C.O.W. - #007: Creature feeding on lava - VOTING!!!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #007 VOTING

Topic: Creature feeding on lava

Deadline for the voting: Tuesday, 31.03.2005

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=40452






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davi:
concept: The regurgitator, an ancient beast who churns the volanco's lava by swallowing and revomitting it back up. This process allows the lava to never settle and harden. The volanco is used by the gods to fordge their weapons for epic battles against evil.
http://davivsjapan.com/cotd/cow07.jpg
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Xpose:
concept: The Mythical bird thought to be the creator of Islands. Feeding on the lava of volcanoes and dumps it's wastes into the ocean which becomes Islands. You better watch yourself because if this bird shits on your car, you could be in some trouble. So don't shake your fists at this god, he'll throw something back.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/xpose/drawings/magmuscrane.jpg
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Fozzybar:
concept: Glowing Hump-Cracker
This creature lives in a very hostile environment...a deserted island somewhere in the south pacific...there is nothing to eat or drink, only hot, bubbling lava under the ground. No one knows how this creatures can survive only by eating lava??? Also it's a mystery why the lava doesn't harm its body, when consumed...
Scientists assume that they went through some incredibly mutations during evolution to adapt to this hostile circumstances...There is no way to enter the island, neither by water nor by air...the ground is too thin to land with an helicopter or airplane, they would break into the lava...the sea is too wild to navigate without crashing on the cliffs...
So the only way to analyze the living of this strange creatures is to watch movies, filmed from the air...so scientists assume that the creature uses its claws to dig or break in holes in the thin ground to gain access to their meal. Their lower arms are covered with or even made up of a rock-like material.
Some of this creatures have humps on their necks, which can be filled with lava, so they can glow in the dark...scientists believe that only males have this special anatomy and they think the glowing humps are used to impress females just like birds do with their colorful plumage...
Also a remarkable appearance are that this creature have some sort of webs between the toes...this would indigate that this creatures even is able to run on the lava surface without getting hurt...once a crew filmed a specimen running for a short period over a lava stream, but they couldn't believe this until some detailed shots with a telecam showed the webs on the feet...
This image is an illustration and was drawn by an artist based on the movies...
http://www.kidomatix.com/ca/cow/cow_007_lavacreature_fozzybar.jpg
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Uziel:
concept: In a world of ashes, fire and rivers of boiling lava lives the Lava-ant.
This creature gets its energy from eating liquid lava.
When threatened It defends itself by shooting hot magma out of its rectum.
They built their nest close to lava streams because they need the heat of boiling lava for their brood to grow.
The colony of ants follow every command of their queen mo'm without question.
The queen regent is a fat bitch, complaining constantly about food and offspring.
Fun Fact: If you want a life size statue of this creature just put a real lava-ant in some cold water and tataaa...you'll have a kick-ass souvenir. (if you can catch one without getting burned)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/jarrafatti/lava-ant8small.jpg
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coondoggle:
concept: Sucking on the head of volcanoes Magmitites live off of noxious gases. They balloon up when full and float around their firey planet mating in the sky. Occasionally a volcano errupts in their mouths. That's a spicey volcano!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/goosezilla/lavaeater.jpg
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evildisco:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/evildisc0/guiwip1.jpg
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Dougbot:
concept: The Kotaki Crab of the Taptara lava fields mainly feeds on lava tube words, sulphur and other small critters. It does however pull some nutrients from the lava it holds within it's body. The lava is primarily a defense against others predators. It can shoot lava almost 50 meters through it's front 'cannon'. Not to mention most animals don't care for steaming lava pouring down their throats after biting into the crab.
The crab is quite slow, and uses it's powerful front appendages to break down mineral towers that form near hot springs. While it does have predators, they are few and far between. The kotaki crab is fairly harmless to humans, except when protecting it's nest and young.
http://www.dougbot.com/forum/COW07.jpg
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bRØk3n_sPiRiT:
concept: Fire Lizard
These lizards have a unique way of warding off predators: their body temperatures rise so much that their skin is hundres of degrees high, being calcinating to the touch. They manage to rise their skin to such a temperature by eating scorching lava. They feed on microorganisms that actually live in the lava called archaeobacteria. Once ingested, the lava micro-nutrients are filtered and the lava helps keep their skin temperature high enough to defend against agressors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/bk7600/fire_lizard_lava50.jpg
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Helzon:
concept: Helingen
The role of the Helingen pronounced (HELL-IN-JEN) in islander life was manifold as was discovered and written extensively by traveling missionaries in the eighteenth century. It was held as the most revered god in their vast pantheon. First and foremost, it was seen as the god of all fertility and life upon the planet, but also as the god of wealth and luck. The Helingen imagery could be found ubiquitously in nearly all the island cultures, from combs that decorated hair,small carvings that were worshipped within homes, to larger life sized versions for public display.
Only after many years and subsequent analysis of documents has a clearer understanding of what crucial role the Helingen played in the early formings of a more mature ecosystem.
These creatures belied their rather odd and rather brutish looks with extreme gentleness. They simply had little or no natural sense of aggression. (The leading theory was that they reproduced asexually. The male would release a packet of "sperm" through his cooling vents, a female eggs..and high aloft within the clouds fertilization occurred. In several weeks the juvenile Helingen would fall with the rains on the leeward sides of the islands and thus begin their terrestrial lives.) Feeding on the freshest lava that spewed from the summits of the highest domes and within the deepest calderas of active island volcanoes, these creatures seemed impervious to the blistering and hellish heat. It seemed also that they possessed a blood composition of liquefied Hydrogen. The molten rock and metal they consumed was ingested then lifted by capillary action through great "pipes" that protruded from the durable hide where reaching the top of each was sufficiently cooled then fell back toward the center where the "digestive" system broke down and extracted vital nourishment in the form of dissolved metals and minerals. There was however, a substance that the Helingen was most intolerant to and which proved its wiping from existence...and that was gold. Their systems simply rejected it and was therefore deposited in vast quantities within their dung. Beurgoning colonial powers of the time learned from their missionaries of this extraordinary feat and soon without much forethought Helingen were rounded up to the last and shipped back to mainlands..where without their lava to consume could do little and quickly perished.
The Helingen's ability to eject vaporized water and other small trace elements from their cooling projections were thought to have seeded the first clouds hundreds of millions of years ago and thus ushered in the more modern atmosphere.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Helzon/HelingenFinal1.jpg
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leckronium:
concept: Mythical Lava Beast
This mythical creature is believed to be related to the volcano gods in ancient times. Going by names of Lavadile, Magmagator, or Magmacroc, stories describe these creatures as being a rare site and a prediction to devastating eruptions. The ancient people believed that if you were lucky enough to take one of these creatures into view and live to tell about it then you were a chosen one who the volcano gods favored. Other stories reveal that these creatures were fire-breathing guardians and that sight of one meant you were intruding into that gods space and would soon be punished. Most stories reveal however, that these creatures were only seen near active volcanoes and that they needed to feed on lava to survive. If it strayed to far from its lava source it would cool and turn into volcanic rock which returned it to hibernation until the next releasing lava flow.
http://home.comcast.net/~leckronium/onlinestorage/lavaeater3.jpg
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xia:
concept: Balialbub RusputinaChikigawaraZhexigogounaDougletAdaWilliams 'sNumuroUno
Reside: Hell Kitchen
Favorite Vacation Spot: Underneat Yellow Stone (considered to be super valcano area fill with yummy lava and variation of gas)
Description: Balialbub is the head chef in hell. His recipes are quite delicious to him, as they all involve piping hot lava. He loves eating lava. In fact all the demons love his cooking; they of course all love to eat lava though. To those sent to hell, his meals are awful. Each lost soul gulping down lava every breakfast, lunch and dinner burns at first, but after a few millennia those souls just want some salt and pepper to flavor the bland lava. At times the lava cools in the souls gut, making it very hard to do the 300 jumping jacks required every morning in hell. Not to mention the quarter sized kidney stones produced by eating lava.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/xia/images/speedpainting124.jpg
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Oregano:
http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1111208491.jpg
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Matt Dixon:
concept: The 200ft long Sulphura Titan feeds by trawling the crust of the lava fields that it inhabits with it's long prehensile arms where it gathers microscopic lifeforms that live on the surface. These arms also contain ducts which allow the creature to breathe in volcanic gases, which are stored in a vast 'lung' and allow the creature to float safely above the burning magma. These giant beasts drift silently amongst the thermals produced by the lava, steering with the aid of their dorsal 'sail' and their arms, which are used as rudders in the molten rock below.
http://www.vortex.plus.com/COW07.jpg
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GomenNasai:
concept: the silver butterfly
Its internal chemistry is tailored for living in a high temperature environment : it's body is a crystalline alloy of titanium and carbon, and its blood is based on silver. Its 'wings' are in fact the only way it has to stabilise its temperature. Using the permanents air currents in its environment, it sends its blood to cool as far as possible from the lava. It always have to modulate it's wings length to avoid a solidification of its blood (it harden under 300°C). It feeds on metallic gases that it absorbs with it's trump. Its feet allow him to keep the least body surface in direct contact with the lava
If the lava is cooled down quickly enough under a silver butterfly, it'll freeze instantly, and if cooled down enough, its wings can be harvested for silver (the locals use silver butterflies wings as a ritual jewelry)
http://homepage.mac.com/karimc/silverbutterfly.jpg
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[Fozzybar]

