C.O.W.#154 Hangs Upside-down -- Posting WIPs thread

[Michael Jaecks]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/cow/cow.jpg

For more infos and details about the rules go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110879


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Round #154 Hangs Upside-Down!

Topic:
Hangs Upside-Down!

Creature Description: Hangs Upside-Down-- Design a new creature that spends a significant portion of it's life hanging upside down (like a bat does during the day). This is going to be a tricky presentation. It's likely that you will want to design and render your creature right side up... however, your final will need to be presented upside-down; your illustration, the background, lighting, will all have to work with the upside-down presentation. Hopefully this will encourage folks to look at their work a little differently. You'll want to keep flipping your work vertically and horizontally to check your design, composition, etc.

Deadline:
Saturday September 12th

Finals go here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=168136

note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know ;)
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[Mordus]

Im sad I was on holiday while my own topic played out...but I can treat myself to this round. Bagsy a devil which hangs upon the gallows.

[MikeBurns]

This topic sounds AMAZING! I love how challenging it sounds. I sadly won't be participating this week though, but I think it would be beneficial to try and come up with something later. Can't wait to see the entries pour in :)

[Lander]

Ha ha ha
Crazy. I got it right away :) Thanks MJ

[acb]

thats an interesting theme MJ ^_^ gl and hf everyone :D

[Michael Jaecks]

Another thing to think about, aside from flipping and flopping your canvas as you work, is gravity. Obviously a creature which hangs upside down is going to have sufficient muscle tone, etc to maintain this posture, but if you've ever seen what a persons face looks like when they hang upside down on a jungle gym (or whatever) gravity distorts the softer tissue of the face. You can usually tell if you are looking at a picture of a person upside down even if its presented right side up (putting aside other visual clues like dangling hair or clothing)... so give that some thought as you work on this. This might be a moot point for some creatures (rigid, exoskeletal ones, for example) but it could be an interesting extra detail (and a bit of a rendering challenge) for some folks.

[StreetBehemoth]

Are we talking only like bat upside down or does sloth upside down count?

[Michael Jaecks]

Is there really much of a difference? I don't want you redesigning either. I want a completely new creature that spends a significant part of its life hanging upside down. Citing the bat was an example for clarity, not inspration. Think new creature.

[StreetBehemoth]

One is parallel to the ground and one is perpendicular, but Ill just figure it out. Don't worry I'm not redesigning, just wondering about posture.

[Hellstorm888]

I don't think posture is an issue. I'll see if I can manage to get something of a good enough quality for this... Don't get your hopes up though, I still need alot of work on my skill.

[Dulcahn]

Got a idea for this
Basic concept

[Marsch]

will make him snatching someone
please criticise it for improvement

[ZanteDeschia]

I wanted to participate in a community activity but Im quiet unsure with how to or if im upto standard. Was unsure if this can quallify as a creature that hang upside down.. its furry and scaly.

Concept: it hangs upside down with its tail and waits for predators to come by thinking it is a sleeping animal(easy target)
Has very sensitive ears/skin
It fiestens up and prey on them instead once they get close enough. It is very lazy and sleeps 20 hrs a day(inspired by my cat).

It is my first time drawing a creature, apprecieate any help I can get to improve it.

[xerxyz]

Hey, here's my wip submission. I was afraid that maybe i might have missed a rule somewhere. Anyways, be brutal.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn196/erkimmer/cuisinart.jpg

[Naxfish]

this is pretty much all i got so far -.-"
some kind of predator, lures victim with pretty little light ( like a fish that i saw somewhere but forgot how its called...)
all in all, its a starting point :P
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x1/Nam3le55/cowprew.png

update... / couple of changes; added spider "hands?"..
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x1/Nam3le55/cow2.png?t=1252329768

[Fuseboy]

Hey, here's my wip submission. I was afraid that maybe i might have missed a rule somewhere.

One rule is that you need to show more than just the creature's head - the more of it the better. The idea is to illustrate (explain visually) the creature rather than to provide a dramatic scene that merely uses the creature.

[StreetBehemoth]

xerxyz
I love the idea. I would suggest making the human smaller and when doing value let it sink back. and if you make him smaller you can bring in the rest of the creature.
naxfish
Its a little humanoid. besides that, I like it

oh and angler fish have the light

[Niva.]

Hey, here's my wip submission. I was afraid that maybe i might have missed a rule somewhere. Anyways, be brutal.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn196/erkimmer/cuisinart.jpg

This is an awesome drawing! However, two issues if this is to be a final entry: too much focus on the human character and secondly the main creature is not shown as a full body or even how it hangs.

