C.O.W. #196 DEATHS FAMILIAR. Voting!

[(lark]

C.O.W. #196 DEATHS FAMILIAR_Voting!

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ROUND #196 VOTING

Topic: DEATHS FAMILIAR


Deadline for the voting: 1 WEEK

[FilRam]

Artist: filram

Concept: Deaths familiar (Tracker)
Death has many allies...and this creature is in a rare and special class. It belongs to an ancient race, born and raised in the deepest circles os hell.
Beyonde the sly and cunning his main skill lies in his sense of smell, he can smel the fear that any living creature feels for his own death.
This friend is only called to serve in very special situations, occasionally, for several reasons, some enlightened beings can cheat on death, then she knows she can count on his most faithful friend because no one can escape this small hunter

[troyzart]

Artist: Troyzart

Concept: scare-crows


There is basically a flock of these guys that follow death around. Whilst he reaps souls, these little critters (black birds / crows) fly in & eat/devour/absorb the left over bits of soul.
When people of the utmost evil pass, they may be unlucky enough to become one of these guys. Their tallons being tied together is a sign from death that they are his slaves forever - a symbol fo their lack of freedom (ironically enough, birds being a symbol of freedom eh?). It also symbolizes their ever lasting bond to the realm of death.

This was fun! needed a more impressive wing demonstration, but.

[polawat]

Artist: polawat

Concept: Death Eye
Death eyes are spiritual creature working for Death as sensor array and collecting node. They float around the cities like jellyfish, hanging their tentacles and hooks to catch wandering souls. When fully load, they send signal then Death come and take the souls.
1111968

[Ludic]

Artist: Ludic

Concept: The Tracker
Since death is a busy being, he can't be everywhere at once.
This familiar of his, is shaped to be fast and get through any obstacle
in order to find the dieing person and drag the soul for death to collect.

[OHI]

Artist: OHI

Concept: Soul carrier

The soul carrier helps Death with carrying all the souls. It floats above the ground and uses it´s fins to move.

I did´nt have any more time to spend on it so here it is.

[Penpoint]

Artist Penpoint
Concept Soul Keeper

After Death brings souls to the afterlife a guardian is required to keep them from wandering into Limbo. The soul keeper watches, guards and protects the souls until they are collected by the supernatural.

[porcupine]

Artist: porcupine

Concept: Deaths Familiar


"To comfort the recently deceased and to keep me company. My realm can be such a lonely place at times"
-Death

[matias]

Artist:Matias

Concept: The 'Clerk'
Death’s Familiar
One type of Death’s Familiars is the ‘Clerk’ species, a slug like minor demon dwelling in the entry halls of Purgatory. They catalogue the freshly harvested souls by their sins and virtues, so they can be judged and sent on to either Heaven or Hell.

[Jaunay]

Artist: Jaunay

Concept: Death's Ouroboros
Firstly for this concept to makes sense I've taken a few things into account. I presume that
death is omnipotent and immortal. If he has control over something so important then he's going to
need a grand helper to help with all of those deaths each day for eternity.

Death and birth are a part of the same piece of the puzzle, you can't have one without the other,
Death's Ouroboros takes on the task of bringing life and death into the macrocosm. Not just earth.
I've taken the concept to a larger scale, on the right is the birth of planets and stars and on the
left is absolute chaos and destruction, life cannot live with out light and so a black hole.

And in the centre of it all, death the reaper sits in the centre of the beasts eye.
Watching over and keeping track of the universe.

[emerging]

Artist: emerging

Concept: The Soul Collector aka Blood Clock Dragon

The Soul Collector of Death is believed to be an ancient species of dragons that came to earth from the night sky. Although nobody knows for sure, there are rumours that this creature is a close relative of Blood Dragons that roamed the skies thousands of years ago and were distinct because of their transparent bellies that glowed with red blood. To this day, this is the only specimen of the Soul Collector and Blood Dragon known to the human kind.

Some say, that the Soul Collector and the Death have a deal. The Death gave this creature an eternal life in exchange for eternal service as a soul collector and a blood clock

[sourfruitjunkie]

Artist: sourfruitjunkie

Concept: Waking Death
The Norse know them as Fenrir and Garm. Some give them the fond name of Barghest. The Greeks mistook the pack as one dog with many heads; Cerberus.

These black dogs help guide spirits to Death, who occasionally is preoccupied with personal visits. When a soul is freed from it's body, a hound is first to greet them; hence the name Waking Death. Souls bound for heaven see a stern hound with paws of soothing light. Those bound for hell, perceive a plague-wolf with paws traced in hellfire.

[(lark]

Artist: (lark

Concept: the retrievers of the buried
death is a busy guy. With the huge task of reaping souls and taking them to the afterlife, he sometimes misses a soul here and there. Those poor souls usually end up connected to their bodies and get buried along with them.

the reaptheons are a species with the sole purpose of helping out death with this matter. The way they do this is that they have an instinctual hunger for human souls. Because of this they search out these unfortunates who have been buried with their bodies, and suck them out of the ground with their powerful ability to take in, and ingest soul material. Once retrieving a soul, they quickly return to their master at which point they are reaped themselves for the soul they happen to be carrying. The loss of the soul forces the reaptheons to go in search of more souls because of their intense hunger.

1112750

[zenarion]

Artist: zenarion

Concept: Corpse golem familiar

One of the many creatures accompanying the embodyment of Death is a Corpse Golem. According to ancient texts the beast was constructed by a magician of great power, as a gift to Death itself. The purpose of the gift was to give the magician more time in the world of the living. Death has kept the corpse golem, taking it along during his travels. It serves sometimes as a carrier of departing souls into the Underworld.

[strangedawn]

Artist: strangedawn
Concept: Collector of souls

He is the collector of souls of the sinners, he get and collect some souls of the sinners and resurrects them in a new human form in the right time, and that human will be born to do evil things.
Done in pscs3,no 3d or any image use.

[Ville_S]

Artist: Ville_S

Concept: Deaths Familiar: Rot


Rots are disgusting creatures. They have soapy pale greenish skin reminiscent of rotting corpses. Teeth are showing right trough the thin translucent skin as if in permanent grin. Likewise the eyes are also covered by skin. Rots serve as information gatherers. They're everywhere, following and observing humans and their deeds relaying the information directly to death himself.
Don't be naughty, because you never know when Rot is watching.

[Paolo13]

Artist: Paolo13

Concept: Incubus
Incubus is the only creature that is allowed to travel between the world of the dead and the living, in order to help its master to capture some of the most relentless souls. Sometimes Incubus lurks our world, sneaking away from its loving master, trying to enjoy some of his long forgotten memories of its past life.

[SCF]

Artist: SCF

Concept: The eye of death
Some who have been on the brink of death and survived are said to have seen it: the eye of death, peering at them, awaiting their final breath. Silently and without movement it watches, ready to call its master when the victim's soul is ready to be harvested. And as it watches, it weeps; a quiet display of compassion for those unfortunate souls.

[RayTwicket]

Artist RayTwicket
Concept Death's Familiar

My Death's Familiar was inspired by the day of the dead, hence the feathers and painted skulls.
I see him as a junkyard dog kind of companion who watches over the souls of the dead while death is off doing his thing.
They don't often get to visit the realm of the living due to their rambunctious "playful" nature and when I say playful it tends to mean "gently" removing your noggin and skinning it which doesn't go over too well with the living, so they get left behind to tend to the souls. Death has enough to deal with without worrying about this big goofball.

[JanJager]

Artist: JanJager

Concept: DEATHS FAMILIAR
Year 1355 the black death and his familiar came to visit.

[Kir Nuyts]

Kirsten Nuyts: KirNuyts

Concept: Flying Monkeys
Often mistook by Chupacabra, these flying monkeys guide souls into the light or darkness (Heaven or Hell). They never chow themselves and often look like 'shadows with fire eyes'. They don t eat bananas.

1113304

[NetherVoid]

Artist: NetherVoid

Concept: Scillcet


The Scilicet have been around for centuries, always lurking in the shadows surrounding Death’s comings and goings. Almost entirely unknown to humans, these little creatures get their name from the first to ever become aware of their existence. From sheer awe and fear they were named the Scilicet, meaning nameless ones. Their blue fur fades as they phase in and out of human existence, often only visible for a split second. They exist as helpers to Death, retrieving souls and transporting them to the afterlife. They bear no ill will toward the living, just complete subservience to their master.

