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Si_Swe
October 31st, 2010, 10:59 PM
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/cow/cow.jpg

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


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Round #193 Bandersnatch

Topic:
Round #193 Bandersnatch

The poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol is a poem based on creating images based simply on the sounds of the words. The things in the poem are nonsensical terms, but because of the way they sound one begins to put an image together just based on the word. The second stanza mentions shunning “The frumious Bandersnatch”. Your job with this is to design what you think the Bandersnatch would look like. What does it mean to be “frumious”? Why must one shun it? Because the creature lacks description you must design this creature only with the sound of the words as a prompt for how it should look and act. Try and really make your creature look like the sound of the “Frumious Bandersnatch”. The Bandersnatch has been depicted in a variety of different ways in sci-fi and fantasy literature and video games as well as various adaptions of Alice in Wonderland, so try and avoid using pre-existing imagery as much as possible.

Here is a link to the wikipedia article for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandersnatch

Here is a link to the poem Jabberwocky:
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html


Deadline:
Wednesday November 10th, 2010. 9:00pm PST (GMT-8 )

Finals go here: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2909787#post2909787

(lark
October 31st, 2010, 11:44 PM
Should be a cool round. Lots of variety in the finals I predict.

Also id like to direct peoples attention to the deadline. Its another slightly longer than a week round. This being done to get us back to the Wednesday due day shedule which I think we're going to try and stick to.

emerging
November 1st, 2010, 02:35 AM
holy shieeet i am in on this one! good to be back in COW again!
this is one awesome topic. I think an advice to everybody here would be to NOT look up any reference for existing creatures under that name so that it comes up completely new and original and follows the brief

(lark
November 1st, 2010, 03:05 AM
emerging: yeah dude! Welcome back! Looking forward to you schooling all of us in here! I also agree to avoid imagery on the subject. Everyone should really try and just let the sound of the words bring up a subconcious image.

haekel
November 1st, 2010, 05:20 AM
Very interesting topic. Even more for me perhaps : as you may have noticed :geekg: i'm not an excelllent english speaker. Traduction for the Jabberwocky in french are numerous, very different in style and sounds. So i will start with a mix of "frumius bandersnatch" and french versions :
"Le très sulphurax élastitraptor !"
"Devant le frumieux Toutattrappe"
"Le coléfurbieux Coudeuyène"
"Au fulmibond Griffu arqué"
"Le frulmineux Colaressort"
"Le flumieux Bucca-trappe"
"Le frumireux Bandéroptère"
"L’inquieffant Tournecou"
"L’ écumieux Bandagrippe"
"Le fatal Pinçmacaque"
"..."

For non english players i found that page to start : translations of Jabberwocky (http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/index.html)

Farquad
November 1st, 2010, 06:51 AM
It's interesting that I named my last COW the "pumpkin" snatch. Hmmmmm. Anywhoozle,
I've been downgraded to PS Elements: Craptasm Edition on my college comp, so I'll be
trying my hand at charcoal for this! Muahahah!!

Vaghauk
November 1st, 2010, 07:31 AM
very nice topic!!- i like the portuguese version (thanks to haekel for his post! )
"frumioso Babassurra" - .... "babasurra"= bandersnatch ! :D

Yeti Ball
November 1st, 2010, 08:07 AM
here are some sketches ... let me know what you think... more to come.
1092940

Mr. Urbane
November 1st, 2010, 08:30 AM
I love the topic!! Think I may give it ago this round. Should be fun!!

J-Sun
November 1st, 2010, 12:35 PM
Awesome topic!

I've gotta get in on this one... I've been longing to get back to COW.
:)

Awesome start there Yeti Ball!
The name/word "Bandersnatch" and your creature, especially its litheness, allude to one another - I love what you've created so far!

Bonzulac
November 1st, 2010, 01:09 PM
I'm one of those people who knows this poem by heart. I'm probably not the best judge of what this says about me.

As for "frumious:" many of Carol's invented words were portmanteaus, such as (from the same poem), "slithy," slimy + lithe; "mimsy," flimsy + miserable. Anyone have any idea what words "frumious" may be combining? (It's not a test. I actually don't know.)

I have a ton of work to do this week, but considering that I've read the Alice books numerous times (can you tell?), I think I have to make this my first C.O.W. submission!

Bonzulac
November 1st, 2010, 01:21 PM
I looked it up. Here's a quote from Carol himself (don't read if you don't want to know what "frumious" meant to its author):

"Take the two words 'fuming' and 'furious'. Make up your mind that you will say both words ... you will say 'frumious'."

Can I include a few jub jub birds in mine?

Si_Swe
November 1st, 2010, 01:37 PM
Here are a couple of sketches of mine. Just thumbing out whatever comes to mind.

