C.O.W. #205. Bioluminescent Invertebrate - VOTING!

[Si_Swe]

ROUND #205 VOTING

Topic: Bioluminescent Ivertebrate.

Single Vote (<20 entries)...

Deadline for the voting: Wednesday Mar. 16th, 2011

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, please add some crits.

[Eclectix]

Artist: Eclectix

Concept: Cloud Leviathan


The Cloud Leviathan lives among the upper atmosphere of the gaseous planet Opaela. This creature can be seen hunting alone or in small groups, and can prey upon creatures both large and small. In this image two of the creatures are seen cooperating to trap many small planktonic air floaters by clasping their long tentacles together at the base, forming a sort of dragnet.

Bioluminescent organs called photophores cover 90% of their bodies. By controlling which of these are firing at a given time they can create changing light displays of incredible complexity, allowing them to communicate during coordinated maneuvers.

These creatures use jet propulsion to move through the clouds much the way that aquatic squid propel themselves through water on Earth, and they have an air bladder filled with hydrogen to maintain buoyancy in the dense gasses of the cloud planet.

Also peculiar about these creatures is the fact that they represent two different species working in a complete symbiosis. The front of the animal is much like an arthropod, and it is conjoined as a larvae with a soft-bodied tentacled creature which forms the back half of the adult specimen. So conjoined are these two original creatures that their nervous system, circulatory system and digestive system are merged together as one, making them a single creature for all purposes. Both original species contribute and retain a set of eyes, giving the adult both fore-and-aft vision which is useful during hunting. It is impossible for an adult of either original species to survive to maturity without the other.

1185565

[jumei]

Artist: Jumei

Concept: Sea Oracle

The Sea Oracle is a small fetus-like creature which lives in a bigger protective body. It's around 40 cm long and lives on the bottom of the sea on variable depths in tropical waters. It's not a very social animal and lives solitaire. The bioluminescence serves either as a warning or navigation. The light gives off continuous and can change to different colors.

For a long time the Sea Oracle was considered holy by many cultures because of it's magnificent appearance.

[Si_Swe]

Artist: Si_Swe
Concept: Beaconfish


Apparently related to the cuttlefish, the beaconfish can be found in a series of underwater tunnels in the mountains of tropical regions. Locating mates with their bright glow, they search through tunnels for each and for pockets of algae and the valuable plankton that the algae attracts. Beaconfish are social with one another, but are very easily frightened by outside presences, attempting to conceal themselves in the rocks when other animals draw near and dimming their bioluminescent backs to a faint glimmer.

[volscalkur]

Artist: Volscalkur

Concept: Anglavathan
The Anglavathan uses it's glowing body and bright lantern appendage on it's head to attract prey in the icy, watery depths it calls home. When the prey is close enough the Anglavathan will propel it's self forward with it's tentacles and sting the prey with the two wicked stingers also mounted on it's head leaving the prey paralyzed, unable to escape allowing the Anglavathan to eat it alive at his leisure.

[Lane.]

Artist: Lane.

Concept: Glow Jaw


Glow Jaws are large insects that burrow into overhanging surfaces, such as fallen trees or mud caves. They have tentacle-like appendages that glow brightly. On the tentacles are scented lures that attract prey such as small rodents. Their legs are broad, shaped like flower petals found in the habitat, they can tightly enclose around prey. The legs are also great for burrowing, and can serve as a shield from predators. However, the Glow Jaw is very vulnerable when it is not in a burrow.

[DmnSpawn]

Artist: DmnSpawn

Concept: Stellar Wurm
It's a Stellar Wurm, it has a hood that it uses to entrance it's prey with a flickering star show with a swirling milky-way nebula thanks to Bio-luminescent bacteria it keeps inside a sack on it's chest to hopelessly hypnotize it's smaller furry prey. These bacteria also gather in higher concentration in pores on the skin that appear as bright as stars. It hunts in the desert dunes, on small nocturnal prey at night where it's display is most effective.


** Also I'm late since I didn't realize the site it 3 hours ahead of me :( but only 35 min late! lol

[Si_Swe]

Eclectix - Nice sense of flow, pretty good rendering. Issues occur with the clouds, which need to be rendered with a much larger brush; and the palette in which the light green and light blue are competing for the same attention, muddling the composition. I feel like the image would look a lot smoother if the glowing areas were more connected as lines, rather than staying dots, which gives too much of a decorative, sequined feel for me.
jumei - There is an excellent sense of lightness to your illustration, and the rendering of the design really compliments this, even if it becomes a little muddled and ambiguous in areas. Overall, I think more form could be brought into it, but I think it best fit the brief, so I voted for it.
volscalkur - The good thing about your piece is that there is a definite sense of lambence about the creature's body. There is a lot of room for improvement, though. Here are a few suggestions: use a larger brush to block out forms, don't rely on such small brushes to create details, it muddies up the overall image. Don't try and force your creature to fit inside the frame, either extend the canvas with the crop tool to give yourself enough room, or let the creature move beyond the frame, otherwise the image looks awkward and forced. Let things fade into the background more. I realize the creature is glowing, but you can add a much better sense of depth by having some fade-out. Don't use black, use something very close to black. Black tends to flatten images down.
Lane. - Even though I really like your piece, I didn't vote for it because I know how awesome your stuff is and this feels a little more rushed than your other work. Killer concept and illustration, and with a little more time on the details on the creature and a little more paint on the fore and midground of the enviro and this would be really awesome.
DmnSpawn - You weren't late. You would have been late if we went by EST, which is actually my time zone, but we go by PST -(lark's time zone-, so you were actually a couple hours early. I like the sense of spaceyness to your piece, but it's very hard to convey a design on a frontal view, a more 3/4s view of the creature would better showcase the design. I think the design also could have been pushed a lot further, having only a few notable features. The biggest issue with the piece right now is your edges, which are all way too soft. Vary the quality of edges based on the material and the lighting, but hard edges would have been the go to, here.