[DefiledVisions]

Artist: DefiledVisions

Concept: The Infinite Decay


As Death is.. so Decay does.


I understand if it doesn't get to poll, it's quite humanoid. May you mods be merciful, amen.

[Ishren]

Artist: Ishren

Concept: Skull Cat


Hides in Death's shadow. Can go where Death cannot. Is able to get through charms people use to protect themselves from Death. Particularly enjoys harvesting the souls of mice and children.

[evolutionseed]

Artist: evolutionseed

Concept: Death's hounds

Expert trackers, Death’s hounds seek and search out souls that have drifted between realms, been caught in limbo, or returning those to hell that might have escaped...

[skullbeast]

Artist: skullbeast

Concept: eater of souls
Death must unload his souls so he may continue reaping.

[SailorMooninite]

Artist: Sailormooninite

Concept: The Scythe
Death uses his Scythe to "reap" the souls of the dead, so when needed, it comes to life in its true form of a vulture-like creature that "cleans up" after death by surrounding the soul in it's blanket-like wings and carrying it off to the afterlife.

When he is summoned by Death, the Scythe rises up, tilts back his mighty beak and the sound of scraping metal rings through the darkness.

[(lark]

hey guys. just letting you know that this is a multi-vote this time around. trying it out because there a enough entries to warrant it. please keep your votes to around 3 or 4 though. i don't want it getting out of hand.

[Si_Swe]

Voted for Matias, (lark, JanJager and DefiledVisions, I'll be throwing my crits and comments down in an hour or so. Solid round, everyone.

An hour or so later...

FilRam - I really like the style you have going on. It strikes me as a unique and well executed rendering style which would fit well into illustration for a children’s book or a book cover or something along those lines. I almost voted for it, but I was trying to limit myself to 4 votes and I felt more drawn to the others I voted for.
tryzart - You posted this yesterday early in the day, I’m not sure if you had personal time constraints, but I feel like with the extra day-ish you could have really fleshed this piece out a bit more, added hints of background to give the creature some context and cropped the image to better compose the image. I like the spindles of darkness coming off the creature and I feel like those could have been pushed. I’d also take a look at light sources in order to better get a better sense of how those look in still images, to really give that fire a sense of luminosity.
Polawat - Very cool aberrant design. It has a great sense of the mystical and the deathly about it. I think your rendering style is pretty cool and it reminds me a bit of JFWalls’ style. I’m not sure how I feel about the warped bottom area, it looks a little bit photoshop blur-tool-y.
Ludic - It’s funny, when I see this image I always see the size comparison as the human in relation to the full rendering we see above, so I get confused and say “Wait, this thing is huge?” only to quickly realize my mistake. I would focus on getting a wider range in values in there to give some parts of it more form. Up your brush size a bit, too, since it’s looking a bit too strokey at the moment.
OHI - While I can see that your technical abilities in photoshop are improving, the design is lacking in form. From the other creatures I’ve seen you working on, I know you are capable of putting more detail into your designs. Keep pushing yourself and do as much studying from life as you can. Try and clean up your edges and use your line drawings to really get a good design going before you start rendering.
Penpoint - I wish I could crit your work but I still can’t actually see it...
porcupine - I like the image overall. The background establishes the scene well, the necklace gives a really good sense of scale. The creature has the right amount of personality, but has some anatomical concerns. The most obvious is the strange way the back leg seems to have too few joints in it. Try and imagine the way the muscles of the creature might interconnect to really get the flow of limb into torso looking natural.
matias - Your image was so funny, and the concept to clever that I had to vote for it. The creature totally looks like it’s about to type rapidly on some extremely old computer, recording banal information into an old computer. Your rendering style beautifully mixes cartoony style with an excellent sense of form.
Jaunay - Very high concept creature. An ouroburos is traditionally eating it’s own tail in a representation of infinity, but that is besides the point. You piece feels like it focused too much on it’s presentation and not enough on the creature. There are a lot of effects-y things going on that I’m not sure help the piece overall. The tears in space in particular could have been better exectuted and I’m very distracted my the blue planetoid in the background. I like the concept, I just think the illustration could have been executed in a more naturalistic way which would have achieved the same idea better.
emerging - It need not be said that your rendering is great. I think the concept of the hourglass incorporated into the design as fantastic, and I think it was done about as well as I could have hoped. I feel like the front of the creature needs a little something extra to make it feel functional on its own. Right now it looks like it must be constantly held up by death, to me. There is some awkwardness in the perspective of the illustration, where death looks much further behind the figure than the creature would suggest. I also liked that supplementary image of just the creature a lot, I was disappoint we didn’t get that image as well.
sourfruitjunkie - Cool overall design for your lupines here. I particularly like the faceplate of the fore creature. The hind legs of all the creatures are anotomically weaker than the rendering elsewhere. The feet in particular are a bit too flat. The white of the legs is also far too bright, drawing very unneeded attention to them and taking a lot of focus away from other aspects of the drawing. If you got that stuff right you’d have a very solid illustration going on.
(lark - Really fantastic stuff, got a vote from me, no questions asked. Excellent lighting, dynamic pose and I like the way you’ve made Death nice and ambiguous in form. I’ve been really digging the spark shapes you’ve done in the last couple pieces, I’m interested to know if you do that freehand or have a brush for that. The one thing that always strikes me is that the palette feels a bit muted. I think it works for the most part in this piece, but I think that green could have been pushed further (though I am aware that jpegs wash your greens out).
zenarion - A cool design with nice, simple execution. I really don’t feel like the detailed city in the back is doing the piece any good. It feels far to stylistically different from the rest of the piece. Some of the lighting effects seem a bit rough and could have used some more attention, but I like your style and I hope to see you in COWs in the future.
strangedawn - I like the painterly style you’ve used, but as a result, some parts of the creature feel a bit busy and are harder to read as forms. The creature is also striking me as being a tad on the humanoid side. I would be interested to see the creature rendered in a 3/4ths view to really get a sense of it’s forms.
Ville_s - This piece was really incredible. It’s so simple and yet so effective. The sickly textures, the spindly legs, the membrane over the visible teeth and eye, it’s all very well rendered and very fucking creepy. I would have voted for it instantly were I not trying to limit myself to 4. Seriously, though, I really hope to see you in future rounds.
Paolo13 - I really like the mummified look you have going on though-out the piece, the design is interesting and I love the touch of the extending neck/head. I wish the legs in the back were a little bit better rendered and I think the palette could have been pushed a little more, but I think it’s a pretty damn solid piece.
SCF - I think this is a well executed illustration with a nice use of lighting to create a focal point. The creature looks pretty humorous, which doesn’t seem to fit its description all that well. It kind of reminds me of something that might be present in the world of Monster’s Inc. I’m not a huge fan of the photorealistic moon here, and in fact the moon outside the window need not have been there, it was perfectly implied by the lighting. In fact, the lighting suggests that the moon would be somewhere further to the left.
RayTwicket - Great design, it fits with your description perfectly, too. It feels very voodoo. Anatomically it’s rear leg is very strange-looking, and could use some work, but that’s really the only complaint I have at this point.
JanJager - When I saw your first two ideas I was thinking “go with the cat! go with the cat!” I’m so glad you did. It was so clever and moody and so well executed. Were we not doing a multivote this would have been a very tough call between you and (lark’s piece.
KirNuyts - While your illustration is very nice and has a great sense of mood, I don’t really feel like it showcases the creature enough. I mistook them for crows originally, the figure takes the person’s attention immediately which is really a shame. As nice as the figure looks, this is about the creatures, and I just don’t get to see them in enough detail.
NetherVoid - Very nicely done. There is a real sense of ethereality to them. My one real complaint would be the way the ear on the one of the right is rendered lacks the transparency and flow of the rest of the piece.
DefiledVisions - One thing that always strikes me about your pieces is that I never care if something looks totally unfinished. You have an excellent way of drawing the eyes to the focal points and rendering the shit out of those, so the rough areas seem appropriately out of focus. I think the hands in could have used a tiny bit more attention and the spikes could have used some more form, but I take it that may have been because you thought you had 3 hours less than you actually did. In the end, the mysticism of your piece combined with my love of your style scored a vote from me.
Ishren - Nice design, I was thinking of doing a similar type of design, using squirrels as a base, when I was contemplating this topic. I would recommend doing some fur related studies, dial up your brush size quite a bit.
evolutionseed - It’s unusual, for me, to see such comic-style work in this weekly. Your familiars are pretty damn cool (they remind me of komodo dragons a bit). Nice sense of mood and ferocity in the creatures.
skullbeast - This is one of my favorites of yours in the last little while. I think the design of the head and body are fantastic, though I’m not such a fan of the design of the legs. I feel like they could have used a bit more rendering attention.
Sailormoonite - Clever idea. The front one looks pretty damn good, the rear one looks like it could have used a bit more time. The strokes on parts of it feel a bit too straight to look feathered, I would recommend varying your line direction a bit more to really get that sense of feathery texture.
ryanoir - You were too late, but there is no reason to delete it even so. I liked the concept of it being a beast of burden, I feel like you have the rendering a bit backwards, though. The blue lit areas feel too soft, where those kind of areas should be a lot crisper, where the shadowed areas should be softer. I would recommend doing some lighting studies and I might also dial up your brush size a bit to get rid of the scribbly areas of your piece.