Bonzulac - That's cool. I'd like to keep it as open as possible for people, so I don't think we'll stick to that as the be all, end all for definitions, but by all means use it! And use jub jub birds and mome rats to your hearts content.

zypherax
November 1st, 2010, 01:50 PM
I am going to ensure that I complete my entry this round! I shall upload some sketches as soon as I draw them...

hammajamma
November 1st, 2010, 03:23 PM
Well now I must re-enter the COW world, my father is keen to introduce himself as Frumious Bandersnatch, I had no idea from whence it came. Since I am now enlightened to the origin I shall have to create an image to commemorate this new found knowledge... Well and it is fun to say...

njg901
November 1st, 2010, 03:32 PM
Well, I am completely new to this so I'm gonna try my hand at it. Any critiques would definitley be encouraged whenever I get up any wips, seeing as I haven't drawn in forever. Exited about this topic.

Bonzulac
November 1st, 2010, 06:00 PM
Too late, I realized two things about this design:

1. I wanted to evoke Sir John Tenniel, and to do that it really should be wearing at least one article of clothing. (Notice the Jabberwock's waistcoat.)

2. It looks like Disney's Cheshire Cat as drawn by John Kricfalusi. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not yet.

o0Dave0o
November 1st, 2010, 06:52 PM
oooh this sounds like a lot of fun. I have never done a COW before...actually I haven't done much concepting before either. I just graduated from a Fine Art degree (which gave me nothing haha!) and now I'm trying to build up some skills! I'm going to give this a shot!

Bonzulac
November 1st, 2010, 06:54 PM
I certainly hope you people appreciate how much time I'm wasting on this. What's the prize for winning one of these things, anyway?

Bonzulac
November 1st, 2010, 07:57 PM
...and having tea. (Does it still count as a creature if it's having tea?)

njg901
November 1st, 2010, 08:02 PM
My first rendering. I have no clue if it screams bandersnatch though... I'm completely new to this, so any critiques or advice is demanded! lol.

APW
November 1st, 2010, 08:43 PM
Hello everyone! i have finally got around to post my wip, the only problem is is that whenever i post my picture (saved as a jpeg) it shows up GIGANTIC. If anyone could help me out that would be great, thanks!

SaintLConcept
November 1st, 2010, 08:50 PM
@yetiball, very nice sketches the approach with the long legs looked similar with what i had in mind
@siswe, i like the rabbit like , it rings bandersnatch right away.. well at least for me ,great idea on that one!
@bonzulac, well i actually prefer your first approach, but its up to you
@njg901, nice idea, but i notice the tail is a bit off, and the legs in the middle are thinner thus make them useless, imo
@apw, try saving to a smaller size , like 700x700pixel with max 300 dpi maybe

here is mine , dont know ..does it seemed to alien-ish to u guys lol

Yeti Ball
November 1st, 2010, 09:34 PM
So I'm trying to work out to composition here. What do you think?

I really would like to give the impression that this creature lives in center of the deepest, darkest, oldest woods imaginable. Any suggestions on comp or how to convey that feeling of being deep inside a ancient forest would be much appreciated. :?:
1093397

Si_Swe
November 1st, 2010, 09:53 PM
bonzulac - I like the one having tea best so far. It would still count as a creature but be aware of the rules up at the top if you're doing that. Namely that it should not have clothing or accessories. As for your question about what you get when you win one of these things, you get a star underneath your username. You'll see in the thread above, Farquad, emerging and (lark all have gold stars underneath their titles representing the number of wins they have. Your entry will also be placed in the winners thread.
njg901 - I think it works well enough for the brief. Does it scream Bandersnatch, it could with the right application of colour; at least, in my books. You'll want to smooth your curves a bit, since some of them are a bit wobbly and make the anatomy less stable, though.
Art4All - Great start. I assume you're taking frumious the way I almost did and made literally exuding gasses.
Yeti Ball - Yours is looking great. For dark, old forest, the only recommendations I can give are: make all trees old growth, no vegetation, just old growth. Thick, juicy trees with complex above-ground root formation, throwing some fungus on there (though nothing too vibrant, strictly pinks and yellows) may help. Secondly is palette. Dark greens are going to form the base of your palette with a extremely dark browns. lighter colours should include reddish browns. That's all the advice I can give you for now.

I did secondary sketches of both concepts like I did last round. I'm feeling the hopper a lot more, but I'm not sure I'm ready to abandon the floppy-armed Bandersnatch.

Devilfruit
November 2nd, 2010, 12:58 AM
ended up having a very busy week last week so my costume cow just didnt get a look in, im also now designing NZ's 2011 WoW garment, but ive got some time now to get my head back in the game.
Nice subject this week too, will have some fun on this lil beauty. nice sketches so far too :-).

Yeti Ball
November 2nd, 2010, 07:20 AM
here is an update, not too thrilled with how its looking so far, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1093593&d=1288699305

Bonzulac
November 2nd, 2010, 12:58 PM
Si_Swe: I think I prefer the big-nosed, two-mouthed jumping version, too, but they're both good starts!
Yeti_Ball: I love the face! If you think it's not quite there yet, could the pose be maybe more, I don't know, frumious? (Spell-check must be informed of the correctness of "frumious.")

