C.O.W. - topic ideas - post 'em!

[kazuma4]

How about a hybrid between any common animals, say at least three, however they must be completely different in a way. For example, you could have a squid, monkey, armadillo, falcon, but it would be scaley, and any tentacles incorporated into it would be armored; along with wings, tail(s), etc. use your imaginations.

[The Severed Wrist]

The new animals of earth. They mutated from the pollution on earth. Now they are bigger, faster & have super animal powers & they can think like us!

[wanwan]

snuffling crinklecumber
truffling snorkpuffer
snorkling fluffington
cuddly cheesedragon
flatulating flaktrickler

[MikeBurns]

How about making a creature that is both scary/creepy and adorable?

[kimliatach]

Some great suggestions here, I just popped in to suggest the current Art Order competition topic.

Can't link directly to it unfortunately, so I have provided the full challenge text below or follow the link and scroll right down, its under the Challenge #2 heading. challenge#1 having just finished and being prominently displayed.

http://artorder.blogspot.com/

The challenge is to reinvent the classic D&D beast Owlbear.
By not just drawing a flipbook mish mash of owl and bear but rather drawing a creature so alien & bizaar survivors of encouters with it struggle to describe it by using discriptions of known animals.

Competition closes on the 6th of sept and req. an adult Male adult Female and immature creature in one panel.

Challenge #2
Concept Name: Owlbear revisited
Due Date: September 6, 2009, Noon PST
Concept Description:
Okay, I'll probably get yelled at for this one...or applauded. You see, it seems that the owlbear is one of those creatures with a one camp of folks that LOVE it, and another camp that detests it...and not a whole lot of folks in the middle. Yesterday, while I'm trying to put the finishing touches on the July compilation of Dungeon magazine the debate reignited here in the D&D® Insider pit. The biggest argument against is the fact that some folks hate the "flip book" style of monsters - you know, stick and owl head on a bear body and call it an OwlBear...or a carp head on a cow body and call it a CarpOw (LOL!)...or a any other silly mix of animals you want to come up with. In the middle of the battle, Bart says "Hey, lets get Jon to put it to the folks on ArtOrder to re-vision the owlbear!" I'm not adverse to stealing an idea thrown at me...so what the heck. Are you up for the challenge? Just so you know...this is just for fun. There are currently no plans, that I'm aware of, to actually change the look of the owlbear for D&D®.

Owlbear reinvented
This critter is a large creature, approximately 12-15 feet in height. The Owlbear is infamous for its bad temper, and attacks anything it thinks it can kill. The bizarre yet terrifying mix of owl and bear traits has led many sages to speculate that the first owlbears were created by a deranged wizard. However, there is no evidence proving that owlbears are anything but naturally occurring creatures.

Owlbears are dangerous predators of the Feywild that made their way to the natural world long ago. They typically lair in forests and shallow caves. They can be active during the day or night, depending on the habits of the available prey. Adult live in mated pairs and hunt in packs, leaving their young in the lair.

At this point in the description, you'd normally read the physical description of the owlbear, but this challenge is to go beyond the normal physical representation. You've read the "fluff" about the owlbear - now come up with a new visual. One that doesn't just put some owl features onto a bear body.

What if we envisions a creature that is so "alien" to a person that they only way he can describe the creature is by pulling some "normal" analogies together to give it a visual. In this case, the creature gives off some vibe that makes the unfortunate victim think of a bear and an owl. Is that because it was as big and savage as a bear, but had huge eyes and attacked silently in the dark like an owl? or is it because....

Think it over. You've got plenty of time to go big on this one.

I would like to see 3 owlbears - adult male, adult female and an infant/child of either sex.

Requirements:
Image submitted for the challenge should be 5" wide x 4" high, RGB, jpg format.

To Enter
If you want to participate, send me a link to the image, or use one of the file transfer applications (like yousendit.com) and send it to ArtDrop at ArtDrop@Wizards.com with the subject of "Owlbear". DO NOT send emails with attachments. Failure to follow these requirement will result in the email being deleted immediately, and without notice.

The Judging
I'm going to put together a judging panel on this, but I do not have anyone confirmed on this one yet. Stay tuned for more information.

[Ederic]

Shadow Jumper-A creature that uses shadows as a medium of transportation
Fake weapon-A weapon that takes the form of a weapon as camouflage
Zombie slayer-A creature that liquidates zombies or similar undead entities

[Mordus]

Since my entry made it, im gonna try once more.

-Walking Hate

-Time Violator

-Black Jabberwock

-Scaled Agony

[Cy-AN]

Carnage bug (tree)

[Cy-AN]

Carnage bug (tree)

[Tyrus]

Giants of Seuss-land- remember creatures
Hemorrhage Expert
Musical Anus
Bio-Digital
The Yeti's Worst Enemy
If It Only Had A Brain
Blackout Bomber
It is Legion- For they are Many- Remember Creature!
Monstrosity with the Face of a Man

[dwinbotp]

off the top of my head...

Planet Devourer
Rapture creature
Mimic
(revision) the...
Beyonder
Cockatrice
Basilisk
Phoenix
Cyclops

and one I'd love to see as a Topic....The Revenge of the Killer Bunnies LOL!:D

[benu]

-human symbiont
-deadly beauty
-evil unicorn, the counterpart to the beatific dragon!
-transparent creature; skeleton (if it has one) and intestines are visible through transparent skin and muscle tissue, like some zooplankton.
-flying cephalopod
-intelligent life in the deep sea

[Ederic]

Evil Herbivore?

[Fuseboy]

How about:

Attacks from the Water
Turns Inside-Out
Invulnerable from the Left
Struggles with Fear

[Corvaeus]

Alien refugee
Trans-dimensional rider
Planet birther
Soul eater
Red hot doom
Spirit animal
Solomon's demon

[Etheral]

nuclear cloud cat
fruit sexer
lord of the lugs
zenomorphic acromateria
northern wyvern
crust cutter
bone leech
teeth on fire
yellow smooth
striped gheist
great space cattle
planet mosquito
continent muncher
thin long arms
insanity causer
rave king
living city

[Tyrus]

2 Limericks for Limerick creatures:

There once was a beast from Nepal
That was just as wide as it's tall
It only eats cats
For its friends are all rats
And it smells like an open fish stall

On the planet of Hik'Daroons
Is a creature that lives on the dunes
A tongue like a whip
And a fire on its hip
Its the strangest thing under the moons

[Vaghauk]

undead garden gnome
alien barkeeper
the thing in your basement
undead horse
god of the forest

[WhatsMyUsername?]

War Beast
Cave Dewller
Sand Monster

[Phylum]

Nose-Hair That Kills
Two-Headed Cyclops
Spiky Belly
Parasitic Humanoid
Mammalian Cephalopod
Avian Caterpillar
Deep-Sea Jester
One Arm, Six Digits
Sharp, Wicked Hooves
Coral Cruncher
Flying Armored Giant
Vibrant Decapitator
External Brain/Lungs
Flamboyant Midget
Dangerous Senior
Stony-Skin Cutie
Purple Blood Veins
Yellow, Furry, and Warty

[Vaghauk]

stone-eating-mammal
alien "musical" creature
pest bringing ghouls
they live in your fridge
first ever discovered alien lifeform
beings living inside an abandoned galactical garbage disposal...
cloned alien bodyguards (femal)
dragon-parasites
the babelfish (from hitchikers through the galaxy)
useful creatures for the household
sexy creature (must NOT be sexy for us humans..... :) )


hm...difficult to come up with something original... :)

[El Jeremie]

king yeti.
abyssal cavern predator
cthulu domestic pet
pit boar (half pit bull / half wild boar)
el jeremiecabra
post Tchernobyl life adaptation
What's living in the vostok lake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok)

[Bonedaddycash]

Soul Eater
I like the Vostok lake idea
Grave robber
Fish out of water
Filled with puss.