[skullbeast]

It did not reset to vote for more than one for me, maybe I jumped the gun.

[Niva.]

W00t, multi vote rules.

I'm still a bit upset that I didn't know the deadline was today otherwise I would've pushed mine more yesterday.

Anyways, I voted:

Clark: Well done sir
Emerging: Really cool design on that thing
Ville_S: Awesomeness, reminded me of some creature from doom, also had the alien effect going under the skin.
DefiledVisions: As always I like your designs!

[matias]

Voted for Paolo13, (lark & DefiledVisions.

Paolo13 Yours was my favourite, loved the extra detail with the extendo-head, that little extra drawing sold it for me! Nice clean render and concept didnt hurt either! :P

(lark I've always been a fan of imps, I think yours is a great take on that style familiar, nice pose, well executed great work!

DefiledVisions really nice style, style sells! nuff said! :D

[porcupine]

Awesome round!

I really like when there's a great variety in the entries and to be able to vote multiple was really needed this round (and even so I wish I could voted for even more.)!

Anyway my votes goes to:

Sourfruitjunkie - Great mood in the image and I love your rendering, style and contrasts.

RayTwicket - Love the feathers and skulls and the different theme.

JanJager - So much evil in that creature, there's a great feeling that this was who brought the plague. The rendering and light is great too!

NetherVoid - I really like the colors in this one, and the contrast between the solid skeletons and translucent fur adds alot to the piece.

No time for individual crits atm, I'm swamped with school. I could easily have voted for twice as many...

[emerging]

for those who vote dont forget what the brief is for...

[OHI]

Si Swe: Thank you! I use Gimp and not photoshop but it really makes me happy to hear you say that you see improvement! It´s kinda hard to get out and draw from life at this time of the year since it´s -20 celsius.

[emerging]

Voted for Matias, (lark, JanJager and DefiledVisions, I'll be throwing my crits and comments down in an hour or so. Solid round, everyone.

An hour or so later...

FilRam - I really like the style you have going on. It strikes me as a unique and well executed rendering style which would fit well into illustration for a children’s book or a book cover or something along those lines. I almost voted for it, but I was trying to limit myself to 4 votes and I felt more drawn to the others I voted for.
tryzart - You posted this yesterday early in the day, I’m not sure if you had personal time constraints, but I feel like with the extra day-ish you could have really fleshed this piece out a bit more, added hints of background to give the creature some context and cropped the image to better compose the image. I like the spindles of darkness coming off the creature and I feel like those could have been pushed. I’d also take a look at light sources in order to better get a better sense of how those look in still images, to really give that fire a sense of luminosity.
Polawat - Very cool aberrant design. It has a great sense of the mystical and the deathly about it. I think your rendering style is pretty cool and it reminds me a bit of JFWalls’ style. I’m not sure how I feel about the warped bottom area, it looks a little bit photoshop blur-tool-y.
Ludic - It’s funny, when I see this image I always see the size comparison as the human in relation to the full rendering we see above, so I get confused and say “Wait, this thing is huge?” only to quickly realize my mistake. I would focus on getting a wider range in values in there to give some parts of it more form. Up your brush size a bit, too, since it’s looking a bit too strokey at the moment.
OHI - While I can see that your technical abilities in photoshop are improving, the design is lacking in form. From the other creatures I’ve seen you working on, I know you are capable of putting more detail into your designs. Keep pushing yourself and do as much studying from life as you can. Try and clean up your edges and use your line drawings to really get a good design going before you start rendering.
Penpoint - I wish I could crit your work but I still can’t actually see it...
porcupine - I like the image overall. The background establishes the scene well, the necklace gives a really good sense of scale. The creature has the right amount of personality, but has some anatomical concerns. The most obvious is the strange way the back leg seems to have too few joints in it. Try and imagine the way the muscles of the creature might interconnect to really get the flow of limb into torso looking natural.
matias - Your image was so funny, and the concept to clever that I had to vote for it. The creature totally looks like it’s about to type rapidly on some extremely old computer, recording banal information into an old computer. Your rendering style beautifully mixes cartoony style with an excellent sense of form.
Jaunay - Very high concept creature. An ouroburos is traditionally eating it’s own tail in a representation of infinity, but that is besides the point. You piece feels like it focused too much on it’s presentation and not enough on the creature. There are a lot of effects-y things going on that I’m not sure help the piece overall. The tears in space in particular could have been better exectuted and I’m very distracted my the blue planetoid in the background. I like the concept, I just think the illustration could have been executed in a more naturalistic way which would have achieved the same idea better.
emerging - It need not be said that your rendering is great. I think the concept of the hourglass incorporated into the design as fantastic, and I think it was done about as well as I could have hoped. I feel like the front of the creature needs a little something extra to make it feel functional on its own. Right now it looks like it must be constantly held up by death, to me. There is some awkwardness in the perspective of the illustration, where death looks much further behind the figure than the creature would suggest. I also liked that supplementary image of just the creature a lot, I was disappoint we didn’t get that image as well.
sourfruitjunkie - Cool overall design for your lupines here. I particularly like the faceplate of the fore creature. The hind legs of all the creatures are anotomically weaker than the rendering elsewhere. The feet in particular are a bit too flat. The white of the legs is also far too bright, drawing very unneeded attention to them and taking a lot of focus away from other aspects of the drawing. If you got that stuff right you’d have a very solid illustration going on.
(lark - Really fantastic stuff, got a vote from me, no questions asked. Excellent lighting, dynamic pose and I like the way you’ve made Death nice and ambiguous in form. I’ve been really digging the spark shapes you’ve done in the last couple pieces, I’m interested to know if you do that freehand or have a brush for that. The one thing that always strikes me is that the palette feels a bit muted. I think it works for the most part in this piece, but I think that green could have been pushed further (though I am aware that jpegs wash your greens out).
zenarion - A cool design with nice, simple execution. I really don’t feel like the detailed city in the back is doing the piece any good. It feels far to stylistically different from the rest of the piece. Some of the lighting effects seem a bit rough and could have used some more attention, but I like your style and I hope to see you in COWs in the future.
strangedawn - I like the painterly style you’ve used, but as a result, some parts of the creature feel a bit busy and are harder to read as forms. The creature is also striking me as being a tad on the humanoid side. I would be interested to see the creature rendered in a 3/4ths view to really get a sense of it’s forms.
Ville_s - This piece was really incredible. It’s so simple and yet so effective. The sickly textures, the spindly legs, the membrane over the visible teeth and eye, it’s all very well rendered and very fucking creepy. I would have voted for it instantly were I not trying to limit myself to 4. Seriously, though, I really hope to see you in future rounds.
Paolo13 - I really like the mummified look you have going on though-out the piece, the design is interesting and I love the touch of the extending neck/head. I wish the legs in the back were a little bit better rendered and I think the palette could have been pushed a little more, but I think it’s a pretty damn solid piece.
SCF - I think this is a well executed illustration with a nice use of lighting to create a focal point. The creature looks pretty humorous, which doesn’t seem to fit its description all that well. It kind of reminds me of something that might be present in the world of Monster’s Inc. I’m not a huge fan of the photorealistic moon here, and in fact the moon outside the window need not have been there, it was perfectly implied by the lighting. In fact, the lighting suggests that the moon would be somewhere further to the left.
RayTwicket - Great design, it fits with your description perfectly, too. It feels very voodoo. Anatomically it’s rear leg is very strange-looking, and could use some work, but that’s really the only complaint I have at this point.
JanJager - When I saw your first two ideas I was thinking “go with the cat! go with the cat!” I’m so glad you did. It was so clever and moody and so well executed. Were we not doing a multivote this would have been a very tough call between you and (lark’s piece.
KirNuyts - While your illustration is very nice and has a great sense of mood, I don’t really feel like it showcases the creature enough. I mistook them for crows originally, the figure takes the person’s attention immediately which is really a shame. As nice as the figure looks, this is about the creatures, and I just don’t get to see them in enough detail.
NetherVoid - Very nicely done. There is a real sense of ethereality to them. My one real complaint would be the way the ear on the one of the right is rendered lacks the transparency and flow of the rest of the piece.
DefiledVisions - One thing that always strikes me about your pieces is that I never care if something looks totally unfinished. You have an excellent way of drawing the eyes to the focal points and rendering the shit out of those, so the rough areas seem appropriately out of focus. I think the hands in could have used a tiny bit more attention and the spikes could have used some more form, but I take it that may have been because you thought you had 3 hours less than you actually did. In the end, the mysticism of your piece combined with my love of your style scored a vote from me.
Ishren - Nice design, I was thinking of doing a similar type of design, using squirrels as a base, when I was contemplating this topic. I would recommend doing some fur related studies, dial up your brush size quite a bit.
evolutionseed - It’s unusual, for me, to see such comic-style work in this weekly. Your familiars are pretty damn cool (they remind me of komodo dragons a bit). Nice sense of mood and ferocity in the creatures.
skullbeast - This is one of my favorites of yours in the last little while. I think the design of the head and body are fantastic, though I’m not such a fan of the design of the legs. I feel like they could have used a bit more rendering attention.
Sailormoonite - Clever idea. The front one looks pretty damn good, the rear one looks like it could have used a bit more time. The strokes on parts of it feel a bit too straight to look feathered, I would recommend varying your line direction a bit more to really get that sense of feathery texture.
ryanoir - You were too late, but there is no reason to delete it even so. I liked the concept of it being a beast of burden, I feel like you have the rendering a bit backwards, though. The blue lit areas feel too soft, where those kind of areas should be a lot crisper, where the shadowed areas should be softer. I would recommend doing some lighting studies and I might also dial up your brush size a bit to get rid of the scribbly areas of your piece.

