C.O.W. #200! Gorgeous Sky Guardian. VOTING!

[(lark]

ROUND #200 VOTING

Topic: Land, Sea and Air - Gorgeous Sky Guardian

Single Vote (<20 entries)...

Deadline for the voting: Sunday Feb. 5th, 2011

This voting round is the first of a two round set to determine our new mascot. This week of voting will determine the winner of this round (who will get their star as per usual), but also, the top 3 will go on to the second round of voting to determine our new mascot.

Remember to show some love, thank the people who's entries you liked but couldn't vote for. Also if you've got the time, add some crits.

[Farquad]

Artist: Farquad

Concept: Isotore

The midlands of Thaunis are dominated by levitating rocks, made possible through
a combination of waste-product gases given off by the blue-volcanoes hundreds of feet
below, and the porous, light-weight nature of the rocks produced there. This is where the
Isotore makes its home. Not many creatures can venture to the heights of its realm, and
for that this location is said to be sacred and guarded by the Isotore. The only time this
beautiful creature is seen is when it descends from its sky fortress to the surface in times
of great ecological peril. For that, this mythical beast is said to be not from the mortal
world and considered a god on Thaunis.

[Grumbleputty]

Artist: Grumbleputty

Concept: Prismat

A solitary Prismat floats high in the atmosphere above Eradi Par. Entirely dependent on converted solar energy to maintain the high temperatures in its float dome, Prismats must always remain on the sunlit side of the planet, endlessly traveling across the sky. The sun's rays are focused and refracted inside the dome, surrounding the creature in a halo of pure color. Survey teams have noted that many of the planet's other aerial life forms seem to congregate around a nearby Prismat as it passes by, and often predators and prey will be seen cavorting peacefully through the surrounding rainbows.

[Odayga]

Artist: Odayga

Concept: Beast of Heaven

The Beast of Heaven is known as the angel of the skies, it brings peace to the planet and aids those in need. All who gaze upon this creature are filled with love, peace, humility and euphoria. Its 20 feet in length and 8 feet in height, many of the 'higher species' ride this magnificent creature and form powerful bonds with it through mind and body. The Beast of Heaven is extremely powerful and stealthy in the skies, it has four wings and powerful jaws that allow it to capture prey and have an advantage in aerial battles, it hardly lands on the ground, the only places it lands are the lakes, oceans and seas. Its back feet are adapted to both air and water, its powerful tail also aids it in swimming as well as maneuvering in the air/contributes to balance/aerodynamics.

[lkjhgfdsa]

Artist: lkjhgfdsa

Concept: Iniame

She didn't want a pony, or an xbox360...

[nram]

Artist: Nram

Concept: Odaroloc
The Odaroloc is a gigantic flying creature that makes it’s home high up in the Atmosphere, the fur covered body makes up for the low temperatures it must face at high altitudes, the wings and antennae function as a solar panel grabbing the sun’s energy to regulate body temperature. Although it’s shy nature, the Odaroloc is considered to be the Guardian of the skies in Ghuoe IX

[Kurt Komoda]

Artist: Kurt Komoda

Concept: Lumirina, the Ascending Ribbon
400 meters in length, The Lumirina appears to spend its entire existence aloft, noiselessly twisting and winding through the heavens of Aegrilla 3. The first life form encountered by probes entering the atmosphere of Aegrilla 3(in fact, intercepting and then following the probes for almost the entire length of the mission), they have shown remarkable signs of intelligence. When the first manned expedition was threatened by the Virkus Diamond Wing(p. 342), a Lumirina interceded and appeared to ward off the attacker. The Lumirina communicate with pulsing and radiating bioluminescent patterns on its neck frill, as well as elaborate contortions and aerial acrobatics, giving it the appearance of a swirling ribbon. The Lumirina have not been observed to have any natural predators. Though few in number(to this date, only 23 have been catalogued), the Lumirina have appeared in all areas of the planet. Interesting note: recent mission updates seem to suggest that they seem to be keeping us from exploring the mountainous areas in the southern polar region. The purpose of this is not known. Little is yet known of their life cycle or diet.

