yellows and oranges so I really applaud the use of those pinks and violets! I also like the tilted view making this rather static image come to life. I do suggest you study anatomy of real animals a bit more!

Lisandrog

Strong composition (clever cropping!) and very nice lighting. Some more time on finishing, polishing, reducing the muddy and blobby strokes and you may have an excellent painting! Try to lay the focus a bit more on the creature's face with some sharper contrast and more detail. Also, study human arm muscles and try to incorporate that knowledge into your paintings! Keep it up!

armetage

Very good painting skills but if you had not used a seal's head and dog paws for your creature, it would have made more impact I think. Try to be a bit more bold! and also...don't vote for your own entry ...

Sidarth Chaturvedi

The profile thumb shows all the awesomeness of your creature. The bone construction looks very convincing! The painting itself looks a bit rushed imo. Also, the way the neck twists to turn it's head looks unnatural. Making your canvas broader and leave more room for the neck to make a believable turn would fix a lot here.

dforman

Like with Sidarth I can say that the painting looks a bit rushed. You include a thumbnail of your creature and, honestly, it looks really good and has strong shapes. But then you kind of rush the painting? There is no way for the viewer to define the texture of it's skin for example. I know, your creature lives in the deep dark abyss of oceans but we need to see your creature! We want to! We need it. Help us!!

Jakers

Very dynamic, well painted but your composition is a bit out of balanced because of the palm tree. It can be fixed in two ways, either cut it out or add some more trees in the right lower corner of the image. But apart from that, I've no comments!

blobs

Flawless but I didn't feel a connection with the creature. It's probably the head. You know, I like weird heads, got one myself. Thx for your small tutorial too, the approach you have is something I am unable to do!

volscalukr

Very bright colors but the yellow is a bit too distracting. Especialy on the creature itself (the backbone thing). I've got one big tip for you: study anatomy. Study animals, people. Study their skeletons, their muscles, the joints. Try to figure out how things work. I'd suggest leaving colors alone for a while and focus on the drawing part. You have the potential, now it is up to you to invest time and effort to learn these basics! I'm sure you will find plenty of links, information and threads on these boards to get you started!

Nkristian

A very beautiful piece. Could easily fit in a Jules Vernes story (that was probably something triggered subliminal from looking at the submarine). Very good skills!

M!CK

I really like your painting, M!ck, it has a sort of abstract and surreal feel to it. Some highlights would have made your creature a real eye catcher. Right now it's a bit drowned in all those brown and dark orange colors.

Crowsrock

I like the idea and the story behind your creature. The main issue I think with your image, is the lack of focus our eyes can have. We see all this detail, all those lightsources and our eyes just can't decide on which part to focus. Blurring a part of the tail and rear would help a bit but also putting less detail in the surface and background would draw more attention to your creature.

Fishyboner

Nice composition, view angle, colors and painting style! I just don't quite get the shadow part of it. Your creature could also benefit from a more daring anatomy. Right now, it leans a bit too much towards a four eyes frog. Finally I'd like to say that the cave drawing was a very nice touch.

Grandmassa Mr. Spect

I think you did a good job with this. The only comments I have are these: I know it may be part of the concept and it probably was not intentional, but it's a shame we cannot see the lower part of it's body because it's covered by those pretty blue flames. And as a final comment I'd say...the canvas texturizer in Photoshop is a very ugly thing, I'd suggest not to use that on your final render (but ofcourse that's only my opinion). Keep posting!

luuds

A nice painting though it probably suffers a bit from a lack of background. But you did a reaaalll nice job on those glowing hands and how they reflect on the surface. That's really cool. A few flaws in the perspective/foreshortening of it's right arm and perhaps it's head is a bit hard to read. I suggest you remove the glowing hole between it's eyes. It would make a huge difference imo.

audit

Oh those textures! and the colors! They are perfect. I really like the coiling serpent body and that hot magma bath it's rolling in. the head is a bit generic and, if I might add, looks a bit unfinished. A bit more definition for those teeth and it would be perfect!

Doomsquid

Needs a background. There, a real simple and short comment! No seriously, creatures living in their world are always more believable. Your linework is very sharp and you either have a very firm hand with lot's of control or you used the pen tool to draw the linework? Either way, the result is nice. Try applying texture on your creature to help define the materials! I'll also add that I adore those hind legs. Those paws are neat!

