C.O.W.#154 Hangs Upside-Down -- VOTING!!

[Michael Jaecks]

C.O.W. #154 Hangs Upside-Down -- VOTING!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ROUND #154 VOTING

Topic: Hangs Upside-Down !


Deadline for the voting: Tuesday 22 September 2009

Posting thread (closed): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=167039.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

[Steve Somers]

Artist: Steve Somers

Concept: The Creeping Strangler



Never has a name been more misleading. The Creeping Strangler has ever been a friend to humans. Let the Creeping Strangler into your house. Creeping Strangler nice. All other information on this charming woodland creature is a batch of cruel lies and propaganda manufactured by the government. Especially the myth that the Creeping Strangler knows how to type. Look, how could I possibly type with these striped purple feelers? Could I ever... err.. uhhh..

So, in conclusion, bring a Creeping Strangler home today! They fit nicely into any crib next to any size baby. Order now and get a free snuggee!

wissssssmiddddummumm glrrrrr glllrrrroouullllllll.... mmmmm huuumannnn...

[K0RR]

Artist: K0RR

Concept: the smog eater
The smog eater is a creature produced artificially in the laboratory. The smog eater is placed in large urban areas where pollution reaches the highest levels. The smog eater is blind and never leaves his support, it has an average life of 2 years who spends motionless, filtering contaminated air and giving back pure oxygen.
It is estimated that in 2076 in the center of New York city, a colony of 600 smog eaters have contributed to 56% of the restoration of the default values of oxygen in the atmosphere.775433

[The Tim]

Artist: The Tim

Concept: Phlex

The few people living in the great swamp of Naratekh have great admiration for the way this creature combines business and pleasure.
The Phlex uses it's large muscled extendable grappling hooks to climb from branch to branch, and once it has found a comfortable fishing spot, it will stay there, untill forced to seek another spot. This behaviour gives this creature it's musclular and strechted appearance. For all of his life, new 'arms' will sprout randomly from it's torso, which makes the climbing process even more comfortable. After death, it even remains hanging on the branches.
It is not a lazy creature though, it simply needs to save it's strength. It relaxes its whole body, except for the tip of his long tongue, which is a fascinating piece of equipment. A Phlex's tonguetip contains more than 60% of all nerves in it's entire body! The creature simply jiggles the tip around a bit, and waits for fish to find out if that's food or just a predator. Then, only just the tiniest nibble sets off a major chemical reaction in the Phlex. A small electrical shock is emitted to have the fish flex his jaws, enough for the Phlex to 'wheel it in'. It will also flex every muscle in his body, including his 2 meter long tongue. Within a second, the Phlex has swallowed his prey. After that, it will show some late reflexes for about half a minute. Studies have made clear that this process shows many similarities in with an actual orgasm. This is probably the reason for the low amount of activity, because it will repeat this process four to seven times a day! The Phlex is not far from extinct, because sexual intercourse between two of them means giving up their perfect fishing spot, and at least the next three meals! Who would go through so much trouble?! Because the lack of it, there is little known about actual mating between these creatures, but we do know it involves the tongue. ieuw.
Well, at least the Phlex is a happy masturbator..

775500

[ZanteDeschia]

Artist: ZanteDeschia

Concept: Karoote

The Karoote lives in the sandrock quarry of Larata desert. It hangs on to what ever dead branches and sandrock that it can find and sleeps for up to three quarters of the day in order to conserve energy for preying. While it sleeps its day off looking like a "cute little animal" its third eye keeps its alert and senses anything that makes the slightest movement. Once the predator is at bay, the Karoote changes from a prey into a predator and predatates it in turn. They feed on anything from small insects to animals that are five times their size, If they are unable to prey on something, they would let go of the branch or sandrock drop to the ground and roll up into an almost inpenatreble shield formed by their scaley tough skin on the top, whilst its tail rattles to signal for help by possibly another nearby Karoote for help to team up against a big predator.

