C.O.W. #202. The Mating Ritual - Wips Thread

[Si_Swe]

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


For more info and details about the rules go here:

http://www.concepyart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110879


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

ROUND #202, The Mating Ritual

topic:

ROUND#202, THE MATING RITUAL

This round, in celebration of the upcoming Valentines day, we take a look at animal courtship and mating rituals. Previously we had a round (C.O.W. #069) about unusual mating habits. In this round we are focusing less on the actual physical mating of the animals and more on the process in which mates are selected or courted. Frequently we’ll find ourselves designing creatures without too much concern for gender. This round will focus on a creating a unique male and female specimen of a creature. The piece should illustrate a distinctive mating ritual for the creatures. Think about pre-existing mating rituals such as the birds of paradise and their feather displays and dances or Clark's Grebe, a bird which has a particularly strange mating dance involving running on water. Darwin’s Beetle in particular has a very strange mating ritual wherein the male ascends a tree with a female on top, fighting off other males at each branch, until throwing the final male off the tree, mating with the female and then throwing the female off the tree as well. Get creative with your creature’s specific mating ritual. Remember your drawing should properly portray both a unique male and female creature and their particular courtship techniques.

Deadline:

February 16th at 9:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

Finals go here: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3019622

[jsn]

Sounds like a fun and interesting c.o.w!

...although it seems a little quiet in here!

[Jabberwock xeno]

0.0

Yeah, I don't think this is a good topic to do my first COW for.

I had a really good concept for last week, (I actually had it pop in my head the second I saw the topic), but I couldn't start it and finish it in 3 days.

We'll see next week. Maybe i'll get lucky and the topic will be something I suggested...

...Tough I suppose I really would be at a disadvantage then, I suggested cool but hard ones.

[Eclectix]

I'd jump in but with an anniversary coming up this week I might be better off spending my time worrying about my own love life rather than illustrating the mating rituals of fictional creatures.

Then again, I do have some ideas. I might be able to make some time to take a stab at it. I have been thinking it might be weird if there was an alien species somewhere with three sexes instead of just two. All three sexes would need to participate in order for procreation to occur. How complicated would THAT mating ritual be?

[jsn]

Jabberwock xeno, we all have about 5 days for this c.o.w,...you can do it!

Eclectix, wow,...that sounds sexy!!!
btw, all the best on your anniversary!

will be participating!!!

[Zeitwolf]

Eclectix, don't worry about pussing out. You got your star in round 201 ;-D

I'll go for underwater... I need to practise texture and lighting and anatomy and scale details and I want to paint floofy bubbles

[jsn]

Zeitwolf, water!,..cool!, mine has a little liquid!

Two Pigmy somethings! The male dancers around throwing leaves over the female, suggesting to build a nest together, when she smiles he stops and squirts this liquid he's been saving up, into her warm loving eyes.
How romantic?!

[lancer_idenoure]

someones been watching LIFE! ;)

[Si_Swe]

You nailed it, buddy. But I actually came up with this topic well before I had watched any episodes of the show.

Jabberwock xeno - Hey man, don't be afraid to join on something tough. This is a learning experience, in the guise of a competition. As for topic suggestions, we haven't really done any thus far (though thanks to Lancer for suggesting the jumping off point for Round 200). The thing is (and I'm not as sure about (lark's position on this) but I have a large back-catalogue of topic ideas that I keep on my computer. Every time I come up with something else I think would work, I add it to the list, so it will be a good many weeks before I'm really going to the suggestions thread for topics. Don't get me wrong, I read every suggestion and if I see something that really really catches my eye I will sure as hell jump it up in the queue. As for your specific suggestions, some of them are great jumping off points, some are a little bit too abstract, or difficult to represent literally. If you can give me something juicy, that could easily provide a good many directions that artists can take depending on their preference, that is open enough to give a wide range and specific enough to direct the imagination on interesting, but topic-driven paths, that's what I'm looking for. I hope that helps for the future of topic suggestions. I still have a bunch that I'm very excited to bring you all, and that means right now suggestions are on the back-burner.

[GoldenSerpent]

The mention of birds of paradise will forever make me think of this silly little guy (the Superb Bird of Paradise)

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/4/23/129164966454554900.gif

With that in mind, I want to go with some sort of mating ritual that would look rather silly to people. Here are a few rough brainstorming sketches, at first I was thinking how about a giant brightly colored tongue, but that looked sort of meh, next I decided that I wanted my creature to look like a mammal, I haven't drawn many mammals recently, then I thought what about some sort of crazy nose?