[Pochifux]

Agopogo
dinosaur from hell
the thing in the deep woods that follows you but disappears when you turn around to look
the thing underwater, watching you swim at night from the murky depths
the manifestation of all pain

[Pochifux]

likes the "dragon's parasite" idea

[Kerfluffle]

elementals
dragon eater
ancient behemoth
urban camouflage (man eater/pigeon eater)
bed time monsters
the real monsters in the sewers
glass beasts

[Duman]

Void stalker
Void whale
Face eater
Walks on hands
I second the dragon eater
swamp stalker
bed bug
star eater
lava drinker
A creature that eats only bone marrow
Living rock
brain mosquito
Barren wasteland creature
Shooting star creature
What lives beneath the moon
Flying transport creature
Regenerating creature
High altitude flyer
Arctic reptile
blind cave mammal

[Gorgonbunny]

cute and creepy,

unlovable thing,

[phreek10cent]

a creature that repersents one or more phobias... maybe make it a mandatory 2 phobias per creature.. so someone doesn't just draw a giant spider lol

[Ragnj]

Im sure its been mentioned before (if not, shame on all of you!) but what about the creatures that started some/most of our painting careers, DINOSAURS! And Im not talking about the ordinary ones, Im talking about MEGALODION DINOSAURS, much bigger and more extreme than the ones were used to see in the history books.

[morbid_Butterfly90]

lots of detail
lots of color
and good imagination.
something original. (not able to use others for inspiration)
catagory: trippy
involves plant like creature?

[El Capohan]

- They have witnessed the beginning of time, and they will live to see time end.

- "Don't let them hatch!"

- All show, no go.

- Galactic scourge, ravager of solar systems.

- Life-long friend or Bonds to human life force through love.

- Destructive mating ritual.

- It's fecal matter would make you very wealthy.

- It awakens to re-take it's spot at the top of the food chain.

- Damn pranksters!

- Their hide can make you invincible, the trick is getting it off of them.

- They kill because that's what they do.

- It's head is too big for it's body.

- It's it's own ecosystem!

- Watching it try to run is the most hilarious thing you'll ever see!

[Etheral]

face raper
toenail collector
crowd picker
freestyle again
mineral dragon
crater maker
upper echelon of evolution
lardy bastard
pigeon predator

[jspangler]

It Came From Below.
Sentient Swamp.
Greater Gore Fiend.
Bermuda Triangle Behemoth.
The Thing That Ate Manhattan.
Tunnel Hunter.
Soul Swallower.
Big Bloated Bog Beast.

[xzacto]

I D E A: How about a creature that accumulates objects (ANYTHING) from it's environment to make-up it's defining characteristics.

too vague?

cliche example...

the Rock Monster from Galaxy Quest (great movie if you have never seen it)

http://www.roberthood.net/daikaiju-antho/contributors/images/galaxyquest.jpg

[MasterStryke]

I D E A: How about a creature that accumulates objects (ANYTHING) from it's environment to make-up it's defining characteristics.

too vague?

cliche example...

the Rock Monster from Galaxy Quest (great movie if you have never seen it)

http://www.roberthood.net/daikaiju-antho/contributors/images/galaxyquest.jpg


agree, elemental creatures rock!

[lancer_idenoure]

heres a good one: the three ancient beasts from mythology. behemoth, leviathon, and ziz. it could be a compound cow, so you could do one, two, or all three creatures.
behemoth: beast of land
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth
leviathon: beast of water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan
ziz: beast of the sky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziz
ziz is typically represented as a griffin-like creature, but for the sake of cow we could just ignore that.

if this gets picked as a topic it would be rediculously epic. it should be an extra long one.

[Mordus]

I second Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz. A 2 week long COW seems appropriate. Or a Team COW?

[Sethlene]

~How about a small multitude (3-5) of creatures that interact and influence eachother in a particular environment (I'm thinking food-chain and the 'naturalistic' type of interaction)

~Things that realign malfunctioning homeostasis

~Creatures that double as places or objects of use (example: I have a mussel that functions as tailor's glue)(I would like to have an excuse/be 'forced' to make other such things)

[Tyrus]

Works like a pen
Fat Flutterer
Lives in a Raindrop
Speedy Cleaner
Hell-bound Destroyer
Seer of All Things
Well Leech
Mushroom King

[AndreRuben]

"the thing in the deep woods that follows you but disappears when you turn around to look"

that one had me ahhaha

do you imagine a furtive predator or a harmless creature? xD

[Sylizar]

Has the Evolution of a Specific Creature been done?

[RedPen]

One idea that I think would turn out really cool is the biblical Cherubim or Seraphim. Unlike popular ideal of angels, these creatures are not really humanoid. Sorta, but not really. Cherubim have four faces: Lion, Eagle, Bull and human. They have a lot of eyes and these funky wheels they carry around. It really would leave lots of room for creativity.

[xbert]

lifeforms on europe (one of jupiters moons)
lifeforms on titan (one of saturns moons)
lifeforms on ganymed (...)
and so on ;)

[Alien Ape Star]

I had a dream.. many years ago.
I was walking on a sunny beach. The light was yellow and soft but the water was murky, you could not see through it. It was almost a darker yellow whit a hint of ocher. I entered in the water until I was wet up to my ankles. It was warm. After a while I felt something move next to my feet and a poignant sore creeped in! I got out of the water and I could see a weird fish-leech- like creature. It`s mouth was biting in my right ankle. I could not detach it. Started limping around to find a stick or something to scrape it of my foot! I found a stick an scraped it off. It was translucent a little, had like a desert camouflage pattern on it`s back. You could see a primitive skeleton under the skin. In the mouth many translucent cartilages were connecting a bony circle to insect like mouth pieces (4 of them) . The cranium was quite small and besides connection with the spine, mouth and two frog-like eyes there was not much other stuff around it.

[eatyourmouth]

dragon eater

just anything that feeds on dragons

[xzacto]

One idea that I think would turn out really cool is the biblical Cherubim or Seraphim. Unlike popular ideal of angels, these creatures are not really humanoid. Sorta, but not really. Cherubim have four faces: Lion, Eagle, Bull and human. They have a lot of eyes and these funky wheels they carry around. It really would leave lots of room for creativity.

I love this idea.



I have always been fascinated by these creatures.

[eatyourmouth]

dragon eater.

anything that feeds on dragons

[Il Grande Iulio]

heres a good one: the three ancient beasts from mythology. behemoth, leviathon, and ziz. it could be a compound cow, so you could do one, two, or all three creatures.
behemoth: beast of land
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth
leviathon: beast of water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan
ziz: beast of the sky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziz
ziz is typically represented as a griffin-like creature, but for the sake of cow we could just ignore that.

if this gets picked as a topic it would be rediculously epic. it should be an extra long one.

Excellent idea!

[GoldenSerpent]

Various topic ideas that popped into my head over the past couple weeks.

-The symbiotic creature that changed mankind's evolution
- Underwater grazer
- The next monster to fight with Godzilla
- The ferocious beast that guards the gates of heaven
- EXTREME sexual dimorphism
- Far into the future there is an evolution of pigs that can fly.

[Tyrus]

Bony Blaster
Acrophobic Bird
Sulfur Breath
Living Orchestra
Pet of the Peasants
Hell bound Striker

[Nusua]

Well here are my dreams: Gigantic, HUGE creatures roaming great, wide, grass plains...

I think it sounds awesome!

[Deijardon]

A child's imaginary creature

[Si_Swe]

The Secret Old One: Creatures of great wisdom, hiding from the world, whispering to each other on the wind.

Big as a House, Gentle as a Lamb

Bi-headed Biped

Highrise Howlers: Complaints all over the city have been coming in about loud howls. That definitely isn't a pigeon on our windowsill, either.

Bred to Kill: Creatures specifically enhanced, bred and brought up as an army of killers.

[Sylizar]

Destroyers of Worlds

Personally, I just hope all these ideas are used someday.

[Greger_AAR]

Herbivore gone carnivore

Hive-creature.