For hunters & hungry dwellers of Larata: The easiest way to kill a Karoote is to shoot an arrow through its soft bottom part without getting close to it. *delicious when charr roasted*

As they are lone creatures, they are rarely seen near one another unless during mating season, where easily up to ten Karootes are bunched up with each other trying to find their perfect mate.

[Niva.]

Artist: n1va

Concept: Black Toothed Cave Dweller
The infamous black-toothed cave dwellers are some of the most dangerous creatures one can encounter in a cave! Not only are they nearly invisible in their natural environment but they usually prefer to drop down on their prey from above. For their size these creatures extremely strong and can easily overwhelm grown men, but wost of all, their black-toothed bite is very poisonous. The toxin injected by the black teeth serves both as a tranquilizer to paralyze the prey, and immediately starts tenderizing soft tissues for consumption. There is one thing that tends to give these creatures away though, they are very slimy and if you’re careful you can spot the liquid pools of their excrement below their hiding places.

776288

[evolvingeye]

Artist: evolvingeye

Concept: Chill Whelk

The Chill Whelk is a carnivorous creature found in caves in arctic regions. The Whelk directs melting ice to its back where the water is frozen into a "shell" of icicles. Once beneath, the Whelk falls upon its prey, impaling it. After eating, the Whelk uses the adapted ice-adhering fibers on its legs to return to the cave's ceiling to await its next meal.

[vibhas_virwani]

great entries so far , i have been meaning to submit an entry for COW for a while now , but recently i got permission from my game leader to be able to make creature concept art for the game which i could enter in COW :D :D

so here is my entry , description is written on the image itself . good luck everyone

[B]Artist: Vibhas Virwani

Concept: alien world inhabitant

Description :
This creature is an amphibian and needs to be near water to survive . The ones
which try to go too far may dry out if unable to reach back to their water habitat These
creatures usually spend a significant time hanging upside down from which position they
attack its prey from above . Usually choose a shaded place to avoid drying out too soon .The
creature is usually found outside water either in caves or hanging upside down from a cliff
rock face .they have tentacles with suction pores like that of an octopus which hold their
body weight upside down they are a viscious species , which will normally eat whatever it has in
range their main limitation is the planets recent drought phase has caused these creatures
to retract their habitat . others avoid this hungry creature and therefore makes the canyons
and fjords inaccessible very risky areas to traverse

[Crustibian]

Artist: Crustibian

Concept: The vine cat is neither a vine nor a cat. This affectionate little creature spends most of it’s life high in the tree tops of the Nufsed steam fog jungles. While courting, the vine cats offer each other various gifts- painted flowers, sugar fruits, and jewel pebbles are some of their favorites. They mate for life and the gift giving ritual extends to their offspring. They live in literal “family trees” with the oldest generation living highest in the tree. As the suns set, mated pairs and their offspring gather in hanging tentacle clusters where they sleep through the night.

my blog: http://www.denverwagner.blogspot.com/

[jrbarker]

Artist: J.R. Barker

Concept: Barnacle Beast

This is a massive barnacle or mollusk-like creature that attaches itself to the ceilings of caves. While dormant, with their "head" pulled together and into it's lower shell, they can grow up to 15 feet long. Stretched out they are considerably longer. They can extend their greenish yellow tendrils in search of prey. These can then sense chemical and temperature changes in the air. The tendrils then grasp the prey and pull it into the creature's gaping maw.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/3922882203_1d853ecd58_o.jpg

[dwinbotp]

Artist: dwinbotp

Concept: Obsidian Snatchers
The mines on Asteroid 319 remain rich with precious crystals and energy laden minerals inside every blackened ore. It begs the question and raises quite a few eyebrows why no one has taken advantage of its abundant treasures. Some believe that many have attempted before yet only a handful of survivors can retell their horrific experiences beneath the deep caverns. Tales of sudden disappearances of fellow miners, shadows creeping and the faint scuttling of sinewy appendages all describe what now are widely known to the mining inhabitants of the asteroid as the "Obsidian Snatchers". Descriptions vary but they are said to cling to the black stalactites inside the mines. Many believe them to be harmless unless provoked or disturbed. Others believe they are just plain predators feeding on whomever and whatever that enters their nests. Huge compared to humans, they have sharp, rigid pincer-like appendages, easily able to cling upside-down and having a single muscular arm to grab unsuspecting prey, slowly feeding on it until its next victim presents themselves to it again.

