C.O.W.# 149 -- Just Chillin' -- FINALS!

[Michael Jaecks]

C.O.W. #149 Just Chillin' -- VOTING!!

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ROUND #149 VOTING

Topic: Just Chillin' !!


Deadline for the voting: Thursday 30 July 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=163096.


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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!

[Chuck,mate.]

728553

Artist: Chuck,Mate.

Concept: Frozenback
This peculiar creature lives in the hottest places known to men. Under ground, inside volcanoes, where temperatures reach 3000 degrees Celsius, this animal roam and prosper. With rock hard skin and an inner cooling system it has no trouble grazing on minerals and phosphates near the earth`s core.
its inner cooling system consists of a rare breathing membrane located under the diaphragm, turning the moisture in the air, no matter how low the level of it, into an ice cold fluid called "ozaftra" circulating its blood stream and gathered at the outer skeletal back plates. The more this creature inhales, the cooler it gets. The creature’s size is of the average house cat, and it hibernates 3 months out of the year, understandably in the cooler caverns 3.5 miles above its usual habitat.

[Divine Oblivion]

728919

Artist: A'mihisss

Concept: Frozen Prayer

An extraterrestrial insectoid living on an almost inhospitable planet, the temperature climbing to almost 300 Fahrenheit on a cool day. These large bugs, usually around twice the size of an average male human adult, feed on the mineral rich rock and occasionally each other. In staying cool in such an inhospitable environment, the beast has an ammonia compound for it's circulatory fluid, that is converted in the limbs, mandibles, antenna and "stinger" tip into a hardened secretion, which is almost constantly oozed from the leg joints to form ice where ever the creature is standing to prevent its feet from burning. It's burrows are always being constantly covered in the ice compound - in large sheets deep underground, so their usual habitat stays at a chilly 40 degrees.

[bluez3023]

Artist: Bluez3023

Concept: Vapor Spire

The Vapor Spire is located on a planet with extremely high temperatures and constant flow of magma on the surface. The vapor spire is known to climb to a high point and extend tentacles from it's back that absorb any moisture in the air, the water is then kept in an internal sack and slowly distributed through the body to keep the creature cool. During this time the Vapor Spire stays completely still and is often a target for larger predators.

[s.a.r]

Artist: s.a.r

Concept: Cryogenicist


The Cryogenicist is an extra-terrestial creature from a hot, extrasolar desert planet.
It keeps itself cold by synthesizing liquid nitrogen by inhaling atmospheric gases and consuming chemicals in the soil a few feet below the surface of the ground. The horn is used for digging.
Once the synthesis is complete, the Cryogenicist stores the liquid nitrogen in special containers around its head, as well as internally. (These containers consist of an organic material that doesn’t suffer any damage from the cold nitrogen.) The creature then lets the liquid nitrogen circulate throughout its body, and it can also use it as a weapon by spitting it; that’s why it stores some around its cheeks for quick access.
Finally, the length of the creature’s neck, legs, back, and tail also helps dissipating heat.

[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: ammonite Aplacophoraish
A deepsea mollusc relative that needs superheated water to balance its internal cooling system- one that has adapted to high pressure and extreme heat. It also needs the sulphur rich water to offset the often poisonous internal systems of its crustacean prey.

[tandy1000]

Artist: tandy1000

Concept: Anaye
A creature born out of the Native-American horror stories of old. The lump on its back is a cluster of concentrated fat minimizing the heat trapped throughout its entire body, when it is metabolized it acts as a source of energy. It is able to withstand changes in body temperature and water content that would kill any other animal. Its fur coat reflects sunlight, and also insulates it from the intense heat radiated from desert sand.

[sepu]

Artist: sepu

Concept: core stabilizers

As we can see it everywhere on the surface of the Earth, many times organisms living here have great impact on conditions of their environment. Same thing happens deep inside, near to the core of our planet.
Species living in this very unwelcoming place are responsible for keeping core in stable temperature which of course in result regulate spin of the planet, and beat of life here.