[GoldenSerpent]

Artist: GoldenSerpent

Concept: Furcapoda aitherios
Furcapoda aitherios is named for its forked legs and ethereal beauty. These spectacular creatures never leave the sky because their veins are full of a lighter than air liquid which keeps them eternally airborne. It is said that being int he presence of an aitherios induces feelings of euphoria and that these creatures have no predators simply because not even the most savage beasts are immune to the sight of their elegance. The aitherios are peaceful nectar feeders and will adopt a field or forest of flowers as their territory, and with their hypnotic beauty guard the delicate blossoms from anyone who would harm them.

1155039

[matt kohr]

Artist: Matt Kohr

Concept: "Air King"


Larger than all other birds by a hundredfold, this fantastic flyer is known as "Air King" by the local tribesmen. Due to Local custom, his roost and hunting grounds are strictly forbidden, so he is only seen twice yearly during migration. It is said that a single feather fallen from his wing will bless the village for the upcoming winter.

[benu]

Artist: benu

Concept: Aello


The Aello only nests on the sacred island of Firantis. The beast is regarded as the guardian of the sun god Fir, created in his image. Whoever is lucky to see this rare creature soar high up in the sky on its golden wings, is blessed with a sight of celestial beauty and a sense of the god's glory.

[(lark]

Artist: (lark

Concept: fillowinsk


The fillowinsk have guarded the skies of trioth for a very long time. Causing gasps of awe and joy when seen, the fillowinsk are prey to no known predators due to their beauty. Even the fierce bromts is calmed out of its blood lust when encountering them. The ornately patterned colors (that shift depending on their lighting) and oddly beautiful bubble formations that they use to fly (which are filled with an extremely low density gas that it produces giving it lift) give the fillowinsk an angelic sense of beauty and peacefulness, so much so that when viewed, one doesn't feel they need anything else to fulfill their lives.

Side note... they were designed by the moxozysts of the sea to protect something, only the maxozysts are certain of what it is they're protecting, but it is theorized they are protecting the planet itself from outer planetary intrusion of some kind. This still remains a mystery.

1157203

[Si_Swe]

Artist: Si_Swe

Concept: Tyrsariphus


Floating on above the clouds is the massive and enigmatic Tyrsariphus. Having no mouth and little means of communication, the creature is revered for the simple sense of wonder it strikes into the hearts of all who witness it's presence. It has been hailed as godly in some cultures, and is said to bring a spiritual sense of tranquility and peace simply from the sight of it. There have been fewer than 50 sightings of the creature, but it is believed that there are as many as 6 of the creatures roaming the skies above the island of Persephone.

[SailorMooninite]

Artist: Sailormooninite

Concept: Iris


After a warm rain and the sun breaks the clouds, one can often see a rainbow streak across the sky connecting the earth with the heavens. Few know why these rainbows form, but when they do, it is taken as a sign of life, peace, and prosperity. The rainbows are actually made up of millions of tiny sky sprites known to only a blessed few as the Iris. These delicate, playful, and curious creatures come out after the rain to collect the last raindrops and moisture left in the atmosphere. Their shells and wings glisten in the bright sun rays causing them to refract the light and change to a blanket of gradient color.

[Sapphire]

Artist: Sapphire
Creature name: aeronotis lacerta

This etherial creature uses a combination of lighter-than-air gases as well as an organ similar to a swim bladder to remain aloft on the breezes. Its rare sightings often coincide with the aftermath of natural lightning storms. Some say that it is a lifebringer, responsible for the renewal of growth after these natural cleansings.

[skullbeast]

Artist: skullbeast

Concept: Jart
The Jart has what seems to be strange powers. When they are seen, all in their path stand still and wait, they take a moment, recoup, and forget any negative thoughts they may of had, once refreshed they continue on there way.

