C.O.W. #151 Venomous, Pale Blue, Obese Egg-Layer -- VOTING

[Michael Jaecks]

C.O.W. #151 Venomous, Pale Blue, Obese Egg-Layer -- VOTING!!

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ROUND #151 VOTING

Topic: Venomous, Pale Blue, Obese Egg-Layer !!


Deadline for the voting: Thursday 20 Aug 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=164984.


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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!

[Tre3]

http://www.ghoststrawberry.co.uk/Me/momma-and-babies.jpg


first time submitter (also first post) long time lurker

[jouste]

Artist: jouste

Concept: the roe bloat


positioned on its mountain of eggs, the roe bloat fired out the last few hundred eggs out of her ptoobes. (ptoobes are like tubes that spit out eggs). it's a weekly ordeal for the female roe bloat.

being the most egg-full species in the galaxy, the roe bloat creates eco-systems within her mountainous piles of eggs. these temporary eco-systems are chock full of eggy energy and keep a lot of the natives of the planet fed right up for a few days.

the main problem with the roe bloats is that it takes 14 males to satisfy the virile females. to fix this problem females (like this one here), are equipped with a potent venom that effects all males in the vicinity.

this venom comes out as a fine mist through her pores and once it comes in contact with the perpetually exhausted males, they can do nothing but get back into the driver seat and do 'em all over again.

this perpetual mating ritual has caused countless of fatalities among the male roe bloats, sending many of them running off to a life of celibacy as a space monk.

743378

[Steve Somers]

Artist: Steve Somers

Concept:Powder Blue Selvingester

[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: Liquorice Layer
The venomous, Liquorise Layer lives lamely in lastitude under long lost laundry laying long lasting eggs in thick layers of venemous lougies. Liable to latch onto any probing limbs, it is best avoided by the loved little ones.

[David79]

La Venonita!

[*B]Artist: [*COLOR=White]David79[/COLOR]

Concept: [*COLOR=White]Venonita[/COLOR]
[/B]your-descripti

La Venonita, is a creature from the planet N-23xc, a small volcanic planet.
The size of Venonita aproach a normal dog, very venomus and a pale color to warn over creature about is venome.
She can look just menacing but is very cool and peacefull creature, but don't try to come to close ...

[Crustibian]

Artist: Crustibian

Concept: Blubber Slug

The blubber slug lives deep in the forest of the forgotten wildlife. As a juvenile, while it is still mobile, the male blubber slug slithers through the undergrowth to find an ideal spot to live it’s entire adult life. It emits a powerful pheromone that attracts the female blubber slugs. For months the females deposit their eggs at the male’s mouth, which he immediately devours.

Some of the eggs are digested but most continue to grow inside the male’s bloating body. His body continues to expand and may contain thousands of developing eggs. Finally, his skin secretes a slick venomous slime and the eggs begin popping out of his vent. The process super heats his tail end which converts the slime into a poisonous steam cloud which covers and protects the eggs until they hatch. The male’s flabby sack of a corpse will be the young blubber slugs’ first meal.

http://crustibian.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://www.denverwagner.blogspot.com/

[bluez3023]

Artist: Bluez3023

Concept: Barbed Back-Carrier

This pale blue, obese and slow moving creature is known as the Barbed Back-Carrier. The Barbed Back-Carrier is named for both the venomous tentacles on its head and the fact that the male of the species carries its offspring on its back. Each tentacle has a barbed tip which can either pierce the flesh of prey and inject venom, or shoot a stream of venom in an attackers eyes from a distance. The Barbed Back-Carrier is also known for its thick armor on its back, which is useful for protecting both the parent and eggs on its back.

[GoldenSerpent]

Artist: GoldenSerpent

Concept: Yellow-Ringed Lancehead


Common Name: Yellow-Ringed Lancehead
Scientific Name : Lanceacephalous maculates
Planet of Origin: Zianovis
Environment: Rocky Deserts

Yellow-Ringed Lanceheads are most easily distinguished from other species of Lanceheads by the yellow spots and rings on their body. However, being close enough to the animal to see these spots may be dangerous.

This species hatches from round, tennis ball sized eggs. The eggs of this species are a mottled grey-brown that blends in with the surrounding rocky environment. Eggs are very tough and rubbery and incredibly impact resistant because they must survive the fall from their mother’s perching place, near the top of a cliff, to the cliff’s base.

Hatchlings instinctively move away from the cliff base that they hatched around. Females will remain roaming predators for a year, after a year their bodies will begin to expand and they will search for a suitable cliff to make their permanent home. Once settled in, their primary means of hunting will be their swollen bioluminescent bodies. Many native creatures are attracted to the beautiful blue light; when a victim gets within the Lancehead’s range she will fire one of the harpoon like structures on her head. These harpoons contain venom that will paralyze impaled victims within seconds. Once paralyzed the Lancehead is free to reel the victim back in and ingest it at her leisure.

Male Lanceheads remain slim, agile, wandering predators for the rest of their lives, when they sense the presence of a female they carefully make their way to the top of her cliff, however they must be especially careful that they are not mistaken for prey.

745722

[SIME]

Artist: SIME

Concept: Treowmite

The female Treowmite can be found living in hollowed out tree stumps and uses her surprisingly strong spiny legs to slowly drag herself up and down the inside of her stump. Her eggs are tightly drilled into the walls of the stump where she can constantly watch over them with the many eyes placed on her legs.

Four venom sacks are located on the front of the Treowmites chest, these not only supply venom to the smaller front arms but also as acts food for new hatch lings who's clawed mouths are too soft for anything other than suckling. Newly hatched Treowmites have been known to regurgitate this venom as a defense mechanism! Although being highly nutritious for Treowmites, this venom is deadly to all other species!

[Arbinn]

Artist: Arbinn

Concept: Mud Crawler


Also called the "sludge ghosts" by local population, mud crawlers are indigenous species of the fringe world Deltara. Being peaceful scavengers the mud crawlers avoid humans but due to their slow speed they have long ago developed a venomous stinger to defend themselves. The creature swing its tail from side to side and inject the intruder with lethal poison that kills the victim in a day if not treated quickly.

Mud crawlers breed once in a decade but produce enormous amounts of hard green eggs that penetrate the mother's back and drop to the mud only to get buried in the warm, pyroclastic mud fields of Deltara for two years. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the hatched babies suffocate in the mud where the eggs sink before they can reach the surface and begin their lives.

[AntiMatty]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3559/3799124723_6c2c4f49c4_b.jpg

i accidentally put "chow" instead of "cow" . sorry .

" Gomper "
It's an herbivore that secretes poison from its skin as a defensive measure. the poison is of course blue. might be mistaken for sweat by inexperienced planetary explorers .






long time viewer , first time i've actually managed to finish in time. also, like the first piece i've done in months.

[gnahz]

Artist: GNAHZ

Concept: Blech Egglayer
Living in the deep abyss of Mia, Blech are a species that have primary egg layers in their colony while the queen primary role is to emit pheromones to keep the colony together. After they are fertilised by the male drones, they will keep laying eggs until they become shriveled and die. O_o

[njoo]

Artist: nJoo

Concept: Spawner
This creature belongs to a large colony. As young individuals mature, about one in a thousand is chosen to be a spawner. Spawners are fed special food full of tryglicerides and other nutrients. This mixture causes explosive growth, but the creature becomes immobile due to extreme obesity. It spends the rest of its days in the brood chamber.

[SimoneA.M.]

First post eveerrr...

Artist: SimoneA.M.

Concept: Grapefruit Stinger


For most of the year these chubby slug-like creatures are easily avoidable bottom feeders crawling along the deep depths of the ocean, out of the way. It is only until a little after mating season, when the females have lain their eggs, do they live up to their name. After expelling the sticky round egg sac the female will latch onto it curving her body in such a way to ensure the offspring are guarded on all sides by its many lethal barbs. All appendages now clinging to the sac, the creature will lose any mobile abilities and float aimlessly with the current, along with the thousands of other mothers who shared the same birthing area. Drifting along the ocean these mothers will cling tight to their developing offspring violently stinging any unfortunate creature that happens to be within reach of its feeler-like barbs - which it also uses to capture small fish when the opportunity arises.

There have been many accounts of inexperienced divers witnessing the array of bright orange grapefruit looking formations in the distance. But when they go to take a closer look they are never heard from again. Most animals know to heed the grapefruit stingers and will evacuate their habitat upon any sign of them.

Due to most mothers getting an inadequate diet while guarding their offspring they are already half dead when they finally hatch. And thus the mother becomes her childrens first meal. Other than this, the only predator of the grapefruit stinger are human beings - specifically island cultures - who consider them a delicacy, especially the egg sac. Of course like with any other venomous sealife if the poisonous barbs are not correctly removed then they will be the customers last meal.

746361

[Gadbury]

Wow, some great entries here :)

[Pesmerga]

Artist: Pesmerga

Concept: Servenine

This massive and rare human size bird lives in the high mountains of the southern continent. It has a poisonous serpent tongue and nine pointy tails used mostly to intimidate. Due to their size, they are unable to fly for a long period of time and they move pretty slowly while in the air. Though surprisingly enough, the Servenine can run pretty fast on ground.

They are also called "Green Lanterns" because all you see at night is green dots glowing in the darkness. And although these birds are extremely venomous, it is said their blue feathers have magical healing properties, making them immune to any sort of poison attack or illness. Those feathers can be used in the making of various potions and elixirs. So they sell for a very high price, making them one of the most valuable creature to kill. Of course, too many greedy mercenaries die trying to steal a couple of blue feathers or eggs from them.

