C.O.W. #216 ,the painter. VOTING!

[(lark]

C.O.W. #216 the painter_Voting!

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ROUND #216 VOTING

Topic: the painter


Deadline for the voting: June 22nd

this weeks Requirements...

- the creature can be any color, but the fluid it produces must be blue. The shade of blue is up to you.

- you must show how the creature makes the fluid in your design. As well as how they apply it.

- You need to keep in mind why it marks its territory, but its acceptable to only include that in your description.

[Aeronik]

Artist: Aeronik

Concept: Paintbug

It's a bug!

When the sun starts to set, the flightless male paintbug's fancies turn to love. So he daubs a luminescent spiral on a handy arboreal surface in the hopes of attracting himself a mate. Whirring by at speed, the ladies judge potential fathers on the size and incandescence of his pattern.

The thoughtless fellow below has painted his target on the underside of a branch! Looks like another lonely night for him...

[Snarfevs]

Artist: snarfevs

Concept: Azuriferous Dandelkar

One of the inherently magical creatures of the Outer Lacunae, the Dandelkar secretes a blue paste which it uses to paint protective sigils, scaring off psychic predators and attracting mates. The paste is generated in a specialised calyx-like organ on top of the creature's head, which acts as a sort of magical funnel. Countless aeons of natural selection in the Lacunae have resulted in the development of a variety of very effective sigils, which are enthusiastically copied down by hermetic magicians whenever the dimensions are close enough to attempt a crossing.

[Thalion]

Artist: Thalion

Concept: Moloch Goghasso

Moloch Goghasso is not only an excellent painter, but also a farmer. It marks the mounds of termites of which it takes care, and which it eats. Each reptile has its own unique sign to recognize its own mound. It has got two tongues that helps catching termites. Some scienties say that creature looks like a real artist when it is painting its signs.

[DPFX]

Artist: DPFX

Concept: Flospericulum Faciens


This predator dresses a blue secretion to approximate the shape of local flowers. After being exposed to air for a few minutes, the "painting" becomes extremely sticky and traps any small creature that touches it, providing the flospericulum with an easy food source.

[mat0fr]

Artist: Mathieu Stern

Concept: The Pollock

Pollocks mark their territory by driping liquid blue incense.
they swing from branch to branch by sucking nectar from flowers they encounter.
Their 18 eyes allow them to avoid being surprised by a predator from above or below.

[maeganite]

Artist: maeganite

Concept: Cloven-Hoofed Snufflat


The Cloven-Hoofed Snufflat was an incredibly curious but absent minded creature. Because it was so easily distracted and therefore continually got lost, it used the blue secretion dripped from its tail to mark the way back home, usually a hollowed-out log. This proved to be most unfortunate for the species, which is now suffering extinction due to the ease in which predators can find the blue trails.

[Dcritelli]

Artist: DCritelli

Concept: Cave painter
A delicious delicacy, the cave painter is difficult to catch because of the toxic goop they leave on the entrance to their domiciles. Which they don't often leave the comfort of.

[Chron121]

Artist: Chron

Concept: The Blue Fog Frog
Nearly Blind, this creature can only see shades of blue. to overcome this handicap it emits a light blue fog, from openings above its eyes. Due to a layer of mucus this sticky arosol-like fluid does not stick to the Frog itself, but if it stays in its's territory long enough the entire environment will be tinted blue. It is an insectivore, and hunts by expunging a large 'loogi' of the sticky fluid from it's mouth, trapping it's prey. Be warned, as it will also spit if agitated. The fronds with the bioluminescent blue pinpoints only occur on males, and appear to be to attract the females of the species

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p154/chron_121/paintingcreatureflatcopy2.png

(Since today's the deadline, and apparently the attach isn't working for me, posting regular IMG just to make sure it gets in.)

[AdrianNagorski]

Artist: Adrian Nagorski

Concept: Aquatic Painter

This sea creature releases blue paint through its front nostrils to use for washing its hands with and releasing into the waters around its territory.

Its tail is used for reproduction and has a special paint released from it, being a darker blue.

It also uses its paint to knock out prey and its front legs to rip little fish apart then sucking them in through its tentacles.

1255568

[vivi]

Artist: Vivi

Concept: Museum Dweller
It crawls in attics, hiding among old wooden frames, searching for the perfect shade of blue among deserted paintings, to imitate it and attract the opposite sex. It keeps its' storage on each leg, if things get out of hand, you'll get a colourfull blue wall.

