DSG 1137: Alien: VAGUELY CRAB-LIKE, IT FLOATS THROUGH AIR W/ INFLATING HEAD-BLADDER

[William b. Hand]

[ You might try showing it in both the deflated ground-walking mode, as well as the inflated air-ballooning mode. ]

[ I expect great things from you. ]

Alien: VAGUELY CRAB-LIKE, IT FLOATS THROUGH AIR W/ INFLATING HEAD-BLADDER
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[Camara]

Juummm....another Crab-like alien??Not my best subject,so I think I´m gonna take holidays!

[AlphaDMF]

Hmmmm......... I am going to do a non-stop on this one.

[CENOBITE]

Well, shoot... I thought conceptart is hosting images now. Guess not.

PhoenixFeather and I are doing 1 hour sketch sessions now and made today's DSG the subject. This was inspired by a scientific vechicle called the Crab that surveys the near shore seabed.
/m\



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/aopaul/apaulDSG1137.jpg

[Phoenix Feather]

Came out looking like some kind of alien flea :)

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c246/phoenix-feather/dsg1137.jpg

[Mad Giraffe]

Pfah, a rather specific one again, I like the vague and short topiced ones more. I'll do just a simple pencil sketch then, ignoring a few parts of the topic.

Phoenix Feather-That's because you gave it 6 legs, fur, no pincers, pointy mandibles. That's indeed closer to a flea then to a crab. Love the gas bladders though.

CENOBITE-Looks menacing, nice smooth and kind of transparent surface on the bladder., love the touch of the little eyes, but what's that big black dot? Some sort of massive nuclei?

[Waffle_King]

Very nice so far! I can't wait to give this a try!

-Andrew

[burrito]

http://www.entervault.net/an8forum/npb_dsg_1137.jpg

[dan liimatta]

the aer aequoreus pinophylax is of the decapod crustaceans group that started to their own branch 60 thousand years ago, and is commonly called the Tukan Air Crab; like all Air Crabs it has tree very expandable organs hidden under the shell that it can blow up with very hot air and thus lift like balloons into the sky. What sets apart the Tukan Air Crab from their other flying cousins is their evolved legs. Their flat very agile legs work like fins and besides being excellent swimmers they use them to paddle in the air, and control their air dives. Where their cousins and ancestors flew to travel and spread their eggs through the air, the Tukan Air Crab can also use their legs to dive for food, mostly fish and sea birds, but the rare rabbit & rat have been found during autopsy; but also for their mating ritual, where the males will do advanced air acrobatics to win his spouse.
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3879/bugqj8.jpg
PS CS2
I'll post my comments later.

[CENOBITE]

CENOBITE-Looks menacing, nice smooth and kind of transparent surface on the bladder., love the touch of the little eyes, but what's that big black dot? Some sort of massive nuclei?

Thanks, yah... the darker spot is more of a thick part of the gas bladder that isn't flexible like the rest. I guess it also reminded me of a nuclei so I left it.

[goran]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/CA%20sketchbook/crab-like.jpg

[Mitze]

The rocks look shite oh well. Very nice atmospheric pic CENOBITE. dan liimatta and goran great pics as well.

Looking at my pic now just as i uploaded it i think some distant rocks in the background would look nice.


http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/137sketch.jpg

[Horsefly]

http://bluntedtaffer.50megs.com/speedpainting/DSG1137.jpg

CENOBITE: Love the pastel colours and the spindly legs skimming the water.

Phoenix Feather: Nice to see you illustrating both stages. The hairy legs look cool.

burrito: Nice design - particularly the head and trunk thing extending donw and under.

dan liimatta: Very nice. The swarms in the distance is a cool idea and the clouds look great.

goran: Lovin' thins. Great design and detail. The purple underbelly lighting works great with the green.

Mitze: Love the membrain look and the sea.