Thanks for the feedback. The perspective that you see is deliberate, not a mistake. It has 4 legs so it can definitely survive on its own. Rather than focusing on overused, cliche demon-looking creatures on a static background I did this to break away from that and have a compositionally correct scene with a unique creature. The creature does not have to be functional on its own to be honest even though it is since it has four legs.

Actually im surprised I only have 3 votes at this point. Not to seem like my ego is up high but i hate when people go for a pretty picture and familiarity of the design. This is happening in CHOW. People keep voting without even reading the freaking idea. Dont get me wrong we are all amateurs to some point, but there are a bunch of amateurs who do not understand how to critically select the work in a contest. For me it's the rendering and the idea and how well the creature follows the topic. And since there is a TOPIC, i think this should be like that for everyone. But ohh well, i cant change anyone's mind. I just hope COW doesnt become like CHOW now with all the multiple voting system too and people voting for cliche stuff..

[Si_Swe]

It took me a while to come up with a response to this after seeing it. When I write my crits I'm attempting to point out areas that I'm seeing as problematic. With regard to the four arms I felt that they all looked just like that, arms, not meant for primary locomotion, but I understand that a creature's locomotive abilities aren't necessary in this case. When I make comments for someone's work such as yourself, where I'm well aware of the fact that I'm referring to someone better at digital painting than myself I'm trying to be as helpful as I can in spite of my inability to make work on the same level.

(lark and I are testing the waters with multi-vote at the moment. I guess the most I can say beyond that is that I hope you will continue to contribute and promote creative design as much as you can.

[FilRam]

Really enjoyed this round,
i´ve only done a couple of chows and this was my first Cow, have to say that really liked to write the description! it really adds dept to the creature, and helped me undertand how important it is to have a strong concept and a creature that match the concept you have in mind ( and its cool to think what im going to write while im painting:)

Si Swe: Thanks for the positive feedback! maybe i have to focus more on the concept of the creature and less on the mood and ilustration part, think ill try that on the next round:)

Matias: cool painting!

OHI: First time i saw your wip i thought it was one of the best idea, really cool to see a giant floating soul carrier

Zenarion: loved the colors you used!

my votes went for:

Ville s: Great colors and really like the detail of the eye and theeths covered with skin (reminds me of sillent hill! nice:)

Paolo13: Beatiful rendering and cool creature

NetherVoid: the blue fur fading ideia is pretty awesome

SailorMooninite: Transforming the scythe into a vulture (witch is also a symbol of death) was a clever concept

[Masha Pikulina]

My votes went to SCF, Paolo13, Ville_S and FilRam. Lovely original concepts, I can see all of these critters dealing with some of the less glamorous things that Death might need doing. I particularly enjoyed the Rot by Ville_S, though I wonder - if his mouth is closed off by skin, how does he feed or communicate with his master? And if he doesn't need a mouth for that, why does he have one? Anyway, a wonderfully creepy design and very well executed to boot.

The entry of SCF is visually the weakest of the four, though it's certainly not bad - it depicts the sterile loneliness of the dying nicely. But the main reason this one's in is because I really like the idea of a familiar that is capable of compassion.

In Paolo's work it appeals to me how the creature distantly looks like a pug, but has the ability to transform into something a lot more menacing, which makes it a worthy companion of Death. Nevertheless I can see those two frolicking in the grass when no one is watching. I bet he tried to lick Death's face once or twice, too. ;)

FilRam's entry reminds me of one of the entries in the Bandersnatch round. But I like the concept and the long snout makes sense for the function he has. I also love the sly look on his face.

And in conclusion, a honourable mention for OHI. He didn't get the vote because his creature doesn't look finished at all, but the idea of a gargantuan soul carrier is quite awesome.

There were some entries that were better than these technically, but they featured more generic designs, which - to me - have less appeal than something outside the demon/imp/skeletons/horns/hounds/etc area. Partly because it's harder to make something look hellish without relying on the classic imagery.

[SCF]

My votes go to:

emerging: I think yours was both the strongest overall piece and strongest design. The idea of incorporating an hourglass in the creature was really original and it came out looking very creepy. It's instantly recognizable as an aide to Death too.

Paolo13: I just love this little critter. It's a funny concept, the rendering is excellent, and it still looks pretty unsettling at the same time.

Nethervoid: The creatures' design is really striking and ethereal-looking. I just thought yours was a very cool idea and you carried it out pretty well. I don't really like how the scythe looks though; it seems more rounded than edged.

[Kir Nuyts]

Wow, this round totally came out different from what imagined. I liked FilRam ones the most and tought he would win this.. I also digged Evolutionseed's illustration. Defiled visions, mmmyeah the design is not a killer but like Matthias said: style sells :D Hope too see more of you so I can learn from it (I liked the pokemon more then this one tbh)
I like the multivote thing because it s hard for me to vote for one image. This is way better.
I also REALLyyy liked the cat with multiple heads, verry well excecuted! But I got abit used too seeing pictures of cats so I guess I went more with beast- like illustrations (Maybe If you made it with fire out of it s eyes or something special, that it would look more then just a cat, I would have voted for sure). The three heads are really cool tough!
SourFruit's illustration almost made in into my votes. I like the animals (the idea of the dog with white paws) but the figures in the back looked a bit too sketchy. But really nice nontheless! (If you would left out the figures, you would have had my vote)

Everytime I join in these chow's, cow,s or idow's I am suprised with what all the people come up with. For me personally the brief sparkles my imagination and makes me want to draw. Thanks for the briefs admins, I really like them and so far they helped me pushing my limits and my skills. This said I just vote for the images I like the most. Maybe some ideas are better then others, but if they don t give me a 'wow-effect' I simply won t vote for them. I think thats why I didn t vote for you Emerging. When I look at your other chow's I have to admit I like them alot more. But still it s pretty damn good man. (I am just not a big fan of the colors in it I think)

Special thankt to all people who have voted for me :D You guys have damn good taste!