[Whiskey Sour]

Artist: Whiskey Sour

Concept: Bluemer
The Bluemer loves to finger paint with his own saliva. His three mouths each produce a different color of blue. Unfortunatly with his large fingers and tiny brain, his paintings tend to look like smears of blue paint.

[Camel]

Artist: Camel

Concept: Blue Cloud Dauber


The mysterious blue-hued clouds of the Grand Hollow Mountain range became a mystery no more once the technology for human flight made its way to the indigenous population. What was once considered a mystical sign from the gods was found to be the work of the friendly blue cloud dauber - a creature who spends most of its life floating aimlessly around the sky leaving a trail of bright blue vapor. This vapor, when cloud cover and weather conditions are amiable, settles into the clouds, signaling to fellow daubers favorable conditions for feeding and breeding.

[alembic]

This creature spends its days foraging for semi-sentient, luminescent plants which it ingests and, through an Unknown Miracle of Biochemistry, metabolizes into a glowing blue 'paint'. It subsequently secrets this fluid through a system of veinous ducts onto the roller-like pads that cover its 'feet' (it is, to date, the only known creature in the galaxy which has evolved wheels, but its 14m height has precluded any specimens being obtained for study). These leave a glowing track as it 'roller-skates' across the vast plains of its homeworld... whether this behavior serves as a territorial warning to others of its kind, as a mnemonic device to avoid retracing its own steps, or some other reason entirely is unknown.

[McGhoul]

Artist: McGhoul

Concept: Vango Dog
These creatures have adapted to the arid climate by marking their paths to the closest water source. Their bodies have evolved by taking their food source (blue berries that seem to flourish with little water) and extracting the pigment and storing it in glands near the base of their tail. When they are marking a trail the pigment is shot out of the tube like tail to the desired location. They then use their paint brush like tongue to create the mark they desire. Another adaptation is their vision, blue being the only color they can see allows finding food and maps to water a snap.

[kubikub]

Artist: kubikub

Concept: Blue-Necked Fentrid

It is not easy to miss when one has entered the grounds of a Blue-Necked Fentrid. These creatures produce a bright blue pigment from hair-like hollow tubules running along the sides of their bodies, which they rub on to things -- much like large cats -- to mark their territories and their females. Each male has a distinct shade of blue, making it easy to tell which of the paint-covered females belong to which harem.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Artist: Flame_Unquenchable

Concept: Dendrics Four Legged Painter Flea

The four legged painter flea is a particular insect. The parasite does not suck blood like other fleas, yet it is very destructive to its environment.
The painter flea drinks the proteins from hair follicles, and then synthesizes it down into a blue formula that it excretes from a sphincter on it's
abdomen. The formula is viscous inside the creature but then becomes quite hard to remove once it hits oxygen, as it then bonds onto whatever
object it was placed on a molecular level. This peculiar method of marking serves the parasite in that it represents dead hairs that are no longer
rich in proteins that the insect craves. Those who are infested with the Painter Flea parasite are easy to spot however and can get immediate
treatment before the bug does major damage. Those who are not treated in time are unfortunate, because those hairs damaged by the painter
flea do not grow back, at least not in humans.

1256229

[jrbarker]

Artist: jrbarker

Concept: Floating Painter
So, this guy's body is filled with gas so he can float around. He produces a blue liquid in that big sack on his head. He can secrete this liquid out of the ends of his brush-like tendrils. This is a strong pheromone to attract mates. It also warns off other creatures that they are in his territory.

[Rob Powell]

Artist: Rob Powell

Concept: Indigo Palmed Loris


The Indigo Palmed Loris secretes a sticky blue substance, from sweat glands on their palms, which it uses as visual communication to one another. They create several signs that mean different things but when they create a simple palm print from an aggressive slap on a tree or surface they are agitated and will attack any intruders in their territory.
Un fortunately due to the secretion on their palms they tend to become very dirty as they touch themselves, and others leaving blue marks all over their bodies.
1256259

[strangedawn]

Artist: Strangedawn
Concept: blue orb
This has a background i am already doing it but i didn't finish it and i will finish it next time..so as for now this is finish for cow.This creature is really weird and use blue paint liquid to mark his territory and also this creature is a non aggressive creature but anyone who goes to his territory he become so aggressive and become really wild and he also uses blue paint to distract animals for food.tc to all=)

[0xym0ron]