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Gloklund:
concept: Magmahounds of the Ashen Plains
The Magmahounds scavange the barren Ashen Plains of the planet Noenazdak for fresh molten lavapools in which to fill their bellies. Tasty!
http://rhinohidestudios.com/images/magmahounds.jpg
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lukavi:
concept: The Ith or 'Cold Fish,' as they are fondly called by the English-speaking settlers of the planet Kazlam, are best described as walking popsicles. Their abnormal hypothalamus keeps their body temperature on a perpetually frigid base of -273 degrees Celsius. The Ith can literally freeze themselves to death, as proven by the numerous ice-cold corpses scattered all over Kazlam. That is probably why these docile creatures are often spotted wading in the lava lakes that crown this fiery planet. They submerge their subzero bodies in the hot goo enough to raise their temperature to a livable degree. Lava is ingested not only as a more efficient way of distributing heat to their body, but also for food. They have mouth filters similar to that of a whale which allows it to sift through the molten soup, collecting yummy cosmic algae in the process.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/deceptant3/devenecia_lava.jpg
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redehlert:
concept: The Helminth Devouring Element, also known as the Lava Leech, is a parasitic inhabitant of active volcanic bellies. The Helminth requires the nutrients in the lava to survive, wrapping around lumps of blistering liquid without any harm unto itself, thereby squeezing and sucking the molten life force from the lava until it cools. After that, it moves on to the next region of active lava. The Lava Leech can reach sizes up to 20 meters as recorded during excavations of several dead volcanos. Apparently, this parasite dies if its host dies.
http://www.cognitionstudio.com/conceptart/redehlert_COW7.jpg
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Genital_Eclipse:
concept: The Emere lives on the lava tundra outskirts of XanTipple. Where it can be found suckling up the red-blistering lava through it's four outstretched tentacles. The Emere cycles the lava through it's digestion system producing steam which powers it's heart and locomotion.
Emere's have a very tight knit supportive social community. It's very common to see other Emere's on high ground connecting to the exhaust pipes of lower emere's for feeding purposes. This web-like connectivity can keep thousands of Emere's living off of a single Emere who has found an opening to the lava on the bottom floor.
On a side note, Emere's have absolutely no nipples of any sort, leading to harassment from various other nipple-sporting lava creatures.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/xia/images/COW7LEVI.jpg
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stormeffex:
concept: This is the Lava Larvae. It is a large red dragon larvae that spends its juvenile years basking in the heat in volcanoes and eating the lava to maintain its hue. the lava larvae is at home in the lava and can swim under it as easily as it can in water. After a hundred years or so, when the larvae reaches adolescence it causes an eruption in the volcano, emptying the lava into the ocean where it will migrate inland to begin it's cacoon stage where it will emerge into a fearsome red dragon after a period of 7 years.
http://stu.aii.edu/~th361/lavafinal.jpg
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JoBeSu:
concept: The Chimney-hat lives in volcano areas and loves it!.They feed on lava but their digestion system only takes up the metals in the lava..that gives them a metalic skin witch make them resistant to the extreme heat.Its a pretty lazy creature and not verry agressive since they are the only creatures living in these areas.
http://jobesu.se/ForumPost/Feeding_on_lava.jpg
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fungi:
concept: Magma Wyrm
The Magma Wyrm was once thought to have been a god of some sort, when it reared out of its volcanic home worshippers would gather around the smouldering pit and throw themselves in as sacrifice. little did they know that these creatures were quite common, they live way beneath the earths surface in lava chambers gorging themselves on the molton rock. they only appear at the earths surface by chance or when there is an eruption. although only a dozen have been reported seen in the whole of human history scientists are well aware of theyre presence. the last magma wyrm spotted rearing out of a volcano was recorded to have reached over 60 feet into the air, the average size of a magma wyrm is over 200 feet long according to scientists.
http://www.misterfungi.com/sketches/magmawormdone4.jpg
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prostate sunrise:
concept: the Giant Douggle is virtually immune to heat of any temperture. Making it ideally suited to living on the volcanic islands which it is found. Lacking a common food supply the Douggle will often eat raw molten lava. The extreme heat doesnt harm the Dougglet, but lava will harden around the areas which the it touches lava the most. Making gaunlets on its forearms, and a extruded jaw. What it gains from eating lava is anybody's guess.
http://www.kekaikotaki.com/pics/COW01.jpg
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Red Rook:
concept: Having evolved past its fellow 8 legged species, the Yellow crested fire octopus has adapted to a very unique high temperature environment along tectonic plates, feeding off hot underwater springs and volcanic eruptions.
The lava it consumes is excreted as the plates along its back, the further away they get from the body the harder and more britel they become eventually breaking off. The very light allows it to keep its balance relativly easily, with the help of the hot water and gasses it consumes. It uses its long snough like projection, that is a very specialised hollow tongue to dig and root around in hot spots trying to get near more lava that it can consume to sustain its high body heat and mineral intake.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/Redrook/Rook_Cow_LavaMonster_web.jpg
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BlkCelebration:
concept: cuervo de magma
It emerges from active volcanos filling its body with lava and slowly digesting it over a period of seven days (this one seems to be gargling lava).
It possesses no limbs, so it relies on a seal-like method of locomotion.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/depecheboy/lavapin12.jpg
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Stokes:
concept: Gerald Mortonavich is the only known creature that survives completely off of lava consumption. He just loves the stuff.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/DrDocker/StokesCOWLavaFeeder.jpg
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Jull:
concept: Smoker sea slug lives near volcanic zones where undersea eruptions occurs very often. The smoker sucks the recent lava, in search of minerals and bacteria attracted by the heat of the lava.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v162/zafio/forum/cow/jull_cow_007.jpg
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0kelvin:
concept: The Hairless Alpine Gibbon lives in cold volcanic alpine regions. Unlike most other creatures who adapted to their cold environments by growing a thick coat of fur, the Hairless Gibbon keeps warm by finding fissures and steam vents which he reaches deep into with his long arms and fishes out red-hot volcanic rocks. It then stores the rocks in a pouch inside of its cheek to keep itself from freezing to death. They are generally shy creatures, although people have spotted them sneaking around alpine villages. These sightings are usually followed by numerous reports of missing oven mitts.
http://www.whereismyeyeball.com/images/CA/COW/COW7.jpg
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Ptree3:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/ptree303/lava-golem.jpg
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[Fozzybar]

OK - before voting/posting read this!!!

1. Please give c&c or a reason why you voted for the image!

2. Feel free to comment on any or all entries, the artists will appreciate it!





Note:

GomenNasai's image didn't show as i took it to the poll, so i don't know if he took it down or if there was a problem with the server...so i just took it to the poll...

JeffZNY: I decided NOT to take your entry to the poll. It was not a lava eating creature and it looked more like a character concept than a creature concept...

[Pencilator]

This C.O.W. was really hot, and I love it :D

It was between Dougbot and Fungi, and that was after a long moment of happiness when I read all the other creatures concept art.

My vote went to Fungi, the Magma Wyrm was just like <3 It's like this great old wyrm living in the volcanos, only know from myths, I get this epic feeling by looking at it.

To all of you other, really nice done, I hope to see more of this in coming C.O.W.

Hugs for everybody!

[brokk]

I voted for davi because the idea for his concept is great, I loved the description, and the creature is actually shown regurgitating lava.
Only crit is that some parts could be a little less sketchy and more defined.

Great job everyone.

[Fozzybar]

My vote goes for
Dougbot:
You really invested intense thought into the concept for a creature that lives in a lava environment (crustacean, lava shooting)...which i have to admit i didn't for mine (at least not intense like you did) :) ...additionally your execution is superb as always...also you supported the community with your tutorial, which is not an argument for voting for you, but it shows that you care :)



Other entries:

Helzon:
I think you have nice ideas and your line-work is great, but your coloring is mostly killing your entries (your b/w bird for the "venomous-bird"-round showed this - it was by far your best entry in my eyes)...try not to use too much different colors, maybe go for monochrome schemes at first and then add some slightly different colors to define the focus areas...

leckronium:
No platypus this time??? ;) Really this was one of my favs for this round! I loved the composition, the look of the lava, it really glows and looks damn hot! My crit is that your concept is not as strong as Dougbots. The creature design is not that innovative (dragon) also...

lukavi:
I love the creature design, very fresh and unique...also your colors are distinct and characteristical for your images! Crit is that your background still has too much different colors and tones, so that the viewer is confused by all the distracting little areas surrounding the character...