[ElDiabolito]

so i read this article on wired.com (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecular-kill-switch-included/)

...and thought "what a cool challenge idea for COW!" design three synthetically created organisms, or "synthorgs", with 3 seperate military uses

espionage/intel
combat/defense
utility/functional

would love to see what results people would come up with!

[YUZworks]

What does not want to be seen...

[Charanty]

Fur, scales, feathers
Sublime metallic dancer
Elegant patterned singer
Blind, deaf and mute hive queen
Horns made of crystal
The most expensive pet in the world
Oracle of the bird goddess
Fantastic bunnycorn
Creature that made Maya leave their cities
Twisted jaw ocean mammal
Predatory swimming mushroom
Species that have three genders instead of two.

[RogueToad]

All of these are giving me inspiration. when does this contest start and ho do I join?
Ideas:
If planets were creatures
Creatures that we used as weapons
Creatures that killed its discover
Animals that normally have hands/feet instead have tentacles
creatures that formed from a black hole
What is really in space
Creature that makes the earth orbit
creature from the core of the earth

[Mordus]

Each contestant selects one of the previous winners on a first-come first-served basis, then designs three creatures from previous stages of its evolution. Possibly a 2-weeker.
And again I second the Biblical Beasts idea.

[Vaejoun]

Lets see:

- Cuter than sugar
- The mastermind behind
- Fure ! so much fure !
- What really lives in our household

[Phylum]

Aquaculture Staples of River Styx
Hibernating Horror
Filter-Feeds, but also Hunts
Blizzard Bringer
Hedonistic Pet of the Olympians
Solar Flare Absorber
Dim-witted Onion Chewer
Radioactive Fur
Long-legged Shaggy Insectivore
Demons' Assistants from a Buddhist Hell

[Charanty]

Underwater angel
Hierophant
Brighttufted grape thief
Plazma runner
Living puzzle
Tiny creature from heaven
Wyrm of Venus
Charming rainbow centipede
Born to love you
Olgoi-khorkhoi (Mongolian death worm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_Death_Worm))

[Epicraft]

-Modernized versions of creatures from myths
-Regular living animals formed out of plants, rocks and other debirs

[NeonDragon]

~Bringing life from the gunk in the back of the fridge (would be fun)
~Cyborg House pets
~Garden-back Turtle
~Giant Bioluminescent Dinosaur (wtf)
~Flying Fish
~Hellhound from Heaven
~Planet Devourer
~Possesed Abandoned doll seeking revenge on Owner

Just some Ideas.

[Obacmar]

sock monster
zombie robot
tank eater
the doppelganger's chimera
alien mobster

[Duman]

To commemorate Scorge's elevation to our esteemed and noble leader, maybe we can dedicate a round to him.
As in, do a COW to see just what a Scorge looks like!

[Iceladydragon]

Couldn't resist throwing in some ideals hope it helps. ^_^

Tail Vipers (creatures that have venomous tails)
Small Fungus Eaters
Reptilian Blood Harvesters
Crawling Heat Seekers

[scorge]

Duman: Love it!

[elyo11]

So-Called-Ninja: Shadow creatures, fast killers
Beneath the stairs
Boogeyman
Keyplayer: There must be a reason why piano's start playing themselves...
Streetsweeper
the Living Gate

[Fiddzy]

Something I use to do was to pick a random Bird (i.e. a Seagull), then look at its identifying features, such as plumage colour & pattern, feather formation, body/beak shape ect...
Then I would take these attributes and try create an entirely new and Non-Avian creature out of them, for example using a Seagull I might create a shark like creature with Black, White and Grey skin patterns, with large angular fins, a forked tail and a red bump on its face/snout.

This might be a hard topic, however it's something I use to do and developed a few interesting designs from.

[lancer_idenoure]

this could be fun =)
a hive/insect colony caste system (or any other type of animal colony)
for example: in an ant hill you have the workers, soldiers, a queen and maybe a few other types (im no bio expert)
the actual creatures could be as big or small as you want, they just have to live in some kind of hive/tunnel system and have recognizable classes. you could even add your own kinds like guards or scouts

[Mfrank]

I don't know if it's been discussed or not yet, but perhaps it would be a gas if, for the topic of the week of the 2nd of April, we could do a little something to celebrate the Ultimate Creature Feature, CLASH OF THE TITANS :D

How about..
Release the Kraken! - Re imagine the mighty Kraken as a colossal prisoner of the gods, once a mighty Titan, now more savage and destructive than ever.
Mythology Remastered - Choose a great mythological figure (Greek only) and re-create it! Alternately, Greek or otherwise.

[rydicanubis]

Just a few ideas:

Foggy Despair: a creature that darkens the very air around it, physically and emotionally
Recent Biped: a creature whose ancestors walked on four legs (or five, or six, or more...), and who only recently started walking on two
Unusual ornamentation: pretty self-explanatory...
Shadow seeker: a creature who camouflages well in shadows, and seeks them out

[Shadoworen117]

Sand Creature- used as a slave beast to help Egyptians build the pyramids.

Rare/Expensive Mineral Generator- A creature that is known for somehow creating a rare and expensive mineral from/on/in it's body.

Great and Giant Mane- A large creature with a proud, and extravagant mane that it shows off and is a reason it is respected, such as a lion.

[NothingToFear]

How about any creature from the book of Revelation in the Bible, either:
1) Beast out of the Sea: Chapter 13
2) Beast out of the Earth: Chapter 13
3) The Dragon: Chapter 12
4) The Four Living Creatures: Chapter 4
5) The Locusts: Chapter 9
or any other creature you might find in that book

[NothingToFear]

How about any creature from the book of Revelation in the Bible, either:
1) Beast out of the Sea: Chapter 13
2) Beast out of the Earth: Chapter 13
3) The Dragon: Chapter 12
4) The Four Living Creatures: Chapter 4
5) The Locusts: Chapter 9
or any other creature you might find in that book

[Fiddzy]

Here's some more idea's....

- Forest Harvester
- Big head no neck
- Natures cage fighter (a creature born to wrestle, box, sumo ect...)
- Backwards evolution, birds into dinosaurs (today's birds becoming tomorrows dinosaurs)
- Wheel/wheels instead of legs (creatures evolved with naturally produced wheels)
- Landfill creature (a creature evolved to live and feed upon our planets landfill sites)
- Internet lifeforms (whether in the internet itself, or relying on it to survive, these creatures have evolved in a digital age)
- "That's no Moon" (....no its a space monster)
- The dinner that eats you (its may looks like a tasty snack, however it is instead a deadly assassin waiting to strike)

[Dan Koch]

I have been very impressed w/ all of the concepts, however I would like to see more variety and creativity as far as movement goes. I realize it's hard to get past the earthly run, hop, fly, and swim, with the legs, wings, tenticles, and fins, but if not a completely new body structure, I'd still like to see more variation in these preexisting movement structures.

[NothingToFear]

Any of the creatures from Revelations in the Bible

[Carnifex]

space colony animal:
one of the first animals to be brought from earth to the new space colony. after some centuries,it has evolved to adapt to the new environment.

[Guberuken]

Little Elephant Killer -
Sort of a David vs Goliath situation; a small critter (let's say about 10% of the size of the elephant), that can bring down, well, an elephant. On its own, so no creatures that hunt in packs.

[Etheral]

your ultimate companion

original and unique dragon conforming to traditional anatmy

cloud wolf

invisible to the public

[RogueToad]

I love the Lord of the Rings and I have always thought of a alternative ending /sequal to the Return of the King. What if there was an alternative race (not so evil but not at all good) that survived the destruction of all evil in Middle-Earth and came back to raise an army for the ultimate war.

[Jatari]

Life Without Oxygen
On our own planet we've found multi-cellular creatures that can live without oxygen! I think a kick ass new topic for the up coming weeks would be to do an artistic rendition of what these creatures would evolve if left without competition!!! P.S. - Multi-cellular life no longer needs oxygen to originate in the universe!