I'll play with this a bit more because it might be too much like the elephant shrew right now but the idea is that the male rodent has elongated brightly colored nostrils that waggle up and down making funny noises as the female dances around his flailing nose. :D

1166559

[Jabberwock xeno]

During my spare time during the day, I started to sketch 2 birds for this.

Well, the sketch for one of them turned out to be in a position where I could make it so that it would be facing away from you or towards you, so I traced that sketch and used the original for a back view and the trace for a front, the former male and latter female.

...The issue is I am horrible at sketching wings and feathers...

>:|

And for that matter, scales, and pretty much any texture other than bare skin and flat, detailed-less surfaces. And don't get me started on shading...

Thank god for GIMP, I can do wonders with it... but still not feathers. :(

[warburton]

A few brain farts I did in alchemy then Photoshop.

Nothing fancy but some fun ideas. Also this might help anyone else with inspiration if struggling to come up with ideas.

Hope this helps in some way :$

[Jerner]

I enjoy these challanges, thank you for managing them :)
didn't think I'd enter this one - but I might change my mind, since some ideas popped into my head.

here's one of them sketched down (the male)

[emerging]

the male and female get born fused together and live a life of symbiosis. When the mating season starts the tail which has a penis-like projection at the tip is used to secret hormones that make the female part of the body ready for the mating ritual and open her vagina situated at the tip of the head. Weird penis-like creature i know but ohh well hhaa

[GoldenSerpent]

I really should be asleep but... romantic rodent nostril jump-rope! Trying out some colors, and is the perspective working okay? Something seems a bit off about it, especially the female's face so if anyone has some advice that'd be great.

1167126

[jsn]

GoldenSerpent, I think it's lookin good!

Trying to give the whole piece some life before I add colour. I don't always work like this!,...learning, definitely learning something!

[Eclectix]

I'm definitely bowing out of this one. If anybody wants to tinker with my idea go for it. I like the work going on in here already!

GoldenSerpent, I think what you're missing is the roof of her mouth. From this angle you should see the palate. BTW, those guys are cute as Hell!

[Si_Swe]

Kickin' ass guys.

emerging - Really interesting concept. Technically it doesn't seem like a courtship ritual but the method by which the animal mates that you're focusing on. I'll allow it since it's such a creative take. I wonder how it perpetuates genetic diversity if it breeds as it does.

The creatures I'm sketching right now are little water striding creatures. They have an extremely complex system of excretory tubes. They function like a pipe organ as they excrete gasses. During the non-mating seasons they use this to propel themselves through and over the water. Whilst in the mating season the females will skit over the water of the pond, the males sit on lily pads creating music with their flatulence. The females choose a male based on the pungence of their flatulence, the loudness and melody of the song. Once they select the male, they will play in unison for a time, before mating.

Really rough right now, just establishing a composition.

[emerging]

Kickin' ass guys.

emerging - Really interesting concept. Technically it doesn't seem like a courtship ritual but the method by which the animal mates that you're focusing on. I'll allow it since it's such a creative take. I wonder how it perpetuates genetic diversity if it breeds as it does.

The creatures I'm sketching right now are little water striding creatures. They have an extremely complex system of excretory tubes. They function like a pipe organ as they excrete gasses. During the non-mating seasons they use this to propel themselves through and over the water. Whilst in the mating season the females will skit over the water of the pond, the males sit on lily pads creating music with their flatulence. The females choose a male based on the pungence of their flatulence, the loudness and melody of the song. Once they select the male, they will play in unison for a time, before mating.

Really rough right now, just establishing a composition.

Yeah you are right. There is a very fine line between mating ritual and the actual mating. Thanks for letting this through though. I got inspired by the angler fish. When it gets born there are males and females but the males are missing digestive systems so they have to quickly find the female bite into her and release enzymes to stick to her. And so they grow together. She supplies them with nutrients and when the mating season comes the male releases his sperm into her.

I just thought it was mindblowing concept and wanted to do something like this but it was kind of impossible to show the actual courtship or ritual if the two creatures are one. Maybe i should make it look at the penis structure a bit more and have the penis structure jitter like a rattle snakes tail lol.. what you think?

here is a quick edit just to get an idea

[Jabberwock xeno]

Yeah you are right. There is a very fine line between mating ritual and the actual mating. Thanks for letting this through though. I got inspired by the angler fish. When it gets born there are males and females but the males are missing digestive systems so they have to quickly find the female bite into her and release enzymes to stick to her. And so they grow together. She supplies them with nutrients and when the mating season comes the male releases his sperm into her.