[RayTwicket]

Am I completely missing the point of these challenges?

I was happy with mine, I kept posting in the WIP thread to get feedback and it was all good and now when it hits the poll I get 2 whole votes? Last week I got 1, anyone wanna fill me in? I'm not trying to complain or sound like an asshole but I'd like to know what is wrong with my work that stops people from liking it.

The only Crit I got is from Si-Swe: RayTwicket - Great design, it fits with your description perfectly, too. It feels very voodoo. Anatomically it’s rear leg is very strange-looking, and could use some work, but that’s really the only complaint I have at this point.

To me "Great design" that "fits the description perfectly" sounds pretty good when the challenge is to design a creature that is based on a given description, but the poll tells me a completely different story.

[OHI]

Am I completely missing the point of these challenges?

I was happy with mine, I kept posting in the WIP thread to get feedback and it was all good and now when it hits the poll I get 2 whole votes? Last week I got 1, anyone wanna fill me in? I'm not trying to complain or sound like an asshole but I'd like to know what is wrong with my work that stops people from liking it.

The only Crit I got is from Si-Swe: RayTwicket - Great design, it fits with your description perfectly, too. It feels very voodoo. Anatomically it’s rear leg is very strange-looking, and could use some work, but that’s really the only complaint I have at this point.

To me "Great design" that "fits the description perfectly" sounds pretty good when the challenge is to design a creature that is based on a given description, but the poll tells me a completely different story.


In the end it´s not about winning. It´s about enjoying what you do and improve.

[RayTwicket]

In the end it´s not about winning. It´s about enjoying what you do and improve.

uh yeah I get that OHI, I wasn't complaining about not winning, I don't expect to win and tried to make that clear in my post, I was asking if I missed the point of these challenges, not why am I not winning, I'm trying to figure out what people don't like about my work and that is all.

I always enjoy what I do, but I'd like it if other people would be able to enjoy it too, I'm asking for some insight NOT VOTES.

[OHI]

RayTwicket: I understand. I guess you can´t please everyone. I kinda like it. I should´nt be giving you any tips since you are way better then me and probably know more about art. But I wish you good luck.

[SailorMooninite]

I Voted for

(lark: I had to vote for yours for a few reasons, but first and foremost, when I saw your final posted, I was working through my light and shade technique in my own composition. It is very "technically" clear that there are two separate light sources in your image, and your execution of the green color/mood was inspiring for me. Also, the muscles and general facial markings are very cool and well executed. It appears you "sculpted" this creature rather than painted it. That said, I think you designed an extremely cool imp. It doesn't stray very far from the norm in concept. Honestly though, I don' think that's terrible. If well executed, you don't need to re-invent the wheel in everything you do, however with your technical skills, a little deeper thought into concept would push your work to another level.

Ville_s: Very nicely rendered image. There is a lot of depth to the skin. You really get a sense of the translucency of it with your various textures and layers of light and shadow. This is a very nightmarish creature. While in concept it is a lot like a typical "Hell Hound", the physical appearance is unique. There is something about the rendering that allows me to picture it alive. I can understand how it would move. I imagine this has something to do with the definition in the form. Also, good color choices for the composition the foreground and background offset each other nicely.

Paolo13: I will preface this with two thoughts. While it is not completely necessary, I would like to see what his back end looks like. Also, While I do like the look of his pointy legs in contrast with the bulky "bulldog-like" form of the rest of the body, I wish they showed evidence of carrying this weight. Now I am sure the response is that he is of the nether-region, so therefore gravity is not a factor...that's absolutely fine. I don't think it really detracts from the image or design, just something to think about.

I like this concept because of the idea that this creature is "undead" Also, while at first glance it looks like he is wearing a turbin and shirt, with further observation I get the sense that this has "grafted" to his mummified skin. The wrinkles around the mouth and the way it blends into his back legs helps this.
Lastly, I enjoy the muted quality of the image and the way you make your marks.

NetherVoid: The composition of this image really sells me on it. Using the scythe for scale, I get a sense that there are thousands of these little guys. I also like the idea of a "monkey-like" creature as a companion to Death, because of their natural "human-like" tendency for loyalty and companionship. The translucency is very cool, and the blue smoky fur is just intriguing to look at!

That's it for now, gotta get back to the day job. I will give crits to everyone at a later time.

[porcupine]

The way I see these challenges are that they are practice for me to create an image following a brief and keeping a deadline. It's great practice, it makes me evolve as an artist and I'm glad to take part of it.

The times people spare some of their valuable time to crit my work is very much appreciated and I see it as a bonus, not something to expect. I also try to crit everyone else's work but some weeks I have no time to spare.

Having said that; I think it wouldn't hurt to try be a bit clearer and stricter when it comes to the briefs and following them because I feel many times this is nothing more than a rendering-contest and while a piece of concept art do require a certain level of technique it's somewhat boring to see these great and skilled artists just draw a [insert random animal] with some minor aspects changed.

I know it's hard to force this, but it would certainly be more fun with more original designs!

[(lark]

Hmmm. I guess I should chime in on all this conversation on the merits of design vs rendering...

First I totally agree that design should be in the forefront, but this to me is still an image making contest at its core. I mean, we're creating an image to compete right? So I think a level of technicality should come into play as well.

That being said I'm actually really surprised with how the voting is going this round. I'm winning, and I don't think I should be. As many have said (and I agree) my creature is very standard imp with a few adds. Although I think this personally is one of my best technical pieces, conceptually I don't think its great in design. It wasn't my first concept, but my origional concepts I couldn't fit into a good looking image.

All this said, I don't really care about winning these. I take part in these to get better. Its practice to me. I understand it is a competeition so a lot of people get competitive. But I would remind people that we're all getting the same thing out of these win or not, and that it is meant to be a fun activity.

Me and si swe are trying to be good mods so we try things out here and there, but it is a community activity so people should feel free to tell us how you think things should be run.

Speaking of which, I'm getting mixed feelings on the multi vote thing. That's why I tested it here because we were considering it for 200. So I guess I should get some feedback on that. All who are in favor of multi vote, say yes, all against it say no. Speak your peace! We'll take it into consideration.

[Paolo13]

WARNING: If you wanted to read about how good you are, and how much I love your works, then stop reading!!!! You already have friends and family to tell you so.

I really tried hard to find for things to critic. Most of these are based on personal taste, therefore not based on solid fact but on beer and red wine.

I could not do you all...I am old and i need my sleep.