Artist: 0xym0ron

Concept: "Trail Whale"

http://i.imgur.com/Scc2j.png

Once, long ago, the sea was gray. Well, grayer than you'd think. These creatures are said to have lived near the bottom of the ocean, at a level so deep human eyes would have never caught a clear glimpse of them--if they had even known how to survive at such a low altitude at their highly primitive stage. Being nearly blind and having evolved to depend on other senses, they got around by leaving a trail of blue pigment that could easily be detected by fellow trail-makers. A high concentration of this mysterious blue liquid would attract their main food source, tiny krill-like creatures that were as stupid as they were small, as well as mark temporary territories to help find potential mates.
Over time, the pigment began floating to the surface, turning the ocean into a familiar blue. Their food source soon followed. Unable to adapt to the harsh amounts of light above without being highly irritated and fleeing downwards, and confused as to why they weren't being fed, the species soon went extinct only as civilization began to take to the seas.

[(lark]

ok guys heres the voting...

only single vote this week. we just missed 20 entries.

great work everybody! haven't voted yet but its between snarfevs, and strangedawn. hopefully a couple of drinks will help clear it up for me hahahaha.

anyway, thanks to everybody for making cow get a bit more busy, lets keep it going and get some 20+ entry multivote rounds!

[Si_Swe]

For me, it was between Aeronik and Snarfevs. I ended up voting for Snarfevs for originialilty of design. I'll post crits if I can.

[dragon4lunch]

Aeronik: Great idea, the patterns on the trees those insects paint - great! For me it was between yours and strangedawn. Ultimately I have to give my vote to strangedawn, because it is so beautifully rendered.
Also very nice was maeganite, DPFX and alembic, Whiskey Sour and Camel.

[Snarfevs]

I voted for Thalion - entertaining concept, excellent colours and textures more than make up for the sketchiness of the anatomy. Close competitors were maeganite, Camel, strangedawn.

Specific comments (sorry if I am a bit too harsh to anyone)

Aeronik - Compelling body structure, especially around the abdomen. Expressive shading.

DPFX - Solid creature design, but the silhouette feels a bit blurry. It's not entirely clear how the creature makes or applies the 'paint'.

Mathieu Stern - The background looks great, however the creature itself doesn't feel terribly well defined, shading wise. The production and application of the 'paint' is well-illustrated, by virtue of the creature's translucency. The eyes remind me of the Cambrian predator, Opabinia, which is cool :)

maeganite - Enjoying the whimsical concept and the traditional media, nearly got my vote. On a technical note, the image contains an extreme amount of detail due to the texture of the paper and as such jpeg artifacts are noticable. You may want to save as a PNG if possible for lossless reproduction.

DCritelli - Like DPFX's creature, the final quality of this pic is hampered by the sketchiness of the silhouette. However (aslo like DPFX's creature) the anatomy is very solid and certainly looks cool.

Chron - Dynamic pose and decent foreshortening, however the shading means that the creature loses dimensionality in places (the tail, especially). There are also some weird light edges in places, which look like something to do with a selection tool.

Adrian Nagorski - The gnarled claws and feet are nice. There's a real dearth of contrast in this pic which makes it hard to read. The default photoshop grass brush should probably be avoided as it is very recognisable. You might want to try rolling your own with custom brush strokes and greater variability in size and shape. Technical note: there's some odd dithering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither) going on with your colours, like you've saved it as indexed colour at some point.

Vivi - This creature has 11 legs, which is something I found quite cool. Though the anatomy and shading is rough, I like the concept and the design itself looks like something which work perfectly as a boss of some sort in an oldschool platformer (shoot red orbs make the core vulnerable!). Though my supposition is that the creature is quite small and not terribly threatening.

Camel - this must have taken ages. Great design and execution. It looks so happy!

alembic - Nice solid design. Bioluminescence is always fun. Background looks great. Love the 'headlights' (I see what you did there?).

McGhoul - My comments on this one are similar to those for Chron's creature: the shading could really benefit from a greater tonal range and there's some weird 1-pixel rims on your creature that make me think that you were colouring inside a selection. In photoshop, if you click the 'lock transparent pixels' button for a layer on the layers pane, you can get pixel-perfect shading on a layer whilst keeping inside the outline you have already established. I like the articulated eyes pointing in different directions :).

kubikub - Aww damn, this creature looks great, but doesn't look 100% finished. Great anatomy.

Flame_Unquenchable - Decent design and concept, unfortunately is almost the same average colour as the background.

jrbarker - Cool anatomy, would look good in an adventure game!

Rob Powell - That fur looks like it would have taken a lot of effort. Good overall design, concept and execution, however it took me a little while to read the anatomy due to the unusual base width of the tail. Nice shading on the fingers.