[kovah]

Artist: kovah

Concept: The Greater Blue Glutton
Found in hot humid regions of swampland the GBG finds itself a muddy bank by a small pond and slowly starts to excrete an hallucinogenic toxin from its skin than seeps into the mud and finally the water where it starts to effect on the local wildlife. The venom eventually effects the brain of the creatures and they willingly throw themselves into the large jaws of the GBG. At first small insects, and as the it grows larger the venom gets more potent the prey species get bigger.

Eventually when the GBG are roughly the size of small dwellings they begin to lay eggs that merely pop out of its back into the pond where they are safe from predators from its parents venom that permeates the water.

GBG are fairly rare due to the fact that few survive into adulthood as they tend to choke on prey that is too large for them to swallow though there is never a lack of trying, life span is generally about fifteen years due to starvation when the local fauna move to safer watering holes.

[kimliatach]

Turpis volator

The Foul Fowl Is unique among birds in its adoption of an Orion propulsion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)) system, though males of the species, being far less obese and incapable of producing the explosive eggs required, use a more basic gaseous propulsion system.

The foul fowl does not stop at exploding eggs, flatulent propulsion mechanisms, hideous stenches or morbid obesity oh no, it also spits a venomous corrosive ichor at any predator crazy enough to consider it a meal.

The birds natural habitat is gently undulating prairie. The sight of a flock of these birds bursting across the fields is not quickly forgotten, believe me.

[skodone]

Artist: skodone

Concept: Caeruleus Dactylptera
(blue fingerwing)

The Caeruleus Dactylptera belongs to the species of fingerwing birds.
The Cearuleus's wing-span is about 2.5m and he is living high in the northern mountains.
He lost nearly all his feathers and has big fat layer below his leather like blue skin becuase of the extreme temperatures in the mountains.
Caeruleus Dactylptera are raising their kids alone, they do not have partners.
They are not very fast, wings are not big enough fly very precise so the Caeruleus Dactylptera uses poison and his strong arms to hunt mountain goats and other birds as well as marmots. The Blue Fingerwing injects its poison in the spine of its victims with its strong tongue. The victim will be paralyzed after 3seconds, so the Caeruleus Dactylptera can carry its loot to the nest and prepare it for the poussins.

[BlkCelebration]

Noe: BlkCelebration
Concept: Ponciano
The Ponciano is a creature in the lizard family related to the chameleon. It uses its superb camouflage skill to change both its upper body and tail color to match that of its surroundings. From a young age they climb up a sturdy tree and pick the strongest branch to sit. Here they will remain for the rest of their lives with the single purpose of eating. Both male and female Ponciano can lay eggs, however male Ponciano only lay "dummy" eggs that are used as bait for unsuspecting prey. Once its prey catches hold of this egg they swing their strong tail upwards to their head where there venomous stinger kills the prey almost instantly.747241

[JakkaS]

Artist: JakkaS

Concept: Samseng

Huge, slow, herbivorous, but with few poisonous spines on their muzzle. Spines are not for self-defence, because adult Samsengs don't have natural enemies. They are their biggest enemy - to be more specific their fertility is. One female after fertilization can, for over a month constantly lay thousands of eggs. That is why all males which have conquered the female and have copulated with her, are getting poisoned, which usually means that they are shortly paralyzed and permanently infertile, but also very often dead. But thanks to that, the natural environment (plants) can regenerate, reborn and Samsengs and their countless offspring still have something to eat.

[CharReed]

Artist: Char Reed

Concept: Venomous Blue Egger

Description: This creature, like the platypus, appears to have different animals cut and pasted together. The nose and mouth of a hippo with the poisonous fangs of a snake, the skin of a reptile and the claws of a mole. The venomous, pale blue, obese egg layer. The Venemous Blue Egger (VBE, as it's known) only becomes obese during the mating and egg laying season. The comparison sketch of the creature shows it's normal weight during the rest of the year. The females start packing on the pounds in order to lay the 100-400 eggs that they will guard with their life, much in the same way as a female crocodile. Thought to be extinct, the VBE was recently rediscovered in it's native habitat along the riverbeds of... where else?... Australia.

EDIT- Based on some great suggestions, I edited the final entry.

[Marsch]

Artist: Marsch

Concept: Blue Venomous Magor
This creature its full off eggs, venom, and anger.

[Mr. P Show.]

Artist: Mr. P Show.

Concept: Blugurgheist

This asexual creature was found deep in the lowest fathoms of the Atlantic Ocean. It's eye-sight is very poor; yet its poison-tinged receptor makes up for the latter deficiency by detecting changes in sound wave as well as any chemical change in the water.

[tmyohlaing]

Artist: tmyohlaing
Concept: Diyaboshi

Diyaboshi is the poisonous, obese, and egg layer creature. It can be found in jungle in Himalyas located north of india. Not only his sharp fins on the back but also the holes on the front back are filled with poisons. The poisonous smoke could come out of those holes affecting the people and animal around the creature.
The creature lays eggs on the ground. It eats them later when it feels so starving. It swallows whatever alive or dead comes on its way.
It moves very slowly because of the over weight body. The color and the shape attract animals around the jungle and later their lives just end in this creature stomach.

[theHaggard]

Artist:theHaggard

Concept: Kroh'ud


The Kroh'ud female spends most of its life dangling from the forest canopy. Kroh'ud eggs are the means of the creature's food source. Tentacles lower the eggs to the ground in a protective capsule. When the egg reaches the ground a pointed spike secures the capsule in place. The capsule then opens with four venomous spines, waiting to be triggered by an animal activating the sensitive, capsule nerve endings. Once triggered the capsule will snap shut and release venom through the spines from its storage sacks. Male Kroh'ud retrieve food from the egg capsules and reset the spines.

[MEMPER]

The peaceful Kogia Feresa were once an abundant species found in the shallow seas of Mirus. Long ago sailors thought the Kogia to be gods and were often given gifts tossed into sea.
It was later discovered much later that eating the eggs of the females before they are fully gestated resulted in horrific mutations. The eggs were processed and thus used as bio-weapons to try and weaken opposing armies.
The Kogia no longer exist in the wild and are bred in chambers for harvesting. The lack of movement over generations has led to the species to be virtually immobile.

[jrbarker]

Artist: J.R. Barker

Concept: Egg Layer


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/3806038765_1cd48638b7_o.jpg

[mythril_golem]

Artist: mythril_golem

Concept: sapphire spawnlord



The sapphire spawnlords were the creation of Master Mutologist Strethinvirs Oldver and the sixth iteration of the spawnlord. Initially they were bred as hosts in which the mutologist's experiments would gestate but after a particularly unpredictable strain was used the spawnlords starting laying eggs at an alarming rate, they were all destroyed bar a few which were kept for study purposes. now the spawnlord serves as a nuisance creature in the Dungeon Wars™ (gladiator style spectator sprt)

The spawnlord stands/sits at roughly 6 feet and has little intelligence, it must be kept wet at all times and is highly prone to overheating. The eggs of the spawnlord hatch into much smaller more vicious forms. "freed" spawnlords have been found in mostly dark caves and sewers.

[MarshallWorks]

Artist: MarshallWorks

Concept: Bertuna


These creatures live in a symbiotic relationship. The prickly arachnid is the hunter, and transport, while the blue mass provides the digestion, procreation, and emotional support.

[darkly]

Artist: darkly

Concept: Clethe' Treh

Rarely does one see a sight such as this. An adult Clethe' Treh female has recently produced a large clutch of eggs and is protecting them from one of the few predators that live here in the arctic region. Once a male Clethe' Treh has impregnated a female she searches the arctic waters for large prey, such as whales, and giant squid and gorges herself on them to the point of obesity. She is able to take such large prey due to an extremely poisonous neurotoxin that she injects using specialized fangs that contract into her upper jaw much like that of a snake. This female Clethe' Treh has stored up enough fat that she can lay her eggs and stay by their side in a semiconscious dormant state that enables her body to conserve energy, but be alert enough to respond to anything that may threaten her offspring at a moments notice.

747720

[artiphats]

Artist: Artiphats

Concept: Blue Pond Dragon


The Blue Pond Dragon is the only species of mid-sized "pond dragons" that lay eggs by the water. The creatures are excellent at catching small fish and other animals that roam near the water, as they have quick tongues, sharp teeth, and great eyesight. They have quick reflexes despite being generally slow moving creatures, and their skin secretes a foul smelling poison to protect them from predators.

[Steve Marworthy]

The Lundub is a billowing dimwitted creature. Docile by nature, the female of the species can become abnormally skittish during labor, especially when approached from behind. The Lundub's birthing excrement is highly venomous and is carefully collected for coating arrow and spear tips.

[dwinbotp]

Artist: dwinbotp

Concept: MuckWater Breeders
The MuckWater Breeders are gelatinous creatures that dwell above the shallow edges of the swamp planet. They are considered harmless by the general populace and yet they are considered a mounting threat to the natural ecosystem due to their constant reproductive systems. The MuckWater Breeders generate anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand eggs each 84 cycles(roughly one week) Furthermore, the eggs are known to sprout thin,spike-like appendages that leeches to nearby creatures, injecting poison and slowly sapping their life away, creating an infestation resulting to the ecosystem's unnatural imbalance of late. Inhabitants are currently finding ways and means to be rid themselves of this new"blue plague".