Strange and incredible chemical reactions are happening inside this life form. Breaking chemical bonds it creates new substances that in form of freezing crystals are distributed carefully in magma currents. Sometimes a reproducing crystal is created and left to grow for thousands of years. Given the number of this organism - everyday many millions of ancient newborns are breaking from crystal form and beginning hot life of Core Stabilizers.

[Alexjholt]

Artist: Alexjholt

Concept: Five Moon Beetle
This beetle lives in the deepest deserts to the point where it is not far off the largest creature that could conceivably survive out there. The beetle has various chemicals in its body, which when mixed together cause a powerful endothermic reaction, cooling the beetle. The glands that remain shut most of the time, closed through a valve system. When the beetle's body temperature rises over a certain point, the heat causes these 'valves' to expand enough to let some of the chemicals out, mixing them together and causing the refridgerating effect. This mechanism prevents the beetles from wasting any of their precious chemical reserves when not necessary, such as at night.

[ErikStorstein]

729381

Artist: Zilrion

Concept: Frostshell Colossus
These giant beasts can be found deep within the largest deserts. While feared by any other creature capable of living in the same area, they are also the reason other creatures can survive. Using their gigantic claws, they dig themselves underground finding subsurface lakes. They will then proceed to fill up their shell and freeze the water, while doing this crystal-like spires are formed on its back. The Frostshell Colossus then returns to the surface, where it creates a pond by smelting the ice crystals while hiding halfway underground. When other thirsty wildlife appears to drink some of the precious water, the Frostshell Colossus strikes, often killing multiple preys at a time.

[control01]

Artist: Control01
Concept: Apolus Magni
The Apolus Magni is a type of insect, he lives in volcanoes.
When his horn turn to red because hi has thermostatics cells. He start to wave his wings to generate wind, this wind go across his cavities, cool down his blood.

[Mr. P Show.]

Artist: Mr. P Show.

Concept: Ice Dew

This is the future. Global warming has taken hold and the weather has become irregular bringing drought where moisture exists only in the air. Some plants have adapted to the harsh weather as well as The Ice Dew. A creature born from the harsh weather where it's own internal body temperature can dip down to the cold -20 degrees. Condensation from its shell can serve as a source of water.

[gunnarsson]

Artist: gunnarsson

Concept: Hake


A pest of the boarder guards and a constant threat to anyone travelling outside of the outer fences, the hakes became legal to shoot in 1996. Since then, they have dropped significantly in numbers and are now a rare sight.

Although little is known about the anatomy of the hakes, we know that they use air to cool themselves down. To escape the heat of the sun the hake runs very fast with its mouth wide open, forcing air into a large system of organs throughout its body, that emerges through the belly as luminescent blue sacks.

Before the hunting-law was voted through, the hakes were often seen running across the dead deserts at immence speeds. Not beeing able to stop for anything as long as the sun was shining, they often ran through fences and rammed the trucks and trains. As the sun went down they would gather to eat and rest, looking airily skinny with no air inflating their bodeys.

At night they finally rest, apart from an occasional sprint caused by a searchlight.

[njoo]

Artist: nJoo

Concept: Deflector


From the sky it just looks like a big eye-blinding area of light, it's often the cause of what was once thought of as mysterious plane crashes. Deflector through time has evolved to survive in the harsh heat of its environment. It maintain a cool temperature by deflecting 90% of all of sunlight with its unique and extremely reflective shell. It is often found nearby area with water source, in which it stores water in various water pocket found at the underbelly of the creature's body. It acts as a source for further temperature cooling and effective against dryness and thrist.

