C.O.W. #209. EOW Crossover: Bridge the Gap - Wips Thread

[Si_Swe]

http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1192106&d=1300332532

For more info and details about the rules go here:

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


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ROUND #209 - Bridge the Gap!


COW/EOW CROSSOVER :: Bridge the Gap


BRIEF:


COW/EOW CROSSOVER!

Bridging the Gap


The hive mind. Cooperation. Existence as a singular unit. Seamless collaborative measures for the survival of the colony. Whoever designed our universe was a curiously efficient architect when it came to strange science and the natural instincts of creatures - forming bridges, for one, is a sight to see and an extraordinary “concept" if you will.


COW REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES:

Your challenge this week is to design a bridge forming creature that’s able to work together with it’s many relatives to overcome obstacles, a task no single creature of this select species could accomplish by itself. Think about reasons why the creature would need to build these gestalt bridges. Focus on the anatomy of the creature. Your creature should clearly portray a member of this species, rather than illustrate its bridge-building technique, which is what the Environment section of this challenge is for. However, the environment you have in mind will drastically affect the design of your creature, and how it has evolved to become a competent bridge builder.


EOW REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES:

Your challenge this week to design an environment depicting how this collective effort of bridge construction goes down. There’s a slight dilemma with the crossover aspect of the theme because technically your environment should show the creatures building the bridge. No creatures, no bridge, right? There’s also an additional option in this case: You may collaborate with an artist from the COW contest and use their creatures in your environment.

The Environment of the Week thread for this round can be found here:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3089095#post3089095


NOTE:
You’re NOT required to participate in both activities but you’re encouraged to if you’d like to design your creature and the environment it lives in as well.

Due: April 20th, 2011 9:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

Special Thanks to Vulgar' and dragon4lunch.

[ryan mcshane]

woah very cool! so to get this straight, we design a creature on it's own (just like a creature design..) for the COW and then it x 1 million in an environment for EOW?
sounds really sweet, great topic to!
:D

[ninety9]

very interesting

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Awesome challenge this week. If work deadlines don't get in the way, I've already got ideas forming about a creature...and the environment.

[Eclectix]

Can the term "bridge" be translated as any physical structure connecting two or more surfaces? My idea is a zero-gravity environment where the creatures build bridges to connect floating rocks and other items together in order to allow them to move among them.

[Si_Swe]

Eclectix - That is fine. However, the idea is that the building must be a collective process, and, if you choose to the environment, the process of the bridge building must be in progress.

Important Note: The Creature of the Week entry should NOT be an illustration. It should be as minimal in terms of additional elements as possible.

[DmnSpawn]

I posted a thumb on the EOW forum. And here is my thumb for the creature itself.
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/097/a/c/cow_209_creature_side_by_dmnspawn-d3dga5d.jpg

[Si_Swe]

Alright. In the art of procrastination from finals, comes inspiration for C/EOW. I'm visualizing an arboreal hive species. The species is migratory, however, the queen lacks the physical ability to jump between trees, so the workers have to create bridges for her using their bodies. The creatures' designs will likely involve a good many hooks, to give an almost Barrel-O-Monkeys type of connection between the parts of the bridge. Many ideas are still in the works, but I kind of like the idea, that the bridges are formed by creating this hanging chain of workers who then must swing back and forth with the chain, until they can actually reach the next tree.

I'll post a WIP when I get really procrastinate-y and decide to it's time to do something almost productive with my time spent not writing a paper and not studying for exams.

[maxrlx]

Here's my progress so far. The creatures are very compact, like bricks. They live on protruding rocks from cliff faces and waterfalls, and must travel from one rock formation to the next to feed, etc. They use their bodies as 'bricks' to make a bridge. They have an incredible gripping power on each paw, and also incredibly strong elephant trunk like appendages on the sides to strengthen the bridge. The way they build the bridge is by adding more creatures in front of the others, creating a cantilever beam kind of structure until they reach the other side.

[surus]

I understood the bridge as a picture for Darwin's exploration, not as a physical real bridge. I had creatures in mind which aren't known until today, which are the link between two species in the process of evolution.

And the creature itself (if it would be found today as a skeleton) could be the bridge for a gap between two or more species (missing links in the evolution steps).