[Alexjholt]

Artist: Alexjholt

Concept: Giant Ubotl
A dweller of deep muddy rivers, the amphibeous Giant Ubotl has developed mechanisms similar to those found in deep see fish but to a far larger scale using its lure light. Many of the rivers fish produce their own natural glows, therefore making that glow a target for numerous other predators and is on these which the Ubotl primarily feeds.

The Ubotl itself moves very rarely, being an ambush predator, the lure will attract larger fish, and other larger freshwater species to the front where it will lunge at them. While its jaws arent powerful enough to kill its prey on its own, its brittle, poison filled teeth are strong enough to pierce the skin, but the prey will invariably break free, leaving its many poisonous teeth shards in the prey, deploying large amounts of neurotoxin. Killing the prey in very limited time, it leaves the cumbersome Ubotl able to slowly swim over and devour the remains at its own pace. As it is amphibeous, it is also able to do this at the waters edge, lunging out the water in an almost crocodilian manner at things which try to catch the lure.

It is also a large scale egg layer, purely because its too slow to viably defend its eggs, and therefore numbers is the main protection from predation.

[Lander]

Artist: Lander

Concept: Fatdoodle molaris
Born to the world a much more agile and delicate creature. But the diet and habits makes these obese over time. Being venomous makes no need for haste. As they grow older, fatter and slower their second mouth starts to develop over the back. This to make the travel distance from the mouth to digestion shorter.
No known relation to penguins.

[NickTrip]

NickTrip: your-nickname

Concept: MicroStabber
Measuring just under 1mm in length, the micro stabber is very small, but can defend itself and prey upon much larger aphids and mites with its venemous fangs.

[Arbinn]

Some of my favourites:

lkjhgfdsa Looks good but reminds me more of a robot than an organic creature. :S I really like the use of purple as shadows.

David79 Very strong looking entry. I LOVE the colours. Good job!

GoldenSerpent Wonderful lighting. I thought it was some kind of a space creature living on a planet with no atmosphere as the background looks very spacelike. The blue/black colour scheme works very well.

njoo Nasty looking creature. Propably the most stylish of them all imo.

BlkCelebration Aaaww. ^_^

JakkaS Funny and generally flawless piece. Awesome.

mythril_golem I like the texture and concept.

NickTrip I love your creature. It really separates from the rest and has wonderful details. I'm almost voting for it but it looks too much like a traditional bug. :(

In the end I think I vote for David79 for his creature's absolutely outstanding colours.

[kovah]

Tre3: It's a nice attempt. A little more work on anatomy and texture of the skin would really take this to the next level.

jouste: I love this, the stylisation is awesome and the 'ptoo' gave me a good giggle. Great job.

Steve Somers: Great creature, i love the mistyness of it and the webs on the egg sack. Awesome details.

lkjhgfdsa: Lovely colour palette really brings the creature to life, the little arms are great and how the eggs look like brains.

David79: Good concept, I think the amount of shadows in the image detract a little from the over all creature and makes it hard to define the form. But over all its good.

Crustibian: I think you could have thought a little more out the box with your creature, its very basic but i like the textures you put on it though.

Bluez3023: It's a good creature, i like the way it carries its eggs and its teeth.

GoldenSerpent: Great concept, love the patterning on its back and the generally glowyness. Is so pretty. You get my vote.

SIME: I love the drill eggs, is a great idea as is the concept. I think a little more work could have been put into the creature itself, the shadows are rather dark and seem to sort of cut the creature into pieces at the moment and make it difficult to read.

Arbinn: Slimy goodness :D Grats for creeping me out, reminds of this frog that keeps its babies on its back and they burrow into the skin. Gives me the creeps every time and has giving me a life long fear of crumpets *shudder* I digress. Great job.

Antimatty: Nice creature I thik you could have put a little more work into this and maybe a description as well, i like its skin folds though.

GNAHZ: The creature itself was a little bit difficult to read at first glance but i like the egg laying bit with the webs :)

nJoo: Awesome creature, I love how fat it is and its little bits of slime and that poor little mouse.

SimoneA.M. :Lovely little creature, great job.

Jon Gadbury: Its a great image, though its sorta hard to actually see the creature because of the darkness.

Pesmerga: I like the contrast with the green and blue but its not really obese, you note in the description that it can run fast which would indicate a fit and healthy creature instead.

Kimliatach: This made me giggle, is a great concept.

skodone: Nice creature, I think you could look at anatomy a little more as you have tried to define muscles in this beastie and it has ended up looking abit confused and neither muscly or fat. The head is good though. Nice attempt.

BlkCelebration: I love this creature, its awesome. Lovely concept great colour pallette and pleasing image.

JakkaS: Awesomeness. Its so ugly but cute at the same time.

Char Reed: Looks good, i like the green mouth and the fact its only fat some of the time. Good job.

Marsch: Slightly bigger image next time i like its head and neck though.

Mr. P Show: The image and creature is lacking in defination, makes it hard to see what the creature looks like. Its like you have bailed out abit on the picture and just blurred it.

tmyohlaing: Lovely creature, its nice and fat and looks heavy. Great job.
theHaggard: Love the series of images you did here and its a great overall effect, i think little bits could have been worked on more. Good concept though.

memper: Image is sad i feel sorry for it. its pretty dark on my monitor and feels like you have tried to hide stuff in the shadows. Bit lighter next time?

mythril_golem: Nice creature, love the colour paellet. Great job.

MarshallWorks: I think it just needs a little more work to bring it together, the blue and purple bits look too sepereate to me but the over all creature is great. Wouldn't want to cross that on a dark night.

darkly: I love the scale of this piece and the creatures mouth. Great job.

Artiphats: This is awesome, the colours and head are great.

Steve Marworthy: I love the texture on its skin, sorta rhinoy. Awesome job.

dwinbotp: Love the colours and the general ickyness of it.

Alexjholt: Great creature, love its little face and they way its curled round the pier.

Lander: Seems a little unfinished to me, but looks like a good concept.

your-nickname: Nice little insect there, love the texture on the eggs and the details, using like opposite colours (the name escapes me) put abit of orange in the shadows of the blue. Just makes it pop a little more.

[NickTrip]

This was a lot of fun, I'm lookin forward to the next round.

Tre3 - Your idea is really solid. I love the idea of her carrying her eggs under wings. Try to work some more form revealing values into the work. Try to think: top, sides, bottom.

jouste - Very cool, I'm loving the style of this, but I think I actually liked the yellow-bellied flabian a little more. Great work!

Steve Somers - You have a great concept for your piece. The background looks aweseome I like the way you handled it and the expression of the creature is well done. I'm glad you put out the extra effort to add all the extra stuff to your entry. Um, the creature kind of looks like a hamster hugging a hot dog though.

lkjhgfdsa - Outstanding work, really well done and creative.

David79 - Well done, I like the design of your creature. The whole thing has a really nice feel to it. I kinda wish the darks didn't fall out so much though.

Crustibian - This is a charming illustration, but the type is very distracting. I think as a whole it would be better also if the bg were a little cleaner, but I like the style.

Bluez3023 - Nice creature desing, you draw really well. The eggs on his back ought to start lowering after the second row I think, as they wrap around his back. Also, I'm not sure I like the blurry edges on the highlights on the dark scales.

GoldenSerpent - This is very polished and very thoughtful. You did a great job with everything.

SIME - Your desing is good, but I really like your painterly style.

Arbinn - It was cool to watch your piece develop. I like your use of texture and color, but I think the forms of the creature could be a little more developed. Good work.

AntiMatty - The expression on your creature is great. The streaky sweatmarks would do a better job if they followed the form of your creature. Also, try putting some hard highlights on there.

gnahz - Your piece looks pretty cool. Maybe try adding some more color variation into it. I like the way the space is working though.

njoo - Very cool design. Your creature looks very pleased with its catch! I like the drawing and color palette very much.

SimoneA.M. - Very nice, I like the way you've rendered your creature and the design and life cycle is all great. I was confused by the bubbles at first though. They're all soft edged and look like they're supposed to be part of the bg.

Mr. Gadbury - very sinister. I like your entry a lot. I wonder what that place smells like? Although the darks are cool and add a lot to the mood of the piece, I do wish I could see the creature a little better.

Pesmerga - Very cool idea. I like the colors of your piece also. Maybe you could clean up the lines a little bit and allow them to stand out more? or maybe just elimnate them and rely on rendering.

kovah - I like the way you paid attention to the secondary details, like the reflection, I would say that you should work more on form as your creature's body looks a little flat.

kimliatach - This is a pretty funny idea. Try working on your midtones a little bit. Some things are getting a little hard to read, especially on the head.

skodone - I like the design of your creature but as you're drawing try to keep symmetry in mind. The breast and upper abdomen area don't seem to match left to right. Also, try to think about where cast shadows might fall as your rendering.

BlkCelebration - Great piece and great idea. I really like the style and colors and the forms of your creature, I just wish there was more of a relationship between forground and background, like color or something. Looks good though.

JakkaS - I guess this is why you've won 18 of these. Outstanding all around. There's something about the pose of the human I don't like; I'm just scouring for something to criticize about your piece. But seriously your work is killer.

CharReed - I like the style of your creature and they way you've handled reflective light and the mud, but I think your creature could use more color. Not necessarily brighter colors (greys are good) just more variations in the colors you have: greenish greys, purple greys etc.