Genital Eclipse:
This one was also one of my favs...i nearly voted for you, but somehow the metallic, mechanical look bothered me, since it's a creature-activity...but your concept is maybe the best and most creative one in this round!!!

fungi:
REALLY awesome rendering...i love it!!!

prostate_sunrise
Yeah, i would like to see our lava-creatures fighting, hehe...they have some similarities i think, which makes the imagination of a fight even more interesting...lovely rendering and nice handling of the colors...

BlkCelebration:
My vote for best illusion of hot matter goes to your entry...bummer that your design is not as good as your rendering...

[rick_hershey]

Dougbot got my vote, and it really boils down to the fact that the face looked like a furnice or cast iron stove, they're real nice when it's cold.

I miss my grandma. . .um.

Second Vote would go to - JoBeSu: because his creature looks the same as I do naked.

3rd. - fungi: feels very ancient and phallic.

Seriously, all were great entries. . .and I'll be definetly doing the next one.

[wanda]

Red Rook: seemed most believable overall and nicely rendered.
(Dougbot: not sure I can completely buy into the concept . . . front legs don't appear bendable, can it feed itself, or does it require a stoker? Beautifully painted, though!)

[Fozzybar]

Go here for the new round...did you see this arteric, here it is ;) :

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=436567

[Xpose]

It was a real toss up honestly! But in the end I picked Fungi. I really thought it had a cool idea behind it. Yet I was sooo Close to picking Dougbot too. It's so difficult these days lol

[Helzon]

This was like trying to pick which kid you want to keep...
Far and away this was a hellish week to try and decide.....

First, to each of you...you know that I respect each and every one of you that submitted, takes huevos to put your work out there for judgment and for that you get my praise...

Were some pieces stronger than others?...Yes, of course, and that will be a factor in why you will vote for the person you vote for. Still though I applaud the incredible effort and thought that went into these..

Fungi : This work is incredible...it could easily be a) a cover of a fantasy/sci-fi mag..b) an ultra rare CCG image...or c) a submission for Spectrum..
tremendous...

davi : enjoyed very much the concept and succinct description...however...what held me back though was the lack of definitive deliniation in the creature's anatomy and lack of varying texture on the skin and spine...One other thing that may have thrown me as well were the "vent tubes"...or "wingless wings"?? They got cut off before being able to see their true function..and weren't referenced to in your description...

xia : Truly amazed with the soft painterly look you gave your piece...the doug adams reference in the name is priceless...but my thought was that this creature has every feature but the kitchen sink...wings, multiple claws, multiple legs, dreads, underbite from hell..etc...funny as all get out..but..

xpose, uziel, broken_spirit : maybe what I was hoping for in each of your pieces was a drifting away from normal terrestrial life..and something a bit more pushing the envelope...in terms of anatomical design...Im not trying to sound parochial...but don't be afraid to play around with the anatomy...even if it is an ant or lizard, or bird....I guess the boiled down idea is "dont be afraid to screw em up!"

Prostate sunrise, JoBeSu, Genital_eclipse, redhelert, lukavi, red rook, stokes, fozz, matt dixon, oregano, jull, leckronium, BlkCelebration :
Incredibly solid work...in each there was just a wonderful polished look about them...and you made this decision by far a tortuous friggin mind screw...:)

Coondoggle :..always got the laughs..no matter who passed by my monitor...awesome sense of humor...

And to everyone else....There are pros and cons to each of your pieces...I wish I had the space and the articulation of arteric to review each..but..I will leave it to the master...


P.s....voted for dougbot....the piece is screamingly tight..and just edged fungi...

[Helzon]

Fozzybar : I thank you for the praise and the crit...and definitely recognize that yes way too many colors and lack of focus...
Here's a repaint that dougbot did..and I think it illustrates the potential my piece had..but my ham fisted measures didn't bring out it's full quality...
will just have to kick up the skills in the next round...:)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Helzon/helzonOverpaint.jpg

[Fozzybar]

Holy shit yeah...that's what i mean...

I have an idea...how about everyone posts a line-art and dougbot colors it...:perv: :rolleyes:

[Pencilator]

Darn, Helzon that looks so much better :O


Your idea is great Fozzy :}

[Matt Dixon]

I love Fungi's pic. You know I'm a big fan of your work anyway, but this one really comes together with all the things you're really great at - beautifully managed colours, a wonderfully understated and elegant rendering style and, above all, a marvellous sense of design in both the creature and the composition of your piece. It's the best image here, and a true piece of art. But...

I couldn't give you my vote.

Why? Ultimately, your creature's just a really cool worm. There were lots of other entries which I felt more obviously satisfied the brief either with their description / concept or because the visual design was tailored more towards feeding on lava and surviving in that environment.

Dougbot gets my vote.

Honourable mention to my brother, Stokes, for the best creature description we've yet seen in the COW. :P

Well done to all.

[arteric]

Sorry, bad joke. But I voted for Dougbot. This image just plain and simply ruled in terms of quality and execution, and (of course) the concept was ROCK solid.

Enough bad puns.

Weekly Upside/Downside critique for all 28 entires should be soemtime this weekend, and hopefully my Lava Creature will be done enough that I can include it in my post... I really want to get some feedback on it.

Professional Level work by almost all involved folks, congratulations.

-Eric

[GomenNasai]

Fozzybar, sorry for the problem with my pic. I guess it's solved now?

As for the vote, I hesitated between fungi, dougbot, and matt dixon. I finally chose matt, because of the good balance between the pic and the concept.

fungi I find your picture marvelous, but your concept destroyed its "magic", IMO. (problem is, I had already an idea before you posted your concept, so maybe next time, try to post them simultaneously)

dougbot, awesome technique and design, but I felt a discrespancy between your pic and your concept : it looks like a 20 feet+ beast, but your concept seems of a much smaller critter...

I don't know if I'll participate to the next one, religious themes have an inhibating effect on me ;)

[redehlert]

Talk about an experience! Okay...I will.
This has been a most rewarding series to review and deliberate over. I plan on providing my thoughts to all as a whole, but will do so later. There were elements in everyone's piece that I enjoyed and hope to see more of in the future COWs.
Fungi you get my vote and a spot on my monitor's desktop so I may appreciate form, composition, and color of your work. The wyrm looks as old as a volcano! But what gets me is your rendering - soft, subtle, and dynamic saturation shifts in all of the right places.
I don't see any lava, but I know it's there from the color range you chose. My only crit - the wyrm looks as though it is moving through space, not through magma, and it'd be cool to see it actually eating lava, but I'm just too overcome with this piece to not give you the vote.
OKay...nuff said, thoughts about other top picks and thoughts for all will come next. Thanks to all for entering your work....! :yayca:
Cheers,
D

[Arri.]

I voted for Dougbot only for he can be in draw, tie or equalize (i don't know wich word fit good) with Fungi( both really good indeed). :devil:

But my FAVOURITE one is MAT DIXON's creature.Is so suggestive i fall in love in this one. <3

Sorry for not participate this time but I'm trying to learn ZBRUSH.This is what i made if you are interested.Not too big thing. :bashful:

http://img196.exs.cx/img196/8008/sunken3d0034zh.th.jpg (http://img196.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img196&image=sunken3d0034zh.jpg)

[BlkCelebration]

My vote went to Matt Dixon.

Loved the color scheme on this piece. The rendering on the lung is nicely done.

Perhaps the face of the creature is the only thing that "bothers" me a bit, but does not detract from the over all quality of the image.

Very tough vote to make.

[stormeffex]

great work all around. i voted for mattdixon because the colors are great and the idea is solid.

fungi, prostate, xia, and dougbot. great work as usual.

2

[leckronium]

Sorry for the long post but I found it easier to type everything in wordpad then just copy it over as one post when I was done.

Fozzy - The platypus got lost on his way to the thread this week. He's currently living off bugs and groundwater until he can find his way to the next thread! Hey thanks for the crit this week. I appreciate it. I'll work on my future concepts. I've always had a problem with my work being too literal. That's why I find this so much fun. It's good practice.