[Flake]

First attempt at a dsg, was shooting for crab-like alien but I think I landed closer to "floaty testicle of doom" :teeth:

http://img276.imageshack.us/img276/2324/cloudsdsgsmallga9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[realitychek]

First post ever on CA, feel free to critique! Wish I coulda spent more time on it and added color....anyways, wierd crab-like creature rolls onto it's back and blows a bubble using its own little balloon-thing that's attatched to it's face...something like that lol

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f6/Pinto777/Random%20Stuff/IMG_3451.jpg

[Phoenix Feather]

Phoenix Feather: Nice to see you illustrating both stages. The hairy legs look cool.




THanks Horsefly. I really love the colors and texture of yours. Excellent!

[Hamsta]

A resident of the fourth planet in the M-112j system, this creature is one of the more advanced creatures on this planet, thought to have began life only several millenia ago.
painter, 30?
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/189/1137headfloaterzq1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Crustacean]

http://www.j-stengade.dk/1137.jpg

[stinger hh]

http://home.mchsi.com/~hastingsart/crab12.jpg

[Mad Giraffe]

And so I spent more time on it than I had planned, what was supposed to be a sketch turned out to be a coloured concept drawing, which then resulted in a composition of the creature with his habitat surroundings....

A snurflog (nice name huh?) gently drifting trough the asteroids that float around in the low gravity and expanded atmosphere that exists in the white hole dimension behind the black holes we know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/MadGiraffe/dsg1137fin.jpg

And the sketch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/MadGiraffe/dsg1137-sketch.jpg

[demdike]

Good evening, rather fast this time, sketching and PS took all in all 1 hour maybe:

http://home.arcor.de/wildreizehn/fliflaflo/DSG/1137.jpg


Cenobite - Well done. The clouds are too vague but that's my only crit, the rest is pretty good. Also like the moment you chose, how it arises from the sea, truly horrifying.
Phoenix Feather - Good work and nice effort showing both states. Only thing that bothers me is that it looks like you reused the body, it's surely tempting but it should look different in the deflated state, feet touching the ground and such. Nice impression of fur:)
burrito - Nice work. Maybe lacks some texture in my eyes, could be also a matter of taste. Especially like the trunk.
dan liimatta - The creature's design is very good and I like it's face. Otherwise, hm...in my eyes, this one is missing a few things. Some air in the bladder for example, it looks like only halfway inflated. The swarm in the back looks odd, maybe because they are too equal in size. The clouds are a bit blurry (I assume it's not depth of field since the horizon is sharp).
goran - Eeew! Nastiest in this round, great job. not sure if it could fly with such small bladders, but it looks so extraterrestial, it could also float in space.
Mitze - Like the transparency on the bladder, nice colors also. If the bladder's transparent it should become more opaque to the edge, otherwise it will look flat. Not sure about the paintover (isn't it?) of the sea, maybe a matter of taste but I usually shy back from such mixtures.
Horsefly - For creaturedesign my fav this round. Very crab-like but also alienating. Very nice texturing and very pleasing, laid-back coloring.
Flake - Welcome aboard!:) Good Start and I like the way you did the transparency. Sky looks good also, only the crab looks a bit simplified. Nevermind, keep going!
realitycheck - welcome aboard too!:) Very good sketching/technique, but the creature is a bit hard to read, I'm even confused which side is up or down.
Hamsta - Good thinking, not the most common bladdertype. I'd love to find a second color in this one, not sure if monochrome serves you well.
Crustacean - Good work. Your technique, reminding me of glass-splinters layered atop of each other is very obvious in this one, not sure if it works on the bladder as good as on the rest of the body.
stinger hh - You get the Wacko-prize, this one's highly distracting and creeped me out quite a bit. I'd love to see some more detail, otherwise not bad.
Mad Giraffe - Good work, also very nice coloring. Like that you put it in an environment.

[sarillion]

well dang. i was pretty proud of mine till i saw all the competition. there are some great comps in this thread. dan li beat me to the mating ritual idea so i dont even have a blurb for this one... but i do think im getting a bit better at digital color. did this one in prolly 1-1.5hr with mouse-painting. i desperately need a wacom XD.