Articles listed below:

Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/first-ever-multicellular-animals-found-oxygen-free-environment

New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18744-zoologger-the-mud-creature-that-lives-without-oxygen.html

[Fiddzy]

Urban Camouflage - In nature there are many creatures able to blend into their natural surroundings due to amazing camouflage, Spiders that look like flowers, Lizards that look like tree bark, Sharks that look like a sandy seafloor. But what if the planet was covered with cities and these creatures had the time to adapt, then what would they look like to blend in?

[Aldebaran]

Frozen Horror

Chocolade Mutation

Lord of the Flies

Black Smoke

Golem

Burning Brains

Angelic Decaying

[Homerid]

Some ideas I just came up with:

-Flying fortress
-Electric lifeform
-Guardian of the mines
-Monster in disguise

[maxrlx]

creature propeled by digestive gases (eg: CH4)

[Si_Swe]

Everyone loves a bit of nostalgia. I know I do. As someone who grew up with first generation Pokemon, I propose a contest of re-imagining a pokemon or a pokemon and it's evolutions.

[Droid]

At the risk of going too close to CHOW, why not try Angels?

There are so many different interpretations of what these things are or look like, but at the end of the day they are definately not human.

Beings which watch over mankind from far off, but who can intervene without being noticed perhaps? Guardian angels?

Just an idea.

;)

[George Abraham]

What does Cooties look like?

[George Abraham]

The loch ness monster.

The thing that live's in pot holes.

[(lark]

How about a completely aeronautic life form. From its birth to its death it is flying.

[(lark]

Since chow is now upon their 200th contest, it got me thinking about what would be cool for cow to do for its #200. I know its a ways off but here me out.

We could a kind of last man standing type thing, where we all design are most badass warrior beast, like the toughest meanest creature we can come up with, and then put them in brackets and have polls to see who would win if the 2 fought. All the way down to the last creature left who could win the new mascot rights or some other prize.

I know it would probably be a bit more work for you scorge, but it seems like it would be a fun community activity thing where people could occassionally stop in and check up on, and cheer for their favorites and such.

I know its a ways off but think about it.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

This fine fellow:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuckelavee

[George Abraham]

Your real family pet and some mutagen.

[Arbinn]

Iku-Turso (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iku-Turso)

"Iku-Turso is a malevolent sea monster in the Finnish mythology. His appearance remains unclear, but he is described with several epithets: partalainen (the one who lives on the edge, or alternatively, the bearded one), Tuonen härkä (the ox of Tuoni, Death), tuhatpää (thousand-headed), tuhatsarvi (thousand-horned). It was sometimes said that he lived in Pohjola, but that may be because Pohjola was often perceived as the home of all evil.

In some versions of the spell The Birth of Nine Diseases Iku-Turso is mentioned as the father of diseases with Loviatar, the blind daughter of Tuoni, the god of death."

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

There aren't really any pictures of Iku-Turso apart from Don Rosa's Donald Duck version so I think it might be interesting to see what people come up with.

[scorge]

At the risk of going too close to CHOW, why not try Angels?

There are so many different interpretations of what these things are or look like, but at the end of the day they are definately not human.

Beings which watch over mankind from far off, but who can intervene without being noticed perhaps? Guardian angels?

Just an idea.

;)

Keep an eye out for this idea in a future topic Droid. I've considered it a few times but I have to figure out how we'll do it.

[Fiddzy]

What about if we team up with CHOW?

One Week they design the Rider, next week we design their ride? Then vice versa at a latter date.

Not sure how well it would work however.

[APW]

NothingToFear - Totally awesome idea! Hope it gets picked!

[Il Grande Iulio]

Any of the creatures from Revelations in the Bible

A very good idea can be "locusts from the abyss":

http://www.davidmiles.net/HTML/TEXT/text8_locusts.html

[APW]

I do not know if this has been done before but.....

A Family Reunion! An all in one: CHOW, IDW, COW, EOW.

Everybody makes every thing all in one epic piece of work. Perhaps a month long competition? Just an idea but I think it could work.

[Si_Swe]

As annoying as possible.

[Youngah 187]

Representitive Of The 7 Sins
King Of The Jungle
Leviathon
Too Feeble To Fight
Half-Man, Half-???

[Fiddzy]

Here's some more idea's....

- Future Dinosaurs from today's Birds
- Trash/Garbage Consumer
- Woolly Carnivore
- Pink, Fluffy and Fanged
- True Flying Fish
- My Pet Alien
- Shadow Collector

[skyline]

- creatures of stealth
something that lurks in the shadows, waiting to strike

- urban hunters
nature fights back: creatures that have evolved to thrive in urban environments due to high populations and urbanisation

- "many teeth make light work" or some take on the jaws of life
primary offence is its large or plentyfull teeth

- last of an ancient race
the creatures that were once the dominant species are all but gone, the last relic of the race wanders the planet waiting its extinction (foucus on making it an old looking creature)

- carnivores of the dead forest
creatures that live in the petrified woods- feed of the living

i am thinking of lots of predatory creatures- they are always fun :)
edit: also i like the idea of combining the weekly activitys that could be really fun! prehaps a godzilla kind of thing could work if COW does the monster, CHOW does the human (monster hunter) EOW does the place it is running loose, and IDW does the means that is developed to stop/ destroy it?

[J-Sun]

Cheshire Cat

Ankle Prowler

High Voltage Red Bellied Vulture

TideSucker

Quakemaker

Ironhide Conductor

Gatecrasher

Vertical Stalker

Messy Drooler

Warfish

Tendril Kit (Kit being a small/young sized breed of a Tendril Cat/Fox/Bunny/whatever)

Jelly Mumbler


:devil:

[Tekno]

idk if any of these have been said?
-four horsemen of the apocalypse
-famous criminals and killers fused with an animal that describes their personality(ex. Capone and a rhino mixed)
-if Japan had ruled after WW2 what would their military look like(samurais and ninja soldiers with dif. purposes)
-your true nightmares realized
-monster children (if children could really scare you-ex. zombie kid) fall of innocence
-hidden sea creatures that when out in the ocean alone will eat you (nobody has ever seen them because of no survivors)

[chiragthakkars]

1 = redesign a god from all religions
2 = redesign superhero and convert into creatures

[Tyrus]

Gnome Mangler
Tropical Horror
Blind Cave Creeper
Fire and Ice- The Story of an Unusual Romance
Explosive Immortal
Gigawatt Stinger

[J-Sun]

A "gestalt" creature
and the individual creatures that it is comprised of.

Something along the lines of "Voltron" where the five lions combine to form one big guy... or "Devastator" and the like from the Transformers universe.

The thing is - these would be living organic creatures that would somehow combine.

:yayca:

[YUZworks]

I-beast (a creature based on the artist himself. Could be on his looks, habits, personality or wathever he can think of)

Withering Wasp-like

Extraordinary Electric Eel

Lazy Long Limbed Lifeform

Big Bulky Bouncin Belching Brute


Ceremonial Ceramic Critter (ok, ok, fair enough... this is an object)












... do I get bonus points for alliteration?

[Si_Swe]

I'm back with more ideas to throw out there to be taken or not. This time I'd like to suggest something along the lines of a Team COW or potentially a couple of larger scale COWS, two-weekers maybe.

Firstly, is Mortal Enemies, where I was thinking two artists would collaborate to create 2 creatures that are predators of each other, each other's prime hunting competition, something along those lines.

Secondly I was think of Elementals, since there are a lot of ways to take them. I was thinking that either a team COW could take on doing the 4 elements or, perhaps, a 2-weeker of each artist design 2 or more of those 4 elementals.

Thirdly and lastly is The Mating Ritual. I'm aware that Unusual Mating Habits was a topic way back when, but I oft. see creature designs and wonder what the differences would be between the genders. With many lizards and birds, the difference is striking. Even take the head-butting rituals of goats, deer, elk etc. I was thinking a round could be based less on the actual mating of the two creatures, but on the method of attracting a mate. The piece should be illustrating both male and female as well as the courtship ritual of one to the other.