Fillram: It could be any creature. Of course if I read your description it all fits well, but I think that the image itself should be more self explanatory.
Troyzart: I agree with you about the wings, the background is..is... well is not there, I feel like you stopped half way through the composition, and then concentrated on the bird. All those tentacles things are a bit confusing, I did not notice the tied legs and I can not understand if it is moving or what.
Polwat: I get a lot of Evil mood, but I think that you should have included some visual description as how thy float in the city and so and so. Like in your concept description.
Ludic: More attention to the body structure and anatomy would have made this a more powerful piece. The rib cage prospective is a bit off. I think you could have included death int the small thumbs figures.
Ohi: The cloud!!! it seams behind the rock on which the creature is floating, therefore I would think it is below the mountains in the far background, but it goes above the creature's legs, so it is kind of difficult to read.
Porcupine: The head neck torsion is a bit flat.
Penpoint: sorry but I can not see your entering. I will try again later.
Matias:mmm DSG? (LOL)
Jaunay: Ok let me check what Si_swe wrote........I agree with him!
Emerging: I can not help it but my eyes keep staring more at the monk then the creature, and on its anatomy flows, not the creature but the monk.
Sourfruitjunkie: The dogs have two different prospectives, therefore they do not seam to fit with the whole picture.
(lark:I had to look hard to find something to critic... and the answer was in the tail. It looks like it attaches on to the front part of the body rather then the back.
Zenarion: I do not know how to say it in English, but the main structure is a bit flat, I do not know if that is a flow, but the image is like cross shaped but then you have both the moon and the city on the right side of the canvas. Not much movement going on.
Strangedawn: I think, if you had the chance, you should have worked more on the head, in order to create a focus point.
Ville_S: I would have worked more on the transparency effect of the "head skull tooth " you have got going on.
SCF: mmm.. the blankets do not follow the shape of the body under.
RayTwicket: You should try and use your "comic" skills to help you tell a story wile creating your piece. For instance, and this is just an example, having an upset Death sweeping the goof-balls in the background.
JanJager: A lot going on on the left side on the canvas, can not say the same for the right side.
Kir Nuyts: A close up of one of the creatures would have helped a lot the presentation.
NetherVoid: Are those diamonds in their eyes?
DefiledVision:CHOW? (LOL)
Ishren: I would have to say that the fur effect is a bit poor, and the right front leg is a bit off in terms of anatomy, even thou it is a monster.
Evolutionseed: Did you use screen tones? If you did you should try and crate your own clouds and scratch away some of it to create some highlights. Make sure you cut them precisely, following the line work. The inking is a bit "dirty".
Skullbeast: some parts of the drawing looks a bit to rushed.
SailorMoonlite: i do not feel like the creature stands out of the composition enough. It might be the monochromatic coloring.

Well i managed to do you all, I must not be that old after-all.

Voted for: Matias (fresh and live piece of work), (lark (I can see this for books and games), JanJager (You manage to tell a lot in one composition), Kirnuyts (I just like it a lot, and we have multiple votes), DefiledVisions (outstanding and vibrating artwork) and SailorMooninite (best concept of all)

P.s. GOOD JOB TO ALL!!

Ciao

[Buchmaler]

I have not participate in much COWs but my impression is, that winner often fullfill two requirements:
1.: Picture is well rendered (what is ok) and
2.: Creature should look agressive and dangerous in a cliche way (what is sad a little bit).
Also design and concept often does, that is my impression, not play the role it should.

P.S.: The reason i do not brief about my choice often is, that my english is not very good and i would have to explain very much what would take much much time and is difficult for. I use many criteria i would have to explain. (Cliche for example gives a big big minus ... not only with regard to contents but also relating to technic etc.)

[Buchmaler]

Double post, sorry

[emerging]

you guys are all right. I might have come across as aggressive in my post but several of you pretty much said exactly what i meant in a different manner. Buchmaler - very true, i've noticed that as well. I think this also has to do with the fact that 90% of people here are guys and we all know what guys like deep inside - monsters, monsters, monsters. So i guess evil looking dangerous creature with minor alterations in an attempt to make it somewhat not looking like a diablo creep, which is rendered fantastically will have the best response. I guess that's how bringing art to the masses works. My first cow that won was a centaur that looked a lot like Alien. I did not do it on purpose but after i was done i saw that after several people pointed it out. The funny part is that everybody kept voting for me because of the familiarity of the design. I guess it's in our nature to reject something completely unknown and new. Looking at history of art definitely proves that.

[SailorMooninite]

Hold on, could we vote for more than 4? It looks like Paolo13 voted for 6. Come to think of it, it did let me click another check box, but I guess I thought because everyone else's posts only listed 4 people they voted for, I stopped there...is there a way I can add two more votes?

If not, very sorry guys, I would have also voted for Emerging and JanJager.

[SailorMooninite]

With all of this talk about voting and criteria, etc, I just want to say that this is the very first time I have ever gotten a vote for anything on this forum! To be fair, I kept trying to jump right into CHOW, and I have a lot of technical things I need to work through before tackling the human form that deeply. Creatures seem to offer a lot more flexibility in form and that allows me to focus on mark making, light and shadow, and composition. I have been a ghost on Concept Art.org for years now, following, looking, envying, etc. The fact that I got even one vote for my entry gives me all the more reason to keep trying and keep contributing. That said, I realize that if we didn't have multi-vote, I probably wouldn't have gotten one. People like my concept, but that only goes so far (which has been all the discussions on this thread). So in that regard, I like the multi-vote, but think of this scenario:

let's say people's 1st and 2nd choices were kind of all over the map, but most people's 3rd choice aligned. That means that even though most people liked two images more than that one, The 3rd choice would still win. I am not sure that's bad though because even though it was everyone's 3rd favorite, it was still liked by everyone. I realize the votes are not ranked like that, but everyone has a favorite/second favorite, etc. Also, this is probably not a very likely scenario, but just trying to really think it through.

[Masha Pikulina]

RayTwicket, I don't think people actively dislike your work, it's just that it's not in the general top 3 or top 4. That doesn't mean that you did a bad job or that people aren't enjoying what you did, it just means that your entry isn't the absolute best one. Which I really wouldn't find insulting or strange, what with so many skilled artists participating in these threads.

As for the multivote, well, first of all: I don't think my opinion should weigh as heavily as the others, since I'm new to the COW challenge and haven't seen both systems at work for long enough. But, doesn't multivote statistically enhance the chances of the 'number two' works getting the most votes? I feel there is always more consensus over what pieces are 'good, but not the absolute best', since people usually generally agree on what is good. They don't, however, always share the same opinion on which one is their absolute favourite. This would mean that the votes for the absolute favourites would be more scattered than the votes for the not-absolute favourites, so to speak.

So even though there are always multiple works I really like in these threads, and despite it always being a tough choice (theoretically speaking; I've been lurking for a long while before finally registering and actively voting), I think enforcing the single vote is probably a better way of determining the most 'popular' work.

Though multivote does give more insight into what people like, I'll give it that. It might also be more motivating, because the people who are getting 1-4 votes now probably would have had none in singlevote. (I see I took too long to post and SailorMooninite also noted this. Case in point, I guess.)

Anyway, my two cents. :)

[Buchmaler]

There is no need to choose more than one (the best) work and when i choose more than one they are all of equal value to me. If one does it this way "multivote statistically enhance the chances of the 'number two' works getting the most votes" does not happen.

On the other hand only beeing able to choose one work has some strong pros: It constrains the voters to think about their voice much much more carefully and in my feeling voices in the "old system" are worth more. On the other hand i feel it would maybe be more easy for an exotic like me to win one day because people would spend one voice for something out of the cliche mor liberally if they can also spend one for a cliche work.

I am undecided

I am so sorry that my english is so poor

[(lark]

masha pikulina: those are some really solid points. I've felt the same way on everything you said. I do like the idea of letting people who don't ever get votes to finally get some recognitiion for their hard work, but I see your point on how the multivote won't allways get the best winner, and in fact may go against it with the whole 2nd best getting the most votes. Its tricky because we are talking about opinions here, and that's hard to quantify.

Keep giving opinions on this everyone. Feel free to speak up. Its going to definately have a lot of weight in the decision to continue with it. Especially in round 200.

[(lark]

sailormooninite: about the voting. I asked people to keep the votes limited to 3 or 4. I'll look into the people that voted more than that. Thanks.

[Jaunay]

Lots of good points everyone, I agree with the feedback given. And i do approve of the multivote, especially for big competitions. Instead of 2 or 3 people getting votes, it enables most people to at least get one, which for someone like me is encouraging. I know that may not be the point, but it certainly helps to motivate some into entering other competitions.

I plan on taking the feedback given to me and improving on those points for the next one.

Also I agree with people voting for concept, design AND technical skill. It can be hard sometimes because i think people will vote for their favourite artists, or a style they're fond of. Which is okay but it just makes it more challenging for the others. I dont mind a good challenge.

Don't be discouraged RayTwicket I voted for you, but that's because I think your piece fit the brief well. Lets just keep at it. :D

Also I think the mods are doing a great job, but if you think that people arent taking the time to vote for design maybe we could mention it in the brief at the beginning, start influencing people to do the right thing?

Keep moving forward!

