C.O.W.#226, the hallucinogenic spirit guide (familiars series part3). VOTING!

[(lark]

C.O.W. #226 the hallucinogenic spirit guide_Voting!

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ROUND #226 VOTING

Topic: the hallucinogenic spirit guide


Deadline for the voting: August 31st


requirements this week...

-Really try and get a sense of the ethereal spirit world in your design. This creature is not bound by the dynamics of the physical world, so get creative and don't be afraid to get really weird.

-Try to add some flare from the culture of the user whether it be native American, tribal south American, or modern altered state dabblers like new age guru meditationists, or gonzo adventures like Hunter s. Thompson. Its up to you what culture the user hails from, and you are not limited to these examples if some other kind of altered state comes to mind.

-because the other requirements are pretty loose, and open to interpretation, as a visual requirement, your creature must have glowing eyes.

-like the previous weeks, you aren't required to include the person having the spirit journey, but you can if you like. Just remember to keep the focus on the creature.

[DaN-MaN]

Artist: DaN-MaN

Concept: Alarius


Ever wondered about the knowledge of the ancient Greeks? How did they succeed defining the mathematics, medicine, history, art, social life and many more things we still study today? There is one secret only shared between the great philosophers of ancient times, the magical plant Asibu. Asibu made the access to the all-knowing Alarius available, making life easier to understand by the great philosophers, the one ones that took the trip to the infinity voidness.



My first C.O.W. entry. First post too, i hope i don't break the rules :yayca:

[foofoo]

Artist: FooFoo

Concept: Dopo


According to the lore, the Dopo is a owl like beast the size of a lion. Only shamas of the highest level were able to spiritually connect with them. In doing so, they were able gain boundless wisdom from them. On very rare occasions, one might be able to spot the Dopo, when they show themselves in the darkest hour of the night...

Phew, i suck at description.
1307327

[sevira]

Artist: Sevira

Concept: Beardogbird, Dogbearbird or maybe Birdbeardog, who knows


Me: Okay, there I was, in the desert, nothing to drink, nothing to eat.
Stranger: And then?
Me: Well there were some cacti around and they told me it was a good idea to eat some prickly pears.
Stranger: The cacti told you?
Me: Yes, the cacti told me. Anyway I ate the pears and the kept telling me it would help me find my way out of the desert.
Stranger: And did they help you?
Me: Of course not. So I said "fuck those cacti" to the Beardogbird and tried to find a way out of the desert on my own.
Stranger: Beardogbird?
Me: Yeah, or maybe a Dogbirdbear, who knows, I could hear his taste and smell his color. I tell you dude, that was awesome.
Stranger: Dude, that must have been some kind of spirit guide. Did he tell you anything insightful?
Me: Yes he did indeed, how do you know? He told me one thing, but I don't know if I really understand it.
Stranger: What was it he told you?
Me: OPEN THE DOOR
GET ON THE FLOOR
EVERYBODY WALK THE DINOSAUR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgiDcJi534Y)

1308134

[warburton]

Artist: logistic puppet

Concept: Algenpen
The Algenpen is only seen by those willing open their minds to the realism of the counter world surrounding them. The world filled with alternative creatures and possibilities. The Algenpen is regarded as a gate keeper or traveller, who visits those who warp their minds using various drugs. Its this creature who brings forth the euphoric pleasures and by doing so opens new ideas and paths for people to follow. Most who experience this creatures powers don't become addicted to the drugs, but the Algenpen's presence and influence.

[Gorromog]

Artist: Gorromog

Concept: Buffalo Spirit
'Once you take the 'Grass of many Journeys' you enter a strange world. But don't fear, as the fabled 'Buffalo Spirit' will guide you through this odd land. It will show everything you want to know, teach all you could learn. It told me to 'stay away from Taco Bell'. Although, I never quiet understood what it means.'