Helzon - Hey It's good to hear I at least made it to the incredibly solid work list this time, thanks!

davi
The best thing I like about this piece is the lava. That combined with the intense red reflections really make it look hot. However, the creature could have been pushed further and brought into focus a little more and the white background with white highlights doesn't do anything for me. It doesn't give me a sense of any kind of environment.

Xpose
When you first posted this I thought the idea was kinda cool. A small twist on a simple idea but the finished version doesn't look a whole lot different than what you first posted. I think lava reference could have helped push this a little further.

Fozzybar
I love the colors and detail on the head of this creature! His expression makes me laugh because he looks surprised at how hot the lava is or he's just too lethargic to know any better. Your rendering is always top-notch but sometimes I think areas fail to read like solid objects like the tail in this case. I see the steps you took to paint it before I see the tail. The face is awesome though!

Uziel
I think the concept on this one could have been pushed a little further than just an ant that shoots lava out it's rectum. Did it have to look exactly like an ant? Try playing with the proportions a little and see what you can come up with. If it shoots lava out its rectum maybe the picture could have shown a little more in detail how this might look. Ah, who am I kidding? I just wanna see some lava shooting ant booty! haha

Coondoggle
This made me laugh when I first saw it. The only thing I would suggest in the animation is to show the magmatite actually float away like I thought I read in your description. This is the best work I've seen from you yet.

evildisco
No description? The one thing that would help this picture is either another color to help break things up a little or the addition of the back light source. The red from the background will cast highlights on the backside of the creature. So dark areas like the back of the neck will pop out from the background and look more dimensional.

Dougbot
Very cool. The concept is there and the picture is beautifully rendered as usual. My eye keeps getting caught on the long black line on the front claw in the foreground though. Not sure if that's a part of the anatomy or just part of it in shadow. Compositionally, I would kind of like to see that repeated a little on the front claw in the background, depending on exactly what you meant it to be.
I also wish I could have seen this in an environment to give it some scale. Judging just from the picture I instantly see this thing the size of a bulldozer. And thanks for posting that tutorial, that was awesome!

bRok3n_sPiRiT
There are several things going on here that need to be addressed. The first thing is colors. The base color of red and the green-ish yellow highlights isn't working. Second, the rendering of light and shadow hasn't been established. And finally the perspective is a little off. The rocks or ground in the foreground doesn't follow the same plane as the horizon. My best suggestion would be to find reference that can guide you through the process of completing this. Find reference of lava and study how it looks and reacts to it's surroundings. Get a picture of a lizard and study how light reflects off of it to achieve form. I think the composition of the picture is great, but it's the small details that really count.

Helzon
Good job on the details of the story. From what I can tell the drawing and creature look great but it's the color that's so overwhelming. I can see Dougbot already helped you on this.

leckronium
This thing...hey wait....oh

xia
I like the concept you added to this. The painting is soft and the composition is great. I would add another color to the chef to not make it so grey looking. The only other thing is the rock formation in the foreground looks a little too transparent.

Oregano
Nice approach for describing the character. I'm just not sure it goes with such an energetic painting. Don't get me wrong the picture is great....and the layout is great. I think they just contrast each other too much. The only thing I could suggest for the layout is to try offsetting the picture to the right hand side. You could easily do this by bringing the black background in on the right side which would only move the type in the upper right hand corner. Right now I feel there's is too much empty space going on compared to the rest of the compositon and it might balance the picture a little more.

Matt Dixon
I like it. I like the design of the creature and the description you gave.....very unique. Good job as expected.

GomenNasai
Definitely a unique way of thinking on this one. The idea is good and I like the story you gave with it. Saying that people can harvest the wings as a way to get silver is cool. I'm just not too crazy about the design. The body and wings I like but theres something about the feet that don't seem believable to me. It doesn't say butterfly to me I guess. The first thing I think of is a crane or stork.

Gloklund
I know you struggled on this and that we talked about this already so I'll keep it brief. I like the lava pools being on the flat plains. I like the idea of a Magmahound. But there is something about the hounds I thought could be improved. By looking at it now I think it might be the fact that the heads of the hounds are too humanoid.

lukavi
I think it's been stated before but you have a very Rackham-ish style and I like it. Your compositions are always nice and your drawings are always detailed. With this particular creature I like the idea of it being so cold that it needs to warm up occasionally.Good Concept. I think with the illustration the colors could have been kept a little more under control. It's mostly in the area of the sky.

redehlert
I looked at this several times and always thought it was one big creature. Then I realized it's actually a leech wrapped around a pile of lava. So I guess I could say I was a little confused since you normally don't see lava in a mound like that. I do like the fire though.

Genital_Eclipse
I like your concept and it would be cool to see several of these shown linked together but I can't get past the fact that these things just don't look alive to me.

stormeffex
I like the illustration and I like the concept even more. The image suggests a really harsh environment but I would like to see a little more contrast in the hotspots. Maybe going to a brighter orange or yellow for the hotspots and highlights would help make this an even better illustration.

JoBeSu
Ok so maybe you don't get my vote for this week but you had them for the last two weeks. I like your style of painting and your creatures you design but comparing this to last week's digger creature it lacks personality. Plus you stated the creature has metallic skin but I'm not getting that impression from the illustration. Maybe if it was less humanoid and resembled more like raw material I could let it slide.

fungi
damn! Beautiful rendering and incredible detail. At first I thought it was suppose to be swimming through lava but then I reread your concept and realized it's popping out of the surface. Now knowing that I would kinda like to see a little more suggestion to the atmosphere around it. Maybe suggesting a rocky surface to break up some of the gaseous atmosphere would work for me. Other than that I think it's a beautiful piece of art. Definitely one of my finalists.

prostate sunrise
I like this a lot. Not just for the creature but there are so many things to look at in this picture. I find myself looking at all the textures and scribbles in the background almost more than the creature itself. The creature is rendered extremely well but I would have liked to seen the back of the creature not so plain. Right along the spine could have either been broken up a little or refined because right now it's playing tricks on my eyes as to whats what. I like the whole gauntlet idea and when I look at the creature I really get a sense of this thing clawing and digging away. Definitely up there as a finalist as well.

Red Rook
Haha, well I guess this was expected when Dougbot posted his tutorial. I like the concept of this thing eating lava and excreting it as plates that it sheds. The only area that I feel needs refining is the mouth and tongue area. To me it's not reading as a tongue.

BlkCelebration
Interesting take on a creature with no limbs. I like the texture you added on it's back but I'm a little distracted by the festive lava decor on it's underside.

Stokes
Come on! wheres the concept part of it? I want to know what this creature is all about. It looks really interesting and I like the art although I might tone down the white highlights a little.

Jull
I'm glad somebody did a sea slug. I actually did a second picture of a lava snail but I think I like yours better. Nice rendering.

Okelvin
Such a light-hearted comical take on a lava eating creature. I think you could have cropped the picture in a little closer so we can focus on the creature a little more. I would also like to see something in the picture that would give me a sense of scale. Is this thing a giant or human sized creature? It steals oven mitts so I guess he's kinda smaller but I don't get that sense because he's sitting next to a crack in the ground and mountains in the background. Those all suggest something very large. The color could have been pushed around a bit more too. Maybe adding some slightly cooler fleshtones to the highlights and some warmer tones like you did to the mouth to the rest of the body and maybe the area where it's sitting. Come to think of it, I can't find my oven mitt..hmmm

Ptree3
Hey another one without a description! Again, I would like to know something a little more about this creature. I could try to pull it out of the artwork but this figure isn't in any environment and it's really not doing anything so it's kinda hard to say anything about it.

Wow I can't believe I just commented on 28 pieces of artwork. I felt I had to do it since everyone seemed to put so much effort into this one. I know this takes a while but I would like to see a lot more of the talented people commenting on others artwork and help them try to improve week to week. This means even picking someone you don't know.

It's easier to comment on the more professional pieces but it's not a critique if you don't have anything contsructive to say. I just don't want to see these contests end up with a run away winner every week like it has been. I don't want to know who's going to win until the deadline is up. That's what makes something a contest. If not then it's just someone's personal gallery that everyone else happens to post in.

So in the end I think prostate_sunrise has my vote. It was either his or fungi's. The reason why was because I think the composition was a little more interesting to me. There was so much more information put into the picture than just being rendered really well.