[Mr--Jack]

Artist: Mr--Jack

Concept: Orange-Lipped Iris-beetle


Iris-beetles are a highly varied genera despite their isolated range, being only found in a small area in the Brazilian Amazon. Not true beetles, these arthropods have large, segmented bodies and three sets of wings, the 3rd of which is solely used in their feeding—the beetles hang upside down, spreading their wings and opening their startlingly-coloured mouths and displaying a two sets of specially developed forelimbs to mimic a flower in bloom.
There are a number of species, each having evolved to mimic a different species of flower.
The Orange-Lipped Iris-beetle is the most common species to be found near human habitation, but by no means the most spectacular, and scientists believe that a large number of undescribed species still remain to be discovered.

[Pixelestial]

Artist: Soulweaver

Concept: Neerok
Neeroks are aquatic pterosaurs that spend their adult lives hanging upside-down from their buoyant, lily pad-shaped tails. From this odd position, they use their strong beaks to rustle up prey buried in the sandy riverbed. Larger neeroks are able to forage in deeper water, and thus they don't compete with smaller neeroks for food.

Adult neeroks only leave the water to lay their eggs, similarly to sea turtles.

[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: snow-nimbler

The Snow-Nimblers once swept across our nearest neighbouring planet; their thirst matched by their hunger and soon that planet turned to dust and buried nations.
Only a few survived to search their star system for precious water and food.
Hybernation has ended and the first of those few awakes and is hungry awakes as well...

[ashamolly]

Artist: Ashamolly

Concept: Face Eraser


The Face Eraser is an alligator specialized for sewer life. Its back legs have evolved into hooks that allow it to hang on overhead pipes, where it spends its entire adult life. The lower jaw continually grows, forming a large, toothy spiral which it uses to maim and collect prey with a sweep of its head.

[AcidSev]

The Orb Eater of Xnl-757 is an alien creature that feeds on Orb's, a defenseless life form also found on the same planet. Orb's are mysterious life forms that are mostly energy based and are contained in a strange thin membrane. The Orb Eater catches this prey while hanging upside down in dark places while it emits its own low pulsing energy as a sort of bait. These hiding spots also protect it from predators.

There are very small and very reactive crystals embedded inside the Orb Eaters waste. These crystals are highly valuable. Once one has aquired enough of these crystals they can be combined through an industrial process. Once fused together these crystals can be used to charge and power an assortment of weapons platforms. The Orb Eater is now farmed and grown in laboratories for this very purpose.

[evolvingeye]

Although there were several that I loved this round, my vote went to Soulweaver. Concept was really unique and well executed. Good job everyone.

[Michael Jaecks]

New round is up!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=168979

[Mordus]

I am desperate to see Soulweaver win. He has soem brilliant ideas and execution in the shape of the Neerok.
I would beg those who have not yet voted to choose Soulweaver.

[Mordus]

I am desperate to see Soulweaver win. He has some brilliant ideas and execution in the shape of the Neerok.
I would beg those who have not yet voted to choose Soulweaver.

[Marsch]

Well, voted for soulweaver's creature , because of the great art, concept and creativity in it

[lwhuang]

soulweaver also got my vote, other faves include Mr.Jack's and dwinbotp's but overall soulweaver's entry was very fresh, concept and overall execution just deserved it.

[jrbarker]

Once again, some really great stuff here. It was a hard choice, but I had to vote for dwinbotp. It seems like we were both on a similar track with our respective compositions. But I just really love his rendering style.

[Pixelestial]

Tough vote. I love Crustibian's whimsical vine cats. Mr--Jack's iris-beetles are so comical and full of life. K0RR's smog eater has tons of character, and reminds me of a creature from Ghostbusters (a good thing!). Dwinbotp's obsidian snatcher is easily the creepiest of the bunch, a real nightmarish design (also a good thing ;) ). And ashamolly's face eraser is just ace; I love everything from the creature's design to the wonderful slick and grimy texture.