[Noun]

Artist: Noun

Concept: Nogogg


This guiding beast appears briefly in patches of shadow skirting the outer regions of a person's field of vision after several days of wakefulness. The Nogogg allows a person to hover between sleep and waking life to harness the rich, bountiful ideas and sparks of inspiration that lie only in this state.

[limbox]

Artist: limbox

Concept: Szakalara Cokur

Old forests are full of magic. For example magical mushrooms named cokur. Normal human after eating any of them, will die. But witches, they could survive, if some of Szakalara Cokur, spirits living in mushrooms, agree to help them run from death. If spirit will feel sympathy for poisoned witch, may also learn her few tricks, like shapeshifting or complicated charms.
And when Szakalara dislike witch, so... They are just witches, so who cares how horrible death they have?

[jrbarker]

Artist: jrbarker

Concept: spirit guide
psychonaut spacesuit

[Grimstitch]

Artist: Grimstitch

Concept: Shroom spirit
If you eat strange things in the forest, you may find yourself feeling very small, and with an unusual companion.

[Si_Swe]

Artist: Si_Swe

Concept: The Whothephok (Incarnation 1)


I feel this creature is mostly self-explanatory, so I'll go on a bit of a tangent about on of my personal hallucination-based spirit guides. It was several years ago and I was on the verge of moving to a new city. I was also on four and half grams of high-grade silicide mushrooms. I'd left my group of friends at a pizza parlor, convinced that the only way to keep myself out of the purgatory state of bad tripping I was in was to somehow get back to the suburb I lived in at the time. I picked up a handful of dried leaves. I was convinced that somehow I could transform them into bus tickets by sheer force of will. Arriving at the subway stop it hit me that I might need money and that the leaves may not turn into money... I looked straight at the man in the booth: an aging bulbous man whose face refused to stop... shaping everywhere... It was very distracting. I said to him, "I don't have money, can I go through?" (completely forgetting that my wallet was in my pocket at the time... pockets can be devious bastards like that). He replied with a simple "No." I attempted to go through. He got out of his booth to yell at me. I turned back, walked back and began to profusely apologize to him. He responded with the question, "You on something?" at which point I began to freak out. I said, "I'm really sorry, yeah... I'm on four and a half grams of mushrooms." His face was still shaping... It shaped into curiousity and responded with, "You got any?" I didn't. I don't remember what happened afterwards, but a short exchange followed. We were laughing by the end of it, and he let me go through to the trains. I'm still not sure what happened. It's very possible that I rediscovered my wallet, but I still remember that man's face even when it's not shaping like crazy. He was the gate guardian to my way home, and my way out of my bad trip. I quit drugs shortly after that experience.

[(lark]

Artist: (lark

Concept: zzxrdtcjy7346833guiughb
the zzxrdtcjy7346833guiughb is a highly mysterious creature that can only be seen when individuals partake in high doses of hallucinogenic chemicals. most people that come across this creature are confounded by the highly coded message the zzxrdtcjy7346833guiughb gives to them on their encounter. some claim to understand the message, but their explanations vary wildly and are mostly inaccurate. only a small few of this group understands... the zzxrdtcjy7346833guiughb is a master of unsolvability, of hyper confusion, and its message is purely given to provoke awe.

1308539

[sozo]

Artist: Sozo

Concept: Bardosaur
Is Bardosaur a heavenly spirit guide or an evil one? Take the blue pill and find out.

[(lark]

alright guys poll is up.

thanks everybody for taking part in the series. hopefully i'll do another series in the future. if you have any ideas for a series (or anything else for that matter), pop them in the topics section!

sevira: your description cracked me up. best one of those I've read in awhile.