[(lark]

Awesome idea si swe! I second. Here is another option for team cow.

a creature that has 2 seperate life paths but is born as the same species. One a path of a gentle sage like existence (or good), and one of vile predatory brute force that kills whatever gets in its way (or evil). The key being that they share a lot of phisical atributes, but are twisted according to they're path.

Just thinking out loud, but I think a team cow is a great idea whatever the subject is.

[lancer_idenoure]

scorge, ive noticed youve been choosing a lot of topics that are based on one or two attributes of a creature like fur, wrinkles, feathers, and such, so here are some topics i thought of that kinda go along those lines.
-scales
-slimy skin/amphibious
-huge jaw/teeth
-suction cups/pads
-armored/spined (for defense)
-climber (trees, rocks, etc)
-trap (waits for prey to pass by, then strikes)
-floating air sacs
-flying version of amphibian (water to air)
-horns, antlers, and crests
-dorsal fin(s)
-blubber
-segmented
-loooong neck
-beach-dweller
-stinger (like a bee)
-ramming heads (like, well, rams)
-metamorphosis (show all stages)
-ancient ancestor of living animal
-descendant of living animal
some of these are better than others, but i think we can get at least a few good topics outa these! ;)

[Youngah 187]

Beautiful Until Angered - For this im thinking a creature that has stunning looks and is wonderful to look at. But once angered or annoyed suddenly transforms into a ugly brutish form.. Could be in self-defence, could be for hunting purposes, could be to trick its prey???

It's There Until You Turn Around - You know when you feel like theres something behind you, but when you turn around there isn't? This could be that thing. Maybe it will shapeshift, maybe its fast or invisible???

Guardian Of The Pyramid - Name speaks for itself. Creature that protects the treasures inside a ancient pyramid.

If It Bites You, You Become It - Something that spreads a type of disease or a curse through biting. Possibly a werewolf, vampire or any other crazy creature that would do something like that.

[RedPen]

The fiery creatures that live on the Sun....

I know the sun is a great big ball of burning hydrogen, but i found it a fanciful idea to think of it as a "world" with its own creatures that we might not detect with our telescopes and scientific gadgets. :D

[(lark]

the anti-falcor falcor is a luck dragon from the never ending story. This idea would be to make an un-lucky dragon. Sort of an antithesis of falcor, instead of being helpful he's cruel, instead of being white and furry he's black and scaley, etc. up to the artist with how to make that creature its opposite.

[shockowaffel]

The Toilet Demon
In a haunted house, everything is haunted or obsessed.
The toilet is no excption. Draw it, with all it's distgusting horros!

Living in the fridge
have you ever wondered what happens to food, that was left in the fridge for a veeeery long time ? Let you imagination run wild and create a monster that evolved from the fridge.
Setting should be at least the time after fridges were invented or even scifi, the place is free to choose.

Typhon
A Greek mythological beast, son of Gaia and Tartaros(greek hell).
Gaia united with the Tartaros to take revenge for her defeated childs, the titans.
Typhon is often described as a beast without equal, a giant with hundreds of snake or dragon heads.
In mythology he is the father of the warm winds and storms (Typhoon).
He gave birth to creatures like the Hydra, the Sphinx, Cerberus and others and he had some heavy battles against Zeus, who finally buried him under the Ethna into the Tartaros. (more info on Wikipedia and google)
Design this legendary creature, who even opposed the gods.

You can draw his battle against Zeus, draw him inside the Tartaros or even let im break free again. No sci Fi or Medieaval please either use ancient greek settings or modern times.

[Denki]

Why not taking your most annoying relative and doing your own rendition on how you see them ex. evil, goofy, dramatic, etc.

[(lark]

scorge: just a heads up, the police code 187 is the code for homicide. Popularized in a lot or gangsta rap. I don't know if that gives you any ideas for the next round, #187.

[ragos]

Horror of the Sewers. Draw a creature that lives in our sewers.

[arri-att]

Creature with the soul of void - some space leviathan
Equilibrium golem - creature which automaticly mimics and returns your attacks for example
Warden of the the dark dreams
tormentor flower dangerous plant which eats prey for a year
Accidental fusion of science and nature perhaps victim of pollution, radiation, or creature got stuck in garbage
Sword thief creature locked on killing people and stealing their swords, wields all stolen swords at once
Annoying stalker jungle mocker
Dead lifebringer Something was spreading life once upon a time, but now it is dead and sorrowful
fusion golem is sawn of parts of everything he encounters, organic, non-organic, some parts can be alive and arguing their fate or each other. The golem himself is kinda mechanically calm.

that's a brief ideas i got just after waking up in the morning

i am not fammiliar with all ideas posted in the thread nor i recall all the themes of COW, so if i repeat something i am sorry

[Sulphur]

Innocent yet destructive - A creature that unknowingly wrecks havoc wherever it goes. Perhaps it is totally oblivious to it's own strength/size, or maybe it's just a huge klutz. Think puppies -they have no idea how much destruction they cause!
But obviously it could be big or small, cute or ugly; it should just be a passive creature who causes just as much harm/damage as an aggressive one :P

[BrandonLinus]

A re-imagining of the 1988 and 1958 movie monster, The Blob... but just like Rob Zombie once said in an interview, don't make it look like a blob, it has the same abilities as the blob.. but it's not actually a big slow moving blob.

[Si_Swe]

I know this is sort of a rephrasing of an idea I posted once before, just flashier, but I like the topic:
Urban Disturbance, looking at a city-adapted creature causing metropolitan madness. Is it a plague? Is it just annoying like pigeons or raccoons? Has a newly introduced species begun to wreak mayhem all over the streets?

[Duman]

Volcano dweller
mind stealer
void whale
star drinker
deep sea intelligent life
spiked horror
venom spitting flyer
Deadly but unmoving
static discharger
lightning eater

[(lark]

How about getting people out of their comfort zones. Lately it seems we've been doind a lot of scary violent type creatures. How about a round where you have to design something that is just insanely adorable or cute. But put in something contrary like it has to be hairless or its main color has to puke green or something. I think it would be an interesting challenge in using form to make something attractive.

[Ivansz]

Born from blood criature please please please and another mhhh elemental creatures (fire, water blah blah)

[lancer_idenoure]

im diggin the cute but furless idea, (lark. maybe have it be more open and say "ugly yet cute"? kinda like a pug. or if youve seen bobby chiu's stuff.

[Si_Swe]

Ivansv - I have plans for an elemental round in the future. We are currently working out some dynamics to see if we can do some kind of team-based creature of the week and elementals is my top pick as the prompt for that round.

[lancer_idenoure]

heres some epic stuff for cow200:

- i think the elementals would be pretty sweet. maybe a month long challenge where we could do one of each?

- going back to something i posted earlier: the 3 giant, ancient beasts: the behemoth, beast of land; the leviathan, beast of the sea; and ziz, the beast of the sky. again, i think a longer challenge would be good

- one of the challenges from waaay back was to design a whole ecosystem of creatures, from big to small. maybe we could have another one of those.

- and something similar to the ecosystem and one i also posted earlier: a hive/colony system. just like ants have workers, soldiers, "babysitters", and a queen, we could design a colony of creatures that has a sort of caste system with all the "levels" having a similar look, but their idividual characteristics reflect what caste theyre in. ie, soldiers would be large and aggressive etc...again, extra long challenge

- dragons are always fun :)

- a final boss monster for a game (must be HUGE!)

hmm thats all i got for now. hope that gives you 2 some ideas :)

[Pochifux]

Hive Pigs

[jcf857]

Carnivorous rabbit creature that lives in the forest and is sensitive to light.

[Tyrus]

How about a creature that is used like a household appliance kinda like the Flintstones?
Or a Core Heater- an animal that keeps a planets core hot and spinning?