Strangedawn - That is some next-level Lovecraftian crazy, and I like it a lot. Nearly got my vote. Complete absence of a background works really well in this one - Keeps the viewer focussed on the freakishness of the creature.

0xym0ron - Gutsy move, going MSPaint, and you've pulled it off. This thing actually looks pretty damn good. Love the carapace segmentation and that rimlighting on the bottom right.

[EDIT] - Dargh, I totally missed WhiskeySour - I like the values here - there's some very subtle shading, especially around the eyes. Tightening up the edges would have made this a somewhat more solid entry.

[Rob Powell]

Some really good stuff this round, as I said before voted for Thalion. Really clever design!
Just came back from having a few drinks and decided to post my crits for the week! May they serve you well!

@Aeronik: Very cool style, I like the roughness of this piece and the rendering/lighting is excellent. The moss looks like it needs a bit more detail, and the background is a little too rough compared to the foreground. The position of your bug could be better because the face is turned away from us.

@Snarfevs: Awsome looking critter, very unique. The rendering is very smooth along with the linework. I'd suggest to lighten the background a bit, some parts of the creature gets hidden (mainly the snout/spout thingy) because dark on dark doesn't contrast very well. I also think that cropping the image a tad would improve the composition slightly, cuz I'm not a fan of big empty spaces with nothing going on which happen in the top left and right corners here.

@Thalion: I just have to say one thing! BRILLIANT!! I like the clever idea of adding the french beret and the moustache-like tongues. I can imagine this lizard's tail dipping and whipping and even making the same 'artsy' gestures as any artist. On the critique side of things, other than the arty features, it looks a bit too much like a thorny devil and the legs look very awkward, almost as if you replaced the forelegs with another pair of hindlegs. Also putting this on a more neurtal background would make it stand out a little better without having some of the highlights fade into the background. But in general I really liked this one. Fits the brief perfectly and earned my vote! Good work!

@DPFX: This one has a more painterly feel than your other works, that kinda border on the 3D aspect. Although it is a bit unclear where 'the painter' part comes in, perhaps showing a bit more blue where the paint comes out would make it a bit more clear. Also the perspective on the front of the creature around the mouth seems a bit off as well. Also the colours could use a bit more saturation.

@mat0fr: The background is a little too busy for me. It looks like there is too much going on in terms of textures and details that takes away from the actual creature. I feel that the rendering could use a bit more form, seeing as there is a strong suggestion of lighting, but not a lot of shading.

@maeganite: This creature has a nice charm too it, like something you'd find in a children's fable. The faces seems like it needs a bit more value so it doesn't look to flat, but overall ths is nice drawing, I can picture this in a children's book.

@Dcritelli: The legs look a lot better on the creature, although they should be a bit bigger and longer for the size of the bug, because they look too skinny to carry it's weight. At first the picture on the top right kind of confused me, I wasn't sure what I was looking at, until I read the description, try to avoid using almost pure black for a hole, especially at this angle, we should be able to see the sides a bit more clearly as it goes down, then it gets darker as it goes deeper.

@Chron121: An improvement from your last piece. The lighting is a bit confusing. Is that supposed to be a blue mist from the spit or is it a glow? The colour patterns on the creature makes it look a bit muddy and along with it not having textures it looks a bit unnatural. The pose is also not the best for this creature seeing as it doesn't show it's full anatomy so well, You should've shown us the creature's feet as well.

@AdrianNagorski: The legs seems too have lost some of their joints once again, cept this time mainly on the back legs as they seem to look very rubbery, especially the way one is just sort of curved as opposed to bent. For an underwater environment I'd recommend using basically all blue then adding darker values towards deeper regions. And the secretion wouldn't drip downwards when underwater seeing as liquds are barely effected by gravity when in another liquid (unless of course there is a difference in density). I'm not crazy about the use of the grass brush for the fur on the back, it's best to draw each strand separatley and add a bit a flow to each strand giving it that underwater weightlessness. The fuzzy purple stuff looks ver out of place as well. The front hands should have webbing on them as well since most aquatic creature with webbing have it on all fours (cept for birds). The perspecitive is a bit confusing in some places, the face and tentacles seem to be almost in a front view where as the rest of the creature is in a 3/4 view. Finally there is not enough shading and almost no lighting, making your creature look very flat.

@Vivi: Cool creature. It looks very sketchy, though, I dunno if it was intentional or not but the linework is a bit too much in some places, and the colours seem to go outside of the lines which makes it look a bit too messy.