__________________

[darkly]

Artist: darkly

Concept: Fantail Dewback

The Fantail Dewback is a prime example of how animals adapt to their environments. Living in the most inhospitable desert on Rius 7 these strange creatures have a variety of ways to stay cool in the furious heat and sand storm prevalent land. The most curious is that the Fantail Dewback only has sweat glads on very precise points of its back. When perspiring, the hair on its back guides and funnels it toward the mouth. Once the moister reaches the mouth it is then filtered, pumped and circulated through various very special cooling veins which cover the Fantail Dewback's body. The other more obvious way, is that the use their fanned tail to supply a nearly constant breeze to whatever part of their body that is hotter than they would prefer. They have also been known to be called The Shoveltooth as well do to the fact that they use their large teeth as digging instruments to expose Valerant root balls, a plant that grows mostly underground and are filled with nutrients and water.

730456

[Michael Jaecks]

All righty. Poll is up.

Pulled control01 from the poll this round. Black and white work is always welcome in COW, as stated in the rules, but we need to see more finished work than a few countour line drawings. As you can see from the best entries presented this week, entrants spend a significant amount of time on their artwork to fully convey their concepts. Please spend more time developing your illustration in future rounds of COW.

EDIT: New round is up. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=164053

This is our 150th round of COW, so I tried to come up with a topic that would appeal to just about anyone who's ever visited ConceptArt.org. You can never go wrong with giant, undead, and draconic. So why not do them all at once?

[TomCardin]

I voted for Darkly.

I was toying with entering this round and my thumbnails of a creature had visible cooling veins on its skin. That concept stuck with me and Darkly's entry carried it out well. I like the over the top methods of cooling in this round.

njoo thats awesome artwork as always, creature though is lacking a bit in distinct anatomy for my tastes.

lkjhgfdsa has a nice entry as well, I can see lots of work went into it.

gunnarsson has a fun creature this round. I like the dynamic pose and description.

[njoo]

Voted for Darkly - a really interested design and description, one of the more unique approach to the topic imo ;)

Chuck,mate - You're still around! I see you've been kicking some butt over at CHOW :) I like the icey effect at the back of your creature the most!

gunnarsson - Nice mood, a very realistic believable creature, a nice creepy design hehe.

sepu - I like the overall design and really unique color! the ice might've been a bit cliche for my taste tho, but still cool! :)

lkjhgfdsa - A nice entry, like TomCardin said, I can definately see the effort placed in the pic, good job! :)

It's almost 5am here, so I'll comment more later, c ya!

[Divine Oblivion]

Voted for Gunnarsson. Awesome concept, the creature is very cute, though it works for the design, i think, and I really enjoyed the way you rendered it. :) Kinda makes me wish I stuck with rendering in color, actually.

Loving the semi-cartoony feel, njoo. Awesome stuff.

[meganite]

I'm'a crit EVERYONE!!! CrIT!! Ok, so, I'm mostly pointing out things that were reasons I didn't vote for the pic, so I'm sorry if my crits are kinda negative, hopefully they help.

Chuck,mate.: Very nice concept, pretty good execution, kinda blurry though. Not very dynamic composition and lighting with that background just as bright as the foreground.

A'mihisss: Pretty cool looking, very alien. I just get the sense of a different color or gradient from the blueness though, not necessarily that it's colder. The goo on the ground looks a bit unrealistic. Very nice lighting though

bluez3023: He's pretty funny looking. The picture doesn't look lit at all.

s.a.r.: Limited pallette doesn't work so great for this one. Try pushing your darks and lights to the extremes. Use a cooler tone for shadows, especially if you want to get across a very "desert" feel. It's all about warm/cool contrast.

lkjhgfdsa: Really beautiful execution. I didn't feel like this didn't achieve what the concept was going for, since it's very cold at the bottom of the sea anyway, and he'd have to be around those hot vents to stay warm at all. It would be a toss-up between this one and njoo's if not for that.

tandy1000: Scary. It looks very dark there, so it looks cold. I presume it's the desert at night, but you could use more saturated tones if that's the case, to convey a sense of warmth/cold without making it bright daytime.

sepu: Pretty shiny awesome!! I like it. The pose is really great! There's not much in the way of background though, but the colors you chose accentuate the subject. Was thinking of voting for this one.

Alexjholt: It's kinda a normal-looking beetle. Good shading and stuff, though I'd like to see you push the cool/warm and light/dark contrast, especially between foreground and background elements. It's not popping yet.