So here's my answer - not finished, but it'll take only a few pencil steps.

I didn't invent a name, but it is the link between a hornet (insects) and a parrot (birds). I'll finish the skull, neck and claws with pencil, but I won't add a real head/eyes or feathers to the head.

[GoodSoup]

How about a bridge that isn't about going from A to B, but rather that allows these creatures to function together, coordinate to feed and even exchange nutrients with the farthest members of the bridge/community? It's definitely something a single individual could never accomplish by itself.

Dunno, this is my initial sketch. If you think it fits, I'll develop it.. if not, well, I'll think of something else.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qD-YZizfhJs/TaDaC65VuWI/AAAAAAAAAZE/C6o9wjoT5rI/s1600/Bride%2Bmaker.jpg

Cheers

[Eclectix]

I'm no moderator, but it seems very clear from the brief that the creatures must work together to build bridges. The word "gestalt" is even used which again implies physical structure. I like both of your designs and I don't want to piss on your concepts but I worry that you are deviating far from the brief.

Also, an insect/bird is a cool fantasy concept, but it couldn't be construed as an evolutionary bridge because they are totally unrelated; one is an arthropod, the other is a vertebrate. Their closest common ancestor was a sponge-like organism which has been extinct for about 600 million years.

[Si_Swe]

GoodSoup - Sorry, we're talking about more literal bridge here, not something like an evolutionary bridge. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[jptannus]

Here is some idea I got, this creature have a rigid back that can be used to climb, so thats my concept:
http://i55.tinypic.com/slimtw.jpg

It goal is to get a giant juicy fruit on the other side

[surus]

Electix, Si Swe: No problem, I didn't want to break the rules.

[Rob Powell]

Done a crap load of sketching and eventually came up with this. Still needs some work but it looks petty neat so far.

[jptannus]

Rob nice draw, i can't really imagine how they gone make a bridge, you made me curious xD

Here some more progress:
http://k.min.us/ikGMpo.jpg

[maxrlx]

More progress, now trying to select creature color scheme. Nice concepts everybody. Cool creature GoodSoup.

[ZeroCartin]

Hi guys :)

Well, this will be my first COW :P Ive been thinking and writing down alot of ideas before starting my concept. These have been my questions/answers
1) Why would they need to build bridges?
- Communication
- Mating
- Bring material *minerals, w/e* home
- Migratory creatures that live on high ground elevations and can not fly.

2) Why would they need to work in groups?
- These creatures have containers on their body that contain small amounts of building materials. In order to create a bridge, they need alot of material/workers for it to be able to handle the weight of hundreds of them moving through.

3)What kind of material is it?
- These creatures have a very hot body that contain a rare kind of melted metal inside. When they "spit" it out to the environment, it solidifies and starts making the structure. They can bend the metal with their arms/hands and make the desired structure. once completed, they can move on.

I'll be concepting some ideas based on this train of thought and post them here. BRB!

[ZeroCartin]

Ok heres my first attempt to try and get the key features of my creature laid down. I definetely think it should be a pretty small creature.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/ZeroCartin/COW_GapTheBridge_FelipeCartin01.jpg
1) This is the container he will have which will carry the hot liquid metal.
2) The creature will empty its cointaining liquid through a tube on the top part of its mouth.
3) These legs will let the creature walk, and grab tightly from the metal, twigs, or other creatures.
4) These are the 2 arms which will be molding the liquid metal to form the bridge :)

Any comments and crits are welcome! :)

[Si_Swe]

ZeroCartin - Looking promising, just remember that the bride construction must be a collective effort, so think about reasons why it may not be able to do this just on its own.

Edit: Sorry, I misread the above post. Looks like you're good to go!

[ZeroCartin]

ZeroCartin - Looking promising, just remember that the bride construction must be a collective effort, so think about reasons why it may not be able to do this just on its own.

Sure, i wrote it on the post on top of the image :)
"2) Why would they need to work in groups?
- These creatures have containers on their body that contain small amounts of building materials. In order to create a bridge, they need alot of material/workers for it to be able to handle the weight of hundreds of them moving through."