Marsch - Great design, I love the horror twist and the color you've chosen for the eggs. Like blood filled eggs. Good work, maybe try to elaborate more on your creature, give more details, maybe show where it lives a little bit.

Mr. P Show - I like the color design of your piece, and although the POV makes for a dynamic and interesting composition, it makes it hard to understand what your creature looks like.

tmyohlaing - You've got a really cool creature design here and I like the way you've handled the background, suggestive but not distracting. I think you should take a second look at the elipses on his back. The holes don't look round.

theHaggard - I like your creature's evil gaze. You've got a good design for the head area going. I think it was said that your piece is too light, but I think it just needs some forest shadows. Have some leaf cluster areas of darkness and some very bright patches. Good work overall.

MEMPER - I love the expression on your creature and the back story is great too. I would say that your darks are falling out a little bit too much though.

jrbarker - Your use of light is great; very dramatic. Your creature design is creative. My biggest complaint is your color palette dominating the piece.

mythril golem - Its almost painful to watch your creature touch its vagina-like parts with those sharp spindly fingers. I love the design and styling of your creature. I kinda dislike how its floating in a brown void though. That isn't to say that you need a fully rendered background, just some indication of its habitat or the plane its sitting on.

MarshallWorks - I like your color choices and the style of painting, but there seems to be something a little off about about the drawing. I like that your creature is really two creatures symbiotically acting as one. Its unique to what everyone else has done for this challenge.

darkly - I like the confrontation you've created between your creature and the polar bear (that polar bear may be in trouble if he goes for those eggs). The back end of your creature looks like its tipping over a little bit. The one thing about the design: the retractable fangs look a little too big to be retracted.

artiphats - Good job with your creature. I'm liking its six-leggedness and the complimentary colors. I think maybe the environment could benefit from some of the same line work as your creature.

Steve Marworthy - Great job, I love the style, it has a great glowing quality to it. The creature's head flattens a little bit though. I think its edge is a little too similar to the sky.

dwinbotp - Your creature is kind of horrifying for some reason. I like the textures and style, but the darks fall out a little bit. Overall its well done. Good work.

Alexjholt - I like how you've put your creature in a complete setting with illustrative quality. Its nice. Good perspective and lighting. Maybe try to slap some highlights onto your creature to make it pop a little more.

Lander - I like the design and style, but things get a little blurry and undefined in places.

Whew!
Some of the ones that really stood out to me are:
lkjhgfdsa
GoldenSerpent
SIME
njoo
BlkCelebration
JakkaS
mythril golem
and
Steve Marworthy

But in the end I'm voting for JakkaS for his overall quality and professionalism, along with the thoughtfulness of his design.


I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with for the next round!

Arbinn - Thanks for the tip, I'll try to come up with a more creative design next round. I'm glad you like my entry, though.

[Lege1]

Jakkas: Fantastic work as always man and congrats on the votes. Definitely a great job at pulling off the "ugly but cute" look. I don't know how you come up with some of this shit for real man,lol...

Golden Serpent: All around great job and I hope to see you around more on here. You made a solid impact with the entering of your first COW. Keep up the awesome work, your way of rendering is very realistic and movie like and I am definitely feeling your work. It wasn't easy making the decision to vote for you or Jakkas. I am personally just a big fan of the painterly styles.

To All the other COW artists:

Much respect to everyone and awesome work as always. I am always sitting at my computer with my jaw on the floor from seeing the amount of creativity and artistic skills that I see here on CA. I hope to be able to follow through on my entry next time as time permits.

[Steve Somers]

I had to sit and scrutinize these for a while before I could even begin to choose favorites. There's at least 5 that I would vote for if we could vote for multiples.
Here's some comments on a few of my favorites:

lkjhgfdsa - One of the best designs, nice layering of billowing shapes and random orifices.

Golden Serpent - A very beautifully drawn piece and the addition of the margin illustrations gives it that scientific detachment that makes it just a bit more real. It's also nice to see the bioluminescent idea used in a meaningful way and not just superfluous eye candy. I voted for yours because it sits well in the context of the overall COW series.

SIME - Yours has a very painterly, tangible quality to it, like it's made of clay almost. It's a cool, strange design too, with simultaneous ice skater qualities and giant wicked beast.

Arbinn - I was watching you revise and play with this one all week, it turned out amazing, damn near photoreal. Very slimy.

njoo - Another great beast, and the description is hilarious. Looks like he's perched on an enormous veiny scrotum. The little guinea pig caught in his antenna whips is an eloquent touch.

kimliatach - A giant turkey monster, why the fuck not? Thanks for the info on Orion propulsion from a turkey's ass.

BlkCelebration - what a cute little pudgy monster. his little venom drops make him look sad.

JakkaS - Your stuff always kicks ass. This one has a disturbing marsupial caviar hatchback thing goin on that is balanced by the creature's docile, friendly countenance.

mythril_golem - the spawnlord is an impressive beast. Multiple irritated orifices and a domed penile head. A true venereal horror.

darkly - I'm suprised more people didn't draw the connection between blue creature and arctic conditions. I like the polar bear in there for scale and added drama. I can almost hear this thing scuttling and hissing out at the bear.

Steve Marworthy - "birthing excrement" Awesome. The mixture of fear and arousal that monster inspires disturbs me in ways too intimate to relate in this public forum.

dwinbotp - disgusting, slimy, weird, irridescent. She's got it all. And it capitalizes on humanity's inbred prejudice against invasive species. Beauty.

NickTrip - I really liked your original line drawing for this, but the pencil drawing has a different sort of scanning electron microscope quality going on. The technique you used to color it is very effective and not unlike the way SEM photos are colored. I'm glad the forum was left open so this could get in.

....And I was laughing when I read your comment on mine, definitely got that hamster humpin a hotdog look :) thanks buddy!

Can't wait to see what you all conjur up for the "half pound of evil"....

[NickTrip]

Kovah - Thanks for the tip, I'll try to get more compliments in the next one.

Steve Somers - Yeah I don't know why I did that line drawing to start. It took kind of a long time and was making the painting take even longer.
I was actually inspired by SEM images when I was making this. I found a bunch of them while looking for bug reference and I sorta ran with it. Thanks for the comment!

[emerging]

voted for golden serpent. Nice intergration of manga/anime style into concept art. Great line work and pleasant coloring. Cool idea of it being so obese that the legs are actually up in the air hehe. Loving the little detail with the mouse - adds so much more interest to the creature. hope it takes the 1st place :P

[Steve Marworthy]

Superb luminescence GoldenSerpent!

[volscalkur]

As usual awesome job everyone! :yayca:
Ewwww! :) There are some wonderfully disgusting creatures this week!
Ran short of time once again last week- and this week my lady is in town! :teeth:
Thought I'd stop by and vote real quick!

GoldenSerpent you got my vote! Excellent design and beautiful rendering! I really like how your creature glows- and uses that bio luminescence to hunt-well thought out back story as well.
The lighting is what sold me on this, as much as I loved the ozzing disgusting creatures that most people went with, the unique ethereal quality of your creature was an interesting approach which totally matched the brief!

I don't have time to give everyone crits as much as I'd like to! :(

Some others that really stood out to me were:
jouste -LOL awesome!
lkjhgfdsa excellent design and details!
Arbinn amazingly slimy!
kovah really like the design and anatomy!
BlkCelebration love the design of yours as well! like the part in your back story about the males guarding dummy eggs!
JakkaS very cool! Top notch rendering and great creature design!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with for the half pound of evil!

:rocker:

[SIME]

Kovah , thanks for the crit and i totaly agree with what you said! hopefully ill be able to put in a bit more time on the next one and have a better entry.
NickTrip, SteveSomers, thanks guys, i appreciate the kind words!.

Well done to everyone loads of great work, its a real privilege to be part of a great art community.
JakkaS you got my vote, the painterly style does everything for me!!

[DeathByChris]

I voted for GoldenSerpent because of its atmosphere and barlowe-esque design, very cool.
Other entries I liked.
JakkaS awesome drawing overall
Steve Somers nice concept and diagram about its life cycle
lkjhgfdsa I love purple
NickTrip nice rendering job on the microscopic look, ecspecially the wings.

[GoldenSerpent]

Tre3: Your concept is really nice and I like the idea of the eggs being carried underneath her wings. I think you should try experimenting with some harder shadows and highlights since everything is so soft edged in your picture things just sort of end up muddy and blurry.

jouste: Interesting critter and I like the idea of an eco-system of eggs but personally I liked your first idea, the yellow gutted flabbian, better. The Roe Bloat’s blunt almost French fry shaped spines sort of bother me.

Steve Somers: I really like all the wispy patterns on your blue Selvingester and the detail on its egg sack is great as well. Your creature is an interesting mix of rather cute fuzzyness and a gruesome and distended looking ovipositor. Also really nice background.

Lkjhgfdsa: As I’ve said in the WIPs page I’m really partial to this girl’s segmented head and the purple/pink that’s added to the shadows really make her pop. I don’t really understand your description though…

David79: You’ve got some great details on your creature but I feel like some of the shadows hide them, such as the small claws/spines on her underbelly near the chest area are rather hard to distinguish, although it might be my computer monitor. Nice touch to add in some red from the background onto her. Your picture feels sort of cramped; maybe a little bit more negative space on one or two sides would help.