Ok. enough typing, back to painting. :painting:

[redehlert]

redehlert
I looked at this several times and always thought it was one big creature. Then I realized it's actually a leech wrapped around a pile of lava. So I guess I could say I was a little confused since you normally don't see lava in a mound like that. I do like the fire though.
Thanks Man!
Great input, and you're the second person to say the exact same thing re: lava versus leech. Oh well...there's growing to be done. I'm already an inch taller!
As for the fire - thanks! That was handled by rendering color as you normally would and then when happy, I merged all of my layers, duplicated my file and then used the smear tool - looks like a hand with index finger extended - to create the fire effect. First time for everything.
Seriously enjoy it when peeps put time into giving crits. Mine will be coming in the next few days....a boat load to write.
Cheers!
D

[JeroArt]

My vote goes 2 Dougbot
Strong concept, very original, and great rendering!
All that in a few hours? I'm perplex :donk:
Great tutorial also. And yeah you are good enough for a tutorial,
Haha your work is damn sick! Though i think it would be nice if you see
the Kotaki Crab also shooting lava, a little more in action maybe ;)

For the rest, great worx again
I noticed many of the artists putting a background at their work now.
For many worx it gives some great sphere. But i think it does'nt has
to goanna b a must, if your creature is a strong design.

Well i hope someday i will b droppin my concepts here :confident
But i'm just to bussy school now. And i guess i just have 2 learn 2 much,
before i can post here. Al these beautiful conceptz make me sick...hehe

Excuses....always excusez >:|
I just have to kick myself or something...
LoLz

[Ostrander]

Thank you for the mass crit Leckronium, I'm sure everyone appreciates it as much as I do!

Just so we all understand I'm going to be as constructive as I can, nobody's ever gonna get any better if its just a bunch of ass patting. (I'll try and keep that down to a minimum). Hopefully what I contribute in the crit with help you all in some way.
So, on to the critiques...

Davi I really like what you have here. I think most of all I like the color and your play with light from the volcano. It could use some sort of an environment as stated by leckronium. I think that certain areas of your creature could use some more definition. Some parts seem too loose and makes it look unfinished.

Xpose I think you need to try and stretch your imagination a bit more. It's hard to believe your concept due to the fact that we are all familiar with this kind of bird. Combining an average looking bird design which hasn't changed much from what we already know and place it in a hostile environment as brutal as flowing lava is absurd. It's too harsh of a contrast. Change the bird's anatomy, make it more of something we havent seen but "could exist" in that kind of environment. I hope this helps.

Fozzybar When I look at your creature I have a hard time figuring out its "construction". The way its back legs are positioned and its front arms becomes confusing to look at. Overall its painted nicely but has drawing problems underneath. Nice face tho!

Uziel The only thing that I thought was really really cool was that you could cool one of these off and have a souvenier. Other than that it kind of suffers from what Xpose's creature suffers from. A lack of pushing beyond what we already know in terms of an existing creature.

Coondoggle Man this thing was hysterical. It's too bad about not being able to have animated entries, you would have won hands down. I really like the "fun factor" of your piece. The only gripe I have is like what leckronium stated about wanting to see it float around. Now that would be sweet!

evildisco I like the colors you have going on in a monochromatinc sense but I think you lose the form of the creature a bit here and there. It feels under-developed. I think a little more time spent on the form of the creature would help a lot.

Dougbot First off I would like to thank you for the generous tutorial you presented, as it really helps a lot of us in understanding how others work and how we can incorporate that into our "arsenal" of tricks. As for your creature I like it a lot. Overall it's a very cool looking design and has a smart concept behind it.

bRØk3n_sPiRiT I think you needed to use some reference for the lava and the light that emminates from the heat of the lava. Without knowing the priciples of light and dark and contrast the peice tends to take on a flat, coloring book quality. There's no depth, no believeabilty in your image. If it means doing a black and white rendering at first and glazing the color over top of the value to achieve this then do it. It feels like you jumped into this piece not knowing what you wanted or intended.

Helzon I like the linework, but your color is really, really... not there. I can't offer you any advice thats better than what you've already seen in Dougbots paintover. Study it and learn is all I can say.

leckronium This has got to be a personal achievement for you. I don't think I've seen you do anything at this level at all in all the years I've known you. You should be proud. The only thing I'd liked to have seen are some cooler colors placed throughout. Of all the pieces this week this one, in my opinion, gives the strongest illusion of heat.

xia I really like your painting and creature.Tthe only thing that I have a problem with is that the lava seems more like mud. There's no intensity in color like lava has.

Oregano I really like the approach you took. I feel like I'm in a lava-proof vehicle looking at this thing on my targeting radar. Makes for a dramatic picture. Somehow the creature seems unrefined. Maybe it could use just a little more finesse. Not much just a little.

Matt Dixon What can I say, its masterful. I love the technique you use so much it makes me wish you would post a tutorial. (hint, hint :} )

GomenNasai This is a very different kind of image. Parts are highly rendered and others not and then you have these flat graphic shapes. I think in the end it has a tendency to fight with itself.

lukavi I like your take on the topic, it was very inventive. The rendering is very well done as well. My only gripe is that it doesnt feel like lava. I think with trying to emulate Rackham's use of subtlety in color with muted tones you've run into a wall. You have a very unique look to your work and I think that it will only suite certain topics better than others, and since this weeks topic is based around lava your style handicaps you from using those bright colors. Otherwise if not knowing what the topic was it looks like they are bathing in a muddy lake.

redehlert Alright, I've seen your site and I know what you can bring to the table. So bring it already, I'm feeling like dinners on me here. I think you could have pushed this further and had something very unique, but the underlying drawing feels like it disappeared under your painting.

Genital_Eclipse It's an interesting concept. I think you could have pushed the highlights/values on the creature a little more to define the shape a bit better. I'm not too crazy about the type incorporated into the background, I think it takes away from the image as a whole.

stormeffex Your moving on up. I can see every week your getting better and better. I like the creature alot, I think it is nicely envisioned However, I think you could have pushed a little bit beyond the monochromatic color scheme and added some oranges and maybe even some cool purples as accents.

JoBeSu Oddly enough one of my earlier concepts was something quite similar to what you have presented this week. In the end I went another direction thinking that it was "too humaniod" and ended up not where I wanted to be. As for your piece the technique is masterful and exciting to look at. The visible brushwork is an added treat. As for the concept itself I feel that this falls a little too far into the "too humanoid" catagory so I can't give it my vote as beautifully done as it is.

fungi Your work through each contest has been consistanly beautiful. As far as the concepts go they have been way out there. All of the creatures exceedingly alien. (maybe not so much the venomous bird) The only thing I could offer, would be to maybe push another lightsource into your work. They all have a tendancy to be uniform in color, for the most part. I would like to see you do something a bit more dramatic with the light and color.

prostate sunrise This reminds me of Frazetta. It has drama and the color's are very much off of his pallet. I like what's going on, the creature, the background. My only crit would be that the creatures back does'nt seem that interesting to me. I think you could have done something with the muscles and lighting or texture or something to hold the viewers interest a bit more. It's such a focal area in your piece.

Red Rook Heh, I was wondering how many entries next week would use Dougbots technique. I did'nt even have to wait a whole week to see one.
Overall it's a pretty nice concept. In the end though I think I was looking at it more in terms of how closley you got it to look like something Dougbot would do. I think that you should just be yourself.

BlkCelebration In terms of feeling hot this one was my second vote next to Leckroniums. I like the loosness of the brushwork. I'm not too crazy about the airbrushing smoke though. The creature seemed a little too dinosaur-like for my tastes.

Stokes I think the lines you have throughout the peice are distracting. I like what you have so far but it feels unfinished. It almost feels like its slapped on the background. I think it might have somehting to do woth the highlights on the creature being so intense and theres no light showing up anywhere else in the forground or background to balance it out.

Jull You have a very sharp technique. Theres nothing to comment on about the rendering. As far as your concept the only thing that I could offer is that maybe there is more light emminating from the semi-hardened lavaand maybe change the shape of the lava. Right now it kind of looks like your creature is sitting on a cow pie.

0kelvin It's plaztek, plaztek people. Nevermind. Your peice comes across as a little too plastic. I like that he's in a cold environment and reaching into a fissure. It's a nice contrast. I just realized he looks more like he's made of silly-putty.

Ptree3 This falls into the "too humanoid" abyss of no return. I can't really comment on the concept of it because you didnt give it one. I think this was probably everyones first idea of what they would design with the cool lava crackles and glow and then everyone reconsidered (and followed rule number one) and did something else. All I can say is try harder to push yourself.

Well thats all for this week. I hope you can walk away without scratching your head wondering what the hell kind of toot I was on when I wrote this stuff, and use some of what I said to help better your work. Alright I'm shutting up now.

Let's go drawring!

:painting:

My vote went to Matt Dixon this round

[JeffZNY]

Well Fozzy, he was serving lava at his demon bar...but it's alright, i realized I was crossing the line a bit...no hard feelings. I'll just have to kick everyone's butt next week :P Another fantastic week on C.O.W...I don't know who to vote for (though I'm leaning toward Fungi at the moment)! Can I vote for Dougbot's repaint of Helzon's piece...KICK ASS!