I couldn't resist putting Alice Liddell in the picture, though I'm disappointed upon a closer reading of the rules that I can't include both attack and at tea modes of the bandersnatch in my final! Decisions, decisions....

Si_Swe
November 2nd, 2010, 03:32 PM
Bonzulac - You can absolutely both moods of your creature. Two full illustrations may be a bit excessive, but showing the fruming Bandersnatch as well as tea-time Bandersnatch would be perfectly alright with me.

Bonzulac
November 2nd, 2010, 04:01 PM
Si_Swe: Yay!

hammajamma
November 2nd, 2010, 04:11 PM
So after a few silhouettes here is a quick thumb

hammajamma
November 2nd, 2010, 04:17 PM
Bonzulac I love the tea version

hammajamma
November 2nd, 2010, 04:45 PM
Decided I wanted bigger arms

Bonzulac
November 2nd, 2010, 04:54 PM
hammajamma: I like the bigger arms. It reminds me, though, of why the t-rex's arms diminished to those relatively tiny versions - as his head got bigger, the arms had to shrink or he'd fall over.

That said, I believe your bandersnatch is perfectly balanced. What's the plural of bandersnatch, anyway? Bandersnatch or bandersnatches?

hammajamma
November 2nd, 2010, 05:54 PM
I would think it would be Bandersnatchi

retter
November 2nd, 2010, 06:44 PM
"Bandersnatches" would be the appropriate plural.

emerging
November 3rd, 2010, 02:28 AM
here are my first steps

emerging
November 3rd, 2010, 02:16 PM
Some more progress with values this morning

brambor
November 3rd, 2010, 03:01 PM
Hi guys!
emerging: wow, great pose, looks very dynamic
hammajamma: looks good, but I like version with smaller arms more
bonzulac: fantastic idea with tea party, I would love to see it finished
Yeti Ball: nice, illustrative approach, I like your bandersnatch's (?) expression and scale
Si_Swe: imho hopper looks better, more alice-in-wonderlandish plus its pose is interesting
Art4All: it doesn't look too alienish, just bandersnatch-ish ;)
njg901: good start, now you should render it more and bring the forms

Here's mine, though I'm not sure wether it's fruming enough. Now I'm thinking about adding some strange polips or horns on its shoulders and back. And I must say that a numer of polish translations confused me.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/bandersnatch.png

Si_Swe
November 3rd, 2010, 03:43 PM
hammajamma - I feel like the arms need to longer. Something also needs to balance the creature. Looks like the weight of the arms would make it fall over forwards. Altering the positioning of the legs might help with this.
emerging - Glad to have you back with us on this one. I love the way the mouth is formed. Right now the legs look like they might be a bit too far away, unless it's hindquarters are resting atop something.
brambor - I like it so far. Creepy take on it, too. I think that whether or not it's frumious or not is going to be determined by some gut feeling. Don't force it, it may come in time.

I worked a lot with the little kangaroo guy for a while, but in the end I couldn't get behind any of them. I ended up liking this sketch the most so it's the one I'm going to end up working with.

Bonzulac
November 3rd, 2010, 04:06 PM
Nice sketch, Si_Swe!

Mine is becoming way too elaborate. I don't know what I was thinking.

But I can't stop.

APW
November 3rd, 2010, 06:34 PM
hey everyone! my apologies for the ridiculously large image. i don't know what i am doing wrong but i can not figure out how to make my picture smaller. If anyone has any advice i would gladly like to hear it, Thanks!

emerging
November 3rd, 2010, 07:22 PM
thanks si_swe! now that i looks at it it's true the back legs need to be longer!

CrazedIvan
November 3rd, 2010, 07:49 PM
Ahh my first COW.

I love the idea of this one, so I had to jump in. I did a few mock ups and I really am digging this one. What do you guys think?

Is it too human-ish? Hope not, I was thinking something along the lines of Bigfoot or is that a cop out? Lol Ill let you guys decide!

Ps Im really hating the feet.

Yeti Ball
November 3rd, 2010, 08:44 PM
Is it too human-ish?

IMHO yes.

SwitchbladeArchitect
November 3rd, 2010, 09:19 PM
ummm here's what i got so far....i told myself i'd actually finish this....

emerging
November 3rd, 2010, 10:10 PM
More progress.
Pretty much done with values. Going to start on color soon. I dont know if im going to introduce background or not. What you guys think?

CrazedIvan
November 3rd, 2010, 10:25 PM
IMHO yes.

Then Ill change it, lol

emerging looking awesome man. Introduce background? Seems like your almost done and you got a lot of time left. Might as well go all the way and do that background.

Si_Swe
November 3rd, 2010, 10:29 PM
That looks a great, emerging.
Don't have time for crits right now, probably some tomorrow. Here's a little bit of tonal work on mine.

