C.O.W. #148 NEWBORN "Extraterrestrial Gestation Cycle" -- VOTING!!

[Michael Jaecks]

C.O.W. #148 NEWBORN!! -- VOTING!!

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ROUND #148 VOTING

Topic: NEWBORN (Extraterrestrial Gestation Cycle!!


Deadline for the voting: Tuesday 21 July 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=161181.


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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!

[Baron Impossible]

Artist: Baron Impossible

Concept: Sea Minister

Either I'm first or I'm posting in the wrong place :) Anyhow, here's mine. It's called a Sea Minister. It has poisonous pseudopodia that are held close to the body, reminiscent of prayer, but these can be extended faster than the eye can see and if they get hold of you, you'll be the one who's praying. Its gestation period is, oh I don't know, a few weeks. After all, you wouldn't want one of these in your womb longer than you had to.

[pahavasa]

Artist: pahavasa

Concept: Pumpkin Baby


The "newborn" in this species is just a shell for it's spores to spread wider with, it's not a baby as we see it. As soon as it is born, it will start to spread the spores to the air. When they get inhaled by a human female, they start their journey in blood vessels towards the womb, where the new baby eventually begins to grow. The unborn pumpkin baby resembles human fetus, and so these creatures are likely to pass ultra sound checks - their gestation cycle however is only 6 months, so there will be quite an unpleasant surprise for the mother-to-be when it decides it's time to get some fresh air.

716498

[FAST ART]

Artist: Fast-Art

Concept: sorkalius-the-absorber-god


(will make a rough description because my english is not the best)
All ten-thousend jears a creature will borne wich got the power to destroy or rebuild a whole universe. This creature need another ten-thousend jears to upload his complete power. then the creature implode and a new universe is borne ( very kitschy story but was fun to paint, first entry on a cow-challenge.. hope u guys like my concept :) )

[Marsch]

Artist: Marsch

Concept: Junian Champilion


In planet Juno, if you're very unlucky, you can find these fascinating, vicious creatures. As with all of Juno's lifeforms it has a bizarre reprodution cicle: The male and female copulate, with the female dying soon after, being "absorved" by her own tail, but the "tail womb" survives, grow roots and transforms itself in a Photosynthetic mushroom like creature. The embryo inside it divides itself then, forming 5 to 6 twins, that grow through almost 5 earth months.
After that, the "eggs" are pushed outside of the mushroom and hatch producing newborn champilions.
During all this time the male champilion protects the "Mushroom womb", starving itself to death in the process.

[Pixelestial]

Artist: Soulweaver

Concept: Dominian Muse
Life Cycle of the Dominian Muse
1) Conception: The Muse first forms as a spark of inspiration in the synapses of the right side of the brain. This initial spark has extradimensional origins.

2) Development: The Muse continues to grow. It has a spiritual effect on the brain that inspires artists, musicians, and writers to create. When a person creates a work of art, it ignites sparks of inspiration in others, and thus, more Muses are born. This is a mutually beneficial relationship with no negative side-effects. (Although there are some who argue that the Muse's presence is the reason that creative-minded individuals are more prone to mental illness (http://health.howstuffworks.com/genius3.htm)).

3) Birth: When the creative individual dies, their Muse sheds its human skin (figuratively speaking) and ascends to places unknown.

[sepu]

Artist: sepu

Concept: Xeno-Kopro-Fagus

Bug named XKF is still taken as urban legend in most parts of the world.
This creatures are known for producing chemicals affecting central nerve system - in Greys, from where they originate, they induct and support telepathy. Unfortunately, when human is infected very much opposite is happening - brain functions are decreased, any trace of telepathy and empathy is wiped out, and levels of scepticism are greatly increased. Worm lives in intestines and reproduces just like flatworms - by loosing part by part its long, ever-growing tail. Different from flatworms - theres no support host for larvae, everything it takes is a scratch of itchy bottom, and firm handshake afterwards..