[Fireburnspaper]

Kills You Without Your Smoking Partner Realizing - So this one is a direct result of a story I heard from an exerpt from a book on NPR. In India it was reported that two men were sitting in their domicile in the dark, smoking. They were talking, and passing the pipe/whatever back and forth. One of them was smoking/talking, and went to pass the pipe back to his friend, and it fell. He looked up and saw the silhouette of a leopard dragging his friend out the front door into the night.

Eat You While You're Still Running - A result of the same program that was explaining that while Hyenas don't normally hunt, they're capable. If they're chasing down something that's weak or sickly, something that they can clearly catch and kill, they don't always bother to kill it like most predators. They'll sometimes just kind of take bites out of it while it's still running away, and then once it finally falls they'll just eat it alive.

Pokey Monster - So one of my dogs is retarded. He doesn't really get how to be a dog, and will literally poke you with his nose if he wants something from you. We don't get it. But it has earned him this nickname (Loki -> Pokey -> Pokey Monster).

Subway Jammer/Clogger - No particular origin here, just thought it would be interesting to see what people came up with for some specie that clogged subway lines for some reason.

The Thump in the Night - You know...the one that makes you get out of your bed because your Other CAN'T LET IT GO. THERE IS NOTHING THERE OH MY GOD. ...or is there?

That's it! My submissions for the time being.

If people are interested where the hyena/leopard stories came from; a book called Deadly Kingdom by Gordon Grice (http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Kingdom-Book-Dangerous-Animals/dp/0385335628) - I don't own it yet so I can't attest to the overall awesome, but the excerpts I heard were effing cool. I plan on picking it up though, till let you guys know how it is.

[laszlo?]

if i had two faces i would be ugly too.

tropical space birds

herding animals from the outer galaxies

[emerging]

how about a creature that consists ONLY of human body parts but still cannot be humanoid. Could be any scale of a bodypart and does not have to be like a full leg or a hand. Rather focus on smaller pieces and compose a fully functional and anatomically correct creature.

[lancer_idenoure]

emerging: ;)

[Maslo]

A Whisperer - a tiny and weak creature capable of emanating signal that allows it to mind-control larger creatures, ride them, constantly whispering right into their ears, and use them to protect itself and find food. And, well, kill stuff for food. Almost parasitic.

[Jabberwock xeno]

Hello.

I'm new here, though I've been following COW for a long time. I haven't joined because I felt my skills were not nearly good enough, but I think i'm almost there.

Anyways, some ideas:

- Creatures that live in common substances, but in rare states of matter.
Like a creature that lives in gaseous metal, liquid air, or solid mercury.

- Large parasites. Remember those bug things in Cloverfield? parasites that are tiny to their host, but their host happens to be huge.

- Creatures living in alternate dimensions. The world we live in has width, height, depth, and time, but why? why not have a creature that lives in a universe of only width of height, or one with 5 or 7 dimensions! MC escher esque mindscrew is optional XD

- Sapient parasites/scavengers. What if the most vile, horrid creatures here on earth became the dominant life form on their planet, complete with a civilization?

- Creatures in unifiting environments. Here, worms and snails do best in wet, moist places, fish in water, reptiles in hot places etc.
How about a worm that lives in the desert? A reptile in tundra? etc

I know this one goes against the main rule, but I feel that humanoids have potential if done right.

- Alien humanoid: I don't mean alien as in ufo aliens, I mean aliens as in strange. Humanoids, but so odd and strange and so utterly wried, that they only fit the term if you look at their sillouete. Think cosmisc horror

[Cartogriffi]

This doesn’t fit the traditional COW theme, and I’ll admit to feeling a bit foolish throwing it out here, but what about the Creeper from minecraft? The game gives us a very low detail model but it would be interesting to see where people go from this basic design when making a fuller illustration.

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Creeper

[Cy-AN]

I do not know if this idea has never been before but: A creature that lives only a week and every day tramsforma in to a different creature (creature of a week)

[Rob Powell]

-The Queen and her Hive
-Swamp God
-Creature with an oversized body part
-Zombie Desert Nightcrawler

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Ideas! yay.

A creature that lives in vacuum.

A creature that defies physics.

A small creature that eats bigger creatures.

A creature that is deadly in numbers but harmless alone.

Man's new extraterrestrial best friend (the creature that replaces dogs).

Predators that hunt in multiple environments land/air, land/sea, air/sea.

Jungle planet pack animals.

Fantasy meets the old west, fantastical herd animals for Orc/Goblin/Elf/Dwarf cowboys.

Creatures with odd evolutionary anatomy. (Eyes inside the mouth, mouths on feet, breathe through their tail, etc.)

Creatures humans would make, to make their lives/jobs easier if they could.

Just a few ideas.

[Rob Powell]

some more ideas came to mind...

You shall not pass!-one that blocks an entrance or passageway

Living Tansportation Shell-think as if a car (or some other vehicle) was a creature

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Copycat

Smoking Kills

Rinterpretaion-redesign a creature from a movie or game unoriginal, I know)

Diamond Eater

Conjoined Twins

Black Hole Maker

[Rob Powell]

That last round got me thinking of something interesting...Has anyone heard of an unidentified sound called 'The Bloop'? It as recorded of the coast of South America in the Southern Pacific in 1997. Researchers recon it was 'possiby' created by some creature, something Massive, few times large than the Blue Whale. This could be an interesting topic for future Sound Rounds.

While I'm here...
-4 eyes, 6 Legs
-Rejects of Noah's Arc
-Those who built ____? (ie. The Pyramids, Stone Henge, Taj Mahal)
-Fire Starter

[millz]

- Apex predator of a food chain where energy is not harnessed from the sun. (like the deep deep sea where some organisms harness energy from geothermal vents).

- Planet eater (pretty straightforward... an organism which eats planets)

- Pitchblack predator (straight forward... an organism which hunts in total darkness)

- Handle with care (an organism with spines and/or poison that is deadly to touch)

- Screw carbon (an organism thats base structure is not made of carbon, you can go more specific and say that its made from crystal or some metal or something)

- Cute but deadly (an organism that looks completely harmless and even lovable but its just a facade?)

- Its a trap! (an organism that sets traps to catch its prey)

- Sharpshooter (an organism with a ranged physical weapon for hunting or defence, eg. shooting spines, shooting fire/water/lightning, throwing rocks, hitting something with sound)

- Borrower (an organism which uses objects/parts not born of its own flesh to make itself stronger, kinda like how hermit crabs use snail shells but with much more vareity)

[Pat Thompson]

How about some culturally-inspired categories?

Oriental-style insects (such as a "Chinese Dragon-fly")

Mayan war beast

Babylonian water carrier

Viking voyage companion

A Native American horror that made Roanoke disappear (it was an early American settlement)

Russian ice melter

Hindi creature that inspired the form of their religion's Gods

:grandpa:

[Rob Powell]

because I can...

-Giant Striped Cone-Head of Doom! (I like the cone head idea though)
-tool replacement
-Living Landing Strip
-Gender Differences (same species, but male and female look completely different, ie. the Anglerfish)
-The Zodiac
-Chuck Norris's Pet 8D

[Lacelette]

I'm new and still very wary of posting yet, but I couldn't resist when I saw this thread... Let's give it a shot :) How about:

- Goya's Demon (Goya the painter)
- The Peacock Eater

They both seem open enough to be interpreted however...
>.< Must think of mooooore!

[Art-kritik]

My first crack at this. My apologies if I repeat ideas that others have had, I didn't go through all the previous entries:

* 1,000,000 BC (a creature from the days when man was still just another animal)
* nasty, brutish, and short (with apologies to Hobbes, a tiny creature with a BIG chip on its shoulder)
* the stars have eyes (creatures that live in/on stars ... or ARE stars)
* 1,000 on the head of a pin (microscopic creatures)
* we are legion (creatures that have no concept of individuality, always travel in hordes)
* past, present, and future (an animal with three very distinct phases of life)
* God-killers (the gods of the ancients were real... emphasis on WERE)

I'd also be glad for input on the suitability of my topics. Thanks!