CrazedIvan
November 4th, 2010, 12:54 AM
Bonzulac Im really digging this one alot.
APW Just make sure to resize your image at most 900pixels per inch H/W
when uploading to a forum. Keeps it from being too big for peoples
Monitors. BTW your creature looks more frumious then mine
Si_Swe So much character in your creature, really digging it.
SwitchbladeArchitect Such awesome values man.
Yeti Ball I can really feel the movement/feeling of this one. Awesome.

okay I reworked the sucker. Looks more beast then man now right?

Say, yes lol. Crits?

emerging
November 4th, 2010, 02:08 AM
okay working on color now. decided to make a simple background of a cave

Yeti Ball
November 4th, 2010, 02:20 AM
emerging your piece looks dope.

Bonzulac
November 4th, 2010, 10:55 AM
emerging: Great work. Are the two ears meant to be of equal length, though?

hammajamma
November 4th, 2010, 12:27 PM
Emerging that is looking fantastic!

CrazedIvan
November 4th, 2010, 02:26 PM
emerging dude, pure awesome.

emerging
November 4th, 2010, 08:12 PM
okay so I think i am pretty much done
thanks for all your suggestions and feedback
I have a bad habit of sitting straight for 6-8 hours and painting lol without even going for washroom or food breaks. So i am going to go back to life and come back and give some feedback for everyone here.

here is what i got

samming
November 4th, 2010, 09:49 PM
from tonight
just getting into this stuff

Si_Swe
November 5th, 2010, 12:58 AM
samming - Please refer to the COW rules on humanoid creatures as well as clothing and accessories. Right now your creature is breaking both of those rules.

emerging - Holy shit! That is all I can say.

Here's a little bit of work on mine. The only rendering I've actually done is on the creature's face...

(lark
November 5th, 2010, 02:14 AM
emerging: thats awesome dude! you actually finished before i started hahahaha.

just started today, I've been super busy.

here's my wip, real early. i wanted it to be intimidating, but still have whimsical elements.

sketch...

1095437

then added values...

1095438

SCF
November 5th, 2010, 07:51 AM
emerging: Really awesome! The rendering on the creature is amazing.
CrazedIvan: I like your design, but it looks kind of gentle, not really like something you'd want to shun.
Si_Swe: Nice, looks pretty creepy. Is the tail supposed to be partly behind the tree? The perspective on the creature and the girl doesn't seem to match.


My current wip; it's still very rough in places.

http://www.scfworks.com/art/cow193_wip3.jpg

brambor
November 5th, 2010, 12:51 PM
Awesome entry emerging!

Added some lame background, moved front leg and modified silhouette. Should I push values on the beast more? I have no idea what to do about colours.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/bandersnatch-2.png

o0Dave0o
November 5th, 2010, 02:43 PM
Alright well here's my sketch so far. It's intimidating posting in this thread, there are so many good pieces so far!! This is just a rough sketch but the idea is that being Frumious he releases a pheromone that appears as steam coming off his head and this head also changes to a red color. This attracts more Bandersnatches which is why it is important to shun them when they are Frumious!
Quick question, since I'm still kind of new to all this...what do people generally work at, 8bit, 16 bit or 32 bit in their color? I know it changes the size of the file...is this just a personal preference kind of thing?

njg901
November 5th, 2010, 11:52 PM
Here is my bandersnatch so far. Color on him and all, but I'll probobly do some sort of a background so I'm not done. The bandersnatch lives mostly in the swamps lying await right under the water. His back and tail are above water exposed and the holes on his back secrete a sweet smelling fragrance that catch the attention of animals and humans alike, and if anything gets too close, the bandersnatch will strike. So we must shun the frumious and the sweet fragrance it secretes or it might cost a limb. Any crits/ advice would be awesome seeing as I'm not very awesome at this like many of these people on the thread. Thanks for reading.

tbaldree
November 5th, 2010, 11:59 PM
I might give this one a whirl - here's a 90-min quickie to get an idea down.

haekel
November 6th, 2010, 07:40 AM
Amazing round until now.
Here are my sketch : I will try to developp the second one.

I will put comment on other entry later...

thanks for watching

OHI
November 6th, 2010, 07:59 AM
I´m surprised that so many people choose to do a reptilian creature! If I would have ben able to join I would have tried to make some kind of a bird.

Anyways it´s looking great guys!

totengraber
November 6th, 2010, 09:54 AM
Here's my first go at one of these CoWs:
http://www.totengraber.net/art/bandersnatch2.jpg

I feel like it needs more texturing, maybe shading/highlighting and some work on the background. I'm not yet very experienced with Painter, so it might take a little while.

brambor
November 6th, 2010, 11:11 AM
tbaldree: I love it's wicked smile.

I tried to colour it, but I suck at it so much. I made 2 attempts, I'm happy with neither of them. Crits and advise much needed!

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/bandersnatchcomp.png

Fractalbot
November 6th, 2010, 01:31 PM
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_mwwdJzJcltU/TNWeR5SjLgI/AAAAAAAAAws/kOcCw_LwYYM/Sketch_1_Small.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_mwwdJzJcltU/TNWeSHFCMQI/AAAAAAAAAww/Vybu5qxTZro/Sketch_2_Small.jpg

Some sketches I just did today... I guess I'd better get going on this one! I think I will probably go with developing the first one, it looks a bit meaner and I think the silhouette works a lot better then the second. Though I do love spindly monsters, they're much creepier...