[Masha Pikulina]

Perhaps single votes and multivote can be alternated? Like doing every COW with an odd number in multivote, and having even numbers reserved for single vote polls. Or, if there is significantly more interest in one type of polls, the other type could be used on every first COW of the month, or in every COW that ends in 9, or something along those lines. That way, both types of voting are represented - and scaled to interest. Since the point of these competitions is the fun and the practice as opposed to winning/getting votes, this shouldn't affect the amount of contestants too much, if at all.

Or will this kind of system be too complicated to keep track of?

[Si_Swe]

Masha Pikulina - For the time being we're going to have it so that rounds with 20+ entries will receive multivote treatment, whereas rounds with less than 20 will have single vote polls. I hope that clears things up a bit.

[emerging]

makes sense si_swe

Masha - lets also face the fact that most people do want to win so it's not JUST for the sake of practicing and improving. It's for the sake of improving to finally win to be rewarded. Because many times even if you are improving but you win no recognition you wont be very encouraged to do any competitions at all. I agree with you but ANY kind of competition is called a competition because we COMPETE and thats the reality of every artist. Every artist has an ego and every artist wants to win in this life. And if that artist doesn't care about recognition and only wants to improve then how does he even know he improved? because he thinks so himself? or because maybe his parents told him how good he is.

I really appreciate the friendly atmosphere that has been created on this forum but please artists dont forget you all compete with each other throughout not only these weekly things but also your whole life. That of course doesnt mean that we cannot learn from each other and that the competition cannot be healthy!

Anyway my rambling is kinda pointless haha just felt like i should participate in discussions.

[Masha Pikulina]

Si_Swe: That seems like an excellent balance, even though it doesn't tackle the 'second best' issue. But I guess that was the point all along, the gathering of opinions and possible issues regarding this particular strategy? I must have missed that, my apologies.

emerging: All of that is true, of course. What I meant though was that it seems very unlikely that people would massively join in at the multivote rounds just because they might get a vote or two or because they want to take a shot at winning via second best. And if a theme looks like fun I don't think anyone would skip it just because it's based on single votes and thus gives less chances of recognition. Therefore, alternating types of polls wouldn't mess with the number of contestants.

Anyway, these things don't matter in the tactic Si_Swe explained, since there is no certain way of knowing beforehand whether any given COW will hit the 20 entries mark, but I felt I needed to clarify myself a bit. (Possibly because English isn't my first language. The language barrier, it worries me. Gnawing at my insides with all its literary might. ;))

[Niva.]

This giant serpentine demon who accompanies Death through the Nether serves both as her companion and as a guardian. Yes, there are those who can challenge Death herself.

1114844

Here's the WIP:

1114845

I don't need no stinking votes, I wanted to finish it because it was fun. Have fun guys, good round.

[(lark]

Thanks everybody who gave their feedback. It shows people really care and that means a lot.

I have thought of a solution though and I feel I should run it by everyone to get some reactions.

The idea is something that already happens sorta. We could keep the voting on a single vote system to ensure we vote for our absolute favorite, and avoid the whole seecond best getting the most votes things. In addition to that we can encourage people to take advantage of the thanking system to show your appreciation for those you didn't vote for. I know that's not as nice as getting a vote but it is encouragement none the less right? And also keeps the voting in a vein of purely finding a winner.

How does that sound everybody?

[OHI]

Sounds good to me! :)

[emerging]

Si_Swe: That seems like an excellent balance, even though it doesn't tackle the 'second best' issue. But I guess that was the point all along, the gathering of opinions and possible issues regarding this particular strategy? I must have missed that, my apologies.

emerging: All of that is true, of course. What I meant though was that it seems very unlikely that people would massively join in at the multivote rounds just because they might get a vote or two or because they want to take a shot at winning via second best. And if a theme looks like fun I don't think anyone would skip it just because it's based on single votes and thus gives less chances of recognition. Therefore, alternating types of polls wouldn't mess with the number of contestants.

Anyway, these things don't matter in the tactic Si_Swe explained, since there is no certain way of knowing beforehand whether any given COW will hit the 20 entries mark, but I felt I needed to clarify myself a bit. (Possibly because English isn't my first language. The language barrier, it worries me. Gnawing at my insides with all its literary might. ;))

haha dont worry English is my second language too. And my first.. well i suppose my first language is the same as yours :P

[SailorMooninite]

Thanks everybody who gave their feedback. It shows people really care and that means a lot.

I have thought of a solution though and I feel I should run it by everyone to get some reactions.

The idea is something that already happens sorta. We could keep the voting on a single vote system to ensure we vote for our absolute favorite, and avoid the whole second best getting the most votes things. In addition to that we can encourage people to take advantage of the thanking system to show your appreciation for those you didn't vote for. I know that's not as nice as getting a vote but it is encouragement none the less right? And also keeps the voting in a vein of purely finding a winner.

How does that sound everybody?

Not a bad idea, but it would be nice if this was integrated into the voting process as an isolated system, because people can get "thanked" for many different reasons. What if you get one actual "Vote", then you can select ones you also liked so those artists get acknowledgment and encouragement, but it doesn't count for the vote? Not dissimilar to the Facebook "Like" system, but maybe this would be like a thumbs up or something.

[emerging]

how about having 3 nominations:

1. Rendering/Color/Value/Composition
2. Concept/Originality/Idea
3. Design/Functionality/Anatomy

Basically a voter would have 3 votes to spare for each one of those nominations. In the end we get 3 winners (or less if the same person wins several of those). Now, it would be up to you guys what you wanna do. You could create a final poll between those 3 people and see the ABSOLUTE winner given that the other 2 will get some kind of equivalent to the star. Maybe COW winners can get a LARGE different color star and people who get nominated with one of the 3 categories get a small one.

If this is too much for a weekly contest we can run this poll once a month. We can gather all the top 3 participants from each week and create a poll for more of those nominations.

This way is more complicated BUT, i think its not a bad idea to make sure talented work gets rewarded accordingly.

[Masha Pikulina]

(lark: that sounds good too. In addition to this you could also encourage people to point out entries they liked despite not voting for them, though to some degree, a lot of people are already doing that (be it more in the form of evaluation/constructive criticism of all entries, which is slightly different but is also a very good thing). This functions similarly to the 'thumbs up' SailorMooninite is talking about, except it doesn't require the adding of a whole new feature to the site. The encouragement itself could just be a simple sentence that is copypasted into every voting thread from now on, something along the lines of 'feel free to elaborate on which entries you like, even if you're not voting for them'. Or maybe a bit more direct: 'elaborating on your favourites is encouraged'. Personally, I will do this every time I vote, with the occasional honourable mention for entries that are (a lot) weaker technically but do feature an interesting concept.

Also, I have an easy to implement idea on how to improve the.. awareness, for lack of a better word, of concept/originality.

The short descriptions that accompany each COW are usually fun and well-written. They provide an additional dimension to the general theme and serve to guide the artists towards a certain thought process: what does this creature do? How does it go about doing it? What's its exact purpose? How can all of this be translated to form?

So why don't we utilize those descriptions to nudge the voters towards the same questions, too? It doesn't matter that the two groups are partly made up by the same people, it's one thing to design a creature by these guidelines and it's another to remember to use them in your judgement of others. So just by posting the descriptions in the voting threads (as opposed to them being posted in the WIP threads only) you can shift the focus of the public just a bit from technical mastery towards conceptual prowess. So they can consider both when deciding on their vote.* At the very least it will spare me and others like me the trouble of opening two tabs (one with the final entries and one for the description in the WIP thread) when viewing one round. ;)

* To be fair, most COW winners excel in both concept and technique, it's not like voters disregard originality as a whole. Usually, it's the combination that makes a design work. But it never hurts to remind us of the conceptual thought process behind all works, especially in COW themes that can be heavily influenced by existing, classic imagery.

[Buchmaler]

how about having 3 nominations:

1. Rendering/Color/Value/Composition
2. Concept/Originality/Idea
3. Design/Functionality/Anatomy

Basically a voter would have 3 votes to spare for each one of those nominations. In the end we get 3 winners (or less if the same person wins several of those). Now, it would be up to you guys what you wanna do. You could create a final poll between those 3 people and see the ABSOLUTE winner given that the other 2 will get some kind of equivalent to the star. Maybe COW winners can get a LARGE different color star and people who get nominated with one of the 3 categories get a small one.