Labrynthine

Good job on that flowing tar like drape thing! It appears REALLY dark on my monitor tho and it should be calibrated correctly. I'd adjust the brightness a bit! Apart from that, it's a solid piece!

acb

Dynamic pose, but I think you added a bit too much stuff on your creature. You have all these little clusters of detail on your creature but they do not form a coherent whole. The flames/torches feel a bit rushed too. Study real flames or look for pictures of fire and flames on the net. Analyse the colors and try to apply these things in your paintings!

benu
See previous post

[emerging]

thats a good point about hooves man thanks :D

Ok i start this post 22h16!

lkjhgfdsa

Very nice demon you have there! The colors and textures are outstanding! the entire thing oozes hot liquid magma and the stench of sulfur. I like the pitchblack shadow-like fumes that contrast this bad boy. Only comments I have are the human figures. They feel a bit like an after thought and are slightly too sharp to fit the scene. Perhaps if they would cast a bit of shadow on the surface they're standing on? Second comment is the anatomy of it's arms. The one on the right has two 'elbow' joints, while the left only has the typical one. Not sure if this assymetry was intentional, but it was just something I noticed and felt weird. But apart from these two little nitpicks it is flawless!

matejkovacic

This is quite a dynamic piece but lacks a bit in the harmony between subject and background. The background feels a bit rushed and the creature appears to be on a different plane than it should be. The creature itself is a bit generic but has some nice textures. I really like the way you handled the lights in this scene though. Also the figure riding the cart is really neat especially concidering the fact you painted him with a few brushstrokes!

pahavasa

Though I really like the look of this serpent, wingless mix of a European and an Oriental dragon, I seem to miss the subject of 'flame and shadow', even in the description.

emerging

Lovely unique flames, Emerging! I dig the skull too! I, personally, would not have used a centaur for this. Perhaps put together two other animals would have fitted a bit better for a cavern environment? Walking with hooves on rocks seems slippery and uncomfortable. But I really like the image as a whole though!

Takeda11

You certainly have some good painting skills but the concept is a bit too generic, not something people will remember for a while. Try to think of cooler shapes and combinations to design creatures! Too bad you did not include a description either...

Ghoulio

You have a neat oil paint style which is rarely a boring thing to look at. I think the presentation also deserves a mention because that paper background and the simple but very effective dark square behind the creature! Now, the concept is good! Catching lightning sounds like a very...VERY powerful skill but I cannot see something in your creature's anatomy that shows me how it does that. Perhaps a sort of bio...antennae would do the concept real justice. Also, living underground but have wings too...Dunno about that. Keep it up man!

Scorge

Oh that is evil. I think the weirdness of the shapes was a bit overdone. A bit too much ideas stuffed in one creature. Tentacles, multiple mouths, the weird claws, a fire pissing penis. But needless to say, you pulled it off quite well. Perhaps a bit more work on the background and some more glow on the fire would make it really pop!

Gumish

You have a slightly cartoony style, which is ok, but when I look at your entry, it appears a bit unfinished. A bit more effort on the background would do no harm! Keep posting! I liked your story too! Short but very emotional!

ccinabox

I like your concept and the painting itself has a very good composition. The creature seems very massive although the human figures in the foreground are not that defined. You could draw a bit more focus on them by wrapping their edges a bit in light. The flames, and I know this is hard to achieve, could use some more work to make them less painted and feel more like an actual real lightsource. More glow and intenser colors would improve on that I think.

Cloister

Very mystical and almost abstract! your creature seems a bit drowned in all those nice textures making it hard to read. Good thing you showed the thumbnail because without it, I'd have no idea what it looked like. Overall, it's just a bit too muddy for my taste. I don't like mud.

darklogik

Interesting play of lights and shadows. It certainly feels hot and bright. Too bad you didn't try a bit of a more daring design for your creature. Be bold!

Gorgonzola

Very cool anatomy, especially the head! Those eyes look evil! The figure beside looks very good too. The background feels a bit rushed and muddy, I'm sure with a bit more attention and work on that, your painting would look even better. I can also suggest practicing painting fur. It feels slightly too flat and without volume compared to the head!

Michael Morisse

Beautiful cartoon style! My second most favourite of this competition!

zimfin

You have your own style and I'd probably recognize your work too if I saw it somewhere! So I think that's very positive. Largest advise I can give you is to try and make your creature a bit more dynamic. Now it's just standing there a bit stiff. A bit more explanation on the green and pitchblack protrusions would not hurt either!

It is now 23h34. I'm taking a break! Hope you guys (and girls?) don't mind! So these are still to come and will be discussed tomorrow. :

Illysian
tmyohlaing
Lisandrog
armetage
Sidarth Chaturvedi
dforman
Jakers
blobs
volscalukr
Nkristian
M!CK
Crowsrock
Fishyboner
Grandmassa Mr. Spect
luuds
audit
Doomsquid
Labrynthine
acb
benu

[Crowsrock]

Voted for Scorge. Simply liked it most.
Needless to say that there are several other stunning entries.

[Bralt Hannicart]

Just want to say I finished reviewing all the entries in my previous post!

[volscalkur]

Thanks for taking the time to give everyone such great feedback Bralt! I really appreciate that!
You are absolutely right, I really do need to study anatomy, I seldom use reference... not sure why I don't, but it does really show! :)
I have plenty of great books but just don't use them as much as I should!

Speaking of which here is some thing you all may find helpful! This is an awesome book for creature (and character) design that I would highly recommend to everyone if you do not have it already:
http://www.amazon.com/Cyclopedia-Anatomicae-Gyorgy-Feh%C3%A9r/dp/1579125913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245418446&sr=8-1

I'm sure many of you have this! The first half of the book is devoted to very detailed Human anatomy, and the second half has slightly smaller sections devoted to all different animals from cows(the kind that moo) to bats!
It really breaks things down!