Si_Swe
November 6th, 2010, 03:16 PM
Wow. Lots of turnout this round. Awesome.
tbaldtree - That scepter is getting a bit too much into the range of accessories for your creature which are prohibited by COW rules.

I've done some work. Took the little girl out of the picture until I can get everything down palette-wise, especially in the background.

Paolo13
November 6th, 2010, 04:28 PM
Long time no see. I keep following the DSG but I wanted to draw this weekend, so I am giving this one a try. Couldo not use the Attachment tool so this is a link. Ciao

p.s. some one here ROCKS, but everyone is telling him so I will not...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v616/paolo13/COW193_03.jpg

emerging
November 6th, 2010, 05:25 PM
tbaldree: I love it's wicked smile.

I tried to colour it, but I suck at it so much. I made 2 attempts, I'm happy with neither of them. Crits and advise much needed!

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/bandersnatchcomp.png

Hey man i just had a minute to play around with your work in photoshop so i just applied bunch of filters. See if you like this kind of palette and you can go from there. Hope this helps

brambor
November 6th, 2010, 05:47 PM
Thank you so much emerging! It looks so much better. I really should have made background cooler, it would make yellow creature pop out.

emerging
November 6th, 2010, 05:57 PM
Thannks guys. Nice to see more and more people jump on this! Here is some feedback as promised

Paolo13 - that is pretty awesome man! some nice rendering and original detail going on. Can't wait to see it finished. Just wondering if it has one leg in the back or i am just not seeing the second one because of the roughness of that area.

si_swe - its starting to come out pretty nicely. I like the job you are doing on the fur. Just a few things bug me right now which is the anatomy of his legs - are they just like squid-like tenticles or do you mean them to be actual mammal-kind limbs? because right now they look soft like tubes.

Fractalbot - I would definitely go for the second sketch - it is way more unique and you can have some fun rendering the worm like projections :). How about combining both designs and using the body of the second sketch but the head with fur of the first one? Imho the head on the second sketch is the least successful part.

branbor - i did a little paintover that i hope helps in terms of colors. Your bandersnatch does not necessarily have to be that orange. That's just a rough idea. But you can always perform some color leaking so add some blues in the shadows to make it flow into the environment better

totengraber - pretty cool alien-looking guy. To suggest couple things I would advice not to be afraid of contrasts and sharpness. Your creature is lacking some contrast right now. Also i hope you can add more details to the spots that you want to draw the attention of the viewer (like the face would be one so put more details there). And I think it would be better in your piece to darken the background forest as it gets further unless you are going to add some backlighting which we will see in between the tree trunks.

haekel - it's starting to turn out pretty good man. Just as a suggestion I would advice you not to be afraid to experiment with your design and try to make it a little more unique. Right now it just reminds me of a dinosaur a bit too much.

tbaldree - cute little guy! Can't wait to see him colored. Looks kinda like a cross between alice wonderland's cat and a gremlin. I like the rendering too!

njg901 - swamp creature! nice. I think you should make him a little more slimy and dirty. If he lives in the swamps he needs to have all this dark green crap on him like algae and stuff. Use some small and sharp highlights to make him look a bit more wet - that should help.

o0Dave0o - i like his body but i think the head design could be improved a little bit. Right now his upper jaw end is kind of confusing. I am not exactly sure how it works but i can see you are going for something original so maybe try to draw it in a way that will be easily deliverable for everybody.

SCF - i really enjoy this color palette with cyans greens and browns. Couple things i would work on are the anatomy of the creatures legs. Just look up some mammals for reference. Another thing is that this creature doesn't really strike me as something original and unique at this point. Try adding some kind of design element that will break that and that will definitely bring your design to the next level.

(lark - still waiting for more updates man! I am a fan of back lighting too as you can see haha. I like the "preciouuus" kind of feel that i get from this creature. Something that strikes me is that it looks as if he is tiptoeing while sitting. I don't know if that's your intention but if not you might wanna consider fixing that. Also just wondering - will he be able to fly with those litle wings? lol


samming - just waiting for some more updates to crit but at this point all i can say is watch out for your creature not to become a character. Right now it is more of a character than a creature imo.

crazedivan - that's much better than the very first one. Definitely not human-like anymore! Except the face maybe which is absolutely fine. I really enjoy the stripe pattern on his body. Right now though the head looks a little disconnected from the rest of the body. I believe it's because your body is almost side view but your head is turned towards us but the shadows are not following that and neither does his neck.

SwitchBladeArchitect - that's pretty awesome. Looks to me like a cross between a wild boar and a dinosaur. Nice atmosphere. Just waiting on it to be colored.

APW - i quite enjoy the little limbs and the body but the skull-like head and face design is throwing me off a little bit. Let's see some more updates and please post smaller size.