[Si_Swe]

Because I will be doing crits for each category, instead of personalizing them as much as I can, each crit will be broken down as below. If you find them cold or harsh, I am trying to be as fair and honest as I possibly can. Compliments can come from loved ones or friends, I am not here for that.
Farquad - Strengths: Excellent rendering, cool scenery, great variety of textures.
Weaknesses: I don’t find the design all that interesting. Kinda looks like a redesign of Scyther, to me.
Accuracy to the Brief: I think the creature is quite beautiful in the same way as many insects I’ve encountered and fits the brief rather well.

Grumblputty - Strengths: Original design, sense of scale.
Weaknesses: Lighting functions strangely. Lack of overall contrast. Forms could be a lot crisper.
Accuracy to the Brief: It’s not all that particularly gorgeous as a design, and I’m not sure I entirely buy that rainbows are the solution to that.

Odayga - Strengths: Textures on the wing. Design would be interesting if not in a static pose which hides elements of the design.
Weaknesses: Static pose. Boring palette. Lack of scaling. Lighting seems to exist in some areas and is ignored in others.
Accuracy to the Brief: To me your description doesn’t really come off too well in the actual depiction. I think if we had something more than a static profile it might.

lkjhgfdsa - Strengths: Mood, palette, lighting, rendering and design.
Weaknesses: Wing/fins look like they could just be hairs or dangling strands of sinew. The first set of of wings/fins looks a little strange (in terms of perspective) when compared to the stomach scales.
Accuracy to the Brief: I laughed at the description. I think the piece speaks well for itself. I think it fits the brief rather well.

nram - Strengths: Mood, scale, crisp forms.
Weaknesses: Black shadows, palette doesn’t have enough colds to stop it looking like a hell-beast to me. Adding more magenta to the background would help, I think.
Accuracy to the Brief: Again, it looks a little demonic to me, but other than that I think it works.

Kurt Komoda - Strengths: Palette, scale, patterning.
Weaknesses: Rendering on the background needs to be tightened up. Forms within the transparent body are unclear, but too alien to be implied. Not sure the head design totally works.
Accuracy to the Brief: I’m on the fence. On the one hand I think there is a certain beauty to it, but I think, for me, part of what makes a Sky Guardian work is that it’s beauty has to have a certain level of majesty I don’t see in this creature.

GoldenSerpent - Strengths: Great palette, original design, beautiful rendering style.
Weaknesses: It’s a little eclectic as far as combinations of things go. The tail looks a bit flat.
Accuracy to the Brief: I definitely think it fits the brief. I voted for it.

Matt Kohr - Strengths: Great rendering style, amazing lighting, mood, movement and composition.
Weaknesses: Ambiguous design fades off into nothingness. Elements of the full design can be scene but, everything leaves the frame leaving me with an incomplete creature design. This is the sole reason I did not vote for your piece.
Accuracy to the Brief: As much as I think it function better as an illustration than I piece of creature design, I think this is the best fit to the brief we have here.

benu - Strengths: Nice, unique design, great lighting and palette.
Weaknesses: - Clouds could have used some more attention. The thinness of the arms and legs, versus the weight of the lower body makes me call into question the creature’s ability to fly.
Accuracy to the Brief: Definitely, I can see this as a gorgeous sky guardian.

(lark - Strengths: Very original design, overall forms and rendering.
Weaknesses: Palette is desaturated, iridescence doesn’t come across all that well on the tail, instead causing the colours to look muddy.
Accuracy to the Brief: While I love the design, I don’t think I could consider this creature gorgeous, it looks too alien and the reds in conjunction with the membranes are reminiscent of organs, to me.

SailorMooninite - Strengths: Scale, delicacy.
Weaknesses: Colour overload, busy composition as a result. So much white it hurts to look at.
Accuracy to the Brief: I get the beautiful aspect, for sure. Not the guardian aspect, at all.