[redehlert]

redehlert Alright, I've seen your site and I know what you can bring to the table. So bring it already, I'm feeling like dinners on me here. I think you could have pushed this further and had something very unique, but the underlying drawing feels like it disappeared under your painting.
Hey Gloklund - damn that's awesome. Made me laugh out loud (more like a snicker, but you get the gist) with how true your comment is (and thanks for the comment about my work) - biomed illustrations are definitely handled differently than that of my concept work. Amen. I believe it's because I know the blood and guts of biomed and I feel infantile with conceptualizing something and then putting it on paper. How about this, I'm going to push harder on the next round and for that meal, Gloklund, I'll get the tab. But if you want desert, we gotta go Dutch. :)
Cheers!
Dave

[Johann de Venecia]

Awesome round, guys. By far the best week.

I'm voting for Fungi. Solid rendering, the style is beautiful. Though I agree with most of the crits you got regarding the sameness of color. Hope to see more from you.

I picked out 8 random entries to ass-kiss and slam (just kidding):

Jobesu: I like your style, the brushwork is delicate, as are the colors. The execution is great but I'm not particularly tickled by the creature design. The 'lava' concept seems to have been thrown in as an after thought, like it was an accessory rather than being the bulk of the design.

coondoggle: Works just as great without the animation. The creature is simple, not to many trappings, but the idea is clever and witty. Hmmm what is there to crit... I'm not really crazy about the wallpaper effect of the mottled red you used for the bg. Other than that, I think its hawt.

Helzon: Nice savage brute. The back and the face are the best parts, imo. In terms of color, perhaps you pumped it with the full spectrum to get away from the boring red you would expect from a lava environment (correct me if I'm wrong)? I think that's a bold move which is admirable. But in the end, the color pallete worked against you because it defeated Mr. lava.

Leckronium: Intense heat is conveyed convincingly. The legs of the creature glowing from within as the heat from the lava travels up its length is a great idea, but I think the execution could have been better.

Fozzy: Love that face, all aglow from the soothing warmth of molten rock. Even though its subtle, the green glow of the eyes is a very refreshing point in the image. Compared to your other entries, the paint job isn't quite working for me. It seems bogged down in some areas (particularly the shadows on the legs and the shadow cast by the creature's body.

Gloklund: I read in someone's post that this entry seems weaker compared to your earlier ones, but I actually think its one of the better ones you made. Just might be a personal preference, but the style you used (seeing that it varies from entry to entry-- which is awesome, it shows youre having fun and experimenting) is more loose and dynamic. I am not a fan of the deep red and purple combo, but you pulled it off very nicely here. My crits would be to intensify the light source (in this case in the round lava pool) because the reflected light on the hounds' faces are much too bright in comparison.

Xia: That beast looks great! A little too busy with the hodgepodge of fins, tendrils and arms, but I it all comes together as a whole. Plus, I like your color pallete and your style in painting. Areas of improvement would be that string of lava dribbling down its chin. It looks like incandescent pasta to me.

Oregano: Nice work on the perspective. It's an ant creature but you gave it some flare (excuse the pun) with your lighting and perspective. I think it would use a little more refining especially around the head.

That's all 8 of them. Great job to everyone who turned in an entry! And thanks to those who took the time to crit. I agree, I did mess up on the lava. My natural aversion for thick reds is to blame, hehe, but I'll try to work on that. Thanks again.

As for the Rackham thing, I'm really not trying to emulate his style. Actually, I never knew he existed until over a year ago when comments from people prompted me to google his name. :^^;:

Well you all have a good one. Looking forward to everyone's entries for the next COW. Cheers!

[Uziel]

I voted Fungi because his creature felt more real than any other to me. But
great work of everybody I thought this was a very difficult one, Fozzy isn't making it easy; also with the evil easter creature thingy...

[redehlert]

Here's part one of several - gotta do this in phases.
Davi
The name of the beast aptly suits the concept copy. The pose is appealing and the lava treatment rocks. Face is great, but I'd love to see more follow through. I know you're fast with these concepts, which is sweet as all get out, but I'd like to see you fleshing out the rest of the bod (wings included) for a complete creature feature.

Xpose
My favorite part is your concept copy. I could picture this beasty dropping a load out in the ocean to create islands. The lava in the beak looks like a piece of tattered cloth, though. I also like the orange spotting on the feathers (is it a part of the feather or flesh protrusions?). I'd like to see you dig deeper for a more dynamic pose and creature.

Fozzybar
Smooth rendering on the creature and the concept of the rock-like arms and male glowing 'mating' hump seems perfectly plausible. I like the pose and my only crit is background related. I know the bg isn't necessary, but if you pop it in, I guess I'd like to see it realized better. BTW, facial expression, tail markings and body spots are sweet additions.

Uziel
Your ant would do very well blending into its environment if seen from above - predators wouldn't be able to see them at all! A more dynamic pose and conception of the ant (breaking out of what we know as ants) is something I would like to see from your work.

Coondoggle
Funny as all get out - geez, these creatures must be huge if their lips are wrapped around a volcanic opening. The bg is a bit much for me, perhaps toning it down a bit is all that is in order. I do like how you have treated the bloated belly though.

Evildisco
I'd like to know more from the concept copy, but oh well...I like the creature, but is it a lava fountain or does it have some sort of vacuum quality to suck lava up into its mouth from the upright position? Unable to tell direction of flow. The lighting is going in the right direction (something I have difficulty with as well) but the bg does make it difficult to tell space and creature shape apart from each other. BTW, the creature's eyes are nicely done.

Dougbot
What can I say - your piece was my top pic for quite some time. And thank you for the TUT. The treatment of the lava glow from w/n the crab is amazing. I almost think that the outlines on the right side appendages could lose their outlines and play up subtle hilites, shadowing, etc. to push them into receding space better. The bg is great - ambient, subtle, not really important and keeps the focus on the creature feature. Your concept copy creacked me up after Prostate relayed your usage of people's names you know that are on CA.org. Very creative.

That's it for phase 1. I'll be continuing with more later.
Cheers,
Dave

[Xpose]

Thank you all for the critques. I'll try to dig deeper!

[xia]

Great job on the entry everyone, they just gotten better and better every single week. It's reall hard to decide which is my most fav, too many to pick from. This is what I call fun! Give me another reason to wake up in the morning...and some cool stuff to look forward to.

Big props to Fozzybar for the Coolest Thread.

Thanks everyone for the C&C

Hope to see all you guys in the next entry. FUN!

[Kent Caldwell]

I voted for Xia mainly because of its originality and grotesqueness... alot of personality packed into his creature as well!

I was equally impressed with Dixon's (also very original IMO), Fungi's, Stoke's piece, and Prostate Sunrise (that face with the eyes is just awesome)....

Sorry I don't have any crits for now but I may post some later when I've got more time....

[brokk]

Man, what a week! Everyone made some great posts and really put in the effort there, and this part is great, where we can comment on the entries and exchange ideas. I can't stress enough how much fun I had participating so far. I feel like I have learned a lot from taking part in this activity, and the learning hasn't stopped.

Helzon: Hey thanks man, I totally get what you're saying with "dont be afraid to screw them up", our teacher here told us the same thing once and it really stuck with me. I think its by far the best advice I have ever gotten. I see what you mean by trying to make the creatures less terrestrial in esthetic and anatomy and more "out there", I will definatly be experimenting more.

lekronium: When I started doing this image I wasn't really sure what I was doing or how to achieve what I wanted. I had a really vauge idea and I just started out with the composition. I feel like I really neglected the perspective, anatomy and the lighting because I was more focused on the composition than anything else. This caused problems with the perspective later because I did not establish a horizon level, and there were no clear vanishing points either. I had started with the figure and then added the perspective and tried to adapt it and ajust it to how I had planted the creature and not the other way around (big mistake). Since the vanishing points are not really clear, I didnt draw perspective lines for the ground either and just scrambeled some patches of dirt there rather intuitivly, which did not really work out either. Looking at it you just get the feeling that some is "off".
You are right about the lighting too, I felt I was really struggling with that, no defined light source (the lava over there maybe) so rendering the different planes I really didnt know how to go about it. Plus in the ink version before coloring I added so much ink scribble that you couldn't really tell if there were actually areas in the light, midtone and shadow.
About the colors, the main problem I had to deal with was the fact that since the lighting was not well established I didnt know how to establish the colors. I wanted to use white for the strong highlights, yellow for the light areas, orange-red for the mid tones and then red and red-bluish for the shadows, with red as a base. I can see its not working but I thought that was because of the lack of tonal definition, rather than the color choices themselves, so I dont really understand this part of the crit. If you can spare the time please tell me a bit more about the colors and what could have worked better maybe. If its because the yellows are sort of greenish that was actually an accident! I wasnt thinking when I was painting it I guess. I definatly didnt want to produce vibration between the yellow-greens and the red base.
I know there are many subjects I really need to be studying more, and doing these activities has made me more aware of the things I am lacking in study and practice. I feel compelled to go out and learn more, put in the effort. I'e been doing many of the excercises in the loomis books and I realize that subjects like perspective, lighting, anatomy, are fundamentally important and need hours and hours of constant dedication and practice. That is why I disagree with you when you state that its the small details that really count, because these are not small details at all. If anything, subjects like lighting, anatomy, perspective are so important topics that neglecting their study is career suicide. They are, after all, so full of contents we will probably continue to study them through out our entire lives.
Oh yeah, cool thing you liked the compostion!