Bonzulac - i like how you have an interaction of the characters. And it truly portrays the character of this kind of creature - sneaky tricky and evil. One is distracting pretending to be a friend while the other is about to pounce and "snatch" the girl. Your linework is good i hope your coloring is going to be great as well!

hammajamma - nice little insect-like creature. I think you should push the fur idea on it further and make this interesting cross between an insect and a mammal. Imho I liked the version with smaller claws. Even though that might not be as original it added a lot more character to this little fella.

Yeti Ball - your creature and the atmosphere is pretty menacing - i like that. I think everything is working so far except the anatomy of his legs. That could be improved. Just look at some more reference. Other than that pretty unique looking creature.

Art4All - So far i really like the line-work. The anatomy is good. Hopefully we can see some more in terms of details color and values.

hope that helps somehow. I am almost done fixing some minor things on mine!

Si_Swe
November 6th, 2010, 07:16 PM
Thanks emerging. I meant them to be tube-like. Rather, somewhat like prehensile tails or tentacles with hands on the end. I wanted to give the impression of it slinking and sliding as its chief method of locomotion. Any suggestions on how to make them look better for this?

Paolo13
November 6th, 2010, 07:57 PM
Bed time for me.
A step by step.

Emerging...yes just lost the forth leg on the way LOL... hope to find it soon.

Ciao

markovic.djo
November 6th, 2010, 08:58 PM
This is my first post on Conceptart.org forum, also first time to participate at C.O.W. And I must say that this topic is just great!

When I read it, I started drawing right away - I didn't want to ruin my imagination with any references or other information except for the word alone.

So, here is my Bandersnatch, as I see it, hope you like it! ;)

o0Dave0o
November 7th, 2010, 01:02 AM
Hey thanks for the crit Emerging! I definitely wasn't feeling the design at all...Basic head shape was alright but otherwise I was just hating it. The pose wasn't working etc, so I changed it up! Started up from scratch keeping some stuff from earlier sketches and this is what I've come up with so far! I'm going to try to make sure there's some diverse textures so it's not just a plain boring lizard thingy but we'll see how it goes! Crits and comments always welcome!
Everyone's stuff is looking so great, and the turnout is spectacular! I really like the way you're rendering out that creature Paolo, really really great with the contrasts of hard edges and soft. Great!

samming
November 7th, 2010, 01:06 AM
this is rule-appropriate, yeah?

justonecog
November 7th, 2010, 02:08 AM
Think I'm gonna' jump in on this one. I didn't like the way my entry came out in the Gnixxian Assassin COW, so I hope to redeem myself by sticking with what I know... pencils and just some light PS work.

Pencils for now. I'm still pretty terrible with lighting, so if anyone can gimme' some pointers, I'd greatly appreciate it :)

Forrest_I
November 7th, 2010, 02:17 AM
Decided to try this COW out. Here's mine so far.

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/4577/bandersnatchcopy.png (http://img508.imageshack.us/i/bandersnatchcopy.png/)

totengraber
November 7th, 2010, 07:52 AM
Thanks, emerging, I appreciate the feedback. How's this?

http://www.totengraber.net/art/bandersnatch3.jpg

brambor
November 7th, 2010, 11:34 AM
justonecog: I like what you did so far, especially legs look cool. I would make rear side of your creature darker, to create some depth. I also have feeling that neck is bent a little unnaturally, maybe the angle is to acute.

I corrected colours in mine, tried to make palette cooler, for me it is more or less finished, unless you guys have come crits. I want it to be my first finished COW!

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp262/brambor/bandersnatch1.png

Fractalbot
November 7th, 2010, 11:48 AM
More WIP... locking down the composition and starting in on colour. I decided to have a tiny Alice hiding in terror under one of the tree roots, just to show the scale of the Bandersnatch.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mwwdJzJcltU/TNbkRUIK--I/AAAAAAAAAxM/MiQtNnYtcT4/WIP_Comp_1.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_mwwdJzJcltU/TNbkRQt5NlI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/bHU2Iqgbsb8/WIP_1.jpg

Forrest_I
November 7th, 2010, 12:54 PM
Update...

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4577/bandersnatchcopy.png (http://img87.imageshack.us/i/bandersnatchcopy.png/)

porcupine
November 7th, 2010, 04:15 PM
Looks like a lot of participants this week and lots of awesome pics! Gonna be really fun to see the finals.

Maybe with some luck I even have time to do something this week, heres a WIP atleast:

RayTwicket
November 7th, 2010, 04:24 PM
WOW Great to see so many people taking part this round. I started with a flying bug, scrapped it, decided to try something different and got hung up all over the place, I think it's been an overall good experience :) here's what I got so far.


