The Wandering Isle - Big Huge Concept Challenge

[peter_john]

Just finished this stuff yesterday for the Big Huge Concept Challenge at gameartisans.org. Giant island monsters, anyone?

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Concept Description:
The Wandering Isle (or isles) is a giant ocean dwelling crustacean. Their exact origins are unknown; partly resembling crab, tortoise, octopus, and human, tales of these creatures have been cause for both astonishment and skepticism. Rarely seen above water, the wandering isle spends the majority of its life submerged along ocean coastlines. Unable to freely swim or walk on land (because of the gross weight of their shells) wandering isles skirt coastlines at depths that best allow them to buoy the weight of their shells and ease their burden.

Wandering isles are communal creatures and travel in family groups of 15 - 30 island pods. Because of their sheer size and longevity (the average life cycle of a wandering isle lasts for 1,000 years) small communities of humans have been known to make residence upon their backs. Furthermore, the communal nature of wandering isles allows entire island communities to form among the network of shifting isles as they plod through the shallow seas.

Wandering isles reproduce asexually but their nesting habits are similar to those of sea turtles. Near the end of its life, a wandering isle will head to shallow waters and then to dry land. The trip inland is disturbing for any passengers as well as for the wandering isle, since the further out of water it travels the more it must bear the full weight of its island shell. The wandering isle staggers inland until it collapses under its full weight and dies. This event is rarely witnessed, but long lines of wandering isle communities revere this process and flee their dying island in a ceremony of mourning and a celebration of new life. Weeks after the wandering isle has fallen to the earth, hatchling isles break free from their parent's shell and head for the sea.

I'll probably be posting the same stuff in my sketchbook along with my other thumbnails and things. Redundancy = archive security. Peace everybody!

[rickrude]

dope...have you thought of a story for the concept? i think you could do something special and really interesting with it.

[kingrobot]

I hate being critical on such a nice day but I am really disappointed with the hands you used for the wandering isle. They are too humanoid - you did all of those cool claw studies and didn't really use them.

I think the image could do with more detail and some more elements to emphasise the scale of the island. It just doesn't seem HUGE to me...Some boats in the harbour? Some people on the beach? - What about some water residues coming off of the shell of the beast like waterfalls?

I also think the buildings on the back of the creature would be impractical. Tall buildings on a moving monster would be very unstable - the structural stresses would topple the towers. I do like the volcanic looking mountains - have you considered that the islanders could hollow them out and live inside them?

Anyway, this is a very cool idea...keep on developing it.

[Jushra]

use claw number 5. and some boats and people, not for the hands mind you, for the scale. as far as what king robot has said, here is a page (http://www.cappadociaturkey.net/ihlara.htm) to check out some underground cities. a few of them were made when Christians had to hide out underground; some were made by the Hittites and Assyrians, etc. either way, they might prove useful with the city on the shell.

[brian_h]

It was a fun competition...alot of good stuff. Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff in the future.

The only critique that jumps immediately to mind is the hand thing...human hands on a crustacean just seems a little odd unless there is something more to the combination of human an crustacean...a bit more of a full chimera treatment. I thought the island idea was cool though.

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[peter_john]

Thanks for the comments,

rickrude - thanks, no story for this guy apart from the concept description. I'll keep him on file for something in the future.

kingrobot - no worries, I appreciate it. I probably could have given it more crablike front walking limbs but I wanted to see this one through with giant hands. In this image the buildings may make more sense toppling over, but during the other 1,000 years of the monster's life they would be pretty stable since it's so slow moving. When it heads for land is when things get shaken up for the islanders. The islanders probably wouldn't be standing at the shell rim either, but they were nice enough to pose for the picture.

jushra - thanks for the tip. Those remind me of the giant Buddhist statues carved into cliff sides in Afghanistan.

brian_h - I hear you. People dig the claws and I'm a stick in the mud :] I'll try some new revisions with this guy in the future.

[joe12south]

- Great concept. Yeah, I could definitely see writing a story, at least a short story around it.
There's a very appealing quality to your linework that doesn't make it into your paintings. Not that it has to, but I'd love to see you try a style that allows it to peak through.
- Have to agree about the hand thing, a more crustaceous appendage methinks.
- Where is his big right rear leg?
- Something about the stream bothers me. I'm not sure exactly why, but it feels more like a branch in the foreground than it does like water cutting into the beach.