[sevira]

this series rocked, at least I had a lot fun on my two entries which is all that counts I guess

but, and I don't know if I'm the only one, I am kinda disappointed with this round
as I said in the wips thread I expected more trippy and colorful creatures, I expected floating elements, bright colors, weird patterns, illogical or impossible stuff etc. etc.

this is also why I really don't understand that foofoo got so much votes already
I mean the lighting is nice and all but in the end I find his creature boring as hell to look at
it looks too stone like and static at some points, there is something wrong with the front legs and I can still see the border of the texture he put over it

the concept itself, having it based on an owl bears so much potential (I mean they can turn their head up to 270° and their eyes are weird as hell) but all that is left of an owl is the beak...
I normally totally understand why people vote for something, but this time, I srsly don't and simply can't agree with the majority

this is also why the only one I could vote for is gorromog this time
it makes sense to take a native and a buffalo (even though it looks more like an aztec or mayan than a north american native with all those green feathers) and I think the idea and the concept of the spirit guide comes across really well

Edit: srsly, did the people that voted so far even read what this round was about?
sozos familiar, as nice at it looks, has nothing in it that is saying "this creature is a spirit guide familiar" or part of a hallucination
and I don't think that a blue flame is enough to make it look like "this creature is not bound by the laws of physics"

please, start to read the topic before you vote

[Grimstitch]

Voted for Noun because I really loved the idea of something guiding the hallucinations on the edge of sleep - only wish I could see the creature a bit more clearly. On both screens I've viewed from, the image seems a bit dark.

Disappointed that I made a few errors with mine and had to rush it to poll without fully rendering anything. Was so tired that I pretty much was hallucinating - can totally tell by my crap handwriting at the bottom. Anyway, probably going to finish this piece on my own.

[warburton]

dan-man Cool first entry, i like the hallucinogenic effect you got. I think the main crit here is that it your design doesnt show more than 3/4 of the creature, or if it does it doesnt read well. When i look at this a see a face and shoulders, which also breaks the non-human rule also. Good idea and illustration, just needs abit more work so that it reads beter.

foofoo Cool concept, very simple yet effective. Something I could do with learning lol. Not much to crit, perhaps only that the actual design is abit safe. Theres not a great deal going on in the overall design. The lower part of the creature feels abit loose and unfinished also. I know this isnt really a constructive crit, especially considering alot of people like their designs abit loose but i guess its just my opinion. Regardless you got my vote, good job.

sevira lol at the description, thats prity random. The design itself is prity random also. I think the m c escher stuff on his head is abit out of place and the colours are so strong in so many areas that its making it harsh on the eye and tough to read. I think the flat blue background is fighting against your design also and making it look flat. Mixing some less saturated blues and building a vanishing point for perspective and depth could help with bringing your creature design forward.

gorromog My crits remains from the WIPs you posted during the week. The design and idea itself is good but the floating buffalo creature feels out of place. I know the brief was to be adventures with anatomy and design etc but i feel your design doesnt quite fit either. It resembles too much of an existing mammal, making it tough to believe it could float in this way. This being said, in terms of storytelling and composition i feel your design is the strongest.

noun Turned out prity cool. Very original idea and you executed it well. I think the tentacles of the creature could use more rendering. Seeing as these parts of the creature are getting hit by the most light they become a focal point. The lighting on the girl is off also, the lamp is yellow, the light hitting the tentacles is yellow yet the girl is being hit by strong white light. Good concept never the less, just needs abit more tidying ;)

limbox prity crazy design, fits the brief well. My main problem here is your values, lighting and colour. Theres so much strong white and detail all over the design that theres no place for your eye to settle making it tough to read. The read eyes are cool but they are getting over powered by all the white detail. Theres also no clear lighting source which is making the design look flat and unbelievable.

jrbarker Prity crazy design, i like your use of colour and lighting. I think the main problem from what i can see here is that the creature feels a little loose and unfinished. I would also perhaps consider increasing the length of your canvas instead of cutting of the tail. Its cool to leave some ares loose because it helps direct the eyes to main focal points. With this in mind i would perhaps render of the figure abit more and other areas which you want your viewers to focus on.