Crustibian: Your picture has a fun cartoon feel, something about the background almost makes me think of some sort of stitchery, I’m entirely sure why but I find it interesting. I think you could have played around with your creature’s design a little bit more though, since its pretty simple.

Bluez3023: I like your idea especially the details about them also being able to shoot a stream of venom and that it is actually the male who carries the eggs. I’d say maybe try and keep the line art cleaner since it fades in and out and is a bit dirty in some sections.

SIME: First off I love the spiral egg, its a great idea that helps make this critter stand out. You also have a great painterly style and I like the use of bold shadows.

Arbinn: It was great to see this girl evolve in the WIPs section I particularly like the bumps on its head and all the gooey texture surrounding the eggs.

AntiMatty: I think the oozing blue color would have looked a lot better if it had wrapped around this creature’s folds, and since you talked about it being confused with sweat by inexperienced explorers it might have been neat to see some of it pooling in the wrinkles or forming into droplets elsewhere.

Gnahz: Interesting creature although it looks more chiseled and maybe mechanical than organic maybe soften up some of those dark shadows and let a few flow together.

njoo: I love this little girl, for starters she looks so happy. I also thing her obscenely bloated belly is great almost looks like maybe she’d bounce up and down a bit like a water bed if she was really giddy. I also like how you have her small legs dangle over the mounds of flesh. And the caught rodent is a great touch.

SimoneA.M.: I love your description of these creature’s life style and the name is clever as well. The perspective of your creature’s long orange feeding barbs is nice and I think the egg sac its self is done very well. The creature its self though I think could have used some more brainstorming, I just feel like maybe if you explored it a bit more you’d come up with a more unique creature since its still a bit plain.

Mr. Gadbury: You really set up a very interesting scene, that’s more than just a creature in some environment, I’m also curious to know what the human explorers or maybe scientists are doing there and what exactly the story is behind everything. So its a bit disappointing that you don’t have any description at all. : /

Pesmerga: Its really nice to see that your creature picked up a bit of an attitude between your first drawing and this one, I’m not sure whether its the evil glimmer in its eyes or something else but its just nice to see it have a bit more character. The green and blue is a nice color combination and its needle like tails are interesting. Two things, its beak could have used a bit of perspective so it looked like it was looking at the viewer instead of looking down and with a tongue that long it would have been cool to see it twisting and turning instead of just hanging down limply.

Kovah: I like the head of your creature and the idea of its eggs popping out of its back. I think I would have liked to see more than just four spaces for the egg to pop out of maybe a longer row or double or triple rows would have been interesting.

Kimliatach: Humorous idea but I think your design could have used some more experimentation since it looks pretty close to some sort of normal species of bird like a chicken, turkey type thing.

Skodone: Interesting creature, I like the fiery crown of feathers on its head, I’m not sure about the tongue it looks more like it would be good at sucking things than injection, maybe make it look sharper. It looks like maybe you have a spike on the top of it but I can’t really tell, if so it doesn’t look entirely connected to the tongue.

BlkCelebration: I really like this critter. It is a bit sad, and ugly(in a good way) but also oddly cute. The concept behind it is very original and I like its final tail design especially the little greenish hair or spikes on it.

JakkaS: You have a really amazing style; I’d really like to learn how to have a more painterly effect like your work and you’ve also got some really beautiful colors in this piece. Your creature also seems to have a personality about it, which you can see when you look into its eyes. The only thing I don’t like is its almost koala like nose.

CharReed: I like that you tied or concept in with the real world by mentioning the platypus and also the humorous bit about it being in Australia. I definitely like the improvements you made with the mud.

Marsch: Very interesting head on this creature, there’s something about it that makes me think about the “pig-lizard thing” from Galaxy Quest. You’ve also got a nice balance of having a rather fat body and head but have more elongated neck and tail, it adds some nice variety in body shape while still keeping it overall obese looking. Nice job, next time try to upload a larger sized pic though.

Mr. P Show: I’m having a really hard time telling exactly what your creature looks like. It’s a bit blurry overall and the perspective is not helping things either.

Tmyohlaing: Very interesting creature and I like the idea of the poison spewing holes covering it. It’s another one of those creature’s that stands out from the crowd design wise. I especially like it’s many toed feet and it’s beard-like mouth parts.

TheHaggard: Interesting concept and critter, I really like it’s odd face but it’s tentacles bother me. They stay about the same thickness when they really should be much thicker at the base especially to hold up such a heavy looking creature.

MEMPER: Your picture really evokes a sense of sympathy in me for the poor Kogia, and I like the incorporation of more mammalian qualities into an egg-laying creature. Also its ovipositor/vulva is delightfully grotesque.

J.R.Barker: Interesting critter with some nice color combinations, although considering that its hands pulling out its egg are one of the first things my eye goes too I would have liked to see a bit more detail in the hands. They still look relatively sketchy and the egg’s color blends in too much with the creature’s color.

mythril_golem: Very interesting creature the patches of purplish flesh work nicely and the little details like veins in it’s sides are a nice touch too.

MarshallWorks: Although your description talks about a symbiotic relationship between two creatures your picture really looks more like one creature to me. I’m also not a fan of the new legs since to me they look inorganic and like robot attachments. I do like the creature, minus it’s legs, and the eggs look great.

Darkly: Some awesome looking protective plates on your critter. And I enjoy the fight scene setup between it and the polar bear. Well done.

Artiphats: Your creature is one of my favorites it has a really unique head with some cool patterns covering it too. I’d strongly recommend against such large black shadows underneath both your creature and it’s eggs. Try using a dark brown instead, and don’t let the shadows spill out to far it makes your creature look like its almost hovering above your background instead of integrating it.

Steve Marworthy: Comically grotesque concept, and the view, oh my gosh, haha. The creature it’s self feels a bit simple to me though although it certainly has an interesting nose on it.

dwinbotp: Ug I’d hate to be trapped in a swamp full of those guys. Even though it’s a pretty simple blobby design you made it quite effective, the concept behind it is cool too. I especially like how its orifices look sort of like rotten away cavities, great stuff.

Alexjholt: It’s nice to see that you experimented a bit more with your creature’s design, I still adore the half underwater half above water perspective of this picture. The eggs clustered and sticking to the beams of the pier are great too.

Lander: I think your critter could use some harder edges as well, it seems a bit blurry in places. I like the second pair of chompers on it’s back.

NickTrip: This little guy is another one of my favorites, I like the fact that you made something that is apparently so tiny so fearsome, and the level of detail you put into this is also amazing. There’s a great sense of texture and I particularly like all the detail in the eggs and the insect’s wings. I would have liked to see something that was a bit more different than the average insect though.

In the end my vote goes to njoo, great style, wonderfully bloated creature, and the thing continues to make me smile even though I’m a rodent lover (RIP poor mouse) I also really love the extra details like green slime trailing onto the floor.

[AhkNemet]

I voted for GoldenSerpent, your piece just made me sit up and say "WOW"! I liked the explaination too, I felt it was really well worked. The thing had a desolate spacey feel, and I liked the way you used the luminescence as a lure for ways to feed :)

njoo, I really liked yours too - the whole style of it certainly captured obese and blue pretty well lol I also liked how you show us how it feeds - I think that is important too.

Jouste, I like your style - I just liked your other composition better lol

I liked some of the other too, but since I've just moved house, I can't stay and comment on them all lol Thanks to everyone who makes the effort each week ;)

[Pesmerga]

NickTrip: love your insect. Makes me think of old school MTG cards like Killer Bee and such. I could see yours in there with the other creatures that delivers poison counters. :)

Lander, dwinbotp, Steve Marworthy & mythril golem: I HATE YOU GUYS. I'M GONNA MAKE NIGHTMARES NOW. Haha, your entries are definitly GROSS. In the good way of course. Great job on the textures there mythril golem.

artiphats: Interesting creature there. I really like that orange/blue thing some of you went with. I would've liked to see a little more depth though. You creature seems evenly light. The perspective is well drawn and all but because of the lighting, it just looks awkward.

darkly: Not bad! That polar bear really gives a sense of scale. Wow that thing is huge! I don't see what makes it venomous though.

Marshall Works: I really wouldn't want to be the prickly arachnid. :/ Again, I'm enjoying the orange sky and eyes vs the blue mass.

Alexjolt: Yes! Another fish! Haha, good job on the underwater effects. I really suck at that. Your creature's cool but I don't see the venom!

jrbarker: Took me a while to understand what I was seeing and where its head was. The creature's nice. But I think green or purple over red would have been better (to indicate venomous properties I mean)

Memper: Aaawww, that poor thing looks like it's suffering. :( Great textures.

theHaggard: Oh I like the capsule thing with spikes. Interesting concept.

tmyohlaing: now that's a badass creature you don't wanna mess with! How does it manage to see or hear?? It doesn't seem to have any eyes or ears.

Mr. P Show.: It's too blurry and bright! I gotta be honest the bright colors and blurriness kinda hurts my eyes. It's unfortunate because when I look at it from distance, the design is actually pretty good.

Marsch : Not bad but we can't make up much of its arms or head! Are those teeth?! Where are his eyes?? Doesn't look too obese nor venemous either.

CharReed : I see the improvement from the wips thread. But the pose looks really stiff. It almost looks like a frozen statue! Its tail, head and arms are all pointing in a straight line. I would've liked to see a little more distortion. You know, movement. Maybe its tail and head could have pointed in opposite directions.