[Flame_Unquenchable]

First go with notes. I have 3 more types of this creature that work in colony fashion to build the bridge. Crits are welcome.

1209445

[ZeroCartin]

Hi Flame :)
The idea of making is making this creature as part of a chain of the bridge? I am wondering how this would work as in, how would they start making the bridge, how they get on and off of their position, etc. If you are going with an approach like this, I think id re evaluate making some kind of fingers or something it can use to get easily change his position.

Keep it up!

[Flame_Unquenchable]

In my hand sketches they have little grasping type fingers, but when i started in digital I left them out, I think you're right though, they need some kind of grasping appendages.

[ZeroCartin]

Ok, heres another study of the type of creature, but this type concentrating on the possibility of it being a bit bigger, and trying to mix the bug characteristics *exoskeleton* with some kind of bird creature.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/ZeroCartin/COW_GapTheBridge_FelipeCartin02.jpg

[DPFX]

This is my first "Creature of the Week" attempt. Turns out having an extra week is the perfect encouragement.

I'm going with a species of creatures that live in an asteroid belt, extracting nutrients from veins of minerals in the rock. They have an uncanny ability to negotiate the movements of the asteroids and form living bridges from between rocks to find fresh sustenance and avoid catastrophic collisions (or mynocks, if you had Star Wars sheets as a kid).

[GoodSoup]

@Si_Swe and Eclectix: I think you might be mistaking my comment for surus'? I never spoke of evolution or an evolutionary link. :S My creature builds a physical bridge, to fill a physical gap... I fail to see how it doesn't apply to the topic.

[Eclectix]

Goodsoup: I'm sorry, I think I must have misread what you were saying. I thought you were speaking of a "figurative" bridge of some sort rather than a physical bridge. I hope Si_Swe will weigh in on this clarification and give us a verdict based on that.


For mine, I finally had a bit of time to get started on it this afternoon, and I thought it would be best to start with the environment. Here is my first WIP.

The environment is a belt of gasses, water vapor, and minerals which never coalesced to form a moon. These gasses and solids form a ring around a brown dwarf star. The star is the heat and light source for the inhabitants of this ring. The creatures living within this belt build bridges to connect the floating debris, creating an incredibly intricate matrix which allows them to move about in their world in search of food. When the creatures exhaust the food and other resources in one area of the belt, they will need to move on to another area, requiring the building of new bridges. Eventually their old abandoned bridges will fall into ruin as they are overtaken by the growth of new life forms.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1209867

[jolen]

first draft. Kinda simple bug things(i'll make them more complex but this is the general idea), these are the female drones ("bridge builders") that build bridges (duh!) for the male drones ("dragers"?) wich are the big ones that carry their quite exotic, very hard and very heavy, food back to the hive for processing.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/jolen_t/COW_209_1.jpg

[Si_Swe]

Here's the linework for the workers in my colony.
Conceptually:
The species is nomadic and arboreal, but the queens lack the physical capabilities to go from tree to tree. In order to get her from one tree to another, the workers will link themselves using their hooked legs (each hook goes into the fingers of the next) and then swing themselves to the next tree in a chain, forming a bridge for the queen to cross. Diagrams to follow.

[Velocity Kendall]

same concept as some other people here, these little chaps link together. they only work if the appraching person is allowed to cross the bridge. then they march out of the walls and do their thing!
the orange guys are the smart ones and boss the dumb greys.
with an enviro from the eow thread crossover typw thing

[Rob Powell]

Been doing some thinking about my other crab concept and I've decided that I can do better than a crab with extra claws and eyes. So... I've been doing a bit more sketching, and came up with these little buggers...as you can see I've already started rendering the male. I'm much happier with this design, th have a bit more character than the crab.

Notable differences:
Unlike the males, females are wingless and their claws lack pincers, but they can produce a saliva that when mixed with sand or mud can create a hard cement like substance when it dries. Very much like termites.

[Si_Swe]

Velocity Kendall - While there is a lot of charm in those little guys, they would be disqualified for two reasons. The first reason is because they exclusively break a rule in the second section of our rules. COW must be 2D, no 3D I'm afraid. Secondly, while they have a great sense of personality, they just don't contain enough actual creature design for me to let them through. The could just as easily be robots. At the moment they need something to actual push them into the realm of being creatures and not just sentient polyhedrons.