Sapphire - Strengths: Unique design, delicacy, mood.
Weaknesses: Forms could be further defined, background could use more activity
Accuracy to the brief: I think it works fine for the brief.

skullbeast - Stengths: Movement, sleek, unique design (rhyme totally unintentional)
Weaknesses: Background needs more attention. Creatures look oversaturated next to background. Elements of the design are unclear in some areas.
Accuracy to the brief: I get sky guardian, I don’t see them under the banner of “gorgeous”.

[emerging]

I voted for lkjhgfdsa
It fits the brief perfectly and even though i am not a big fan of this particular style of rendering i absolutely loved the linework and colors in this piece. The creature is very original too..

Some other favs are Matt Kohr - amazing atmosphere rendering but it looked too much like a giant bird to me

GoldenSerpent - pretty nice but it feels it would look better with a stronger light source and a suggestive background

[GoldenSerpent]

Farquad: Strengths: Cool creature design, the background is very nice as well.
Weaknesses: The bright blue stripes look unnatural. The body looks elegant but I don’t like the small square head.

Grumbleputty: Strengths: I like the grainy texture on the creature’s body. I also like its head segment.
Weaknesses: The rendering at the top of the dome is a bit sloppy, the rainbow also looks awkward.

Odayga: Strengths: Blue markings are interesting.
Weaknesses: I only see one pair of its four wings, I don’t like how its wings are so small and folded up. The pose is also not very interesting, and I don’t like how grey the shading is, try using a blue-grey color for shading white.

lkjhgfdsa: Strengths: Nice colors, and and interesting style.
Weaknesses: Nothing in particular bothers me but the design doesn’t seem very original.

nram: Strengths: Interesting design, the background is nice.
Weaknesses: The colors look more demonic than beautiful, to much blood red and dark black, the head also looks a little vulture-like.

Kurt Komoda: Strengths: Solid background, and nice colors.
Weaknesses: I don’t like how curled up the creature is, I think it would have looked better spread out like it was swimming through the air, I also don’t like the head shape.

Matt Kohr: Strengths: Pretty lighting, especially through the wings. The perspective is good.
Weaknesses: Besides the lighting, the creature itself doesn’t strike me as beautiful. The wings don’t attach to the body well, and the smallest wing on its left doesn’t appear to have a matching wing on the right side.

benu: Strengths: Really beautiful wing anatomy, its got the perfect mix of bat and butterfly attributes. The head is really nice too and the colors work well.
Weaknesses: the lower part of the body and the legs don’t work as well, I think they might be at a different angle than the rest of the body. Despite this, your creature designed seemed like it was the most beautiful of the entries.

(lark: Strengths: Really cool design, the bubble arms are well done and I like the strips of red fur. The anatomy on the torso is also quite nice.
Weaknesses: It's seems just a bit too creepy and alien looking.

Si_Swe: Strengths: nicely rendered fur/feathers on its body, although the tips of the wing feathers could be a little sharper. Nice translucency on the wing skin.
Weaknesses: It seems a bit impractical, the curved wings are cool but seem like they would create too much drag, unless maybe they can lay down flat? The head design seems too isolated from the rest of the body, maybe add some purple or orange reflected light on it.

Sailormooninite: Strengths: I like the concept of having many small creatures instead of one big creature.
Weaknesses: Too many sparkles and what looks like too much use of the dodge tool. Try using less white and less saturated colors.

Sapphire: Strengths: Original concept, I especially like the tail and its front feelers.
Weaknesses: Some of the initial sketching is still visible and overall this doesn’t feel finished.

skullbeast: Strengths: Interesting design, it looks a little like the hot pink cousin of Si_Swe’s Supersonic Spike entry.
Weaknesses: It doesn’t really strike me as beautiful.

[dragon4lunch]

Si_Swe: Very kewl, well done. It sure would be an impressive sight.
Clark: Outstanding design! Very original and sweet rendering! I noticed it was yours by the style - your rendering method is evident in your sea creature as well.

For me it was between Clark, MattKohr and GoldenSerpent. Obviously the presentation of Matt's is the most stunning and complete piece. Looks like he's taking this one. I do like Golden Serpent's creature design better though so he gets my vote.