F the COW though, this drawing is worthy of just being pushed to a finished state. Love the dude's expression right now. Cheers!

[Dulcahn]

Been a bit busy but got the basic drawing up, it latches itself onto the ceiling of caves when it hatches and grows and lives there till it dies then drops down a bloated rotting egg sack dies and the lil ones hatches and crawls up and the circle starts again. It hangs strands of web down to the floor and waits for its prey

Will work on it tomorrow

[xerxyz]

Oh, okay. More creature (like, all of it), less pink squishy humans. I'll get on that right away. But my idea is that the creature is so long it has to wrap itself around several canopies so not every square inch will be visible. Is that alright? Anyways, more scribblins soon.

[Naxfish]

xerxyz
I love the idea. I would suggest making the human smaller and when doing value let it sink back. and if you make him smaller you can bring in the rest of the creature.
naxfish
Its a little humanoid. besides that, I like it

oh and angler fish have the light

Right, that's the one ...Thnx :P

[sajin0084]

Thought I would give this a try.
What I have done so far...

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs46/f/2009/250/7/f/upside_down_WIP_by_sajin0084.jpg

[Hellstorm888]

Huh... I'm working on cooking up a decent sketch. Awfully similar to Sajin's there, but different enough to not recognize. Well, actually, his looks alot like one of the sketchettes I made before working on the 'final' sketch that I plan to post as a WIP. They'll be on the first scan I get in, so you can see.

[StreetBehemoth]

xerxyz
You could always do something with a slight view of the trees with bits of the creature hanging down. and perhaps a back view of the guy might help dehumanize him (and smaller then the doodle I did if anything)

obviously my doodle is good enough to win cow, but you'll have to paint one yourself ;P

[PencilEater]

Really nice topic. This is my first time in COW, and first time (bu I'm not sure...) with painting non-humanoid creature... inspiration: Zephon from Soul Reaver, but my guy don't breed eggs;]

[Steve Somers]

Hello hello fellow beastmakers - already some outstanding sketches on here, can't wait to see what people come up with this time. Well I did plenty of canvas flipping this time as prescribed, and I really see I need to do this more often - so many little dumb mistakes get noticed. I'm leaving the country in a couple days so this may have to be my final, but if anyone has a suggestion before I finish this tonight I'd love to hear it.

[SinnerMan]

OOh, I want in!
sketching awaaaaayy....

[SinnerMan]

Here's the VERY rough layout

[Daeus]

I've been doodling with Colors! on my nintendo DS.
here's something that i liked that came out of a sketch session.

[Noukah]

Cool designs sp far everyone!
I think I'm in too... For the very first time :O
We'll see how far I'll get ;)

[sajin0084]

Just about done I think, not sure if I will add a background or not....
The idea behind the creature is that it blends into the environment and snaps down to catch prey.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs22/f/2009/251/7/b/It_hangs_upside_down_by_sajin0084.jpg

[Pixelestial]

The Neerok is an aquatic pterosaur that hangs upside-down from its buoyant, lily pad shaped tail.

[Niva.]

773467

Looks too much like a traditional dragon.

[dwinbotp]

Soulweaver awesomesauce! fresh concept! I kill you! :D

[SinnerMan]

Stand in line Achmed :P

[dwinbotp]

SinnerMan, LOL I can wait for my turn:) But seriously, I love it when I see new ideas that escapes my own creativity. Very inspiring, makes me wanna AAARRRGH! but cool:D

[Lander]

I'm in line too :) What's my number?

Wasn't there a topic way back on "bouyant"?
Had some crazy cool critters.

[The Tim]

Hello fellow bovines!

I just joined CA, so this is my first entry.
Any comments?

Don't know if i've got time for any changes, but any critique is very welcome!

774560

[trOtis]

Skatch for the creature... i think it looks boring, the pose... hm well atleast got some idea... it will be hanging on highway latern or smthn
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/3364/77210351.jpg (http://img67.imageshack.us/i/77210351.jpg/)

[Pixelestial]

Thanks for the death threats! I think...? :D

No really, thanks for the kind words.

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Dulcahn, Naxfish: These two are looking a bit similar so far. I'm sure they'll separate themselves once they get to a more finished state, but it's just something to watch out for.

Marsch: It's a good start. Interesting face. I'm curious how it attaches itself to the ceiling, so make sure you address that.