EDIT: a few more ideas

* Wild World of Weasels (a whole ecosystem of weasel-based lifeforms... why not?)
* Invasion of Infernal Invertebrates (mankind is doomed as hell-spawned beasties attack)
* Villainous Vermillion Viper (that's one mean red snake right there!)

OK, enough alliteration

* Silicon-based life form (non-"meat" critter)
* Gold-eater (nothing tastier for this creature than a nice heaping sack of sovereigns)
* Yesterday's news (no one cares about this has-been anymore, regardless of how impressive it was "yesterday")
* Oops! I didn't see you there (a beast so gigantic that it doesn't even notice Earth until it's too late)
* Camouflage arms race (a predator/prey pair that keeps trying to one-up each other on staying hidden)
* Mad Madam Mim and Merlin (a still from an unreleased part of the Merlin/Mim transformation battle in Disney's The Sword in the Stone)
* Lovecraft was right (maybe more suitable for sometime at the end of October... Cthulhorrific!)
* Fooled you! (a creature that almost perfectly mimics a man-made object... so that it can catch it's favorite prey, us)
* Godzilla vs. ??? (a "classic" Japanese mega-monster that never existed, but should have)
* Tyger, Tyger (anything drawing its inspiration from Blake's masterpiece, preferably tiger-themed)

I should stop now...

[Charanty]

What about drawing Charybdis? I mean, everybody know how Scylla looked like but what about her comrade?

Some random ideas:
Jumping wheeler
Union frailness
Clever tooling
Living furniture
Floating herbivore
Tessellated elusive prancer
Broadband bronze burglar
Sexual selection
Electric blue grace

[Rob Powell]

As I went about my life certain ideas popped into my head and I wrote them down as they came, some would be really neat in COW and some are just for the inspirational purposes for random generation and whatnot...
-Hyperactive Compulsive Squirrel Chaser
-Insectoid Dragon
-Destructive Hell Dragon
-Guardian of Valhalla
-7 Deadly Sins
-Bite off more than you can chew
-Painter creature
-Armoured Insect War Beast
-Shiny Metal Collector
-Bioluminescent One-eyed Boss Monster
-Push me, Pull you
-COW re-visit

[Si_Swe]

I thought I'd post some guidelines for what we look for in a suggestion. It's very hard to give exact guidelines for what we'll end up picking, but there are some general things that I know I, personally, look for...

Open-ended - I see a lot of people post things like "a rabbit-like creature who does X, Y or Z". The problem with briefs like this is that they become too specific, limiting artist's design choices too much. We want something that can be interpreted in many ways so that the competition has focus on creativity of design in addition to rendering quality and execution.

Not too Open-Ended - I see suggestions on the lines of "pack animal" it becomes something too vague to really get a grasp on. It becomes a massive category of creature (almost a genre of creature), and lacks the imagery to immediately spark people's imaginations.

(Examples of the above two done right: Forest Harvester, Satyr Slayer, Catapult Creature)

Adjectives - Composite word rounds are something we'll be seeing more of in the coming weeks. I have a large list of adjectives that use to generate new composite word creature descriptions. Post adjectives you want to see in creature descriptions. I look at every post in this thread, so if I like them, I'll put them in my list.

(Examples of composite word creatures descriptions: Red-Hot, Speckled Rock Muncher; Translucent, Muscular and Levitating; Lean Mean and Green)

Sounds - We're trying to get into the occasional Sound-based round once again. Posting sound clips of diverse, potential creature sounds will give us a wider selection and a better chance of getting a really good sound for our Sound Rounds.

Re-Designs - Redesigns are always a fun chance to take a look at something we already like, and make it our own. The innate problem with re-designs is that it's very tough to avoid one that will result in a truly wide array of results. Posting a redesign of a specific creature is likely going limit artists too much for us to consider. A good suggestion will do one of two things: it will propose a redesign wherein a myriad of creatures can be selected for redesigning or it will propose a creature who does not have a set, single design to begin with.

(Examples of redesign rounds: The Real Cookie Monster, Bandersnatch, Beautiful Rebirth, Comedic Chimaera)

Number/Date-Related - Our rounds are occasionally themed around the number within the round. If you can think of a significance for an upcoming number, post the significance and we'll see if we can write something up. We also like to look at rounds relating to the specific date, so post significant days or topics themed around those days.

(Examples of number-related rounds: #187 Gnixxian Assassin, #50 50!, #100 Creature Festival, #111 The Creature that Changed History, #69 Unique Lovers)
(Examples of date-related rounds: Trick or Treat!, Elf Eater/Bauble-Maker, Great White Worm Carnivorous Worm and Young, Costume Creature, The Mating Ritual)

For the love of all that is beautiful, read the rules and go over the topics we've already done before suggesting a topic - Far too often do I see topic suggestions that are either: A) characters or B) something that we've already covered in a previous round. If you are suggesting a topic it would be a good idea to browse the Winner's Thread and take a look at some of the topics we've already done.

Note: I am not attempting to discourage suggestions that do not follow any of these guidelines, post ideas freely, but I figured this may help you understand what it is that I look at when viewing topic suggestions for inspiration.

Hope that helps some of you out.

[Rob Powell]

So...you want adjectives do you....
http://www.momswhothink.com/reading/list-of-adjectives.html
I think this should surfice ^^
Below are some interesting ones I've quickly picked out...
-Lazy
-Shy
-Magnificent
-Sparkling
-Ugly
-Clumsy
-Paranoid
-Jolly
-Zealous
-Chubby
-Colossal
-Scrawny
-Hissing
-Whispering
-Ancient
-Greasy
-Prickly
-Salty
-Sparse
-Fluffy
-Boiling

[artchina]

this is so cool,i love it!

[Rob Powell]

just a few more quick ideas...

Zoodragon
-loosely based off of the recent beastmaster Chow topic, pick an animal and create a dragon with elemonts of that animal.

Speedy Swamp-bird

King Alien
-I remeber I was browsing stuff about Ridley Scott's Alien franchise a while back, and came across an alien/predator wiki site, and it mentioned something about a King Alien, that wasn't shown in any of the movies, it would be neat to design what that alien might look like, though it is probably a bit too specific of a topic since mostly everyone's designs will be more or less the same

Breed for Sport

Flying arachnid

Some more multi creature topics, such as the game critter quadriped or small, medium, large topics

I think we're due for another 'freestyle' round at some point as well, don't you?

[RyNSWOrLD]

Elemental, carnivorous, solitary hunter with unique 'weapon'.
Or, taking inspiration from art_kritik, classic, strait up arms race.

[NickyBeats]

what if the teenage mutant ninja turtles werent turtles, but some other animal/creature? that would be a really fun topic!!

[aroundlife]

haha,it may be Angelina jolie's brother!!!!!

[kiwisoft]

How about human spit that turns to be a flesh eating jelly ?

[prsnsweeney]

ok heres what i thought of

• Animal with a nuclear reactor as its heart giving it the ability to consume anything and convert it to energy
• Ancient creature of the temple, old civilizations used to feed it human sacrifices
• Angel Slayer, When Lucifer gets really mad he sends his attack pet after an unfortunate angel
• Mans best friend is a dog. What is a Trolls best friend, animal that’s tough enough to stick with a troll. Think big, bad, mountain trolls from legends not the little ones in kid’s books. ( cow might have covered something similar I cant remember)
• The creature that lives at the center of the earth, or at least far below the earths surface

[AboutaDirk]

A creature made out of a feeling. "The creature love", or "the creature envy", for example.

[Rob Powell]

-Alien Food Chain
-No Eyes, No Ears (A vertebral Land Hunter that can't see and can't hear, does it have a keen sense of smell? does it feel for it's prey? does it use telepathic abilities?)
-Riddle Beast (ie. Sphinx re-design)
-Avian Life Cycle (Hatchling, Juvenile, Adult, egg optional)
-One Eye Big Teeth
-Lifegiver

[vendy satria]

hello peeps, i'm a new member here. Anyone wants to help me to use this forum effectively? really need help. thanks! :D

[RyNSWOrLD]

Your boggart.