[Snafu]

@Velocity Kendall

great idea, looking really cool

[Si_Swe]

Did some tonal work today. Hopefully I'll be starting the queen later tonight, if my procrastination permits, and then colour tomorrow.

[Velocity Kendall]

these bugs link together like chain mail, or maybe are long and flat and weave into a mesh...
oh also they are quite small, as with chain mail, so make a sort of sheet. theyd start with making a long line that would march down, accross and up the other side of the gap to br crossed, pull taut like a cable, and then more and more would climb on and link up. then you could walk accross!

[Cy-AN]

Hello to everyone. last time I wanted to participate I had a strange feeling that I will not be able to finish or something will happen and I was right, due to a storm that has broken the cables on the pillars am left without Internet and now i'm using the internet on the mobile phone :( :( anyway :

My idea for this round is based on the insects and their colonies EX: in an ant colony for example there are many types of ants : soldiers ants ; worker ants ; Leaf cutter ants ETC and they all work in common for the queen and nest prosperity :
So it can be 2 or 3 types of creatures that work together to create the bridge?
My question is can we enter with more creatures or are forced to make only one type

My idea is:
On an unstable planet largely populated by creatures like insects the earthquakes and earth cracks are common every day and a queen could not build his nest in one place and continuously must be moved, That insects have joined together to overcome every obstacles. They built a Gigant nest on a giant insect. So for hundreds of years they have created a symbiosis between them. The INSECTNEST is partially blind but it have developed senses which predicts earthquakes and is very slow the other insects work together to build bridges for him... ...
Firstly a spider type creature made ​​a basis for bridge using spider net Meanwhile other creatures cut stones, others carry the stones and placed them on the basis made and then another worm type creature spitting on them with a glue type saliva piece by piece and working together they construct bridges ... ...

Anyway Here are some of the creatures WIP :)

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/edenschildren/BridgeCreatureSpiter1.jpg
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/edenschildren/BridgeCreature2.jpg
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/edenschildren/BridgeCreature1.jpg

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Question - If we're able to adequately show both a.) the creature's design and b.) the creature working in the environment in one piece, is it acceptable to submit the one image in both the EOW and COW polls?

[Si_Swe]

Arthur 'Two Sheds' - It will depend entirely on how much of the creature's design is visible in the environment piece. I would prefer to have two pieces, but I will accept entries that sufficiently display all design features of their creature. Like many things, I would have to treat it on a case-by-case basis.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Did a rework, my other idea wasn't panning out. Thought I'd do some sort of hybrid bug/bird thing. Crits are appreciated.

1212244

[Spideriser]

hey guys, really nice work so far :0 Just thought id post a quick creature design and hopefully inspire some more people to post some creatures haha. Good luck all :)
Its just a half finished speed paint and ill include a description when im closer to finishing :)

http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/af28/Spideriser/creaturespeedpaintpart2.jpg

[TeganM]

I was originally playing around with a more insect like creature then I thought of a mammal and finally settled on a little reptile.

These are really small as far a reptiles go they're only about 8cm long. They tend to reside in tropical rain forests because they are really sensitive to changes in the temperature. They live in large groups because they need to stay warm and the best way to do that is by following the sun. In order to quickly move around during the day to follow the sun they form bridges across gaps in the branches so that they don't have to make their way all the way down to the ground where they're most vulnerable.

http://teganmoersfelder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/6LeggedReptile-copy.jpg


1. They have a "bony frill" with a hole in it that allows them to grab onto each others heads.

2. there's a ridge on their back in place of spines that allows them to use their little claw like feet to grab onto each-others back.

3.) It originally had a tail but I got rid of the tail because I figured they wouldn't need one because the primary purpose of a tail is primarily for balance and they can probably balance just fine without one. So now they have a small nub.

4.)Since they have a large range of motion in their feet they can grab onto each-other like they do with small branches. Or even join feet to create a hodgepodge bridge. The reason they have 6 legs rather than 4 is so that they can use the two extra ones to hold on to each-other above and below them if need be.