ZanteDeschia: I like your clean linework. I'm sure it won't have any trouble meeting the standards of COW once it's finished. I can't quite tell what's going on with the design on the creature's forehead. It seems like an important detail, but it's not clear enough.

xerxyz: I'm going to echo n1va's thoughts. You don't have to show every inch of the creature, but I still want to see enough to get a sense of its basic shape. I wouldn't have guessed that it was a very long creature just from looking at the drawing.

Pencileater: So far so good. All I can tell so far is that it's got an interesting head structure.

Steve Somers: Sweet colors, and I love the way the legs weave together. Everything below that, though, is becoming a little amorphous and hard to make out. I can tell that it's an ugly bugger, but I feel like the head shape needs to be defined a bit better. Even the close-up has me confused.

SinnerMan: You've picked a really challenging angle, and it could be cool if you pull it off. But yeah, it's still too rough for me to give much advice.

Daeus: Really sweet creature! At first, I had trouble figuring out which way was the front and which was the back. The thumbs/hands appear to be on backwards too, which is further confusing the issue. If that was an intentional design decision, though, and you plan to stick with it, you might want to consider making the hands less human-looking. They're drawing too much attention and throwing everything off right now.

sajin0084: I think it needs some darker shadows. Also, those vine shapes coming out of the creature's armpits... shouldn't they be drooping downward because of gravity?

n1va: Perhaps the body shape is a little too traditional. But I do like where the head and neck are going.

The Tim: It's hard to tell what's going on with the creature's body and how the head connects to everything. It's a little formless right now. Maybe sort out the musculature for the creature's torso and limbs?

trOtis: Actually, if you're just drawing the creature without a background, the straightforward pose doesn't bother me. What does bother me is the head, which is unclear at the moment, and the street lamp, whose perspective seems off.

[Lander]

Well I'm sorry. My COW #154 will never ever see the internet. It's just to much of a genital. Sorry If you want to see it you'll have to come to my home.

Good luck everyone.

[Daeus]

Daeus: Really sweet creature! At first, I had trouble figuring out which way was the front and which was the back. The thumbs/hands appear to be on backwards too, which is further confusing the issue. If that was an intentional design decision, though, and you plan to stick with it, you might want to consider making the hands less human-looking. They're drawing too much attention and throwing everything off right now.


it was an intentional decision;
if the creature is going to be hanging a lot from it's limbs,
i thought making opposable digits on both side of the hand would make for more mobility,
instead of being restricted to grabbing anything with a "front/back" of the hand in mind.

I guess i never considered that humanesque hands/claws would be distracting.

Could i venture an inquiry in regards to what aspect of humanesque anatomy distracts, or demands too much attention?

that's a good suggestion though.
do you think it's easily changeable enough without making the rest of the anatomy looking too..."stamped on", in regards to the forearm;
if i change the hands i mean.

I'll stew over it a bit more, and i eagerly anticipate any suggestions :D
this was my first post to CA, i'm glad to be receiving such constructive criticism :D

[dwinbotp]

Soulweaver We're all monsters that love drawing monsters, death threats means little to us :D again, great idea!
Lander Officially I think you're 3rd in line right after me and Sinnerman. I'm deeply curious as to how genitally inclined your creature is? :D

[The Tim]

The Tim: It's hard to tell what's going on with the creature's body and how the head connects to everything. It's a little formless right now. Maybe sort out the musculature for the creature's torso and limbs?

Thanks for the comment, there's actually a reason for this.

The creature doesn't really have (and need) an external head. There's just the mouth opening, with a huge tongue. Since it will hang upside down it's entire life, the body stretches vertically (mouth down obviously). The grappling hooks never stop growing, and the creature sprouts new ones along with it's age.

So the randomness in limbs is intended. Though there is room for improvement in form.

A pitch just came in at work, so i won't be able to change it..

Next competition then, aye?

[ZanteDeschia]

@soulweaver: thank you for the crit! yes! I shall try to emphasize my karoote's 3rd eye more, Its suppose to be a hunting tool essential for my creature to hunt while it pretends to be asleep.

by the way, im new here, sorry if im being ignorant but I cant seem to find where the due date for the COW is, are the finals due excactly one week after the date where the thread is posted? Thank you!
^ never mind this I just re-read the first post :D^

[Niva.]

Here's another creeper, I like this topic!

775493

[Pixelestial]

Hey Daeus,

The only reason I think the humanoid hands are distracting is because they're too familiar. When the viewer sees the backwards thumbs, their eye sticks there, because it looks "wrong" to them, and doesn't match their idea of what a human hand looks like. They're left wondering whether it's intentional or not, rather than letting their eye wander around to take in the rest of the creature. I don't know if that makes sense, that's just my impression. It's possible that this won't even be an issue after the head is fleshed out and draws some attention from the hands.