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/nlistrom/personal_or_previous/bubblecrabs.jpg

they latch onto each other and fly in massive bubble-groups. the bladder extends from under the carapace and is completely hidden when not expanded. the long tail-fin also extends with the bladder and rotates like cellular cilia to give the bubble crabs a weak form of propulsion in the air.

[mf_elemental]

Alias Sketchbook / PS, like 15 mins

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/mf_elemental/flt_crab_final.jpg

guess i half assed that compared to others . . . ah well

[king.isaac]

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8774/dsg1137ek4.jpg

With this topic for some reason Cthulu came to my head first and foremost, so I tried to run with it yet still make it unique enough to not be seen as 'Cthulu.'

Most of my submissions, I'm sure, will come in pencil or ink form. My digital painting skills, especially when it comes to speed, are not up to snuff. I'm working on it though. Unfortunately pencils always seem to lose something in the scanner. The contrast isn't there and I can't get anything that looks decent out of the b/c controls in photoshop. /endrant

Oh well. Enjoy anyway.

Isaac.

[sarillion]

K.I. if the b/c stuff doesnt work too well in PS, you might try going back in with dodge and burn to touch up the image and make certain details pop. i like your design tho, especially the face (scary)

[Flake]

KI, there might be something up with your scanner settings and you can also try the levels controls in PS if you want to fiddle more with the contrast. (what is it you're after anyway, fuller range of tones? darks to near black etc?)

Pretty nice drawing btw.

[king.isaac]

Sarillion: Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out next time.

For Everyone: C&C to come soon.

[Mad Giraffe]

The contrast isn't there and I can't get anything that looks decent out of the b/c controls in photoshop. /endrant


Two methods.

1-Duplicate layer and make top layer a 50% opacity multiply layer.

2-(personal fav, tiny bit less easy and quick)Image>Adjustments>Levels
And then by holding alt(shows the levels you're in while dragging), drag the outside sliders(not the middle one), towards the middle until you see the areas that contain to what you should think should be the darkest/lightest areas.
The left one does the dark values, and the right one the light ones.

[king.isaac]

Flake: The most noticable difference is the finer details. I know that that has most to do with the resolution, and I don't want to have an image that takes up four screens just to be able to see fine detail.

And I've tried levels as well, the problem is that I always end up with something that looks conspicuosly 'touched up,' if you catch my drift.

if you could see the original you could tell more easily what I'm trying to describe, but basically, I have some very...sensitive(?) grays as well as hard blacks that get lost in the scanner. Thats as best as I can describe it. (Damn my poor active vocabulary!)

[king.isaac]

Giraffe: I like that 'Multiply layer' idea... I've never tried it. I'll give it a shot.


Anyone else who posts: I'll reply later...I have to go to class.

Thanks, all, for your help.

[orionterron99]

I kinda neglected the airsac on the head part and made it more centralized... oops.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h307/orionterron99/DSCF1811.jpg


Sadly i had a bit of trouble trying to make the airsac seem more 3d

[Flake]

Flake: The most noticable difference is the finer details. I know that that has most to do with the resolution, and I don't want to have an image that takes up four screens just to be able to see fine detail.

if you could see the original you could tell more easily what I'm trying to describe, but basically, I have some very...sensitive(?) grays as well as hard blacks that get lost in the scanner. Thats as best as I can describe it. (Damn my poor active vocabulary!)

That's the problem with seeing stuff over the interweb I suppose, even if you could get the scans looking perfect at your end, it'll likely look totally different on my monitor..

I've actually spent most of today trying to retouch some ancient photos for my father in law but all I have to work off is a print of a scan, so it's at best a guessing game, at worst mission impossible. As I've never seen the 50 year old originals I'll never be able to match the contrast etc, it's the eternal problem with this kinda stuff..

Regarding your pics, the greys are likely to get lost a bit in the scans, the hard blacks should be fairly easy to pop out though?