grimstitch Nice concept, i think your creature has lots of character. I'm not too sure about the black background though, it makes your overall design look abit empty. Also i feel the textures and values on the creature look abit odd. Something ive been trying to do recently is do studys of creatures with detailed skin and crazy textures. Not only does this help with learning how to paint textures but also how to paint your values. Perhaps you should give this a go also, you would probably learn alot. Seeing as the dude in the bottom right corner on his mushroom is a focal point they could probably use abit more rendering also. Hope these crits help ;)

Si Swe Good to see you back again. That decription is prity random, i'm not quite sure what it has to do with the design lol. Is this based of a real experience?! When looking at the design i keep wanting to scroll the screen to the left because it feels like there should be more of the design there. It looks like theres too much empty space on the right too which is confusing the composition. Definitely one of the most trippy designs this week, i would shit myself I saw this off a bad trip.

Lark Prity ambitious design, also liked the description lol. Would be cool if the image was enlarged slightly because its tough to see all that detailed goodness in its head at this size. From first glace of the overall concept the one thing which stuck me was the lower half of the creature feels out of place compared to the top. The lower half also looks very flat compared to the top, i think one of the main reasons for this is because it appears to have only one leg. Also i think because its such a strong blue light its pulling too much focal attention away from the important areas. Also lovin the trippy, hippy background, really adds to that hallucinogenic vibe ;)

sozo Cool creature design. I think in terms of rendering yours is the strongest, especially liking the head area. Ive personally got this thing where I dont like white backgrounds, i think these generally tend to over power the design and confuse lighting, values and mood. I feel this has happened slightly here. Also, although the actual design of the creature is solid its tough to relate it to the brief. It doesn't look like a hallucinogenic spirit guide.
Part from this I like the design alot, hope to see more of your stuff in the future.

Good job all, hope these helped.

[Grimstitch]

Thanks logistic. Can't argue with any of that. Particularly the bit about the values and textures - I tend to work in a rather random way, lots of experimental bits that I make match up in proper redering. Most of this guy was still in placeholder mode. :)

Yours was my second favourite - like the design, sufficiently weird, but maybe could have used a bit more of an ethereal quality.

[Gorromog]

@Sevira, when I looked through all the finished works it was really difficult to vote for anyone. I think the whole idea of this creature guiding someone is hard to show. Foofoo's concept catches my curiosity, its very mysterious, gentle and it looks real enough. If I were on something and see that lurking around outside my window in the dark, I might just go out and investigate it to see what exactly it is. I guess that is why I voted for Foofoo. It would interesting to see why other people did so as well, because as you said, Foofoo could have done alot more to make it better.

[Noun]

Lol thanks for the vote Grimstitch, yeah, it is pretty dark :S I was going for a decreased field of vision kind of thing because of the concept, but for presentation purposes clarity is more important.

Thanks for the crit logistic, and I agree with the points you made. :thinking: I'm glad you pointed out those errors, at my current (amateur) level sometimes I can't pick out mistakes I've made along the way. Need to spend more time on rendering forms and studying light patterns.

I also see where sevira's coming from, maybe some of us could have gone farther in terms of strangeness, but personally I think an owl-lion made of flowers is pretty strange lol. It's not often you get to do crazy stuff like this :D I enjoyed this round's entries, I only wish more people had joined in.

[sevira]

@Gorromog
yeah but thats simply not the point

the topic clearly states, that we are in a situation that involves
A: drug(s)
B: hallucinations
C: a creature that is not bound to the laws of physics
D: a culture that has to be related to the concept

I don't see anything of that in FooFoos concept, 0, nothing

I mean I don't want to sound like a whiny kid (what I already do) but FooFoo and many others here just missed the topic

this is conceptart and not just "draw something pretty"
conceptart is design and design has to have a purpose and a concept behind it
and FooFoos concept is just weak, extremely weak