It came down to Mr--Jack and ashamolly for me, but the concept behind the iris-beetles helped give them the edge.

[vibhas_virwani]

voted for soulweaver too , his " droop awkwardly when above water " got him my vote :P lol . nice stuff :)

[zimfin]

I voted for soulweaver for the originality and would say Mr--Jack came a very close second! Nice work guys.

*Edit* Not sure I agree with Mordus trying to "encourage" folk to vote for soulweaver. Every one can make up their own minds based on the quality of the work without that sort of thing and if I had read the post first, I might have been swayed to vote for Mr--Jack instead.

[maeshanne]

I voted for mrJack, I really like his paint

[Crustibian]

Great stuff all around. I voted for Steve Somers.
Steve Somers: Great creepy creature artwork. The funny description is the extra bit that pushed the creeping strangler to get my vote this week.
Korr: Nice original concept. I think the skin looks great. I can imagine how soft and mushy and gross it feels.
The Tim: Good colors to capture the look of a swampy morning. I like seeing another phlex in the background of the composition and the idea that they remain hanging after they die is great. It reminds me of a tree by my house that was covered in shedded (is that a word?) cicada skins, all still grasping the trunk.
ZanteDeschia: Cool concept. I think it would be cool to see a karoote roll into a ball while still hanging from it’s muscular tail. Then it could get swinging and bash it’s prey/predator like a wrecking ball.
N1va: I like the realistic, scary look and just a hint of a cartoon/comedic look with the potbelly and popping eyes. I really like this one. Nice work.
evolvingeye: Nice unique looking creature. Ten arthropodic legs? Six tongues? Blue and white bird-mammal body and head? Sounds like a chill whelk. I really like that it hasn’t evolved a spiky back but instead it developed a way to “grow” icicles as a tool. Really cool idea.
vibhas virwani: Great colors on this creature especially the tentacles. Nice work.
J.R. Barker: This is a really scary looking creature! Nicely rendered. Good job all around.
dwinbotp: Cool action shot that still shows off the creature. I like the brightness at the cave’s entrance but I would maybe lose some of the highlights on the right side of the creature. Another favorite. Great work.
Mr—Jack: Wonderful! Cool concept. Great colors and composition and skillfully rendered. Love it.
Soulweaver: This is great! I really love your style. I like how much information there is without it looking cluttered. Well thought-out and skillfully executed. Very nice work.
Lkjhgfdsa: Adding the goat(which is a lovely little piece on it’s own) really shows the scale of this nasty creature. Good idea adding so many legs—it makes it so much creepier than the standard eight of a spider.
ashamolly: Another favorite. I’m glad you were able to combine your sketches for this composition. Seeing two angles really shows this creature off. Very nice atmosphere. I want a movie made about these creatures. Get on that.
AcidSev: Cool concept. I like the simple graphic look of the background and lab jar. I think it would look neat to incorporate that style into the creature. The rendering of your creature looks good. In my opinion, though, I think the two styles clash a bit.

[K0RR]

I voted for Steve Somers and his Creeping Strangler, his creature has something odd I like, I can't understand how its arms twist around its legs but it work well!

[Icecold]

My vote goes to ashamolly I like the mood in his piece, and the aligator-something else thingy is also a cool idea.

[Lenorekitty]

I voted for Soulweaver - gorgeous work! Feels natural and practical. I love the way you've let the drawing really come through. Above all, your concept is interesting.
Also, Mr. Jack - awesome job! Beautifully executed and I love the concept!
Great work to everyone! :D

[Pixelestial]

Not sure I agree with Mordus trying to "encourage" folk to vote for soulweaver.
Yeah, it's kind of awkward. I mean, I appreciate the vote, Mordus, but I prefer to let the art speak for itself.

I don't think anyone would let that sway their decision though, zimfin, so no worries.

[Elzora]

I voted for Korr. Great idea! (and scary). Good work all!!!