[sarillion]

the problem with blacks in pencil and scanning is that graphite is reflective, and so the pencil strokes become really apparent and that can mess up a matte area that you have filled in. at least i encountered this, which is why i usually dont scan pencil stuff.

of course, im a newb at scanning, so i could be overlooking something.

and i prefer to work in pen anyway, so it makes it easier because i usually dont have issues with losing details unless i screw something up in my touch-up after scanning.

edit:

OrionT:

it would help to give more 3d perspective on the bubble if you defined a light source and then cast shadows and a reflection hilight on the rounded surface. right now it doesnt look like your sketch has much of a light source (it looks like some of the stuff is just shadowed to show form but lacks perspective--if that even makes sense) think of it in terms of making 3 or 4 passes, following the curve of the orb, each one slightly darker and taking up less space.

[Ragathol]

BUILD MORE OVERLORDS

Some nasty and some nice stuffs in here today :)
I'd join in, but I have shitloads of work right now.. another time.

[Mad Giraffe]

Hey William, are you skipping a day, or has some stuff changed while I was gone (well on second thought, maybe not really, especially not when it was with that rampaging dsg-bot....)

burrito- Oooh concave clouds, that's an unique sight :wink:. Nice touch though, makes the little guy only look rounder and fatter. Practicing clouds, that makes you and me both. Hate them things.
Love the little rimples near the gland's edges, nice sharp details here and there, like the 'slurf'.
The pincers don't look very functional though.

dan liimatta- Loving the textures, as always. Although it could've used more colour to my taste, the lightning is well done. Damn clouds too, grumble.
Nice Discovery-esque story with it.
And about those in the further distance, they look more like paint brush stroke blobs then other specimen of the species. Maybe that is because most of them are almost the same size, colour and refinement/detail. Maybe some more close ones with more detail would've helped.

goran- Very nice detail on this one. The facet eyes are wonderful (though obviously copy and pasted :wink:). Very nice and sharp, I'm jealous, I always thend to have rough and vague stuff.
Looks more like a tick then a crab to me though.
And more of a obvious light source of the purple and other light in the background would've maybe made it look less copy and pasted in. That purple haze is slightly vague for a lightsource.

mitze-True, maybe would've drawn a bit more attention to the creature in front, as somehow I feel my eye drawn to the ocean...so if maybe there was something in the ocean that then would point me towards the crab...I dunno. Sounds interesting to try though.
The rocks look cool, love the brightness of it overall.

Horsefly-Very very nice, awesome texturing. Good colours.And your pincers make me think that I probably should've used reference.
Only crit I can find is that he maybe looks a bit too heavy? Ach nitpicky.

Flake- Nice transparency on the gland, clouds which are closer could've been sharper.
And I like the touch of red in the selfshadow of the creature, because of the colour versus colour contrast and colour quantity it really becomes the main point of attention. On purpose?
Would love to know what those tendrils at the back would be for.

realitychek- Looks kind of painful actually. Very nice shading. Would be interesting to see this one deflated :P. Makes me think of a pumpkin, or some sort of mask. Maybe it's the eyes that do it.
Definately needs some colour. And some friends, it looks sad. :[

Hamsta- Looks kind of like a bee, with his own transparent dome. Cool design.

Crustacean- Nice colours, the crab looks kind of comical, are the eye stalks above each other?

stinger hh- Heh, weirdness, the human features make it especially spooky. I like how it has some sort of '70s style over it.

Mad Giraffe- Awesome!!! ....just kidding. You actually suck and obviously need to draw more and more different things, man, quit with all those simplistic monsters and stuff! Idiot.

demdike- Thanks, yeah I had some free time apparently when I was supposed to sleep at 2 am.
Looks pretty dark and omnious, nice lightning. Love the puffy clouds.
The pencil lines on the gland here and there are slightly bothering me, but that's maybe just me.
I like those scope-ish eyes, I'll remember that one. If you don't mind.

sarillion- *snicker* 'bubble-groups', I dunno but it sounds kind of funny, sorry if I offend you. I wonder what the use would be of clutching together as such though, would only make it easier for predators. Heh, most of these creatures are pretty defensless against any type of air predators now that I think of it.
But for one thing, you did spent much much less time on yours then I did on mine(and maybe some other people here).
Good job on you for doing this with a mouse btw. Especially that fast.