[Psychotrope]

Artist: Psychotrope

Concept: Viscus Doppelgänger

The Viscus Doppelgänger is a creature that is considered to be a myth, or at least hoped to be. A parasitic being that can literally take on any gestational host with a large enough body mass, once born the Viscus Doppelgänger can carry upwards of a million offspring within its blood. Reproduction requires that the small, near microscopic teal eggs that float in an adult Viscus Doppelgänger's blood be extracted by a blood sucking organism. Once ingested, the egg is able to affect the central nervous system of its new host and forces it to deposit the egg into another, larger creature. Once within the body of its final home, the egg will slowly develop- sucking out nutrients as it sits cradled within the central organs of the host. Over time, it will grow, cell by cell replacing the internal soft tissues of the host around it and sharing in its blood supply. At this point the two become a single organism. Given enough time, the egg will develop to the point where the original host is just the bone and nerves of what it once was- the entire rest of its body consumed and used by the parasitic Viscus Doppelgänger. Once mature, the Viscus Doppelgänger will release the internal gasses of the host all at once, and combined with brute force, will “pop” the organism open, revealing a newly born Viscus Doppelgänger that resembles a skinless, boneless version of the original host. (Name means “flesh clone” in a mix of Latin and German)

[Michael Morisse]

Artist: Michael Morisse

Concept: Heart Stealer

The Heart Stealer lives up to it's name. After the female has mated she sneaks down to the beach and uses her sharp egg laying proboscis to insert the new embryo into the body cavity of a sleeping Melwork ( a large seal like creature ). The embryo attaches itself to the hart of the Melwork and starts to encapsulate it.
The Melwork has a small and very powerful heart, and the Heart stealer needs this because it cannot generate this kind of body tissue on its own, and because it's movements are powered by hydraulic push, it needs a good pump.
The Heart Stealer puts the Melwork into a semi coma so it lies docile on the beach and they both live of its fat reserves.
As Heart Stealer grows around the heart it connects all its organs to it, taking it over.
When it is ready to be born, (about 7 months) it uses its razor sharp tongue to slice an opening in the unfortunate Melwork and emerges, snapping the melwork’s remaining heart connections like an umbilical cord.
Having completed the transplant and entered the world, it now eats it’s dead host and then sets of for the jungle, where it will spend its adult life, only coming back to the beach to breed.

[oscarlot]

Artist: Oscarlot

Concept: Rock eater

Fact- Thanks to this creature's powerful jaw, it can manipulate rocks as if they were made of strawberry mushrooms. Since the creature is based of stones, and constantly uses stones like an energy source, they need to refill themselves with new stones to survive. When the rock eater propagates; a new body has to be created out of stones. To do this they choose a stone wisely and chew it until it becomes gravel. Then the creature spits out all of the gravel. A protective saliva that stores an egg cell is left with the gravel on the ground.

Embryo- At this stage the cells starts to divide and soon builds a skeleton out of the gravel with help from the saliva. Meanwhile, the most important organs are created.

Fetus- After some months of wait all the pieces that is needed for the skeleton is done and the construction of the skin and the muscles can finally start.

Newborn- Everything is finished and the new being is ready to go!

[Gominoid]

Artist: Gominoid

Concept: the Nrgo Kra' Agul, former inhabitants of Planet-Colony Xelextron Omega

The Nrgo Kra' Agul were the former inhabitants of planet Zer' Ragga in the Azzora System before the human race colonized it and converted it into the Planet-Colony Xelextron Omega.
This civilized creatures were continuously aiming for perfection at the point of forcing their natural evolution process by using their advanced technology.
The massive modifications received by their bodies caused their reproductive system to malfunction, so they were forced to extirpate it from their perfect organism and develope an artificial reproductive process to avoid extinction.
Embryo: the embryo is created by the clonation of a few cells that are contained in a tube. This cells are fed up by the glowing liquid inside the tube and stimulated by the robotic tentacles with the aim of developing new tissues and limbs.
Fetus: in the fetal stage his body is almost complete, a psionic mask is attached to the creature to help him to develop his mental powers. This mask is also used to transfer all the basic knowledge needed to the creature's brain so when he is born he will we able to serve to his community as worker, soldier or any other profession.
Newborn: when the creature is ready to born the psionic mask is removed and the tube is opened. In air contact the creature's body suffers a violent metamorphosis that increases the size of his entire body several times, his skin hardens and also some dark spots appears in some areas.

[originalpink]

Artist: Originalpink

Concept: Snow Lion


Due to cold conditions the children of these creatures needs to take as little resources from it's host as possible. Therefore the child is able to feed itself already during it's fetus stage. The child is stored in a sack in connection with the host's mouth, when the host has hunted down a prey the child is able to quickly come out of the mouth to snatch a piece for itself.