[Cy-AN]

Ok this is some of the sketches for envo, I still have not decided yet what angle to use to show the creatures details and envo
Still do not know who is the star here the bridge or the creatures that build the bridge :) :) :)

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/edenschildren/TNBtG1.jpg

[Rob Powell]

Ok, I can gladly say progress has been made, and these bug-eyed critters are actually almost done, but here's a more or less complete rendering in greyscale. It's always nice to see your work come together. Although painting hundreds of these guys building a bridge is going to be tough, but it won't get done if I don't try.

Crits and Suggestions are wecome!! :)

[maxrlx]

Semi final design, will just add a bit of color and some details. shaded with markers.

[Jonas_J]

My creatures are small bug-like things that build bridges across rivers and creeks in order to transport their queen to new feeding grounds.

To build the bridge they gather all sorts of stuff from the forest: bark, branches, other animals, small logs, and they use sticky slime from glands on their backs to piece these things together. This slim glows bright orange when it hardens.

Also attached my Eow entry so you can see the little buggers at work.

[DmnSpawn]

The Lava Bluff Beast is a peaceful herbivore that lives deep under the bedrock layer of the earths crust and lives in a mostly inhabitable surrounding, however the Lava Bluff beast thrives here scouring for the mushrooms that grow in the caverns.

When the Lava Bluff beast can sense that the end of it's lifespan is near an end, It will go out and find a gap between current territory and either new spawning grounds or new pastures of mushrooms.
It then does one of the most spectacular metamorphosis of any creature. It finds a place to anchor itself either starting a new point or climbing out amongst fellow remains and anchors itself as an addition.
It does this using it's tail and nose with bone "rings" protruding from them, there strong stubby feet grasp these rings or other limbs and and limb not grasping something is extended so that future dieing beasts can add on.

It then lowers it's heart rate, breathing, all life support systems shut down and the beast slowly slips into the un-living it hibernates itself till dead, this slow process allows the tendons and muscle tissue to dry slowly instead of rot and fester. VERY low humidity of the lava caverns help to dry preserve the remains so that a skeletal structure and many muscle fibers have become 100X stronger then when the animal was alive. The skeleton of the beast has special photo-reactive cells that cause the light from the lava to charge and make the remains "glow".

Small or new populations of the beasts have simple rope bridges. Much more dense populations have glowing spectacular bridges spanning MANY MANY miles, that look as If designed by an architect of great ability.
These communal graveyards/bridges are awe inspiring as well as a testament to the future generations of the beast.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/109/d/a/cow_209_creature_final_by_dmnspawn-d3edq6k.jpg

Any critiques are helpful and I could use some tips to give it a final polish.

[Si_Swe]

Braintree - Really awesome stuff. Killin' it.

I'm done with the actual creature, for the moment. I've gotta start my enviro today, and work my ass off for the next couple days to get this done on time.

[MonkeYoakum]

Do the creatures have to be building a bridge? Or just performing an architectural feat to achieve a goal.

[Si_Swe]

Finals thread is up (don't know why I didn't post it earlier).
MonkeYoakum, yes it does have to be a bridge.

I've realized that it's a bit unfair to post the Finals Thread only 12 hours or so before the deadline, thus I'm giving a 1 day extension to everyone. You have until tomorrow (Thursday) at 9pm PST (GMT -8 ) to get your entries in. That said, the new round will still be up by this evening.

[SOUTHERN]

Not had time to play out much lately. This is my first idea for a Bridge building Crustacean that uses wound together tendrils to push a platform forward.

http://downloads.southerngfx.co.uk/img004.jpg

http://downloads.southerngfx.co.uk/img005.jpg

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

I've realized that it's a bit unfair to post the Finals Thread only 12 hours or so before the deadline, thus I'm giving a 1 day extension to everyone. You have until tomorrow (Thursday) at 9pm PST (GMT -8 ) to get your entries in. That said, the new round will still be up by this evening.

Huzzah! :D

[(lark]

hey guys! I'm gonna post up the new topic a bit early. but like si_swe said, round 209 will still be accepting entries in the final until tomorrow.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Awesome on the extension! I might be able to finish up my creature to submit. Admittedly work deadlines both this week and last week have kept me from finishing it up. Hopefully I'll have time to spend tonight! :D