I just thought it was mindblowing concept and wanted to do something like this but it was kind of impossible to show the actual courtship or ritual if the two creatures are one. Maybe i should make it look at the penis structure a bit more and have the penis structure jitter like a rattle snakes tail lol.. what you think?

here is a quick edit just to get an idea

I really like this guy/girl/...thing. XD

Mine is coming along slowly, I should have a WIP up in a moment...

[Si_Swe]

Sounds cool, emerging. Maybe some subtle use of motion blur, would be effective for the rattling?

Here's a quick update on mine...

[Artfix]

Lol I hope these don't get any grosser!

[retter]

Here's my first sketch for my concept.

Basically it's how any man should get his woman...

A mother effing staring contest.

My female creature is like a queen bee, all the males want to mate with her but only the best can, those who can go without blinking for the longest!

[JaneMag]

Ahaha, so much silly stuff in here. I want to join too! XD

[Si_Swe]

Testing out colours on the male creature.

[Jabberwock xeno]

Testing out colours on the male creature.

I REALLY like the swampy teal green you used, though not the tan for the underbelly.

I doubt i'll be able to post my stuff by the deadline, I am still trying to finish up the female of mine in order to start coloring her, and then I have to repeat it for the male :|

[Si_Swe]

Sorry you don't like the tan... I was a fan. I may consider changing it in the near future. Here's some more work with colour. I decided on a browner colour range for the females.

[Jabberwock xeno]

Sorry you don't like the tan... I was a fan. I may consider changing it in the near future. Here's some more work with colour. I decided on a browner colour range for the females.

To clarify, I did like the tan on the underbelly, it blended in with the green nice, but I had a gut feeling a more colorful... color would work even better.

Don't know why, just got a gut feeling for that.

:shrug:

By the way, can I ask what programs or techniques you guys normally use? Mainly as far as adding shadow and the skin/scales/feathers/whatever texture of the creatures, I always hit a dead end when I get to that point in making a peice.

[Si_Swe]

Oh, okay, I see now. As for my programs and techniques? I generally use exclusively Photoshop CS4. There have been times when I've thrown it into Painter Essentials 3 for a couple of things, but it's very rare that I do that. In terms of techniques, I usually do one of two things. I either build up greyscale tones from a medium grey on top of my sketch, add colour to the greyscale, and work up the rendering from there with various layer types (mostly normal, though). Or, I do a quick, colour and cell cut method to establish highlights and shadows using the lasso tool and then render on top of that. It depends how cartoony I want to go. I use overlays for my textures a lot of the time, getting textures I like and applying them as sparingly as I can, using layer masks, then paint a bit on top of them to make them look a little less unnatural. I'm certainly no expert, though, so don't take my techniques as final on anything.

[jsn]

Si_Swe, I love the blurred out bg! Lookin good!

Jabberwock xeno, it would probably help, if you show your progress! I know I'm hangin to see wot you're typing about!
Seriously, doing these challenges will only enhance your skills.

[GoldenSerpent]

Si_Swe: I like the concept and the colors look nice to me, I think the tan stomach looks pretty good, maybe try adding a bit more pink to it? I don't think the colors need to be particularly flashy since they are attracting each-other by sound and smell instead of sight. The only thing that bothers me right now is how the horizon is slanted.

retter: I like the staring contest idea, it might look cool if you gave it a lot of eyes to stare with instead of just two.

Jabberwock xeno: I agree with jsn you should post your wips so we can try to give you better advice, maybe even some paint overs ;) as far as programs I pretty much exclusively use photoshop, I almost always use preset brushes, the hard round and a flattened hard airbrush for most things. I draw in almost all of the texture, occasionally I'll find a texture I like and make a custom brush from it, but most of the time I find using a texture from something else to look too unnatural so I end up using it only for a base and doing a lot of drawing and smudging over it or I just paint the texture myself. The smudge tool can come in handy for creating fast textures, for example a using a splatter shaped brush on maybe something like 70% strength to smudge things around can help quickly make a fur texture, I'm actually using that technique on my current piece.


Here's my update, I felt like going back to the technique of black and white drawing and adding color on top of it, now I've just started to overlay the colors. I also intend to go into the black and white layers and change them into colored layers with the Hue/Saturation tool to see if I can making things a bit more vibrant.