Embryo: Unlike earthly animals the host doesn't need to be impregnated to start the development of a child. Due time the host's body will grow it's skeleton enough to divide itself into a new life. The only protection for this new child body is created with two surrounding fluids. Where the inner fluid around the child is maintained with help from surface tension. During this stage the host needs to find a safe zone since moving too much will damage the child. During the embryo stage a thin film is created due to chemical reaction between the two fluids. This film will later on be the skin and flesh of the child. Inner functions are already in development before the skin is completed.

Fetus: When reached this stage the child can soon move itself. Thought, the body's arms and legs are yet to be formed.

Newborn: The child is now almost directly able to take care of itself, but due to size it's still pretty vulnerable. It grows quickly and will most often leave it's host in just a couple of months.

[FishyBoner]

Artist: FishyBoner

Concept: Stringent Doppelganger
An asexual creature that reproduces by way of its tail stinger, storing genetic information. When first injected, the skin will swell up like a common insect bite. After a weeks time, the swelling resides as the larvae burrows deeper through the epidermis.

Feeding from the bloodstream of its host, it matures with four weeks. By this time, an unsightly boil reappears, accompanying pain, nausea and slight vertigo. Once the immature doppelganger explodes like a zit, it leaves the host to grow and repeat the process. Those who are fortunate aren't repeat hosts.

Larger file can be found over Here. (http://pics.livejournal.com/fishy_boner/pic/001pkwgp)

[Anthis]

Artist: Anthis

Concept: name-of-your-creature

Young offspring of this creature are bred in a specialized organ carried on the back. The embryos will grow inside their protective shelter, still connected to the mother.

After about five months, the young reach a fetus stage. They are no longer connected to the mother and passively take up nutrients trough their skin. At this point, the mother drops the now heavy breeding bud on a safe and fertile place. It will then produce roots and live on independently of the mother. Further development of the young inside can take up to 10 more months, depending on environmental conditions.

Only one, strongest adult will emerge. And by the time the newborn adults hatch, they are nearly the size of its mother. Due to this type of gestation, the young creatures are less vulnerable. Also, it allows the species to produce offspring more often.

[scorge]

Artist: Scorge

Concept: Burturny
The incestual celestial being. Found on a rocky planet tentatively known as XY-9 in the Andromeda galaxy, this creature is living proof that even in the far reaches of the cosmos, Mother Nature has an experimental sense of humor.
Beginning its life as two independent organisms sharing the same egg, the Burturny has the eliminated the need for mating by conceiving the parents of its future spawn at the same time. As this strange beast grows and develops inside the egg, space becomes limited, the bodies of the male and female eventually merging into one androgynous creature.
Sick and twisted, or evolutionary genius? You be the judge.

[PSych]

Artist: PSych

Concept: Titans stone lizard

Titans stone lizard and his gestation cycle.

719876

[JEFFERSON]

Artist:Jefferson Oneal Jefferson

Concept: Chagastillar
1. Embryo 2.Fetus 3.Newborn
A large, hermaphroditic insect-like creature found in the deep forests of Nochank. It's eggs are found on the bottom of large leaves and fallen logs on this oxygenated planet. They develop for six moon cycles before hatching. After hatching, the fetus triples in size before birth, adopting a wormlike vessel for intermediate gestation. This is a time of metamorphisis, as the Chagastillar continues to develop internally. During that period, they feed on mostly vegetation. In times of environmental stress, they become cannibalistic. They will attack if cornered or threatened. The creature spits out an acrid, poisonous serum that paralyzes and burns its victims.
Once mature, the Chagasitllar evacuates its wormlike coccoon. A smaller, faster, more armored creature emerges. Prepared to fight for its survival, and the perpetuation of its species, the Chagastillar lays its eggs.