Zilrion: Pretty cool. A glyptodon sort of thing. Check the perspective on the head, it doesn't look quite right. You're going with a more down to earth color scheme, which is cool, but it doesn't accentuate the warm/cool environment theme.

Mr. P Show: Very nice concept, and I would have voted for this if the execution had matched your idea. I know there's only so much you can do in a week. The face needs more detail, and maybe some of the more frontal spikes. Also, I can't really tell which direction the lighting is coming from, deciding on a direction may help define the image and the features.

gunnarsson: Very nice execution, strikingly real, though I think it falls a bit short of your concept description. I'd imagine the mouth would be bigger or something. Also, the environment in the picture doesn't exemplify the situation that the concept was asking for. That's the main detractor for the piece.

njoo: I voted for this one. I think it really well exemplifies a creature with natural cooling systems in a very hot environment. A reflective shield on the back, brilliant! Storing water, also brilliant. It's what camels do, so much evaporates in the dryness. And this guy has large surface area, optimal for cooling. Great design, great execution.

darkly: Pretty cool looking, though kinda cartoony. Great rendering style, with a lot of detail on the head, falling off to less detail in the background. The green is interesting. I haven't decided what to think about it yet. It looks more like a tropical creature because of that green. Green isn't a very cooling color, I would think it would be lighter. He's catching a lot of light on one side. The ears also look way too small for a creature trying to shed heat. Think of elephants. He's pretty cool though. I'm thinking of a dimetrodon for the sail, but of course theirs are thinner so they can shed heat more easily. Overall, good execution, pretty good design. Top tier definitely.

Ok, that's all from me! Hopefully my crits helped, and I trust that even if I can't draw that great, you guys will give me some good feedback. Great job guys, 'til next time!

[s.a.r]

I’m voting for njoo. Lovely artwork and besides, I think your idea makes a lot of sense.

bluez3023 – I really like the idea concerning the moisture absorbing, but can’t see those tentacles you speak of in the design. I love the colours though.

sepu – I like your design and how you have used many different warm and cool colours.

gunnarsson – your creature has a really interesting body plan, the skin is rendered well, and I simply like your idea. I do wonder however if the forelimbs are not a bit too long compared to the hindlimbs. How does it move?

meganite – That’s great advice, thanks!

[Mr. P Show.]

I had a hard time between gunnarsson and njoo. But I voted for njoo. I think I can see myself shielding my eyes if I were to see that thing floating in the distance.:).

[theFoust]

Had to cycle between gunnarsson, njoo and darkly in my head several times.

I voted for darkly.

I liked gunnarson's rendering best but I didn't really see the theme in the design (Edit: just saw the little feather things on the underside. very nice. still doesnt do it for me though heheh; besides ive already voted. oh well).
Njoo's looked very professional as always and certainly fit the theme but perhaps too formulaically.
Darkly's has a more interesting sillouette, a strangely believable implementation of the theme, and very efficient rendering of interesting detail.

Feeling a little bad for not finishing this one but I'll try again next time! :)

[lkjhgfdsa]

lkjhgfdsa: Really beautiful execution. I didn't feel like this didn't achieve what the concept was going for, since it's very cold at the bottom of the sea anyway, and he'd have to be around those hot vents to stay warm at all. It would be a toss-up between this one and njoo's if not for that.

Thanks for the crit, I always appreciate it!
Just as info for you on deap sea volcanic vents-
average water temperature at 1km below sea level is 2degrees celsius while the superheated water around the vents is on average between 1500deg and 2200degrees celsius (4030degrees celsius being the highest measurement).

Terrestrial vocanoes heat the air around them to an average of 1150degrees celsius (with an average air temperature of 18degrees celsius at 500metres above sea level.)
Quite a difference!

[AhkNemet]

lkjhgfdsa got my vote - I love the composition and renderring. Looks like something you might see in Seaquest DSV before it got weird lol (the show not the picture)