Glokund: I see what you mean, making a tonal plane in black white and greys sounds like a great idea. I will keep this in mind and try to work on this principle from now on, at least until I know more about tones and tonal composition. You're right, I did not really know what I was trying, or wanting, to achieve. I actually did look for lava reference and tried to work with the images I had but none of them looked like the lava I was hoping for and painting lava was actually quite difficult and tricky. I definatly did not know what I was doing. The lava I wanted to paint based on the images, I wasn't getting good results or anything that even resembled the images I had. Also, the light from the lava I had intented to portray that too, but I just lacked the knowledge and the skill to know how.

Overall, this week was great. Helzon, lekronium, Glokund, you guys, thank you so much for taking the time to crit, its been very very helpful, I will keep all this in mind and think more about it. COW has been a great learning experience particularly in the sense that I feel I have become really more aware of the areas I need to focus more study on. Great work everyone.

Ok I've already said it and I'll say it again this week has been great, congrats to everyone who participated posting and commenting!

[leckronium]

bRok3n_sPiRiT
I didn't by any means try to imply that lighting, anatomy, and perspective wasn't important. You are exactly right. I think in this thread though the most important subject is concept. After that, lighting, anatomy, and perspective help define what your concept is. It does take a lot of practice and the more you practice it the more it feels secondary because it will come so natural to your images. If you are overwhelmed right now by all the different subjects that go into a picture, try focusing on a certain one. Because this thread deals mostly with concepts try focusing on your concept and the anatomy of your creature. Your anatomy looked pretty good so maybe now focus on getting your lighting down to help convey your idea. If you can get your message across without a background then don't worry about it now. Fozzy stated in the new thread that most of the winners so far don't even have backgrounds. Good Luck and I hope this has helped you some. I expect to see good results this week! :P

[brkofdon]

My top 3 creatures;

Doughbot - the creature is great, great design and very well executed. i could totally see one of these creatures slowly straddling along eating on lava. the description was also very well done.

Matt Dixon - wonderfull creature! i chose this one because its a flying creature, and i liked the idea of the hot gases that are kept in his large lung which keeps it a float over the lava as it feeds. it is also very well drawn and rendered. i also could visualize these creatures slowly floating over vast lava pits. the description was detailed and explained the creature very well.

fungi - the look of the creature is very awesome! i really stayed and looked at this creature for a long time. its very well designed and the whole image is just amazing. the description fits the creature nicely. i chose this one as top 3 because this creature is a worm like creature who actually spends most of its time in the lava

My top 1 creature;

this was hard to pick because i love all 3 of them. one being a land creature, one being a flying/floating creature, and one being a um..creature that lives in the lava... so hard to choose

but i will have to go with doughbot the design of the creature was really great, coupled with a great name and description you hit all points! good job...you bastard!

[Lyliani]

Wow.. these are all great. It was hard to just pick one. I went with Coon's cause it made me laugh. I loved the humorous description, and the expression on the creature's face after it was full hehe :x

[Dirty C]

I voted for Fungi. I'm not aware of F's reputation, but the mastery of colour is beyond what I'm used to seeing round here. Amazing stuff - I'll definitely be looking into your stuff.

[redehlert]

Here I am with some more comments. Still won't be done, but getting close.
Broken Spirit
Your pose is dynamic and shows a desire to put the viewer into the space. Looks as though you put some good time into discovering the fire lizards contours and textures. I see the beginnings of pushing things into space by dropping out detail in the right foreleg and left back leg, but if you could do this for the hind region and the tail, it would be much more spatial and pull things together. The bg also flattens the picture plain - push these back by decreasing color saturation a bit. Last thing: lava looks a bit like spaghetti in sauce.

Helzon
Cool ass creature - got a lot of depth and form and with Dougbot's assist, it's been nicely realized spatially and in color. If you apply what the revision did for your work in your future projects, we may be looking at a new COW winner. Concept copy was well thought out as well.

Leckronium
Awesome lava interpretation...I'm really feeling the heat! The creature looks credible. The only thought is to think more rock-like. The top mantle looks jaggy and organic (more rock like), but the appendages have this equidistant thing going on to show off the lava beneath the hard exterior. Rough this up and make it less consistent and you'll have it. Push the color a bit more back by the tail if you want to really show off the full shape. I'm liking your lighting as well.

Xia
Concept copy was a riot to read…did you sneak Dougbot's name in there, or is that just my imagination? So...the question is, what does this chef cook with? The arms look so tiny to me, so I'm just not seeing how he'd cook with that massive chest in the way. Based on your copy, I see another creature, but that's the fun thing about imaginations. Good depth and use of space. I think that having the lighting come from the boiling lava would give a more daunting and majestic appearance to your creature.

Oregano
The way you incorporated the concept copy into the figure is sweet. Wish there would have been more of a screen effect applied to the creature picture frame so I would have felt like someone watching it from a nearby tank or something. Even having a smaller screen to the side with a thermal reading would have been interesting too. A little more time tightening the creature up is my only added crit. BTW, nice fire treatment.

Matt Dixon
Damn nice piece, Matt. Completely real in my head and your environment treatment is so on it makes me ill. The lava spittle and smokey reds/oranges cooling to the magentas and purples is rich. The head loses it for me. Does there even need to be a head? Does it fart? BTW, you were one of my top choices as well.

Gomen Nasai
A most unique creature with some pleasing design elements. If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest losing the legs and generating a version that has it in perpetual flight. This would help cool the blood as well. Also, the bg is a bit too sketchy and overwhelming and competes with the creative qualities of your creature. Excellent concept copy. Rather than white hilites, go for the yellow-orange of the lava.

Gloklund
I wouldn't wish these creatures on my worst enemy...look fierce. An intersting pig-like creature…I know, you say 'hound' but I see 'boar'. Lava pools look nicely handled too. Concept copy could be fleshed out more.

Lukavi
A fun creature with a great name! I'd enjoy seeing the heat turned up a bit more in your piece to really give a sense of relief from the body's themoregulatory malfunction. I almost want to see if you can pull a color redo by using's Dougbot's redo of Helzon's entry.

redehlert
Now don't get me wrong...it's a neat idea and all, but your execution wasn't all that. I know, I'm talking to myself, but I'm my own worst critique, so bear with me. Now you see that the lava lump comes across as the creature and not the damn black encircling beasty. Damn your eyes! In future COWs, spend a bit more time with the concept development working out bugs and lighten up a bit more. Time to let the biomedical bg you have to seep into your work more. It's an experience and I'm proud of you for giving it a go. If I hadn't voted for someone already, I'd give you a sympathy ass pat. Apply more attention to form and lighting.

That's it for now....more to come.
Cheers!
Dave

[arteric]

Sure, the first week I don't post and someone takes over for me and critiques everybody!

Actually, you did a fantastic job Red... I have had a busy past 2 weeks, and I am in the process of switching computers and hooking everything up so I haven't had time to do my massive Upside/Downside Critique of everyone or show my Lava Creature in my post (even though it can't get any votes.) I am glad to see a lot more critiques being passed around with some thoughtful insight into each others work.... it is really the best way for all of us to get better.

I'll be back soon.... probably by next weeks C.O.W. 10, and hopefully back to a regular pattern of submitting by then. Gone only two weeks and I am missing C.O.W. a ton and feel like there is a hole in my life.

Damn, that is PATHETIC isn't it?

-Eric :zzz:

[Helzon]

Just a real quick shout back:
Gloklund : Dude workin like a fiend to get a more cohesive sense of color...with Dougbots help...Im tryin...
Leckronium : yeah dude...the change in coloration should show in this next COW..though I still can't even begin to handle how doug can put in just two hours on his piece..I've already sunk in at least 12.... :$
Redehlert : thanx for the vote of confidence!...will try my best to get those colors up to par!
Lukavi : thanks for the kind words...and yes it does seem that mr. lava singed the old ass hairs...LOL...
Broken Spirit : dude, no big thing...I think you have it in you to really push your limits and start cranking out some really trippy stuff...
Cheers!