[darkly]

Artist: darkly

Concept: Sky Devil

We first came across what soon came to be called the Sky Devil when settling Rhlin 3. They are currious creatures. They would fly up to our air ships and test anything that was loose or not strapped down. Those Devils could be such a nuisance, especially when transporting goods from our supply stations to the Langley Outpost which was on the edge of the Skl' Alouh Wilderness. And they're so damn sneaky. You never see 'em till they're right next to you. Some settlers from Langley say that every fifth new moon, the big one mind you, not the small one, you can see the "forest" a glow and the "branches" will move in a peculiar way. Swaying to and frow, enough to give you motion sickness. from looking at 'em to long. So strange are the sounds that that queer forest makes during those times. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. It's so weird out there.
Nathan Long Cawdlle (Settler)

720858

[volscalkur]

Artist: Volscalkur

Concept: New Bourne parasite
Little is known of the home world of the parasitic New Bourne, other then the fact that is was one of six small Earth like planets in the Celoniguin system visited by the Survey ship USF New Bourne. This small creature poses a greater threat to the human race then any other extraterrestrial life form we have yet come into contact with. The New Bourne is a parasite that after hatching floats through the air using a bladder of hot gases until they land on a host and burrow deep inside making their way to the brain where they take over all functions effectively turning the host into a non responsive walking corpse, here they grow many times their original size and eventually poke through the skull of the host with their womb spur, which then opens like a flower and releases the tiny newly hatched young who float away on their gas bladders to infest new hosts. The New Bourne are asexual and it is estimated a single creature can spawn around 10,000 young.
Working under the tightest of quarantines, a team of scientists were able to to capture this glimpse into the earliest stages of the creature's development:
The creature starts off in and egg attached to it's parent by an umbilical cord that feeds nutrients into the yoke at the top of the egg which will sustain the creature after the egg detaches from the umbilical cord and travels upwards through the birth canal. The creature develops in the rich fluid that fills the egg along the way using up the nutrients in the yoke sack fed down through the tubes in it's back.
Once the creature is nearly developed and the yoke sack becomes empty the creature begins to drink the fluid surrounding it in the egg. This fluid is processed in a special gland and produces a light gas which is then heated and pumped back up into the empty yoke sack which now acts as a gas bladder.
The egg has now reached the end of the birth canal. As the gas bladder expands it breaks the thin top layer of shell, and balloons out lifting the tiny hatching up and out of the shell where it will float through the air until it lands on another victim and the process is repeated ... could this be the final hour for the human race? Could we join the long list of other creature we have forced into the dark realms of extinction?
Let us hope the infestation can be stopped in time...
:gasmask: :)

[Michael Jaecks]

All righty then. Poll is up. I did not pull anyone this round. On the technical side, the forum was acting a bit sloggy and it was just faster to do it this way.

Voted for scorge... definitely took the extra time to go the extra length to make an impressive, fully realized entry. Each stage of the creature's development is well rendered and fully executed. No one part of the creature's life cycle looks more important than the other. The embryo looks just as important as the full grown adult.

Don't forget the larger, Wacom and Massive Black NEWBORN contest is still ongoing with some really terrific prizes at stake. Make yourself a thread in the Newborn Contest Forum and receive some feedback there. Continue to develop your concept and deliver a truly awesome entry by the end of the month! Is your Kung Fu strong enough to meet the challenge?

;)

[originalpink]

For me the choice was easy, I voted for Anthis. The concept felt believeable. Looked good and was nicely rendered. The embryo fetus stages didn't look too ordinary and wasn't too weird either. Also loved the environments and overall mood of the pictures (which was the first thing that got me sold). Also the composition of all the picture's work well together.

Love it!

[sepu]

FAST ART got my vote. I really like his in concept. Monochrom is in my opinion perfect way to show some cosmic creatures, where color is not in use.

[Baron Impossible]

Even though I'm in it I voted for darkly - nice colour choices and good execution. Looks like it could be a page in an otherworldly creature manual.

[Michael Jaecks]

BTW, new round is on. It's a little different this time.

[oscarlot]

Okay.. I try to comment as well I can on the pictures I liked most.

Anthis got my vote. I liked the rendering on your pictures and the process of the creature felt logical. The design of your creature was cool too, especially the little we saw in the embryo stage, which is skeleton-like (I love skeletons).

Scorge Nice rendering on your pictures, but the creature itself look too abstract and complicated for my taste.

Baron Impossible Really good rendering on your pictures, and I liked the colors on your creature. But the embryo and the fetus stages looks too familiar to the earthly gestation cycles. And there's no information about where the child is stored.

Originalpink I would be evil if I voted on my brother, so no comments for you!