Actually I didn't notice that it had thumbs on both sides of the hand. If that part was more obvious, maybe the strange hands would look less like a mistake and more like a conscious design decision.

[K0RR]

Here is a wip of my creature "the smog eater", it is born in the laboratory and its role is to filtering the polluted air and give back a fresh oxygen...
http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae137/K0RR/wip_upsiddown-copy.jpg

[Niva.]

Hey guys,
I asked Michael Jaeks about my dragon but really didn't get an answer as to if such a creature is allowed as a final entry. Just in case I made another critter for this COW.

I'm curious which one you folks think I should enter into the finals?

http://www.eternalseven.com/images/2009/20090911-Tree-Dragon.jpg http://www.eternalseven.com/images/2009/20090911-Black-Toothed-Cave-Dweller.jpg

There's still a day to fix these up so any comments I could get would be appreciated, thanks!

EDIT: I've decided to not enter the dragon, the other creature is more unique. Here is the WIP for the dragon though.

http://www.eternalseven.com/images/2009/cow-dragon-wip.gif

[Michael Jaecks]

Deadline is today, so let's get those finals in!

Poll tomorrow.

n1va, you're fine with either, but typically original creatures is what we look for here.

[ashamolly]

Hi everybody!

This is my first go at Creature of the Week, here's what I have so far:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d40/vagrantvulpes/face_eraser2copy.jpg

I the image to have the feeling of a very tense and disorienting situation while still demo-ing the creature, but I'm having the hardest time making the background feel convincing, interesting, or even in the slight bit look like a sewer =/ Critiques are very much welcomed!

here's the original sketches to show the creature's build without distortion:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d40/vagrantvulpes/face_eraser_sketch.jpg

[Pixelestial]

Hey ashamolly, action poses are great and all, but your pencil sketches explain the anatomy of the creature much better (those are very nice sketches, btw). As COW is a creature design competition, clarity is usually more important than dynamic poses. If you can get both in one image, then great! But at present, your colored image isn't pulling it off. I can't tell that it's supposed to be hanging upside-down for one thing, which is going to be important. Also, I thought the torso was actually the back end of the skull for the longest time, an illusion that is throwing off the perspective.

[ashamolly]

@SoulWeaver: Thanks for the advice and the compliments =) I'll try rendering the sketches today and save the skewed perspective version to play around with when I have more time and experience to troubleshoot the issues.

[dwinbotp]

gonna do a quickie, hope to make it in a few hours.

[Mr--Jack]

Going to follow dwinbotp here, a couple of hours, if I'm lucky . . .
Some damn fine entries this week!

[dwinbotp]

Mr. Jack and I are playing catch up Mr. Jaecks, hope we make it:)

Here's the result of the quickie, now to do the write up! Slow round but good stuff from participants nonetheless:)

[ashamolly]

I put the two sketches together for a different composition.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d40/vagrantvulpes/face_eraser_sketchcopy.jpg

[Mr--Jack]

Alrighty, Not entirely sure if I'm happy but hey! it's all fun.
Rather inspired by a pic of Bobby Chiu's — http://imaginism.deviantart.com/art/Beam-me-up-Scotty-126346502

Since a lot of people went for the whole 'upside-down monster grabbing unsuspecting passersby' look I decided to do something a little less dangerous, so I've got little flower-mimic-ish beetles, who hang upside down from branches to lure unsuspecting bees and whatnot.
(on second thoughts maybe I shouldn't've put up that link, it's really an unfair comparison :P )

ashamolly; very nice design! Though I have to point out, given the coiled 'spring-like' manner of the lower jaw it seems that it would make more sense to actually uncurl it and twist in the opposite direction to the way you've got it in your explanatory diagram (i.e. actually pull the prey into its mouth with the lower lip rather than just hoping it sticks to its teeth)

[ashamolly]

@Mr--Jack- Thanks! I got the idea for a fixed spiral jaw from a Helicoprion fossil, but it hadn't occured to me to design it with the ability to uncurl. I just had its ability to obliterate in mind ;)

I love your mimic beetles! The varied gestures and stretchy mouths really give them a lot of life. You've posed them very skillyfully.

[Niva.]

Not sure what happened with the poll, looks like the COW got dropped this week. Maybe this sets us up for a COW tosser/dropper creature next week?

Some elite entries at the end, cheers!

[Niva.]

Not sure what happened with the poll, looks like the COW got dropped this week. Maybe this sets us up for a COW tosser/dropper creature next week?

Some elite entries at the end, cheers!