mf_elemental- Cool design, I would've personally gone for thicker arms for those massive claws or woud've made the claws smaller, but it's ok if you were going for a comical approach. Simple colours, not much to say about.

king.isaac- Lovely, it indeed looks slightly Cuthulian, but so does mine, just as much as yours. The resemblance inevitable if you're going with mouth tentacles. Nice exectution of them though, makes mine look half assed.
He looks pretty morbid, me like. Nice detail with the scorpion tail.
Also very nice shading in line thickness, very fine.

orionterron99- Did you use a photocamera? (if so, get a scanner!)
Heh, mine also isn't exactly on the head, more like on it's back. But who cares? The main point is to keep you drawing and challenged with different subjects.
But the point of it having it on it's head is really so that it would stay floating upwards, because the gland would be the lightest part of it's body so it would rotate to the top, with the heavier parts down. So yours would be kind of hanging upside down :wink:.
Nice insectlike details, with the feelers. Looks realistic.
You should maybe try practicing on shading a bit more, squiggly lines everywhere just make it look messy, did this for a very long time too and I still got some of that habit too. To just do the squig, and hapharzadly draw it. It's very hard to get off.
Try to spend some time doing finer work, in variation of course, it's never too good to keep doing the same thing.

CKMyers- heh you posted while I was editing and adding the c&c, but I'll just add you too. Hope you won't miss it. Welcome to the DSG!
The colours look cool and good lightning, although the dark blue and greens make it look like it's underwater...how's that floating? :dur:
The tailfin does the same thing for me.

Nice stuff everybody, onto the next DSG!:perv:

[CKMyers]

FIrst sketch I've ever done.
Still new to photoshop.

45 min.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/chrisckmyers/quicksketch-1.jpg

[Crustacean]

demdike: I agree with your critique, and have tried to address the problems in the updated version above. I like yours for the atmosphere and the sense of scale. If I had to be critical, maybe the image is a tad too dark. I like the tentacles too - but crabs don´t have those! :)

[Flake]

Flake- Nice transparency on the gland, clouds which are closer could've been sharper.
And I like the touch of red in the selfshadow of the creature, because of the colour versus colour contrast and colour quantity it really becomes the main point of attention. On purpose?
Would love to know what those tendrils at the back would be for.

Ta for the crits MG and Demdike.

Clouds-yup, I was rushing, should've made a gradual gradient blur or receding layers

Red in shadow was deliberate, thing is though I have wonky colour vision and I wasn't sure if I'd overdone it or if it would be totally invisible.
If you see me painting things in odd colours, this is why. :teeth:

Tendrils..er.. they are for..sensing wind direction and currents or something..:)

[Horsefly]

Thanks for the crit's guys. :rendered:

Flake: Nice use of light. I like the addition of extra long spindley legs at the back.

realitychek: Nice smooth rendering and very alien looking. Is that a pumpkin in there somewhere? :bashful:

Hamsta: Very abstract design. Makes me stare at it to try a figure it out. This is a bonus though as the design is not overly complex. I can imagine nature getting rid of all the crab-like apendages given a few million years of evolution.

Crustacean: Real nice design. Dig the colours too. Your always good with shapes.

stinger hh: Haha... Nice look on it's face, and the fish clinging on to it's ass is cool. :}

Mad Giraffe: Great astral feel to it. I like the addition of the blotches on it's bladder, but the heavy outlines around it's claws are slightly distracting.

demdike: You can't go wrong with orange & purple in my eyes. Nice colour choice and lovely icky tenticles. They look right for the design: bird catchers!

sarillion: Really nice simple design. Bang on!

mf_elemental: I'm liking the B&W sketch more than the colour. The blue background is too saturated and distracting, but the design is good.

king.isaac: Great sketch and nice design.

orionterron99: I hear you on the bladder placement, but it could have been rendered better. The circular swirls don't give it much form. The rest looks good though... love all the fronds.

CKMyers: I like the way you've rendered the bladder with veins, but it's tail looks a bit too thick and heavy copared to the rest of the design. Nice colours.