[TomCardin]

Voted for scorge

Well done. Feels very alien yet well bounded by a foundation of earthly birthing processes. The amount of work really shows as well, its tight!

Also really liked Baron Impossible, Anthis and Darkly's entries.

[Anthis]

Michael Morisse; Got my vote. Think your concept fits the brief very well, and you've done a great painting job. But more importantly, I think your concept is very well readable and easy to understand. Despite the elaborate details and the setting inside a host, the process of heart-enveloping is very clear. You can see what belongs to the host and what belongs to the creature. My only crit would be that the adult creature looks somewhat clumsy and unable to survive outside its host.
scorge; Close second. You have again shown us some productivity we can learn from. I think your concept of the two foetuses joining together is extremely strong. It's great to see how each adult structure can be traced back to either one of the organisms in an earlier stage. I think the two big shapes in its torso are the internal organs of each "member". What about the back? It changes from newborn to adult.
darkly; Special mention for the nice classic presentation. Like a textbook page of some animal codex.

[darkly]

First off, I nearly always have a hard time voting sense you can only vote for one. I narrowed my final decision down to fastart, 'cause I liked the concept and the execution. But (if I could have voted for more) I would also have voted for Scorge, and Baron Impossible because they too are badasses!

anthis: "Like a textbook page of some animal codex." Thanks! That's what I was goin' for. I liked your piece as well. I think how the embryo/fetis stages were laid out (not necessarily painted) threw me off a bit, but your adult rendering is great!


Baron Impossible: Dude! Thanks for the vote and the kind words! It means a lot coming from someone of your caliber. Exposé 4, Exposé 6 (Excellence award) and Exposé 7 (Excellence award) what more is there to say than that I used your inspiration randomizer about 20 times and laughed my butt off!

[OTTA]

VOTE FOR SCORGE! Very brilliant Creature :)

Darkly : I like yours too, But I think It should have something more, Not attractive enough :).

[volscalkur]

Awesome round everyone!
It was really interesting to see all the unique creatures and stages of development that everyone came up with!

This topic was a great deal of fun to work on, even though the last few weeks have been extremely busy and I ended up bringing it right down to the wire as usual- I really hate the fact that I have so little time- working 8+hrs a day, going to martial arts every other night and all the other fun stuff that goes with trying to be a somewhat productive individual doesn't leave much time for art which really bugs me! LOL but I'm sure many people on here have similar, or even more limitations on their time so I'll shut my yapper & vote. :x :)

Baron Impossible Awesome! I love the way the embryo is partially transparent and you can see it's insides! I'm was a bit on the fence with the shift in composition color for each stage, but the creature it's self brings uniformity to the piece. Most excellently rendered sir! :)

pahavasa Now that is cool! So freaky and yet somehow cute? I really like the colors and how it looks like a medical poster you would see on the wall at a Doctor's office. The slim on the newborn is great!
I bet that has got to be a rather hard baby to explain to an angry husband that's been away... "Honest honey! I've been no where near Pumpkinhead!":O

Fast-Art Very cool! I really like the glowing abdomen on the statue and your story is very epic! Nice lighting too!

Marsch This turned out great! I love the mushroom concept and your progression through the stages is great! The design of the creature with the mouth on top is pretty sweet too! :)

Soulweaver What an awesome take on the topic! I love it! The designs in the background, and the design of the creature it's self are very cool! Great job on the anatomy and musculature of the final stage of the creature! One of my favorites! :teeth:

sepu Now that is a scary looking worm! Excellently rendered! I really like the colors! It give it an almost ethereal quality! The composition progression was a bit confusing, but nice job!

Psychotrope Brilliant! I totally dig that this creature takes over it's host then pops them! :tihi: that is so cool! Only thing- I think that the final creature should be more ooey and gooey...I think popping a creature from the inside out would make a big mess! :)

Michael Morisse You creature is genius! The way it steals the other creature's heart is such a cool idea! It can't get much cooler then that! Great job on rendering too! :)

Oscarlot Cool idea! What a unique way of propagating! very creative! I really like the rays of sunshine in the first panel! Work those details! :)

Gominoid I like the artificial womb! Cool progression of the creature. Reminds me a bit of Giger and the aliens from independence day! A texture on the creature and a bit more definition would be cool to see! :)

Originalpink I like the progression, how it starts as a skeleton then forms muscles and skin, the mouth sack idea is pretty cool too!