If this is too much for a weekly contest we can run this poll once a month. We can gather all the top 3 participants from each week and create a poll for more of those nominations.

This way is more complicated BUT, i think its not a bad idea to make sure talented work gets rewarded accordingly.

I am absolutly against this. COW (creature of the WEEK) should remain as it is or close to as it is. To "split" the vote does imho not remove the problem, it only splits the problem. Also i do not want different stars. It would frustrate me to become a second class COW-near-winner and it would even frustrate me more even not to become a near-winner. The COW star is something special and working to some day get one is a big motivation. Sure the Voting system is "unfair" in some ways but votings are ever anfair and such effort to make them more fair by tighten the rules will imho not change this worthwhile.
COW is a drawing/painting contest and drawing/painting should be the focus. The rest should be as easy as possible. Cast a (preferably founded) vote for the picture you like most and then wait for the end of the poll while painting for the next cow (i do not want to wait a whole month fpr the next cow ... nonono^^).
Also i would prefer one voice votes over multiple votes because this way i know, even if i only get one or two voices, that one (or two) like my picture BEST (while with multivote this feeling is away and i like this feeling!!!!!).

[Paolo13]

mmm.. I like things as they are, with the single vote, because it keeps things simple, both for the voter and the Mod. I would think that the Mod put a lot of privet life in this, and complicating thing would not be productive. If you want my two cents: just be more strict on what goes to the poll, if the drawing fits the description it is in, if it brakes even a bit of the rules it is out. This way people will be voting for the same thing, but with their own personal taste.

Ciao

[Niva.]

Hey guys this is turning into a serious discussion so I'll chime in. I like the multi vote choice. The fact that COW is ran differently from CHOW throws me a bit off. I don't mind it but frankly I wish things were uniform across the site then it would be all fair and no confusion.

Anyways I've never been close to winning any of these challenges but whatever, I enjoy drawing and they help me learn. Either way you guys decide I'll be around and I'm glad there are dedicated mods putting in the work to make this happen. Cheers!

[troyzart]

Voted for Matias, (lark, JanJager and DefiledVisions, I'll be throwing my crits and comments down in an hour or so. Solid round, everyone.

An hour or so later...


tryzart - You posted this yesterday early in the day, I’m not sure if you had personal time constraints, but I feel like with the extra day-ish you could have really fleshed this piece out a bit more, added hints of background to give the creature some context and cropped the image to better compose the image. I like the spindles of darkness coming off the creature and I feel like those could have been pushed. I’d also take a look at light sources in order to better get a better sense of how those look in still images, to really give that fire a sense of luminosity.



Yeah mate, huuuge time constraints (as in i sketched out an idea earlier in the week, then got washed out by work XD)

Thanks for the feed back! I really did need to dedicate more time to this. Light sourcing I'm still experimenting with, I feel maybe I could have given an eerie green/blue light source to accentuate the bottom half of the creature. But ofcourse, these things always come to mind when it's too late!

[emerging]

i personally do not believe in multivote because when you are voting for 3-4 people that means they are all equal. What if one of them really is better than the other 3? Why should that entry get the same amount of attention from you as the other 3? I've done it in CHOW before. I voted for multiple knowing that i really like only one or two of them. And I have seen before in CHOW how some people just vote for every single entry which is kind of cute but how can we rely on any vote if people can do such things?

Anyway, I think the rule about 20 + entries only makes sense and i wouldn't mind that.
Niva - the fact that it throws you off means nothing to be honest. It throws me off that CHOW is the other way around. It really just depends on personal experience. I started with COW and i liked it the way it is. So every time I participate in CHOW i do feel the same way. But whatever, it's not so complicated to understand what is going on. Just a few simple rules that even a slowest artist can understand lol.

I have a slightly irrelevant question to the hosts. How is the topic chosen for COW? Is there a poll or a forum where you can submit your suggestion?

[emerging]

I am absolutly against this. COW (creature of the WEEK) should remain as it is or close to as it is. To "split" the vote does imho not remove the problem, it only splits the problem. Also i do not want different stars. It would frustrate me to become a second class COW-near-winner and it would even frustrate me more even not to become a near-winner. The COW star is something special and working to some day get one is a big motivation. Sure the Voting system is "unfair" in some ways but votings are ever anfair and such effort to make them more fair by tighten the rules will imho not change this worthwhile.
COW is a drawing/painting contest and drawing/painting should be the focus. The rest should be as easy as possible. Cast a (preferably founded) vote for the picture you like most and then wait for the end of the poll while painting for the next cow (i do not want to wait a whole month fpr the next cow ... nonono^^).
Also i would prefer one voice votes over multiple votes because this way i know, even if i only get one or two voices, that one (or two) like my picture BEST (while with multivote this feeling is away and i like this feeling!!!!!).

lol dont worry just a suggestion for people to tear appart hhaa

[Buchmaler]

You are welcome ;)

[Niva.]

Niva - the fact that it throws you off means nothing to be honest. It throws me off that CHOW is the other way around. It really just depends on personal experience. I started with COW and i liked it the way it is. So every time I participate in CHOW i do feel the same way. But whatever, it's not so complicated to understand what is going on. Just a few simple rules that even a slowest artist can understand lol.


I'm fine with single vote, I just wish both CHOW and COW used the same voting system. There are definite problems with the multi vote which have been pointed out in this thread. Perhaps the CHOW and COW leaders should get together and discuss this and decide on a univorm voting system. It would also be cool to be able to rank your votes, such that you're allowed 3 votes but you rank #1 (3pts) #2 (2pts) and #3 (single point) then at the end of all the voting the points get tabulated.

THat's purely theoretical though because it appears conceptart.org dosn't have a single programmer supporting the site to pull this off. I've been really disappointed by the lack of effort that's been placed into upgrading this site and making it more feature rich. The look was also cool and is easily recognizable but come on, that was so many years ago while other sites like cgsociety and cghub have had massive facelifts for the better.

That was an unrelated rant, sorry.

[Si_Swe]

I have a slightly irrelevant question to the hosts. How is the topic chosen for COW? Is there a poll or a forum where you can submit your suggestion?
There is a thread to suggest ideas, but it's by no means a guarantee that your topic will be chosen. Whenever someone posts in the thread I will take a look at it, and if I think the idea is great I keep note of it. I have a document in which I keep a bunch of COW-Related info, mostly it contains the Mod instructions I got when I was given the position, but it also has a large list of ideas and prompts I might use. I myself have, at any given time, about 8 ideas I want to use for COW. I add to that pot whenever I come up with something I think would be cool. Generally, a day or two before the new round comes out, (lark and I will email each other on the week's topic, whoever's turn it is will show the other their idea for potential revision.

Always feel free to stop by our topic suggestions thread and throw a few ideas out to the wind. I know I always read them and I think (lark probably does the same. If there are good ones in there, we'll probably use them. I hope that clears things up a bit on our selection process.

EDIT: there have been a lot of great points raised in this discussion about methods and systems to help this out. I think we're going to be temporarily using the system I described with 20+ entries enabling the multi-vote option. A lot of the problem with the systems being proposed is that, to a degree, we have to work within the system. We can't do ranked votes because the way we're establishing the polls only can function within the bounds of the forum poll options. Awarding stars is something I know how to do in the most basic sense. The icon is present in the sense of it being some html coding I can't change cosmetically. When I award a star I'm telling the site that a specific predetermined icon should be attached with your user title. Changing these would also create a lot of problems with obsolescence and previous winners. There is a lot of potential conflict with those systems changing. Without a series of proposals going through, we're not going to be able to really change the nature of the stars, and without a forum overhaul we aren't going to be able to change the poll styles to a ranked voting system. I will do what I can to discuss things with the other moderators and our community manager, but because each activity functions so autonomously, enacting change is going to be a long, potentially unsuccessful process. At the moment a lot of my effort is being put into making sure that creature of the week runs fairly smoothly and ensuring that we get things that have been ignored for a while back up and running.

[kischi]

My vote goes to DefiledVisions, because I like the whole feel of the creature and I enjoyed the progress very much!