Yeti Ball I really like your creature's head a lot those first sketches are great, can't wait to see how it turns out

Si_Swe I kinda liked your lil jumping guy from you initial sketches, he had a lot of character, but you might have chosen a better creature to fit the topic.

hammajamma first your avatar is badass and would fit this topic perfectly IMO, second your COW is really good too, I like the bigger arms :)

emerging you work fast eh? awesome results, really like how slime it looks it really suits hit's cave environment

SwitchbladeArchitect NICE, looking forward to see it when you colour it

CrazedIva Glad you changed your up, it was looking pretty humanoid, nice posture

SCF your creature is looking kinda plasticy, but these are WIPs so I'm looking forward to seeing yours in the finals

sorry for leaving everyone else out but this takes a lot of time.

Forrest_I
November 7th, 2010, 04:59 PM
I'm probably gonna finish this tomorrow unless I end up having a lot of homework, then I'll finish it on Tuesday :)

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4577/bandersnatchcopy.png (http://img146.imageshack.us/i/bandersnatchcopy.png/)

skullbeast
November 7th, 2010, 05:49 PM
some cool work up here!

emerging_ f'n killer render. great lighting.

wip!

SCF
November 7th, 2010, 06:03 PM
emerging: I agree, after seeing the other entries so far mine looks pretty plain. I'm trying to make it look a bit more monstrous. I had some trouble finding useful reference pictures for the anatomy, but I hope it's better now.

RayTwicket: I'll keep in mind to add some more texture to it later. I like your design, but the face looks a bit slanted. The left eye has the top bulging out and for the right it's the bottom.

http://www.scfworks.com/art/cow193_wip6.jpg

SaintLConcept
November 7th, 2010, 06:36 PM
man, this round is great!, i kind of ditch mine after paint it for a while i felt it look alot like a dragon with a chicken head.. which i cant get the bandersnatch feel, so i changed the whole sketch, this one rings the bell for me, is it just me or anybody here cant paint too if the sketch doesnt has the 'feel-right' to you ,lol

The Sceptical Saint
November 7th, 2010, 08:11 PM
Fractalbot - Glad I didn't see yours before I started working on this. I just looked at it and went "yep, THAT'S a bandersnatch" I would've ended up with something far too derivative of your design

Art4All - digging the tumorous, maned look

everyone seems to be going for large critters, I've gone small. Did I miss a vital piece of bandersnatch info?
Base Sketch for my first COW, let me know if there's anything glaringly wrong:

skullbeast
November 7th, 2010, 08:21 PM
some cleaned up forms

(lark
November 8th, 2010, 03:43 AM
ok I'm almost done i think. I'll hopefully get some crits up tomorrow.

here's where I'm at.

1097517

lookin' like its gonna be a good finals. I'm kinda surprised people turned in so early. hopefully you guys don't think the deadline was Sunday.

Fractalbot
November 8th, 2010, 09:43 AM
Critiques...

Sorry if I didn't get to some people, just did a few cause there's so many for this round!

Skullbeast: What can I say, looks really good! I'm really loving the patterns on the legs, and the fact that the pincers are also a mouth. It definitely looks like it could snatch someone up and eat them.

(lark: again, I like the patterns. I would suggest maybe adding some blemishes to the skin to texture it, or maybe some hairs or scales. Adding a small highlight beneath the creature, perhaps a blue one from its glowing claws could help to define its underside a bit better, as well as the wings.

The Sceptical Saint: Thanks a lot for the compliment! : ) I'm not sure why everyone is tending to do larger creatures, as there actually isn't a huge amount of information to go on. Nice in a way, because you get lots of variety. I like your take on it, if I were to suggest a change it would be to make it a bit more outlandish... Right now it's something that looks like it could exist in our world, not in Wonderland. Maybe you could do this with colour? Or change the proportions of the creature?

SCF: Interesting comment that you wanted to make your monster more monstrous... : ) I guess that's always the problem with creating fantasy creatures and making them believable! If you don't want to change your creature very much, I would suggest putting some interesting "warning" marking on it... much like in nature when we see a tree frog or a dangerous fish etc. Maybe some spines along its back as well, and tightening up the facial expression to one of complete menace would help it look very scary.

Forrest I: Good start. I suggest pushing the light source even harder, really defining those shadows and highlights. The teeth just don't look as shiny as they could... putting really strong rimlights and bright highlights on them would definitely help push them out. : )

Ray Twicket: Coming along nicely! Can't wait to see more... from your post I can tell you're just starting the colouring. I would encourage you to use some cool blue/purple shadows on this guy to help his skin look scaly and cold.


Samming: Can't wait to see the rest! I really like the eye you have done, though there isn't much to critique so far I can see the pupil is very original and Wonderland-esque.

Paolo13: Really great, really original head structure. I would just watch for it becoming too cow-skull (trust me I've drawn too many of those for classes!) but other than that it looks awesome. : )



As for my design, more coming tonight... thanks for your critiques and comments!

haekel
November 8th, 2010, 10:02 AM
here is my advancement until now.
I'm not very happy with the result, but i'm still a beginer...
Comments welcome.