FishyBoner Awesome! Haveing a zit is bad enough, but then having some creature with a scorpion tail pop out of it has got to totally ruin your day! I really like how the newborn is gasping for breath and is all splayed out- very realistic!

Anthis Your's is one of my favorites as well! I really like your creature's method of reproduction, how the mother drops the bud and it puts down roots and grows on it's own is very creative, and how the young inside kill each other so only one strong one survives is great!! Very well rendered, as was mentions earlier I love the atmosphere as well! The progression is a bit confusing though, didn't really get the part where the mother drops the bud from the image? :)

Scorge Excellent! I absolutely love the rendering! Top notch! Very unique and creative idea as well! Love the goo coming out of the egg in the newborn panel! :)

PSych Very cool! I really like how the creature has spikes even at it's embryo stage! The progression works very well, and I love the texture work! To bad you didn't have time to finish the adult version- that looks freaking sweet!

Jefferson Oneal Very detailed and excellent! This looks like something you would see in a science book! I really like how you have shown every stage of the creature! The design is very creative, and well thought out as well! Wow that thing is huge! Almost as tall as a person! Very cool piece! :)

darkly Your's is my favorite, and got my vote. Very well painted, and the progression through the stages is seamless. I really love the color choices as well as the design of the creature and how it develops throughout the stages! The entire piece has a wonderful earthy, yet alien feel that really sold it for me! Awesome job sir!

Great job everyone!:yayca:

Gotta work on my entry for the other Newborn contest so I'll probably sit the next round out, looks like it's going to be a cool one though! (no pun intended!:tihi:)

[originalpink]

volscalkur, thank you for supporting everyone! To be so generous against your competitors is a very nice feature ;-)
No but seriously, you get really happy by reading something about your work, and you did it for everyone! Good luck with your bigger newborn project!

[emerging]

great job guys. you all followed through with it and as you can see not many pple were able to finish this one including me haha (well i didnt even start haha). anyway my favourites are pahavasa scorge and darkly but my vote goes to darkly for an organic tree-like creature, very nice idea

[JEFFERSON]

I voted for Scorge although it was a very close between Scorge and Michael Morroise. The thing that really sold me was the humor factor in Scorge's piece. I'm a big sucker for funny. The only thing that I can crit for Michael is that I would like to have seen a more gory explosion from the dead host, compared to the clean cut that you have now. But all in all very nice work everyone.

[Michael Morisse]

I voted for Scorge great design, lost of humor and really well painted.

Other favorites where baron Impossible, Anthis and darkly

[Marsch]

well, voted in Michael Morisse because it was awesome art and story behind. Loved Pavahasa creature too ,very original as well as scorge's one too.

[volscalkur]

volscalkur, thank you for supporting everyone! To be so generous against your competitors is a very nice feature ;-)


Thanks! :) We are all here to have fun creating cool creatures and many of us are here to learn and improve as much as we can! I have really benefited a lot from the critiques, comments and help that others have posted in the short time I've been here so just doing my best to return the favor as many others have before me! I try to post helpful info about what I think worked and could use improvement that can be helpful to the artist -although since I'm still a newb I'm sure my crits aren't as helpful as those of some of the veterans who have a lot more experience and artistic knowledge then I do! :)

Keep up the good work man! Looking forward to seeing your art in other rounds!
:painting:

[scorge]

Had a lot of fun with this one. Thanks for the kind words and votes guys.:D

Really close round between a few top contenders here.
Tough to choose between Darkly, Baron Impossible, Fast Art, and Anthis.
Eventually went with Darkly for the layout, style and clear progression of development. Concept wasn't too bad either.;)

Baron Impossible: Man, you can paint like it's nobody's business. Beautiful colors and subtle shading. Looking forward to your final for the big contest.

Pahavasa: Nice concept and presentation. Maybe could have used some form of eyes or at least a better indication of a living thing. Looks a little unfinished.

Fast Art: Killer style of rendering and the black and white actually makes it seem more alien to me. Was a little confused by the image on the left but I think i eventually figured it out. Nicely done!

Marsch: I did my best to understand the timeline but still had a lot of issues with what you were trying to show. The creature design is pretty good and the skills will come with time and practice.