JakkaS : Stunning piece. Incredible rendering. I like everything about it but unfortunately it doesn't look venomous at all!! Yup, you really dropped the ball on this one. :P I'm just teasing you of course.

BlkCelebration : Wow, I like the rendering a lot! The concept, the expression, the bg and the orange egg. Yeah, I think this one is one of my favorites. :)

kodone : Damn he looks pissed. I'm a bit confused about his belly and feet though.

kimliatach: Haha, yours really made me laugh. Heck, you could use it as a car!

kovah: So it's shooting eggs from its back? I like the textures and reflection you did there. I'm not good at neither of those! But just like CharReed's piece, I think your guy looks a bit stiff.

Pesmerga: NOT OBESE ENOUGH DAMN IT!You screwed the proportions again and tried to make it too symmetrical dude! You could have made that tongue swing a bit instead of just hang there! The background is boring and simple and you really screwed the eggs! And what's up with the green nails? Ugh, go practice boy. You suck!

Mr. Gadbury : Hey, isn't that guy in Star Wars or something? Hehe. You got the massiveness alright. The pile of eggs and the humans give a sense of scale. And the steam/smoke gives that feeling of pollution/venom. Good job. I would have liked a bit of description there. The context looks interesting. :)

SimoneA.M.: So cute! I have a thing for fishes for some reason. I like the orange blue colors. A little too simple maybe. I don't know, a bit of textures would have helped.

njoo: Well, you stole the Dragon one so I'm certainly not voting for you, MISTER. Ok, I admit it: I'm just jealous of your style. ou got any tutorials available?? I could use a few hints lol.

gnahz: Nice concept. Just like Simone though, I think it lacks a bit of texture.

AntiMatty : That smile is contagious. :) Your creature is a bit simple and I'm not sure I understand what's going on with the green there. Are those drops or sweat?

Arbinn : Again, I just love the way it came out. I'm really jealous of your textures! you got that liquid effect going on too. Really cool. One of my favs. :)

SIME : That looks like a mecha lol. Nicely done. I'm not sure what's going on on his back there but I'm not sure I wanna know! Haha.

GoldenSerpent : Definitely one of my favs. Contrast, lighting, colors, composition and textures. Yup, great all around.

bluez3023: Interesting concept. I would have liked to see it taken a bit further though. More volume, depth and textures.

Crustibian: Another cute creature lol. It looks pretty funny. But seriously I like the colors in your bg a lot.

David79: Badass monster about to poop on!!1 Cool design and colors. Not really obese though.

lkjhgfdsa: Wow, very original! Although it's obviously a venomous creature, it kinda looks like a candy lol. Makes me hungery. :( But seriously I love it.

Steve Somers: omg fur!!! I think you're one of the few members who actually made a furry creature. :) I think it came out really nice. Especially with the bg. Not sure why there's a ghost though.

jouste: great piece, I love it. Although for some weird reason I kinda preferred your previous version. Don't ask me why..

Tre3 : I like the wings idea you had there. Unfortunately, the pale colors and blurriness make your piece look really dull. Don't be afraid to go into darker colors! And also the face could have used a little more sharpness.


Good job everyone! :yayca: Boy, this Cow sure was a PAIN IN THE ASS!!! hahaha! Get it? Ok, sorry about that.


So hum.. For my vote I'm actually still undecided. It's between jouste, lkjhgfdsa, GoldenSerpent, Arbinn, njoo, BlkCelebration, JakkaS and NickTrip. Those are my favorites. Now I know I'm not voting for njoo, Golden Serpent nor Jakkas since they'll probably get the most votes anyway. I think I'll give my vote to BlkCelebration or NickTrip. Just cuz I like the underdogs haha.

[Steve Marworthy]

Tre3-I wouldn’t want to meet this badass in a dark Alley! Try limiting the number of highly saturated colours in your palette and the special areas will pop even more.

Jouste-Cool style man. It has a lot of charm.

Steve Somers- hehe…arousal eh? :P
Cool details on the web and hair. I like the hanging egg concept. I think a bit more shading or highlighting on one side could give your trees more form.

Lkjhgfdsa-cool brushstrokes on the body. Your background colour is clashing a bit with the magenta on the creature. I tried a simple palette tone and it works great. Let me know if you want a before after.

David79-definitely one of the more menacing of the submissions. I think a little less black would help your form show better.

Crustibian-hehe..cute
bluez3023- I like his face and the plating. The alternating lines and unpainted areas distract from work a bit. I think a second pass cleaning this up would help improve it dramatically.

GoldenSerpent-Great work – got my vote! More variation in star size and density would help give the background some more depth. SIME- A detail texture pass and this was a contender for my vote. Nice reflection and great egg shape. Thanks for the comments; what would you recommend to improve the body?

Arbinn – great slime and egg texture! Your sky colour throws your palette off a little. Shift a little closer to red and desaturate a bit and I think you’ll be a bit happier.

AntiMatty – hehe, great smile! The areas where your outlines and uncolored areas meet are a bit distracting. Also, the streaks in your coloring flatten the form – contour those blue lines and he’ll look even more 3D.

Gnahz – nice thick water

Njoo – crisp shapes. The rodent was a nice touch.

BlkCelebration – I love the colors. This one really captured me.

JakkaS- great work! You were next on my vote. Great sense of weight and texture. Your colours are also spot on. Thanks for sharing! Any suggestions to improve my technique?

theHaggard- great original concept. Your line work is a bit scratchy - more consistency in your brushwork will also help.

Kovah – Thanks! Cool job on the glutton snapper. Nice colour variation in the skin, and controlled background. The reflection in the slime water was a nice touch.

NickTrip – Unique style man. Your eggs look very distinct. Try bringing some more color into your highlights and lighter tones and your colours will have more depth.
What do you recommend to reduce the flatness in the head? I was trying to set the front of the body further in the distance.

Pesmerga – That’s one pissed off bird! Happy Nightmares :P

*Paint overs, suggestions welcome! Likewise I can do the same to explain my comments.

[Mr. P Show.]

Jakkas: You've got my vote for great execution as well as design.

GoldenSperpent: Yours looked amazing. If only I could vote for two; you'd be one of the votes.

Pesmerga, GoldenSerpent, NickTrip, kovah: Thanks for the critiques guys:). Hopefully I'll learn better on the next COW.

[kimliatach]

Great work all round peoples.

In the end it came down to Jakkas and Steve Somers for me and I eventually picked Steve Somers. For his fully realised creature. A hard choice as always.
Of the others I am Particularly fond of in no particular order:
Jouste's- Bloaty thing.
Golden Serpent's- beautiful glowing beast.
Njoo- who has his style down to a fine art.
Mr. Gadbury - a great, great piece do it again bigger, I want to see more.
Blk Celebration I like this beast.

[Alexjholt]

Lets see.... I would write a lot more crits, but I'm just going to pick out a few favourites, and I'm afriad I'm going to be picky in the sense that I like creatures that look like they'd really work to some degree:

I voted for:
Golden Serpent Odd as it may sound what really makes me like this is the subtle markings on it, quite often people seem to forget that creatures do have markings on them and choose flat colours which while fine enough, means that when people DO add in markings it just makes them that much more interesting. Ordinarily I might pick up on the improbably tiny legs, but you explained that away well, so its good by me.

Honourable mentions to:
JakkaS It is absolutely beautifully rendered! I only chose in favour of Goldenserpents over this one in that for me the legs don't quite work for me, the way you've drawn it I don't get the impression they'd be able to move it, its not necessarily the size, but the angles of them in conjunction with the size.. Very picky I know for which I apologise!

and

BLKCelebration Great design, I particularly like the scooped tail! It was only the markings on Goldenserpents that put that in the lead. I am very fond of this though, has massive amounts of character to it!

[Lander]

Great work everyone!
Thanks to everyone taking the time to crit. There is quite an effort to crit other peoples work.
Pesmerga: How could you get nightmares from this??? :)
GoldenSerpent: Yes you are absolutely right. It all came down to the time put into the pic. I'm glad you liked the chompers on it’s back. Tho they didnt really follow this weeks design rules :)
NickTrip: Yes blurry it is. I never go the time to upres so it was painted in 1:1. I'll put some more time into my next painting.
kovah: unfinished yea but thanks for taking the time to crit.

I voted for BlkCelebration since I really liked the design. Always nice to see something that isn't scary with fangs and spikes.

Strong entries by Jakkas, Jouste, Steve Somers, Golden Serpent, Njoo
Wish I had the time to crit but work is a sledghammer trap rigged over my head sop I better get on with my fake life. Cheers everyone and hope to see you all in the next round.

[skodone]

jouste
your comic style and the mood of the piece make it one of my favs too!

Golden serpent

clear case here...Vote goes to you :)
i like the style and coloring so much...the blue is so smooth and theres just everything right... and i just had to laugh about the small tiny feet...

njoo
another awesome design and coloring :)

Arbinn
you did put a LOT of work in that one...seem to be one of the perfectionists :P
always changin lot of details to make the piece even better!
well done!

SimoneA.M.
haven't seen your piece on the WIP i think...though i really like the concept!
the expression is very funny and i just like the underwater idea..
well done!

JakkaS
ur piece was a surprise too! the creature looks so peaceful and chilled!
i also like that coloring style!