1169309

1169310

[emerging]

looking good serpent..
here is my progress so far. I am going with either a motion rattling penis or orangy red glow penis. Still going to add some texture and ease it off in some areas

[Zeitwolf]

@Golden Serpent: crazy colours, I like the blue underbelly!

@emerging: how is your creature eating? the statement about genetic diversity is also important I think. Sexual reproduction mainly exists because of diversity. Else we'd do it like plants or aphids and just clone ourselves... on the contrary your execution is without question excellent... (I wish I could execute my ideas as nice as you do. But studying nature science for four years leaves me with expertise in thinking scientifically, not in drawing...)

here's my sketch. and my palette...

[retter]

GoldenSerpent - Thanks for the advice!

I added a few more eyes to my original design and couldn't seem to get it to look right so I kept playing around with shapes and forms and ended up with this. I'm going to go ahead and keep it for the final design after modifying it to make a male and female version (perhaps only giving the female multiple eyes to make it hard for the male to court her).

[Zeitwolf]

there's terribly lot of space and they aren't even facing each other... but on I go...

[Jabberwock xeno]

Si_Swe: I like the concept and the colors look nice to me, I think the tan stomach looks pretty good, maybe try adding a bit more pink to it? I don't think the colors need to be particularly flashy since they are attracting each-other by sound and smell instead of sight. The only thing that bothers me right now is how the horizon is slanted.

retter: I like the staring contest idea, it might look cool if you gave it a lot of eyes to stare with instead of just two.

Jabberwock xeno: I agree with jsn you should post your wips so we can try to give you better advice, maybe even some paint overs ;) as far as programs I pretty much exclusively use photoshop, I almost always use preset brushes, the hard round and a flattened hard airbrush for most things. I draw in almost all of the texture, occasionally I'll find a texture I like and make a custom brush from it, but most of the time I find using a texture from something else to look too unnatural so I end up using it only for a base and doing a lot of drawing and smudging over it or I just paint the texture myself. The smudge tool can come in handy for creating fast textures, for example a using a splatter shaped brush on maybe something like 70% strength to smudge things around can help quickly make a fur texture, I'm actually using that technique on my current piece.


Here's my update, I felt like going back to the technique of black and white drawing and adding color on top of it, now I've just started to overlay the colors. I also intend to go into the black and white layers and change them into colored layers with the Hue/Saturation tool to see if I can making things a bit more vibrant.

1169309

1169310

Well, i've been trying a new style, but a slightly older piece should give you a better example:
1297806122

I only starter-ed to clean up and do my best attempt with shading on the armored plates near the head, the rest of it is sketches on paper.

[Lege1]

Emerging: Feeling like your work is under rated....just wanted to say I think it's looking great. The texture effort is really pulling the work together and the concept is very cool as well as humorous.

[Si_Swe]

GoldenSerpent - Thanks you're right the horizon line was crooked. I'm sort of almost in the process of fixing that. We'll see if I can pull it together.
I like the colours going on, but I feel like a really slight transition for some of the colours would really help. EDIT: nope, still super crooked... dammit.

emerging - Lookin' killer, man. The scales flatten right near the front of the male. Out of curiousity is the texture 100% painted or is it a combo of texture overlay and painting? In terms of where to take the penis: Why not try both and see which you like better? Then maybe try them at the same time? Have you ever read Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood? The glowing penis concept always makes me think of the Crakers.

retter - Excellent expression. Love the personality. Remember, we're going to need to be able to see the actual staring contest going on.

Zeitwolf - Nice design. What's the ritual going to be?

Here's a bit more work on mine...

[emerging]

@Golden Serpent: crazy colours, I like the blue underbelly!

@emerging: how is your creature eating? the statement about genetic diversity is also important I think. Sexual reproduction mainly exists because of diversity. Else we'd do it like plants or aphids and just clone ourselves... on the contrary your execution is without question excellent... (I wish I could execute my ideas as nice as you do. But studying nature science for four years leaves me with expertise in thinking scientifically, not in drawing...)

here's my sketch. and my palette...

Hey thanks for feedback.. In my earlier post I have explained my inspiration. If you want to look at it from scientific approach, angler fish is pretty much my inspiration because that is exactly how it functions. In terms of eating, that aspect is not important in this case so I decided to paint the creature in an angle where you don't really see the mouth which is right underneath the head of the female.