Soulweaver: Awesome concept, coloring and detail job. The anatomy of the creature itself is somewhat confusing.

Sepu: Very alien indeed! Subtle blues and reds look decent but I think the values could've been pushed a little more. Labeling is confusing.

Psychotrope: While all of the designs you have shown here are good, can't really tell that this is the same creature all the way through.

Michael Morisse: Great idea and execution! The newborn does seem to be weak in its musculature but everything else looks pretty good.

Oscarlot: First two panels are somewhat easy to read but the third really throws me off. Love your timeline on the top though!

Gominoid: I like the idea of the mask and the concept is fairly strong. Need to work on details, especially texture in the skin. Black background is a little too overwhelming.

OriginalPink: Difficult to tell which way we're supposed to follow the events, but kudos for doing the skeleton! Understanding of animal antomy could use some work.

FishyBoner: Pretty cool entry. Details are nicely done but seem to get lost in the newborn panel. Love the silhouettes on the bottom.

Anthis: One of my favorites as you already know. Great presentation. Could use a little more polish but damn fine job.

PSych: Could have a used a lot more description and tightening of details. Kind of dark. Texture is pretty awesome though and it looks like you were almost finished. Would've liked to see the adult rendered out.

Jefferson: Pretty much summed it up in the WIP thread. Colors look pretty good.

Volscalkur: Very interesting concept. The ideas are definitely there and the presentation is nicely laid out. Hang out here long enough and you'll be better than most in the rendering environment.

Hopefully I got everyone.

See you all in the big show!

[AhkNemet]

I'm completely out of my depth for this round :( so I've refrained from voting - but I have to say there's some absolutely amazing rendering here and its been interesting to see the different creations - They are sheer genius :)

[Pixelestial]

Thanks scorge and volskalkur for the comments!

The anatomy of the creature itself is somewhat confusing.
Which part is unclear? I'm afraid I'm blind to the problems at this point, but I would love to revisit the piece and fix it up. ^_^

******************

Since I left some comments in the WIP thread already, I'm just going to touch briefly on some of my favorites here:

Sepu - You've managed to make a gut worm beautiful, almost angelic. Great work.

Anthis - The subdued palette is very striking, and you've got a great concept and creature design to boot. Maybe not necessarily extraterrestrial, but one of my favorites nonetheless.

Scorge - Aside from the tight rendering and stunning colors, the weird/goofy/cute aspects of your creature really draw me in. The more I look at it, though, the more the textured ground planes bother me... they're not quite integrated into the painting style.

Baron Impossible - I'm trying to think of a critique, but I'm unable. I'd like to make a sculpture of the newborn, it's so stately. I'm really liking how you split the different stages by palette.

FAST ART - While it's a visually striking image, I find it too difficult to tell what the creature actually looks like. This actually doesn't detract all that much from the beauty, but for the purposes of COW, I would've liked to get a better idea of the creature's design.

Darkly - I especially liked the initial black & white drawing you posted in the WIP thread. Something about the colors falls flat for me -- maybe some blue/purple in the shadows to offset the orange/yellow would be sharp. Or maybe if you really pumped up the green glow. I can't quite put my finger on it...

[originalpink]

OriginalPink: Difficult to tell which way we're supposed to follow the events, but kudos for doing the skeleton! Understanding of animal antomy could use some work.


okay, the skeleton is actually it's embryonic phase. ;-)
I thought a comic page layout would be obvious enough thought, guess I have to emphasize even more for people to understand in the future.

[theFoust]

Voted for Anthis!

Scorge's was very well rendered and thought out but I found it to be too close to being a "character" rather than a "creature".
Anthis' seemed to me to be the best representation of both the theme and of professionally executed creature concept art in general.

[Baron Impossible]

Well done scorge on winning this comp - you clearly put a lot of work into your great entry and it paid off. Nice job!

Thanks also to everyone who commented / voted on mine - all appreciated :)

[Gominoid]

Three cheers for scorge!
HIP HIP... HOORAY!
HIP HIP... well, etc.

[scorge]

:bashful:Thanks a lot guys and gals. Really means a lot. :D

So if you get a chance, please check out my entry for the big contest..it's called "Hope is Born".

Thanks again everyone for the support.