[Eclectix]

jumei: Your creature is very graceful looking; it sort of reminds me of a luminous Spanish dancer: http://www.oceanwideimages.com/images/13014/large/24M1622-13-spanish-dancer-nudibranch.jpg
I also like the colors on the ground below it, they work well with the colors of the creature. The only thing that didn't quite work for me was that the creature looked a bit flat. I think if the folds and curves were accentuated a bit more, this one probably would have gotten my vote.

Si_Swe: Thank you for the crits. I can sort of see what you mean about the clouds; I think if I'd planned the background better then I could have pushed the perspective more effectively with different sized brushes. The background was sort of an afterthought which I think adds a lot, but it could have been done better if planned from the start. The glowing spots vs lines I guess must be a matter of personal taste. I tried the lines first and they didn't look right to me, but I rather like the spots.
Your technique of using the floating specks is very effective for making your creature look like it is underwater. I also like the concept of a glowing creature related to cuttlefish (they are such interesting animals in their own right). I think my biggest crit would be that the shape of the creature is very uniform (for lack of ability to come up with a better word). The bubbles are very round and are uniformly spaced and incrementally sized which makes me think of things designed by humans rather than things which evolved naturally (I hope that makes sense).

volscalkur: A very good first entry. That luminous green is always a good choice to make something look like it is glowing. The composition does suffer from the square format as Si_Swe pointed out. I think you could improve this tremendously by considering the overall flow of the creature; make the tentacles and body follow a rhythm. I don't know how familiar you are with composition but I sense that you could benefit from more study in this area.

Lane: Gets my vote this turn. I like the colors, the idea, and the environment. I even like the expression on the mouse. I'm not crazy about the creature's face so much; it seems too anthropomorphic for a worm. I actually like the painterly style on this piece, though it would be nice to see it tightened up more, too.

DmnSpawn: Ditto what Si_Swe said. Also, a good first entry. The idea of changing glowing patterns being used to mesmerize prey is pretty cool. The overall portrayal is a bit hard to make out though. I suggest you try to stay away from soft brushes because they are making your piece look so soft that it is hazy and lacking definition.

[volscalkur]

Thank you very much for the critique Si_Swe!
Great suggestions, yes i really need to work on blocking out form and the composition could definitely be much better, I was going for a more dynamic pose but it ended up looking awkward and forced. I see what you mean about the details muddying up the overall and I got too carried away with trying to make it glowy that did not think to have any fade as things went into the distance.
I can defiantly see what you mean about black!

Thanks again! Your critique is very helpful! That's why I love these contests!

Lane you got my vote! While the piece does look a little rushed that's part of what I like about it. It definitely shows a level of mastery to have things that rough and yet still have everything work and have the image read so nicely! The eye flow works very well too with the rat as the focal point then you travel up the glowing tendrils and realize "Hey that's not a flower!" I really like the breakdown and explanation you included in the WIP thread.

Eclectix Yours was very well done and I really like your concept and description. The creatures read well and the planktonic air floaters add a nice contrast. The only things I would change would be the the clouds since they come off as rather flat, and the stars, which were on top of both the clouds and the plankton and skewed the perspective.

Jumei Yours was very nice! I really like the sense of undulation and movement you brought to this piece! Its very ethereal and quite beautiful!
I think the background really competes and ends up hurting this piece though. I think some thing more subtle and oceanic would work much better.

Si_Swe I really like how unique your creature is, and you have definitely nailed the bio luminescent quality. The glowing bubbles on the creature are reading a little bit flat to me, but the tendrils at the bottom are excellent!

Volscalkur you completely suck at art and need to start over! :)

DmnSpawn Nice concept! Push the form a bit, I know it was tricky in this round since the creature were glowing. Also like Si_Swe mentioned a different pose may have captured the action in your piece an bit better.

Thanks everyone! Fantastic round!

[emerging]

voted for Lane. nice rendering and a sweet idea!

[DmnSpawn]

Ty everyone who critiqued my piece, Nice to feel properly welcomed. I enjoyed it and I agree with most of what you guys said, I didn't try alot of diff angles which i should, and I was going for a "looming" effect and dead on looking over the rodent was the only was I could make it work for me.
I agree with the soft brushes, I used to have too much line and now I tried to break away from lines and perhaps did it a little too much ha ha.

I would critique your stuff but I barely know what I'm doing but I liked them all. I'm hoping to get my cow's thumbs up faster so that I can get these critiques sooner rather then after I'm fin~ Hard to get advice when everyone is scrambling on the last day to fin and post :)

[jumei]

Si_Swe: Thanks for voting for me! I learned a lot in the process. I agree with your critique. I'm taking it with me for the next COW I'll be participating with.

Lane: From all the entries I liked yours the most. However I do agree with Si-Swe, your drawing looks more like a speedpainting, it could be way more refined. I like your concept tho.

About something else: Shouldn't every entrant vote for another entrant? Or is that your own choice?

[Si_Swe]

Jumei - We do not make voting mandatory, but it is against the rules to vote for yourself. Entrants caught doings so will have the vote deducted immediately.