[paradoxba]

1h work in CS2.Not good in backgrounds.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/paradoxba/crabjet.jpg

[realitychek]

Thanks for the critiques guys! Yeah....kinda pumpkinish lol, got a little too into the contrast and shading (I'm a sucker for images high in contrast! :) )

[orionterron99]

Mad Giraffe - Yeah, i used a digicam. I currently dont' have the funds for a scanner, which yes, is sad, but the joys of higher priority bills ya know? besides, that what tax refund time is for:) I understood the bouyancy concepts, and originally it WAS going to be on the head but as i drew the creature kinda.... drew itself? dunno if that makes sense outside of my own head but.. yeah. as for the shading, had i had some graphite it woudl probably be much better. I'm used to using pens for more.... bold work so shading a non-abstract creture is a new one for me.

Sarillion - ironically i was trying to keep light source in mind, especially when trying to make the airsac, but kinda got jumbled.

Horsefly - Yeah, looking back I am seeing ways i could have beter given testure that would lend itself to a deeper field of view.

[dayglowdave]

http://www.g36.net/DSG/descendocrab.jpg

[Crustacean]

Horsefly: Thanks! I think yours work real well. Nice use of texture. I think the transition between bladder and shell could use some definition. Also it would be nice to have some cool tones in there to counter all the brown and red.

[Waffle_King]

Sorry this is so late, fellas. It's pretty rushed too... and pretty crappy. Oh well. Sorry... I'll work harder ta-marrah.

Sorry, I know the composition is painful, lol.

-Andrew

Story/

Science long taught that life could not exist on Jupiter-- The Gas giant was 80 percent gas with an atmosphere so dense that the lower levels of gas are actually compressed into a swirling liquid aether. Then there were the storms, raging winds, toxic gases... but recent discoveries have shown that life has found a way. High in the atmosphere there is a calm; a consistent, warm temperature; moisture, sunlight, minerals and an electric spark-- the building blocks of life.

It is here, between the eternally raging storms of toxic gas and the void of space that a small niche has been carved out by jovian life. Millions of species exist and thrive in the clouds- breeding, living, and dying without ever laying eyes on solid ground.

Skry fly eternally on stiff wings, filter feeding. Luks patrol the air in packs, hunting smaller, slower predators. Kreel float on the strong currents, held aloft by their lite weight-- they spend their lives synthesizing sunlight into energy via photosythesis. The base of the jovian food-chain, thousands of species live directly off of Kreel; others hunt, some are parasitic... and many aid their diet with some photosynthesis of their own.

Such are the ways of the Tarpan, a large crab like creatures that floats, as many jovian creatures, with the aid of a large, gas-filled sac. It inhabits the area near the top of the 6 mile window of livable atomsphere, Scouring the currents for stray bits of organic matter, kreel, and the occaisional slow-moving creature. Though largely solitary, Tarpan will congregate into "flights" of 10 or more creature during their short breeding season. Then, using their over-sized pincers to latch onto one another in the strong currents, they mate and ensure another generation of tarpan. Aproximately four standard months later, the female releases millions of eggs equipped with small fins into the atmosphere. Catching the slightest breeze, these eggs float for several standard days before hatching, and the larvae, already equipped with a gas-float, begin the treacherous ordeal of survival to adulthood.

http://artkid.us/DSG/dsg_1137.jpg

[sarillion]

Sarillion - ironically i was trying to keep light source in mind, especially when trying to make the airsac, but kinda got jumbled.

in that case let me explain myself a bit better so you can understand exactly what im getting at...

the darkest part of your creature (in other words the most shadowed) is along the outside of the shell (reads: the spine if it were a vertebrate), and the least dark part of your creature is the line running along the carapace shell segments next to the bladder. this would lead me to believe that your primary light source was either right next to the creature on the surface of the bladder (in between the viewer and the creature) or somewhere behind the viewer. since there is a reflection on the eye of the creature to the upper left (which just happens the be one of the highest contrast elements in your composition and therefore one of the ones that pops out early on) my instict tells me that your primary light source is somewhere above and ahead of the creature. with both of these going on, its a bit confusing to my eye.