I just have the feeling (and this has been stated by various other people already on other occasions) that voters here on ca tend to ignore or simply not read the topics before they decide which is the best concept
this is not about "scroll scroll scroll, oh that looks nice, vote"

@Noun
see, I didn't see any flowers at all, to me it looked like stylized feathers
flowers don't look like that

[sozo]

Voted for FooFoo's. Although I somewhat agree with other comments made that it is an uninspired design based on the brief, to me it still has an amazing ethereal quality to it and I think I would be terrified as hell if I was tripping and saw that thing in front of me. It has a dream-like quality that i really like. So what if it's basically an owl's head on a weird dog's body? Only crit I can give is that it could have used a little extra work to clean the image up and maybe more definition on the flowers/feathers.

As for my image, I agree that it could have used more work to give it the Spirit Guide feel. I didn't want to use a white background either but after spending so much time rendering the creature itself I decided to just leave it out because I was running out of time. Still trying to get faster tho, so hopefully next time will be better.

[Gorromog]

You are right Sevira.

[foofoo]

@sevira - Always good to have someone with defering opinions :). I do agree that i can push the idea more. Your point on how a characteristic of an owl can show through more sort of spark more ideas for me. However, whether my design really fits the topic description, i think its pretty subjective. Just maybe, people can relate to my idea, and it fits more with what they have in mind for a spiritual guide? I dont know. In my opinion, a concept shldn be too bounded by a set of guidlines, if it can inspire then the rest can be made to fit. As the moderator already stated, except for the glowing eyes, the rest is really up to our own interpretation.

But as pointed out by you and other people, my design is too 'safe', i could have pushed it more. As for the the rendering quality and flaws (like the texture overlay being too roughly thrown into it) its just a matter of polishing, which i will do in my own time.

@sozo - i was deciding between yours and clark. in the end i chose clark's. If this round's topic was something along the line of winged demon or something, i would have definitely vote for yours :) (See, i do look at the topic before voting :P)

I think everyone's idea is really cool and interesting, just a matter of how you execute the idea that can make it more appealing. I had fun doing my creature, hope everyone did as well!

[Si_Swe]

logistic puppet - The description isn't random at all. I state right at the beginning that I chose not to describe the creature, in favor of telling a personal experience of mine. Yes it is a real story. It actually happened to me.

[Si_Swe]

I haven't done crits in a while. I figure since I was actually in this round, I owe it to myself and everyone or something...