[Aaron Death]

Voted for soulweaver, really clean and nice. It's got really good execution and presentation, and it's pretty hilarious too~

I actually like n1va's design best. But I think the symmetry in the pose could be changed a bit, let's say a twist in the body but having the head turned toward the viewer? Just a small critique~

[Steve Somers]

Awesome! I love the creatures this time, don't have much time for individual comments, but I really liked Soulweaver's this time, and Ashamolly's and vibhas virwani's and Mr Jack's... I'm in the rockies looking for hoary marmots right now so I'll miss the next round, but I shall return! Thanks for the votes, I love drawing beasts.

[Vaghauk]

i vote for Korr ! the idea is cool and the execution is really well done ! Was a difficult choice ! ALL entries show a lot of talent !

[dwinbotp]

soulweaver After " I keeeeel you"... I voooote for you". :D great work, made me flip!

[Moai]

Great work, Soulweaver. Got my vote.
Ashamolly would have been my second choice. Beautiful design. Love the Helicoprion-like jaws.

[zenichi]

tough one but decided to look for creatures that show the effect of gravity on it's muscle, structures, or features to convey the "long time hanging". am assuming that gravity is significant, hence hanging is physically prominent.

vote goes to soulweaver for a design that is slightly outside the box of the brief (hanging and/ or floating)!!!

Steve Somers: close second for me, the almost dangling muscles works for me, only the face is less sagging than the rest of the body, would have voted this for a more "gravity" affected feel!!

K0RR : would have work better if the tail/ limb/ claw looks more genetically engineer to integrate with the industrial parts that the creature is going to be "fused" with since it was probably engineered from the lab. also the vertical twisting doesnt make it look so comfy in a hanging position, a shape that looking more like a lamp shade would have suffice? probably gills to allow some sort of filtered air to pass through if not it would be bloated up from all the air it is sucking?

ZanteDeschia: if evolved from a feline features, a more protruding eyeballs etc. to show it's long hour/ years of hanging towards the direction of the gravity would make the creature more convincing.

n1va : fall under the general c&c of creature shape not showing enough of what gravity does to hanging though i like the facial feature especially the eyes that seems to be barely inside its socket, though the direction of the tentacle eyes could be better rationalized.

evolvingeye: the design doesnt reflect the function described that well. eg. would be more purposeful in evolving something to allow the ice stalactite to form, the creature doesn't seems to look like it's been designed to hang on to the ice ceiling long enough to allow ice to form on its back, tentacles seems to suggest fast and agile traveling the ceiling?

vibhas_virwani: was looking for a sagging head octopus after reading the description, but its ok. maybe the design of how it would actually kill its prey would better inform the design decision on the claw like limbs or powerful neck muscles.

Crustibian: one of my second favourites, maybe if you could show more of other activities described?

jrbarker: the thumbs works better and seems to follow your description better. fall prey to the general c&c of how the creature would react when a supposedly hanging position should give them comfort and advantage and shouldn't have to resort to twisting?

Mr--Jack: quirky and fun little buggers. great design in the sense that the "hanging" is a preferred manner for camouflage feeding! would have been great if flowers that it is mimicking are shown too, or others that have finish feeding would resort to a different form of camouflage, a closed petals?

ashamolly: doesnt see the need, reason or advantage to hang upside down in a sewer environment. unless maybe the sewer become so toxin that they have to stay out of it yet harnessing the vapour? a radioactive vapour that will also encourage mutation/ evolution?

AcidSev: the only reason i can think of why these ceratures need to hang upside down is that they could see better at what they are mining, which require a lot of eye limb coordination. need to push the design much further with how they hang on to their natural habitat which they evolved (dont think that flask is where they evolve) to better illustrate the design rational and decisions!

left out lkjhgfdsa, dwinbotp & The Tim as i couldnt think of any C&C. but the general C&C apply.

cheers

[Pixelestial]

Wow, close match. o_O

Great job everyone!

[Pixelestial]

::nudge:: May I have my rabbit ears, MJ? :)