Everybody THANK YOU for all the tips crits and comments!!
When i look at my piece i see a lot of work still!
I will try to improve anatomy and rendering next time...the summetry thing on the breast i f**** up... it kinda got outta my hands while drawing...
try to think of a lot more next time!

wishn everybody a gooood next round and may the best win!

cheers

[NickTrip]

Thanks DeathByChris, GoldenSerpent, Pesmerga, Steve Marworthy

Steve Marworthy: Thanks for the tip, its tricky to get the color to all lay right and look natural. Hopefully I'll get my next one done a little early so I can get some in-progress color tips.
For yours I think the flatness thing (from my point of view) is really just that the color and value on the top edge of his head is very similar to the sky. (there's a point where it almost appears to blend together). Looking at it again I think it might be the darks around his eye, though. Your creature's eye is much further away than its ass, and your putting the atmospheric distortion on the head, but the darks around the eye are about as dark as it's ass. So maybe lightening them up a bit? Usually shadows in the distance get duller. My two cents. Great piece.

[Crustibian]

I’m new over here and I’m certainly not an art expert. I’ve just kind of watched this community for a while and thought it was so cool! I had fun with this and think it’s great that I’m able to submit along with all the great talent here. I know how much I appreciated some feedback/critique, so I tried to write a little something for each submitter. Thanks to kovah, NickTrip, GoldenSerpent, Pesmerga, and Steve Marworthy for the comments and critiques. My vote goes to Blkcelebration.
Tre3: Great idea with the spikes/claws on the wing tips. I can picture this thing swooping out of the sky and impaling it’s prey. I would be interested in a description and name for this creature. (Although “Mumma” could be a pretty cool name for this thing.) I would darken the shadows a bit. It would really make that head pop out!

jouste: Love it. The cartoon/graphic style is unique in this group. Great style for band and concert posters. Also love the humor.

Steve Somers: Really cool concept and excellent rendering. The life cycle diagram is simple and effective (exactly what a diagram should be). Also the last line in the description –Haa! I’m intrigued by the transdimensional forest vapor. Good job.

Lkjhgfdsa: Very nice. Eggs that come out the top and the little grabber arms – cool. My favorite part is the stripes. They really give this creature an original look.

David79: Neat Style. I like the hard black outline and the great rich colors.

Bluez3023: Great face on this guy. I picture a mass hatching with a bunch of little barbed backs squirming all over papa. I could see a little more texture in the back plates but really great job overall. Is this thing really big? I picture it about the size of a house.

GoldenSerpent: Beautiful. Wonderful and realistic rendering of light, cool ring pattern, well thought-out concept. What else can I say? Very well done.
SIME: Eggs that get screwed into the trunks of trees-I totally see the little “arms” on the back end drilling the eggs in. Really cool! Nice strong light source makes for some really good highlights and shadows.

Arbinn: Nice work. I really like how you showed some of the eggs under the skin and some already broken through. That back area is really great. Slimy and gross—in a good way.

AntiMatty: Good composition. Big grin facing forward, slightly off-center, looks good. I would push the background in one direction lighter or darker. It would help push this guy out a bit. Also, I like the runny look of the secreted poison but I would try to make it follow the form of creature.

Gnahz: Cool creature. Good work on the emission holes along it’s back. Nice idea with the fuzzy cocoon-like eggs. I’d maybe push the obesity a little so it’s belly is almost dragging along the ground.

njoo: Now we’re talking obese! Great creature and cool, unique style. I like how your shadows and highlights are sharp distinct shapes. Excellent work.

SimoneA.M.: Very realistic concept. I could believe that an actual creature from pre-Cambrian earth actually lived just like this. I like how you have one of the front barbs coming forward and one fading back. It really demonstrates how they kind of just whip around in the current. Nothing wrong with your colors but I wonder how it would look if you switched the water color and creature color. Kind of a sky blue sea with a paler creature.

Mr. Gadbury: Nice muted and dirty color…fits the composition perfectly. What is going on here? My imagination is running wild! Great example of show don’t tell. Love it.

Pesmerga: Cool idea. I think a picture of a bunch of “green lanterns” above a tree line would look really cool. Kind of like a peacock from hell.

Kovah: Great original idea and good composition…the gaping mouth reminds me of a crocodile sunning itself. The highlights on the “beak’ really give a sense of how hard and sharp it is. I think it would be kind of cool to swirl some psychedelic colors into it’s skin. It would be like it’s hallucinogenic toxin is taking effect on the viewer as we approach. (And then, CHOMP!)

Kimliatach: Hilarious. I like the dark blue fringe on it’s feathers. I really get a sense of the speed these guys blast off with (it’s head and neck leaning back and the blurred speed line). Also - I like your writing style.

Skodone: Nice job on the wings. They have a real translucent look. The feathers on the head are nicely done, as well. I’d add a little more texture or deeper shadows into the rock formation. Wicked tongue.

BlkCelebration:. One of my favorites. It’s like a realistic cartoon. You have a really fun style. Also , great atmosphere – I really feel a storm passing through. The more I look at it—this one gets my vote. It’s wonderful.

JakkaS: One of my favorites. Totally inspiring. Great concept. Great creature design. Great artistic skill. Those eggs - I’m imagining the sound of popcorn popping as loud as thunder.

CharReed: Definitely an Australian animal. Cool design and I like the sketch showing it out of mating/egg laying season. Nice placement of fat in the neck and shoulders and even the tail! I would maybe bring in a deeper texture for the skin, especially if it’s reptilian.

Marsch: Good creepy creature. I’m getting a little lost in the head area. Maybe submit a slightly larger picture next time. I think if you made the background even darker (almost black) it would help this creature stand out. Try squinting at it once and see if you get a sense of what I mean.

Mr. P Show: Neat thick strokes. The blurriness almost makes it seem like it’s on the attack and I have no time to take in all the details. Definitely an action shot. I would like to see a more detailed rendering of this creature, also.

Tmyohlaing:. Really cool creature. Nice dramatic background. Looks like a mix of tarantula, blowfish, and porcupine. Good work.

TheHaggard: One of my favorites. Unique creature design and concept. Love the bright colors of the creature and the forest. I really like this one.

MEMPER: Very well done. Nice creature design and rendering. I don’t know if it’s the human-like pose and expression or the graphic anatomy/process of egg laying, but this one is kind of creepy to me. Maybe it’s just the horrible exploitation of the creature. Great job.

J.R.Barker: The reds and yellows work well on this creature. I like how you showed the glow of the eggs through the skin. I can just see it undulating and jiggling and pulling it’s eggs out and just whipping them at prey/enemy.

mythril_golem: Greatly gross. I love the wormy looking patches on it’s “arms”. Really well thought-out anatomy. Great dimensional look to it. This thing would fit nicely into the Cthulhu mythos.

MarshallWorks: Emotional support. Ha! Cool idea and design. The row of orange eyes along it’s back look great. I wonder if a more defined edge on it’s back would tie these two creatures together a little better. Nice work.

Darkly: Cool creature. I’d love to see it take down a whale! Really nice atmospheric perspective. I think you made a great choice bringing a little yellow/orange/brown into the sky. It adds just a touch warmth and has a real natural look.

Artiphats: I really like this creature’s head frill and all the knobby protrusions. Great skin color and I like your background technique. The hands seem a little too human to me. Just my opinion. Great overall.

Steve Marworthy: Kind of gross but excellently rendered. Great skin texture and just the right backwards glance. Quality work.

dwinbotp: Nice skin texture and coloring and I like the mucus dribbling out of it’s egg holes. The eggs themselves look really wonderful.

Alexjholt: I liked this idea from your original sketch. Turned out great. The tension in the composition works well. Is this creature interested in the fisherman for lunch. Hmmmm Nice work.

Lander: Of course a second mouth will make you fatter! Good stuff. Cool pattern and color on the skin.

NickTrip: Very unique style. So detailed…I’m having a hard time describing the look of it. It really is a cool original style. Love it.

[Steve Marworthy]

NickTrip - you are totally right ;) I should have normalized the tones in the head before lightening. All it did was up the contrast and hide the top.

[SimoneA.M.]

Greatness everywhere! This was a very fun way to come into CA, and I'm heavily looking forward to the next round and seeing more of the creative artists here.

Tre3 -This seems like an interesting creature, but it's so faded and blurry that I can barely make it out. Try experimenting with hard edged brushes and darker shadows. I like the little formations on the edges of its wings though, very neat.

Jouste - Nice cartoony style, I would love to see this creature animated bellowing about with eggs shooting from her behind haha. But I feel this piece could of been stronger with cleaner line work. While some of it seems like style preference, other parts come off as messy.

Steve Somers - Nice creature with great texture rendering, astounding work. Though it bothers me that it's very centered composition wise. Your creature also sort of seems as if it's not alive. I think brighter highlights on its eyes and the reddish fleshy parts of its skin would help bring it to life more. I enjoyed the detailed description, very strange and pointless existence haha.

lkjhgfdsa - Purple! Lovely coloring and I enjoy the shapes on this creature muchly. Though the composition could have been better. The way the feet of this creature connects to its legs is also very confusing.

David79 - Fantastic style and coloring, I really adore your use of shadows. I could totally see this creature printed on some monster card game. I can't think of much crit other than maybe push the design a bit more, as while it's very well done it doesn't set itself apart from the many insectoid entries here.

Crustibian - Very cute. While a part of me likes the simple collage style, it makes your creature seem kind of undeveloped in comparison to the rest. I think it would be greatly improved with more solid line art and harder shadows.