DaN-MaN - It's a very big idea piece and I can see where you going. The idea is epic but the execution needs work. The scale is off, since there isn't anything comparative so what was meant to be vast comes off relatively small. The actual design of the creature is rather boring and nearly non-existant. Were I hosting the round you would have been in the close to rejection section. You need to give a larger variety of tones (in a grayscale it's almost entirely pure white and pure black), and give more indications of texture and scale. Lastly, work with materiality: texture helps with this, but everything feel solid and block in this piece, where areas need to feel ethereal, or comprised of light.
foofoo - Great mood and you have an excellent way of rendering light. While I'm not going to argue that you shouldn't be winning (if enough people think you should then you should, which they clearly do), I would encourage a few things: firstly I would encourage more vibrant use of color, and secondly that you push your designs further from existing animals. It's a good piece, but if you pushed it further in design and palette it would be just that much better.
Sevira - Definitely one of the most creative pieces. I love the incorporation of the impossible shapes and the perspective took me a minute to register, but was very cool once it did. Your palette is a little eclectic, and your rendering gets a bit sloppy in areas. I would discourage use of pure whites like you're using for highlights, particularly in desert environments when the light is so yellow. Remember, on hallucinogens, colour tends to pop WAY more, so your highlights would be far more saturated than you have here. Other than that, design-wise I think it could have been pushed, the impossible shapes are great, but still feel separate from the creature, the creature itself being a fairly standard quadruped.
logistic puppet - A pretty terrifying piece you have here. I don't regard this as one of your strongest works. You're relying too heavily on line to create shape and your palette needs to be pushed a lot more, overall. I'm glad to see a less reliance on phototextures. In response to your crit, I agree, it was supposed to have a larger scale figure in that empty space, but I had about 20 minutes to render them and that wasn't going to happen. Had I worked on it the previous night like I should have, it would have felt less awkwardly composed, I hope.
Gorromog - One of my favorites this round. My main critiques would be: too much pure white, which makes the entire piece feel washed out; smoother rendering on the human figure, which feel blocky in comparison to the relatively seamless rendering on the creature. Last;y, I wish the design was pushed just a little bit further from existing animals. The impossibilites of the creature are so creative that it makes me wish the creature's overall form was a little less possible. Very creative concept, and one of the most unified.
Noun - I think the concept of the piece is excellent, and the mood of the piece is getting across. The rendering needs definite refinement in terms of light and shadow. At the moment your rendering of light seems like you're more used to paint and less to digital paint, your brushstrokes are very deliberate, but are to widely spaced, giving less of a painterly feel and more of a choppy rough-cut for further refinement. The piece is overall too dark, and needs more midtones to bridge the gap between the extreme darks of the background and the highlights around the figure.
limbox - I, personally, preferred your piece in line-art form. Your rendering of colour is very busy and takes away from the forms. I generally discourage use of pure black and pure white, as it looks very unnatural and tends to flatten images. I love the movement in the piece, but because there are so many lines at such a high contrast, the overall sense of churning motion I got in the lineart is lost to the business of the white and black patterning.
jrbarker - Very interesting take on jellyfish-type creatures. If there more more refinement on the lower regions of the creature, this would have been my pick this week, but the tendrils lack form and movement. The movement in the tendril area counteracts the overpowering verticality of the piece, as well as the relative static pose of the creature's body.
Grimstitch - The scale, luminosity and mood of the piece are all very good. Light and shadow on the human's mushroom could have been pushed further and I wish the application of light on the nubs of the mushroom was a little crisper. Some element of texture to the background could have also helped quite a bit, even it it was just a slight particle effect or smokey effect.
(lark - You got most of my opinion on this in your sketchbook. I really do think that the refined areas are some of your best work, but the ethereal elements feel very rough for your work. I would really encourage playing around with this piece to get the rest of it refined, cause the rendered parts of the creature kick serious ass.
sozo - Nice textures and colour, but I feel like the concept just isn't there. To me it feels like a creature forced into the spirit guide description rather than something design to befit the role. Because there's no defined light source much of your creature feels flattened, and because we only get a front view of the creature, actually determining it's form and depth is overly difficult.

On a final note, I'd hate to have to put this in the rules, but it happens nearly every round. Voting for one's self is prohibited. This is competition is not supposed to be about who wins the most votes. I will no longer be offering people to vote for someone else if they choose to vote for themselves. Instead I will be subtracting their vote and one other vote from their poll results. You have been warned.

[Eclectix]

My vote went to Sevira this round, and it appears I may be the only one. It is not the most tightly rendered, but hey, this is concept art. Tight rendering is best done after approval in the real world. I like the fact that it seems distorted in perspective- something which would normally be a negative but given the brief it was a positive for me this round. The impossible shapes, the ludicrous angle, the disturbing trippy face all worked well. My main crits other than the unfinished rendering are that the colors were a bit too primary and the lighting uninteresting.

[sevira]

@Si_Swe
agree with almost everything in general but completely with your critique about my entry
rendering is sloppy because I kinda rushed it
and yeah, I just suck at coloring, highlighting and and correcting light
hope I don't fail as hard on my islandback

@Eclectix
thanks dude, since Si_Swe and you got the idea of the angle I'm already happy
as said, I rushed it, arrived at home on tuesday and did it in one night

definitely last time for me to post in this thread, I think all that needed to be said has been said by now

(also the jungle for the islandback is keeping me busy..)