my suggestion for such things in the future is to take Mad Giraffe's advice and work more in terms of line shading for ink works. the squigles are wonderful in graphite, but they dont translate to ink very well. after doing that, shade the sucker so that light coming from an angle creates enough contrast that it is not confusing where the light is coming from.

in the case of this comp, i would say roll with the light to the upper left and strengthen the shadows to the lower right near the tail (but not on the end of the tail as much necessarily) also put some shadows underneath the carapace shell on the upper part of the body right on the surface of the bladder. finally, deepen some of the shadows on the lower right part of the bladder (but not quite as much as on the carapace segments).

i hope this clears up what i was saying. i recognize that you included perspective and shading in your rendering, its just that right now your lighting is not very clear.

having said all that, i neglected to mention earlier that i enjoyed the hairy look and detail in your comp. reminds me of hermit crabs i used to find on the beaches of africa (im absolutely serious about that--but you can laugh if you want to ;)

and MG: yeah, im not offended by you laughing at the term bubble-group. ive not been particulary inspired with my nomenclature as of late. must come from going to classes all day and then working until 2:30 am. still, i thought bubble-group would go over better than bladder-group :D

they are social organisms which travel in packs like geese. latching on to each other makes it possible for colonies to travel together and perform mid-air actions such as cleaning each other/mating/etc. purple stands for poison, so most predators only kill one or two before they figure out theyre not fun to chew on.

uuuh... did i miss any of the biological incosistencies?

thanks for the crits, i'll return the favor next time around hopefully.

[Crustacean]

Mad Giraffe: Hadn´t thought about it, but you´re right, the eyes look weird. I kinda like it though.

As for your drawings, I like the sketches best. The colors are more pleasing, and the outline isn´t as dominant. The difference between the inflated and deflated states could be bigger -> more surprising/impressive.

[Pixel8]

Man. I wasn't really feeling this one, and couldn't seem to find the time, but after seeing all the creative takes here I find myself once again impressed by this group!

[demdike]

Mad Giraffe - Thanks a lot and I won't mind at all:)
Crustacean - That's what I meant, looks better, that is, smoother/rounder/more organic. I agree that mine turned out very dark, exaggerated the sketching and ended up with too many lines I didn't want to do a complete paintover for. For the tenatacles, I can't help it but I thought of that one special kind of jellyfish, quite a deadly one, it's got a bladder at the top of it's body and loads of tentacles, liked it too much and went for a very vaguely crab-like-look.
Horsefly - Thanks and yes indeed, those are meant to collect birds and disgest them

critiques:

sarillion - Nice clean comicstyle. The bladder and the body look still a bit seperated, maybe due to the very different colors.
mf-elemental - Highly stylized (which is good thing) but, because of that, hard to read (which is a not so good thing)
king.isaac - Very good sketch. Only weak part in my eyes are the tentacles coming out of his mouth, they look too simple compared to the rest.
For your scans, try scanning lineart in grayscale at a high resolution (600 dpi), adjust levels and resize after that, maybe it helps. Also try to calibrate your scanner if you haven't already done so and check the settings. For your actual scans, look here (http://www.scantips.com/) to read more about it.
orionterron99 - Nice design and good sketch. The bladder could use some work/detail and of course: I'm always dying for colored versions of pencilsketches;)
CKMyers - Welcome aboard, explorer! Good first post, not bad for a beginner. Could use some highlights, the image looks a little flat since it doesn't use the full range of tones, but maybe this was on purpose.
paradoxba - Excellent sketch, the coloring makes it look even meaner. Only crit, the bladder seems to hang down, as if filled with water, it doesn't seem to carry the thing.
dayglowdave - Nice bladder and nice painting, also like the lights at the bottom. The BG is too simple though and the bystanders just confuse me.
Waffle_King - Great story, that thing really comes alive. I like the way you've done this, although a BG showing the atmosphere would be thrilling. I can't put my finger on it, but maybe due to the lack of background, the edges of your creature look strange...