My comments :
(lark :Very nice beast. I'm not fan of the wings tought. I'm fan of the head...
skullbeast : really creepy. I love it !
The Sceptical Saint : Nice critter. Your idea of a small beast is a good one I think. Altought it's interesting for me : your beast seems to be small, without any references... Can you explain your technic to achieve this to a noob ?
Art4All : nice start !
SCF : I really love the mood. Nice render, but i'm less convinced by the four eyes thing...
RayTwicket : nice creature, i love the dynamics.
porcupine : your cartoony style is great ! I particulary like the stripe on the horns.
Fractalbot : nice idea : it looks quick and angry.
Brambor : good work : your last color version is good !
totengraber : your bandersnatch remind me ET : perhaps to gentle ?
o0Dave0o's : nice work. The head is great !
[edit to finish...]
Si_Swe : nice creature as usual. I love the endless body.
Paolo13 : your style is great. I just find the rear fur a little bit strange.
tbaldree : Strong concept here. Is smile is very interesting.
emerging : You almost kill the round here ! Your design is just great...
hammajamma : very original concept.
Bonzulac : Hahaha. so funny. thanks for your drawing !

haekel
November 8th, 2010, 04:25 PM
sorry for the two posts but here is my lattest version :

(comment and crits welcome, as usual)


@Emerging : thanks for the crit : I agree, my bandersnatch is more a bandersaur :D
The head bother me but I don't find anything else "convincing on my paper sketch...
There is something wrong in the head orientation also... and perhaps in the long neck too... Erf... but the next one will be better I hope :D

Hexism
November 8th, 2010, 05:21 PM
>:


.

Bonzulac
November 8th, 2010, 08:41 PM
There are some great designs here. This was my first attempt at a C.O.W., and I learned something I apparently have to keep learning over and over again - don't overreach. What should have been a creature design turned into a full illustration I simply haven't had time to finish.

Delacroix said, "The artist who seeks perfection in everything achieves it in nothing." This would be a perfect example of his truism.

Then again, I do have two more days....

moonskinned
November 9th, 2010, 02:59 AM
heres my wips, posting my final in the other thread :p

some really fun entries!

haekel
November 9th, 2010, 06:41 AM
Lastest state...
Not sure it's better... :(

By the way, moonskinned your crocodisnatch looks great. And your final version rocks !

matt kohr
November 9th, 2010, 03:07 PM
hey guys -- looking great all around! I am a bit late on this one... we'll see if I get a final together or not.

http://mattkohr.squarespace.com/storage/ca/mKohr_COW193_WIP01.jpg

(lark
November 9th, 2010, 03:46 PM
matt kohr: lookin good dude! i also love that you're putting those tutorials together. i wish i found them when i was starting. looks like there's gonna be a lot of great stuff on your channel.

everyone should check his vimeo out. good tips to get goin.

Paolo13
November 9th, 2010, 04:45 PM
I agree with (lark, I just watched some of your videos Matt!!!! And i tried the double window thing for not havinngto zoom in ...NICE!!! THX
Ciao

Si_Swe
November 9th, 2010, 05:45 PM
Some really great stuff coming out of this round. Reminder that the deadline is tomorrow at 9:00 PST (GMT -8 ).

I have quite a bit left to do, but it's starting to come together...

Fractalbot
November 9th, 2010, 06:30 PM
More detailing.... obviously A LOT to do tomorrow!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_mwwdJzJcltU/TNnnDJz1J0I/AAAAAAAAAxs/piTUpt8SP7g/WIP_2.jpg

skullbeast
November 9th, 2010, 11:59 PM
final bandersnatch

BigBreakfast
November 10th, 2010, 10:48 AM
I'm having a lot of trouble getting my post in the FINALS thread to show my attached image.
This is my first COW, please pardon my ignorance.
how should I attach it?, I've tried using the attach images paper clip.
but it wont appear in a little
__Attached Images__
[ ]
[__________________]

box


What format works for this?

Si_Swe
November 10th, 2010, 10:53 AM
When posting, hit "Go Advanced" then scroll down to the "Manage Attachments" button. Jpeg files tend to work the best for these purposes, so attach your piece in a valid format (pdfs like you have there will always just show up as a download link, so they're a no-go).

BigBreakfast
November 10th, 2010, 11:52 AM
(pdfs like you have there will always just show up as a download link, so they're a no-go).

Thanks Si Swe,

the max file size .jpeg requirements seem so low, when I knock my image own that small it looses a lot of quality.
Is there an ideal resolution/pixel size that seems to work best?

BB

Si_Swe
November 10th, 2010, 12:23 PM
I've never had trouble. I usually work around the 3-4000 pixel range in terms of image width and height, but I shrink the images to between 1000 and 700 pixels wide so they fit on the site. I've very rarely ever had to have my images below maximum jpeg quality.

haekel
November 10th, 2010, 12:49 PM
matt kohr : Whaou. Your Bandersnatch is very frumious ! Your creature fits very well in alice's world.
Thanks a lot also for your video tutorial... I just view them all. They are great for beginners like me. I hope to see more in the future.

Si_Swe
November 10th, 2010, 09:56 PM
Deadline in one hour.