Awesome round everyone! I really learned alot!
Thanks! :yayca:

[benu]

In this round I wish we had multi-vote. It was so hard to pick a favorite.

lkjhgfdsa- One of my faves. The spider is insanely detailed and rendered very well, I'm not so fond of the brushstrokes in the foreground, though. The people's proportions seem a little off (legs too short, arms too long). Anyway, that's one of my favorites.

matejkovacic- I like that you depicted your creature attacking someone, but it looks kinda unfinished.

pahavasa- Effective use of orange, blue and black and I like your creature's head. Scary worm thing, hehe

emerging- Those purple flames are looking so real...Hypnotizing indeed. You've got one of the best rendering in this round. Also a favorite. And thank you for commenting! I never played Half-Life. The idea was more like: Shai-Hulud spent a very hot night with a dimetrodon in the crater of the Kilauea.

Bralt- I remember I had to stare for like 15 minutes at this in the WIP thread. It could come straight from Dali's nightmares. Had to vote for it for it's sheer wierdnes. Thanks for the tutorial in the WIP thread, and for giving a thought-out comment for everyone.

Takeda11- I really really love the colors, textures and glowing stripes on your dragon. But it's ..well... a dragon. Nothing really new design-wise.


Ghoulio- That's one ugly creature..in a good way. The wings and the lower body could use some work. Good use of color and lighting.

Scorge- Almost voted for you, I just love the wierd anatomy and the flaming pee! I think the colors of the fire could have more variations, like some blue and red.

Marsch- It has the potential to look really nightmarish, if it was rendered more sharply.

Jushra- Interesting concept, but it needs better rendering too. Check out some refs about bird's anatomy.

Gumish- I like the contrast of the snowy landscape, the blackness of its body and the white-hot glow coming out of its mouth.

CCinabox- I agree with Bralt that it has potential. The bones could be more brightly lit, although they are black, to show the forms more clearly.

cloister- I know you couldn't spend moch time on it. But you're conveying the atmosphere of fiery apocalypse with a few effective brushstrokes, colors and textures.

Rabies- Interesting take on the subject!

darklogic- I like the skin texture, and the glow makes it feel rreally hot. There are som eanatomy issues with its body.

Gorgonzola- The creatures head is freakin' cool. doesn't really read as "shadow and flame" though. You could do more with the lighting.

Michael Morisse- Awesome design. It's kinda comical and it reminds me of nudibranchia (sea slugs) for some reason. Nice colors!

zimfin- Your creature is well rendered and textured. The leg's anatomy looks off.

Illysian- It's hard to read the body's shape, and doesn't really look like 'shadow and flame'. It's looking interesting anyway, and I like the head

Timothylaing- Awesome colors!

Lisandrog- It sure looks menacing, but also unfinished.

armetage- another favorite with a very 'alien' shape. Can't believe you didn't get more votes.

Sidhart Chaturvedi- Effective use of perspective, and also a nice clean render.

dforman- Interesting idea to make a deepsea creature. I'm finding the colored version aesthetically very pleasing, although it could use some refinement.

Jakers- Very much Balrog-like. Great colors!

blobs- Holy shit, that's an awesome render! Love the textures on the arm and the exhaust pipes on the back. He looks huge and menacing!

Volscalur- The anatomy could use some work, and you should use more sharp-edged brushes for rendering. I like the head, though.

Nkristian- Another favorite. A beautiful illustration with warm colors and nice textures. I also like the design, it's very different from what most people would draw.

Chaos-Shark- The anatomy could use soem attention.

M!CK- I simply love the shape of this creature, it's like alien plankton XD. Another favorite.

Crowsrock- I like the idea, but the anatomy could use some attention.

Fishy Boner- The perspective seems off. I like the colors and textures you used.

Grandma- The design and composition of your final is much better than the other one in the WIP thread.

Touchstone- It looks rushed, I wish the body was more clearly visible.

Luuds- You used orange, blue and black very effectively and I like the glowing frog feet!

audit- Kind of similar to my creature, hehe. I like the textures you used, and the colors.

hunchback- Interesting shape and a nice painterly feel,

Doomsquid- Nice clean lines and the front legs are cool!

Labrynthine- Also one of my top entrys. Especially because of the black flowing shapes un its back.

TomatoFish- Haha, interesting take on the subject.

acb- Interesting design and concept. I don't think it has to walk around much; there are lots of sessile marine animals. It looks like you lost yourself in details before you got the larger forms and lighting down.

Edit I posted my own painting procedure in my sketchbook here (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2309230&postcount=73)

[Michael Jaecks]

Hey there emerging: congratulations on your win. I just posted your first COW star!

[emerging]

Hey there emerging: congratulations on your win. I just posted your first COW star!


thank you :)

[MasterStryke]

none of them rules imo

but i like lisandrogs simple shadingstyle!!!