[emerging]

@si_swe yeah man it's a combination of a texture photo map with painting on top. I've done it quite a bit before and then at work we did a lot of that too so it's kind of a part of my style at this point. I am starting to think I will go with a glowing penis. That way i can add some warmer highlights and really bring the focal point out as well as fix the flatness of the male head. Thanks for your advice. BTW i like the tubular structures on your creatures. Your linework has improved quite a bit over the last few months! keep on it!

@Lege1 thanks man.. It is still not done yet and my stupid puppy chewed on the wire again which i have to fix today again so i can finish my thing on time haha

[jsn]

Lookin great everyone!

Adding colour! Think I will lose the outline!
What do you think?

[retter]

Si Swe Thanks! Yeah, I had it in the back of my mind the whole time that I'd need to show them in a staring contest but the creature looked so good from a frontal perspective.

Here's a mock-up of how I think I'll present my finished piece, what do you think? Is it too busy?

[GoldenSerpent]

retter: nice update, I like this design a lot better. EDIT: Ah was creating my post while you posted The mock-up looks good, you might want to make the female taller than the males so that we can see her face over the tops of their heads. I like the expression on the male creature he looks so confused as to where he should be looking.

emerging: I really like the texture around their back and legs, it seems a little too strong around their faces though.

Si_Swe: I was looking at the female thinking something about it's pose looked a little uncomfortable, how about if you enlarged it's stomach and made it look more like it is leisurely sitting on the water lily leaf. Sort of like this:
1170183
I also think adding some green reflected light on her toes/belly might look nice.

jsn: I'm glad you're going to lose the outline, I think that will make it look much better, also maybe add some sharper edges to your highlights and shadows as they are looking fairly soft overall.

Update: no more black and white, I decided to get rid of the mushroom since they where starting to be a bit distracting, I might add something back in on that corner though. Something about the male's coloration still seems a bit off, maybe it's the yellow. The next things I will be tackling are the male's noes and the female's hind legs.

1170182

[Zeitwolf]

@Si_Swe: my ritual is a ssssecret... XD, srsly the small (male) will be using his braintenna head to hypnotize the large (female), for that he will need the space between them...
The depth of space in your's is nice, the water looks credible. Only I wonder if something that large wouldn't break the water surface with so small feet. Pond skaters for example have thousands of tiny hairs on their feet that help with keeping the surface tension.

@emerging: I asked about the eating out of interest. I should have figured the mouth could be like the jaw of the spermwhale under the females head.

@jsn: I'm actually a fan of outlines, when they are all over a picture. If you want to lose them, get rid of them in the whole depiction. Looking forward to your saliva rendering.

@retter: the relicts of the extra eyes on the female are my favourite

@GoldenSerpent: there were shrooms in your pic? *scrolls up* Didn't notice :D

[jsn]

Jabberwock xeno, howz your creature artwork coming along?

Everyone, not long now!

[Si_Swe]

GoldenSerpent - Thanks for the paint-over, that helped a lot. I was actually in the process off adding those green highlights when I checked in on the thread and saw that you had suggested that, so, cool! You're right, the bigger stomach looks better and makes way more sense, I ended up using the idea.

emerging - Thanks a lot! It's always really nice to hear one is improving, especially from talented artists. I looked back at my first entry back in January 2010 (The Stinky Swamp Devil), and I'd like to think I've come a ways from there for sure.

Retter - Love the expressions. I agree about making the female a bit taller so we can see her whole face on the 3/4ths view. Keep it going!

Zeitwolf - I figured that the suction cup areas of the feet are actually hollow, they function as another set of tubes like on here back and she skitters around like a hovercraft, with the same gas emitting from the feet. It's a little ridiculous, but hey, I'm all about ridiculous.

jabberwock xeno - Okay so, the first thing I get when I look at your piece is that I don't see the brief for this week at all. Second I see that you don't have a complete creature designed. Just the head and neck. We need to see at least 3/4ths of the creature to accept the entry.

The first thing you'll want to do once you have those problems fixed, is lay the image down on a medium ground; that is, make the actual drawing a multiply layer, and place a medium grey layer beneath it. Then work on top of all of that with a hard round. The medium grey will allow you to easily work in both highlights and shadows to establish forms. Look at references for snakes and turtles for this guy, to get an idea of the kind of forms you're dealing with. After you've got that down, start adding colour with layers over top of that. Does that help at all, or do you need something more or less advanced?

[Si_Swe]

20 minutes till deadline. Make sure you get your entries in!

[Si_Swe]

Poll is up! Nice round everyone who participated. Although, this actually sets the record for fewest entries in a COW round...