@WhiskeySour: As I've stated before, some stronger highlights and contrasting colours around the face would improve this piece a bit. Add a shadow so it looks like it's standing on something and not floating in space, and perhaps some sort off hint at the wall behind the creature where the paint is being smeared.

@Camel: Cool idea having a creature paint the skies, I think the blue on the clouds should stand out a bit more, seeing as people are able to notice it from the ground, whereas here they look a bit too light to be noticable at all. The frog-like ear is a bit too distracting for me though, but that's just my opinion. Good work this round.

@alembic: I really like this piece, very clever idea giving this beast some wheels, I can picture this dude zooming across the landscape leaving behind a broght trail of blue paint. I think the ground could've used a bit more work so it doesn't look so sketchy, and a few more warmer colours to contrast with all the blue and purple, but overall a good piece.

@McGhoul: Your getting better, first off the blackness on the tree is a little too evident, when working with a black silhouette you want to work on building the values up from the black and removing as much off the black as possible. Also the purple sky doesn't reall fit in with the foreground, you want to add some atmospheric depth to the painting to improve the composition. Whatever is further away from the viewer fades into the background more making stand out not as much.

@Kubikub: The pose is a little off balance, when using certain poses try to think of where the center of gravity is. Also the values could've been pushed a bit further, they need to be contrasted a little further as well as a bit more varied. Some of the edges look a little blurry and with no atmospheric depth on the creature it comes up as being very flat.

@Flame_Unquenchable: I'm glad you went with this instead of your snail, the rendering is much better, althoughwithout the paint on the abdomen it looks a little too much like a flea. Before attempting to render any certain creature, do a bit more sketching, whether it's to improve the look of your current idea or to come up with something completely different, give yourself some kind of variantion and choice with your design. In general your getting better but it still needs a bit more of a push. The eye is bugging me though, it doesn't really fit with the creature and it looks way to cartoony.

@jrbarker: I can see some subtle improvements in your work. Some places still need some cleaning up but the style of your rendering is still quite good. Your creature design are quite interesting, keep it up.

@strangedawn: A really neat creature design. As usual some really good rendering, however the face of the creature looks a little odd. Also adding a little more depth to the back of the creature so the focus goes straight to the face.

[Rob Powell]

@0xym0ron: Sorry, almost forgot about you dude. I'm no expert on pixel art, but I do know that it is very tedious, maybe too much so for a weekly activity, but you did a good job nonetheless the rendering on the creature looks pretty good, I would've liked to see this finished. Perhaps it would be nice to see the blue secretion a bit clearer becasue it is a bit difficult too really make it out. And is that supposed to be a light glow coming from the eyes?

[AdrianNagorski]

Rob Powell + Snarfevs
Thank you for the advise and critique,

Many great entries with a lot of different ideas, I noticed some of us had similar ideas tho.

I ended up voting for Rob's gremlins, LOL very well rendered but still a bit dark (the hair,looks a bit like the tree no differentiation ), I'm sure if you had more time you would have perfected it but great piece

My favorite three are:
In no particular order:

Thalion ( a lizard redesigned, very cheeky but great design layout + colors )
Aeronik (insane concept, if it was rendered a bit better I bet every one would have voted for you)
maeganite ( very cute , traditional art, deserves respek! )

I would spend ages critiquing ever ones but I ain't a good artist at all YET so for now,
Too bad we only get one vote each, I would vote for every one for putting in an effort.
Thanks every one

[Dcritelli]

Went with Aeronik. There were a couple that were better rendered, but I feel like that piece in particular does the best job of communicating a complete and logical concept using just the image.

Thanks for all the comments. This one was fun to do.

[DPFX]

Strangedawn: Nice job. The standout entry for this challenge.

[Stryke]

@Aeronik
cool idea, even if it is not very efficient ;D
execution: I miss some texture on most elements

@Snarfevs
I'm surprised to see you around! I like that idea but this cute guy seems to be a bit unstable.
execution: pretty well done, the only thing that I don't like is the colour itself.. could need some highlights or such

@Thalion
seems to be uber-intelligent your moloch.. the problem is, that the colour will end pretty fast C:
execution: looks a little bit flat but otherwise well done.. I also like the colours and the head

@DPFX
I like everything about it but I don't get where the colour comes from
execution: good colours but the whole is just too blurry.. maybe less and harder brushstrokes?

@jrbarker
solid design and idea, I like
execution: a bit too blurry and dirty worked

@strangedawn
this is real alien, really awesome.. but the colour-tentacles look very unbelievable and static imo


greetz
Stryke