[GomenNasai]

I didn't expect to receive a comment, but 3! and one vote! (maybe someone who wanted to vote for matt, in fact :))

first of all, leckronium and gloklund, thanks for your crits. I wish I had a more analytical mind to be able to critic everybody!

Definitely a unique way of thinking on this one. The idea is good and I like the story you gave with it. Saying that people can harvest the wings as a way to get silver is cool. I'm just not too crazy about the design. The body and wings I like but theres something about the feet that don't seem believable to me. It doesn't say butterfly to me I guess. The first thing I think of is a crane or stork.


the feet were one of my many unresolved problems, up until the end. I wanted the thing to stand on the lava, because my conceptualisation of its feeding was too weak, and I needed it to have a more solid link to lava. in the beginning, it was much more insect-like, having 3 pairs of feet, but it kind of crowded the picture and I reduced ut to one pair, ramified, because I could't come up with anything else...

This is a very different kind of image. Parts are highly rendered and others not and then you have these flat graphic shapes. I think in the end it has a tendency to fight with itself.


You are right, I spent too much time on the wings, and in a wrong way (mask in PS). I should've left them rough and worked more on the BG and body...

A most unique creature with some pleasing design elements. If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest losing the legs and generating a version that has it in perpetual flight. This would help cool the blood as well. Also, the bg is a bit too sketchy and overwhelming and competes with the creative qualities of your creature. Excellent concept copy. Rather than white hilites, go for the yellow-orange of the lava.

as for the legs, you're right, I should've been less anal retentive on the concept, and let my butter fly, I'll know next time ;) I can only agree with you on the BG too... twas my first serious image with ps and a tablet, I'll have to practice alot more...


thanks for your comments!

[redehlert]

Will this ever end? I won't even finish up with this post - I need to be crackin' on my COW 8.... :zzz:

Okay...here goes:
Genital Eclipse
Slick concept with fun concept copy to marry it all together. Still feels a little sketchey, but that's a minor detail. I like the perspective/orientation and the lighting streaks are visually compelling. Some odd hilites happening making it a little tough to determine overall shape (who am I to be suggesting this - it's one of my major setbacks!) :teeth: But I'm talking 'bout it anyway. In fact, this may be my only major crit aside from loving to see it fully rendered up.

Stormeffex
A bad ass creature with concept copy that makes good sense to me. Good perspective that could have been pushed more by decreasing saturation of the distal part of the larvae and dropping detail as a result. Let it fade into the smokey mist created by the lava field. I want to say I feel the heat, but I'm not...not completely, that is. There's this wisp of value in the left middle third that ramps up from red to yellow-orange then white - there's the heat! Put more of this into the mix and I'll be sweatin' it.


Jobesu
An interesting creature! Rather humanoid with the upper anatomy, but that's all good. I like the posture - feels lazy and relaxed like it hasn't a care in the world. Would like to see more metal in that metallic skin of his (hilites, et al). Lighting feels very nice on your creature, but some areas feel loose (ie claws on right hand) and could be rendered up more since there isn't anything putting it into shadow. This area seems to be in fairly direct light, much like the belly of this beasty.

Wish I had more time right now, but I won't stop until all crits are done. More to come.
Cheers!
D

[arteric]

Hey everyone. Like I said, I wanted to post my Lava Eating Creature even though it can get no votes (unless there is some sort of AMAZING write in ballot.... hint hint) but I worked hard on it and really wanted to hear what people thought.

This isn't finished, the coloring would be more finished than this, but I can't live in the past forever and you need to know when to let a piece of art go.

I still have a day or two and will try my best to critique everyone, but work (my other job that is) has been killer and time has been unbelieveably short... I won't even get to participate in the Evil Easter Creature post. Sigh, hopefully I am back for week 10!

Anyway, here is my Lava Eating Creature.... enjoy!

http://tinypic.com/2i5lzd

[Ostrander]

That's pretty damn funny.

[Xpose]

LMFAO! ARTERIC awsome! hahaha I hadn't even thought of that. Although you should have added a bong in there somewhere/

[Pencilator]

arteric: That was a new way of seeing it. :}

[arteric]

LMFAO! ARTERIC awsome! hahaha I hadn't even thought of that. Although you should have added a bong in there somewhere/

I had considered putting a bong in and totally intended to do so.... even went so far as to try and find an image of a 70's bong for reference. Somewhere along the line I forgot about it.... I was even going to try and add a level of haze across the room for the cloud of smoke they were in, but thought that might detract from the image.

-Eric

[redehlert]

Hey Arteric! First - thanks for the comment about my crits - not trying to take your place though, hoss...that just cannot be done.
Second - great idea! I was dwelling on that one too but hit a dead end - you realized it tho - so kudos to you!
Peace....
d

[redehlert]

Sorry for the delayed comments for the latter portion of the entries.

Fungi
Simply love this piece - so atmospheric and subtle, yet focused in the right places. I'd thoroughly enjoy a tutorial on how you worked this project out. I honestly don't have a better critique than an ass pat. Of course, you got my vote.

Prostate Sunrise
Yo, Cake - I feel the heat on those arms and face and the overall form is super sweet. Would love to see it rendered up just a bit more, but damn cool concept and funny concept copy...Dougglet....! Good use of the word 'gauntlet'! Your's was in one of my final four category for voting. Kick A.

Red Rook
Ya know...this is a damn cool concept that I'd have love to see in a 3/4 view from above or below (mostly below for the majestic feel and to get a good look at the snout projection). Lookin' a little dark with some odd lighting, but I do like this! BTW, love the fish silhouettes in the distance - made the piece nicely spatial.

BlkCelebration
Your work is really impressing me with your organic form/lighting that comes across as handled with grace and ease. Maybe it's the brushes you're using and staying loose, but whatever it is, don't stop. I've already seen your COW8 and damn it all - you've done it again. Congrats on having a style unique unto yourself. My only other thoughts are to push the other erupting volcanoes back - in fact, ditch em. They don't do anything for me other than serve as a visual distraction. The steam could be a little more fun like the yellow line work in the throat area...I'm thinking you're borderline graphic/tagger/illustrator in this one. Bravo!

Stokes
I'm diggin' your creature, Stokes. Lighting from the creature's left side balanced by the light emanating from the sac on the back is appealing. Concept copy, albeit cool, is limiting to say the least. The bg is a bit distracting from how kick ass your creature is - just the lines - drop those and see if there is any improvement.

Jull
This is an incredibly conceived piece - very believable and almost voted on. I said final four earlier in Prostate's crit, but I'm revising that to say final five because I can. The only thing that stopped me was that I didn't feel the conceptart bg was right for your piece. Felt it actually hurt it. Would you mind dropping in some other value to surround the creature? Your highlights and differing textures are sweet.

Okelvin
Hairless Alpine Gibbon - where in the world did you come up with that name. Sweetly original, hoss. Your concept copy is very entertaining which is a great start, but I do see the need to flesh out your creature a bit more. I feel like I could pop it with a needle - just a bit too balloon like. I think the smoke would have hints of yellow and orange on the undersides and then go to the grays as it cools. What do you think? I'm looking forward to your progress.

Ptree3
I believe I said it in an earlier crit that rock and magma are organic and would not be so evenly spaced as you have shown here. Break it up, have fun, be lose and let chaos reign supreme. I know that a bg isn't necessary, but the white of your page is overwhelming your creature. Next time, add some concept copy - we want to know why you painted what you did.

Whew! I think I made it....just in time to crit COW8.
Peace all....
D

[Fozzybar]

The poll is over, fungi has won a well deserved place at the winner gallery...go here for the latest addition of fungis piece:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37514

I think it looks like a poster or cd/book-cover in addition to the typo and borders...must be the intense orange scheme...

Congrats from here!

[gibles3000]

fungi's worm god is just amazing, sry fungi... but i'm gonna try to one up u!

ps: im a new member
:spam: :spam: :spam: :spam:

[chaosrocks]

WTF mate this thread is 4 years..YEARS old!
chaos rocks

[Tyranx]

actually its about 13 months old, but yeah... WTF!? ;)

was cool the see some of the other entries, Cow has been going for a LOng time!

[Fozzybar]

hehe, funny to see the old regulars like Arri., fungi, xia, Dougbot, Gloklund and all the others...

btw fungi wasn't active on the boards since 5 months...it's a pity...we need a topic "COW artists eating creature"...:)

[Tyranx]

yeah we prolly dont see them around anymore since they all got jizzobs now ;)

Hopefully you won't see me around in the coming months, it'll mean I got a job hehe. :P