Bluez3023 - I like the face on this gal~ I think your work could be improved with harder shading, the soft airbrush looking shading really take away from the hard armored feel your creature is supposed to have.

GoldenSerpent - Great sci-fi feel, good work! I'm a sucker for anything with a blue glow haha. Also fun to imagine such a massive creature coming from such a tiny egg. As for crit, I feel if you tipped the camera angle more to the right corner you could have a better dynamic perspective and make the creature feel more "epic" and large.

SIME - Love the shape of the creature, but it doesn't feel very alive to me for some reason. It could be the background which isn't reflective of the textured innards of a tree stump it's found in.

Arbinn - This gal is adorable and the runner up to my vote! I love the slimy look and imagining her slugging about in the mud. Only problem is you don't really get a poisonous vibe from it, I think maybe adding subtle rounded spikes in areas could of helped with that.

AntiMatty Love its teeth~ It doesn't feel very finished though with the messy line work and 0 shadows.

GNAHZ - Very interesting shapes going on here. Though the composition could be better and all the colors seem kind of foggy and blurry - I would sharpen up my coloring.

nJoo - Nice clean style with an interesting looking creature, though I feel it kind of looses its believability with the way it bloats. I think the creature would look a lot better without the roundness on its bottom half with its legs and tail laying uselessly on the ground.

Mr. Gadbury - Really, really, nice atmosphere here, but I can't really tell what the creature is aside from a mouth coming from a formless rocky depth with two tentacles. Lack of a description doesn't help with this either.

Pesmerga - Interesting gal, though she feels kind of synthetic. I like its tail feather-like things.

kovah - Love the little spawning holes on her back, they look very realistic. However the rest of your creature looks really fat, especially its torso. the area between its arm and foot actually look caved in. I think your work could benefit with more realistic shading and shadows and less emphasis on texture.

kimliatach - Really crazy creature, I like. Also love the way you did its face and neck. I would of liked to see more viewpoints of this creature though.

skodone - Really like the gargoyle feel of this creature. Some parts of it look blurry though, I would sharpen things up a bit. It could also use some darker shading to help it pop.

BlkCelebration - My favorite, just love this creature to death. Your coloring style is gorgeous and I like the way it cradles its egg on its tail. Just too great, really different from the others.

JakkaS - The rendering of this just blows me away! Really envy those vivid colors. Though I think you could of put something on that massive blank blue space, even a simple white O marking could have made the design stronger.

Char Reed Love the tail! I think this creature is very well done, but it's also kind of plain and isn't memorable going through the rest of these. Something like a better pose and more defining of its muscles could have made this creature stand out more.

Marsch - Very neat looking little dudette. Though I can't really tell what its supposed to be, it looks like a sea creature in the face - but it has the body of a dinosaur. So then I start to wonder how a creature with such short limbs and an almost immovable looking head could survive on land. It also doesn't give me that poisonous vibe, I've no clue what part of this creature is poisonous. A description would have been nice!

Mr. P Show - If I squint my eyes and turn my head a little... But really it's difficult to actually see tell whats going on with your creature, which is a shame because what I can make out looks really neat! I would suggest zooming out the camera a little.

tmyohlaing - ...Nightmare fuel. But I really like this guy, very foreboding look. Though I think the holes on it could be a bit more subtle, they look more like drill wounds than a natural formation.

theHaggard - Unique creature! I like the concept. I think the picture would have been strengthened with harder edged shading though.

MEMPER - ...The description of this made me sad haha. Very well done though, the little tube appendage makes me cringe.

J.R. Barker - Love the color choices. The way its taking its eggs out makes me curious about it, a description would have been nice.

mythril_golem - Not to sound creepy but the coloring detail on that vagina is amazing haha. But the rest of the creature seems to fall short detail wise in comparison.

MarshallWorks - I like the symbiotic relationship idea and this is very well rendered. I think you could of pushed the design more though, it doesn't really set itself apart from many of the other creatures.

darkly - Very well done and I like the environment it's in. The design could have been pushed a lot more to separate itself from the many creatures here though. Since it's an arctic creature it would have been great to see you take the woolyness you put beneath its legs and apply it in more places like sticking out from between the plates on its back and on its belly.

Artiphats - Great prehistoric look and I adore the pattern on its crest. As far as crit it sort of looks like its floating over the background, getting rid of that thin light just before the shadow and linework on the creature will help ground it.

Steve Marworthy - Goodness what a viewpoint haha. Very well done though, I enjoy the light colors.

dwinbotp - Great coloring and I like its description. It's shapelessness just bothers me though, it makes it very lacking in personality and life. To me it's more like an egg hive than an actual creature.

Alexjholt - Adorable! Looks like this guy could be an actual cryptid. Love the lighting an atmosphere of it also. You don't really get a poison vibe from it though.

Lander - Interesting creature, but the execution seems very messy and unfinished.

NickTrip - The texture and detail of this blows me away! Also like its cute webbed eggs. Great work, very different from the many insect-like creatures.

---

Whew! That was difficult. Hope anyone finds that useful.

Thank you to everyone who gave me c & c - I'm glad that you all enjoyed my description, problem is that it's more developed than my creature as many of you pointed out. Next time I will try to push my creature more. Actually posting in the WIP thread this time will probably help with that so I can get some feedback. Thank you again!

[artiphats]

There were several that were really great, but in the end Jakkas got my vote. Your creature looks great and I love your painting style.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my entry, I am going to take your advice and make some changes, so that I can add it to my site and portfolio. Thanks guys, and good luck next round!

[JakkaS]

First I must say... You guys have too much of free time!!!
Sorry, but I can't write comments about every entry. Sorry for that!

My faves for this round:
jouste - funny, love the creature's face expression,
Steve Somers - interesting life circle idea
GoldenSerpent - I like the blue glowing of you creature
njoo - as usually nice design and great colors, simple and clean, I really like it
BlkCelebration - Cool creature. He looks so bored. He could be looking on the egg, like he was thinking "Damn, I was sleeping just few minutes and here is another one! Well never mind, I will trow it away!"...and after few minutes.... "Ahhh...I was sleeping just few minutes and......."
Steve Marworthy - Ok... this one is sick... I will not eat eggs on my breakfast for a while!!! :D hehe

Few faves, but in the end BlkCelebration got my vote! I think njoo was close second. I wish we had more then one vote! :)

GoldenSerpent - Congrats! I think you won it already :D


Thank you guys for all comments and votes. It's always a pleasure come back to this forum.
Cheers
Kuba

[Michael Jaecks]

Few faves, but in the end BlkCelebration got my vote! I think njoo was close second. I wish we had more then one vote! :)

I may be the mod now, but the spirit of the red fuzzy one still reigns supreme. NO MULTI VOTE!

;)

[maeshanne]

I voted for jouste
I also liked to works of sime and blkcelebration

[CharReed]

I had voted for JakkaS, I just loved the rendering and character so much! Just extraordinary work :D

Thanks everyone for your kind words and constructive critique! I will definitely put forward those critiques for my future pieces.

[chuck18mp]

I really like BlkCelebration's Ponciano, colours are great and the character is so cute. I voted for him. :)

[BlkCelebration]

I wanted to thank everyone that voted and commented on my drawing. I was very surprised to see the positive response it got. From having a relatively bad week, this does lift the spirits up :)

Sorry that I cant comment on everyone's drawing but I wanted to comment on the ones I liked most.

jouste: I like the style you used on your piece, nice colors.
lkjhgfdsa: I dig the design of the head on this one a lot. Very nice colors as well.
David79:This reminds me of something out of Metroid. I really like the style choice and colors.
GoldenSerpent: I like the scene you depicted on your image, nice head design and the luminescence really adds to the design.
nJoo: I like the style your using on your recent images. This creature fulfills the obesity aspect really nicely. I like how its limbs are resting on its body.
*JakkaS: Voted for you my man, very awesome creature. One of the most obese looking creatures submitted for sure. Great colors and rendering. The face transmits a nice calmness great design. Love the presentation as well.
dwinbotp: The holes on its body are quite disgusting and it surely looks obese. I like the coloring and egg design.

Thanks everyone again, and I'm looking forward to seeing some more awesome work from all of you.

[JakkaS]

I may be the mod now, but the spirit of the red fuzzy one still reigns supreme. NO MULTI VOTE!

;)
I know, I know. We were chatting with Fozz about that few times. He never wanted to change that. Sadly! But I wouldn't forgive myself if I wouldn't mention about multi voting! hehe
Sorry MJ! :D

BlkCelebration, CharReed - Thanks guys!

[Michael Jaecks]

JakkaS: :) You know, I do occassionally think about it, but somehow it feels so wrong to change it, given that Fozz was so HARDCORE about keeping it single vote. I feel I must keep the real traditions of COW alive (no humanoids, no accessories, no formless blobs, no plants, and sadly, no multi vote.)

[CharReed]

To be honest, multivote always kind of confused me in the other forums. I wasn't sure if I allowed to vote for more than one person, so I'd only vote for one piece of art anyway. I can see the merits in both systems, but I like the single vote per person system myself. :)

[Steve Somers]

If each piece had like 5 categories to grade on; Overall Concept, Execution, Explanation, etc.. And then categories of "Best Humorous" "Best Realisitic Design" "Most improved from last COW" etc... But then it would take 3 hours to vote. So fuck that. The way it is now it's like a big box of candy and you only get one. That's it kiddo, you're gonna rot your teeth, eat a carrot.