[infinitemonkey]

Re-evolved Dinosaur – take a bird (chicken, parrot, raven, peacock, etc) and reactivate the dinosaur genes lingering in its DNA...

Common Camouflage – this creature mimics a common household appliance by day, and at night prowls your hallways feeding...

[lancer_idenoure]

haven't posted here in a while.


colossal crustacean monstrosity
extraterrestrial livestock
large, alien grazing creature
huge floating invertebrate
carnivorous primate/simian creature

[Chaoz]

creatures with feline features

[Cilios]

Hi I'm new to CA, and I'd like some information.

I tried to navigate through the forums but I find it confusing, so if anyone could help me I'd appreciate it. I joined CA because I was intrested in your weekly themes/challenges, so I'd like to have some information about that topic as well.

[infinitemonkey]

Extreme Sexual Dimorphism:

Tiny Airborne Male + Titanic Aquatic Female

or

Crystalline Male + Gelatinous Female

Bonus points for showing them mid-coitus. ;-)

[GuesssWho]

Creature With Its Eyes On Its Lower Jaw
Dragon Animal--draconic kittens, draconic spiders, draconic pigs . . .
Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil--Bosch-esque creatures
Children of Lovecraft
Insect People
Too Many Limbs--it's a miracle they can walk at all!
Eyes Do Not Belong There--eyes on its neck, side, butt, back, chest, fingers . . .
Battle of the Sexes--male and female are enemies
Walking City
Sexual Dimorphism
Multiple Mouths
Wearing A Human Disguise
Swims, Walks and Flies
Cannibal Creatures
The Worm That Walks
Laughing Monsters--from hyaenas to clowns
Dire Mice--the huge, fierce version of cute little animals
Big Fangs
Long Claws
Living Prosthetics
Your 3 Favorite Animals In One

[JordieS]

A silent hill like Pyramid head dressed in a corporate suit
for more contrast?

[GuesssWho]

A silent hill like Pyramid head dressed in a corporate suit
for more contrast?

Isn't that more a CHoW idea?

[Charmer]

Robo-Chimaira:

A creature that is two mixed living creatures/human/organism with mechanic / technical elements :) Would be awesome I think :)

[GuesssWho]

Monster-eating monsters
Organic guns and symbiotic swords
Legless flyers
Hive minds
'Spider's
'Snake's
Pets on other planets

[penciltipred]

a realistic remake of a cartoon monster
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101014002821/adventuretimewithfinnandjake/images/thumb/8/8a/Lordofevil_soulsucking.png/185px-Lordofevil_soulsucking.pnghttp://newsimg.ngfiles.com/217000/217049_Dick.jpghttp://pictures.fanart-central.net/s/saruon_sama/397136.jpg
they both collect/eat souls and im not talking anime monsters i mean full blown cartoony monsters
http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/pics/5/1334/how-to-draw-aku-from-samurai-jack-tutorial-drawing.jpg

[Izene]

Sexy dinosours

[GuesssWho]

Undiscovered dinosaurs
If land life had evolved from Opabinia or Anomalocaris (Very strange early creatures that never got anywhere; google 'cambrian life')
The Lovecraft version of everyday animals
Cannibal creatures--a big creature that farms smaller members of its species/a closely related species
Wolf in sheep's clothing--an animal that hurts by mimicking its prey
Pests forever--the future forms of common animals like rats, crows, dandilions, etc.
The thing that makes the Bloop sound
Cheshire Cats and Jabberwocks

[Rob Powell]

A few more came to mind...

first one was insipred by the show River Monsters, which was playing all day New Year's on Discovery, awesome show...

Ultimate Game Fish
-doesn't really need to be a fish, just something that looks like it can be caught on a rod
-must be big at least the size of an average person (6 ft, 200 pounds), but not so big that people can't catch on a rod
-must live in freshwater rivers and lakes, it's a bit creepier if you have huge fish/creatures in smaller bodies of water. But those rivers and lakes don't have to be on this planet!

THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS!!!
-was thinking along the lines of Oppenheimer's speech, but can be interpreted however
-must be a multi-armed form, sooo....let's say at least six arms, for example

Post-apocalyptic Urban Prowler

Spiny Striped Web-Spinner

Flourescent, Floating, and Flat

Plated, Misty, Tree-Devourer

Series suggestion
-Cryptids series
re-design or interpret mysterious creatures sush as; The Loch Ness Monster, The Abominable Snowman, and El Chupacapras!

[Ninsta]

* Taking any random item around you that you see, and have that be the skeleton of the creature that you create.

* A creature that eats books, is camoflauged to blend in with bookshelves libraries ect.

* Creature that would be found living in a zit or pimple

* Sea faring domestic beast of burden

Man I'm stoked! When I first got on here there weren't any cow's running, only chows! So least to say I'm tickled :D

[zombiedobbo]

here's a couple of ideas

-golden eyed tunnel dweller
-living disease
-living germ
-giant cloud eater
-four armed exo-skeletal worker
-medieval frogman
-raptor-mantis
-gorilla-crab
-parasitic exoskeleton
-living plant creature
-the real santa claus
-humanoid waspman
-titan
-lonely one armed desert wanderer
-the real spiderman (include costume)
-hairy three armed vine swinger
-six armed lemur eater
-tooth eater
-evil coat winged bat creature
-Nosferatu

will come back with more

[Pixie Trick]

Bright eyed and bushy tailed.

[zombiedobbo]

-decepting and dangerous
-disguised noob eater
-European fling back
-Nordic mace tail
-African lance head
-hammer head gorilla
-ruler of the deep
-atlantian
-big fluffy friend
-organic mother ship
-telekinetic jelly-man
-elemental, fire,water,earth,air
-one armed turtle cracker
-11 armed toybox critter
-the fish tank felon

[Charanty]

Sublime metallic singer
Plantpelt - creature who is covered with plants instead of fur/feathers/scales
Abada - african unicorn
Mobile building - creature who is used as a building and who can move around
Flying living fortress
Swimming living fortress
Friendly abomination
Further evolution of animals from Cambrian explosion if they didn't go extinct
Troodon descendants

One of rare heraldic beasts:
Alphyn,
Allocamelus,
Hippalectryon,
Yale (aka Centicore),
Ypotryll,
Martlet.

Fuu Dog
Hippocamp

[zombiedobbo]

-zephyr semitransparent creature
-perspicacious
-lucubrating god-like creature
-tropical quixotic ape
-alpha stentorian
-corpulent obloquy swine
-true solipsism
-ricochet
-prandial beast (as in relating to food ;) )
-cute but odious
-ennui
-hive-minded phalanx
-penultimate troglodyte
-chthonic un-salubrious night dweller

[Crane]

I saw a meme that had a picture of a Grey alien and the caption 'Send message to earth, they think it's dubstep' which led me to thinking about a creature that actually 'spoke' as if it was a dubstep track and how designing such a thing would be interesting to do :)

I guess it could be called 'Dubicus stepicae' or something :p

[Yua]

I'm kinda new here so I don't know if any of these have been done before. Sorry if they have.

Metamorphosis
Hive Mind
Unusual reproduction (not the mating part the actual 'birth' part)
Microscopic
Animal-Plant hybrid
Living shelter
Lots of legs
A parasite that is good for the host
What humans (or whatever else) will look like in a million years
I don't know if its true or not but I read somewhere that pandas are actually omnivores, but they love bamboo so much they refuse to eat anything else. How 'bout something like that?

[GuesssWho]

Strange mouths (opens sideways, on stalk, unfolds, whatever.) See http://waynebarlowe.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/daggerwrist.jpg for possible inspiration.

Many-branched limbs

Hand/eye/whatever on tongue