[Waffle_King]

Thanks Dem,

yea, the BG situation was not so good as you can see. The color had me on my toes, and my regular method of cleaning edges (erasing to lower layer) didn't work so hot this time... Time to learn some more!

Sorry about no crits from me, guys. I'll be better next time, promise.

-Andrew :yayca:

[arsenic-smoothie]

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/balesy/dsg1137.jpg

lazer eyes!

[Pixel8]

Ahhh....to float free like the crab-creatures of Nega-7.

http://www.steprock.com/illofriday/dsg1137_pixel8.jpg

Sketch + PS compositing...about an hour.

[Mad Giraffe]

Where is the next...topic? :(

Or should I bump old ones like everyone seems to be doing? Nice and confusing.

[Pixel8]

EEK! I need a topic! I need a topic! topic topic topic topic.

What'll I do????

gotta draw...something...hand....cramping up...

[orionterron99]

Well demdike, once i learn how to draw with a bar of soap on PS, i'llbe more than happy to accomodate. or until i get a wacom... that will take some time though.

[William b. Hand]

Great work everybody! I couldn't be more pleased with these interpretations. Looks like plenty of comments have been made already, so I'll focus on posting a new topic...

[Hamsta]

Horsefly I think I've seen this creature before, inside our vacuum cleaner, I thought it was lint from our red carpet :x
Great expression on the thing, it looks pissed. Nice textures, a bit too obviously digital on the claw to our left, and the bg in that area. I like the red to grey gradient on the claws, and the work on the bg surrounding the appendeges.
I don't like the asymmetry, it looks like a mistake, rather than a choice, it's right side is higher than the left, and the "vein" on the air bladder looks more pronounced on it's left.

Mad Giraffe The composition is rather banal, too centrelized, and the creature looks stiff, holding it's claws closed and hanging unnaturally.
There may be too much black, with the think outlines, and the shading, but that's not clear cut, and might be considered a stylistic choice.
I like the organs inside the sack, and the expanding armor plates.
The bg gives a nice sense of depth.

demdike I am pleased. ;)
Great design and coloring, love the orange light, the glowing eyes.
The tendrils have a few angles I'm not comfortable with, that look less organic, but I'll forgive you :P

[RashidoMania!]

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j115/Rover87/crab.jpg

[CKMyers]

I wasn't satisfied with the first, so I had to take another crack at it on another lunch break.

45min.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k34/chrisckmyers/crab.jpg

[jtburg88]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/jtburg88/crabcopy.jpg

[Shard]

Hi all! :)
its my first post here, I'm trying to increase my painting skills, I thought to join this dsg's and practice a bit more! :bashful:

I went for some kind of machinery on this one!
any c&c is appreciated!

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6908/crablikecreaturefloatinim5.jpg

great sketches everyone I especially like demdike's and cenobite's ones!

[AfroLaxMan]

Howdy doody CA.org-ers....
been awhile, going through some crappy time in my life, decided to go to where i personally don't get criticized, but hopefully my doodle will

thnx goody-ness for ca.org...
http://www.oldhouseproductions.com/dump/DSG1137_FloatingCrabthing_Color.jpg

edit: i took a quick look at the post, and saw this version next:

http://www.oldhouseproductions.com/dump/DSG1137_FloatingCrabthing_Color2.jpg

[Streifi]

AfroLaxMan: Wow! Interesting, steampowered crossover of a portuguese man-o-war and a crustacean. I love that look.

dayglowdave: The reflections seem like they have a smooth, metallic surface. And they have very interesting glowing eyes, when they are eyes, ar least I think, they are. They must look nice at the nightsky. :)

Nice floating critters at all. But in a world populated with these lifeforms I immediately would buy fly lattices for my windows to prevent them from floating into my house. I rather don't want to touch any of them to get them out again. They look pretty dangerous. :)

[protect]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/protectprotect/crabtacular.jpg

crabtacular.

[voraz]

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/7510/skt27102006008upkz9.jpg