C.O.W. - #048: Beauty And The Beast - VOTING!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #048 VOTING

Topic: Beauty And The Beast

Deadline for the voting: Friday, 16th June 2006

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69069









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artist: Neorepto
concept: Seraph Whales and Angel's Tears
Planet Cautha is hostile to human life. A dense, rank, humid atmosphere of ammonia and sulfuric gas blankets the surface with a swirling, yellow cloud. Pressures and temperatures well exceed human tolerance. Nevertheless, the heavy metals mining is too good for human settlers to ignore the potential for profit. They've constructed domed colonies and scratch out an existence as best they can.
Seraph whales, one of the planet's few indigenous life forms, thrive in the skys above Cautha. There they live, perpetually swimming through the thick vapor, feeding on the microscopic young of Cautha's other thriving native life form, a silicon based mollusk referred to as "Angel's Tears." Angel's Tears have some things in common with Earth's aquatic barnacles. They are born as microscopic aeropods (a). Mixing with the airborne plankton, they become the primary food source for the seraph whales. Those that survive this larval stage mature (b) and cement themselves to the skin of the whales' head and jaw (c). Once attached, the mollusks form a rock hard protective shell, and breed, spawning millions of aeropods each.
When the Angel's Tears die, the cemented bond loosens from the seraph whales head and the tough shell falls to the planet surface. Human colonists avidly collect the shells much as one would collect seashells on a beach as souvenirs. The silicon crystaline shells are easily polished and carved into a variety of forms. Angel's Tears most often form six-sided shells, though occasionally seven-sided shells are found (d). Whether polished and carved, or left in the rough, their natural beauty is displayed as a native keepsake and a lucky charm in the colonist's home.


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artist: MasumiX
concept:
the Beast is the large fellow, a land mollusk, he’s a male, the colourful female is his lifelong partner, when not out foraging for copper and alum laden sands she spends her time latched to hsi under side, where her brightly coloured shell is hidden from predators.


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artist: Might5cent
concept:
The Trakartan Tusked Lizards. As juveniles, both genders have long, thin spine protrusions connected with skin membranes, allowing them to glide short distances. The males grow thicker and heavier as they age, and eventually can no longer use the membranes for gliding. They are extremely aggressive, and protective of their territory. Violent fights and lack of use eventually tears away the membranes connecting their spikes. The females, who remain thinner and lighter, grow larger, colorful membranes, and remain able to glide throughout their lives, using the ability to escape danger.


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artist: newmanhyde
concept:
The "beast" looks like a rat , hands of a mole , feeds like a frog and attract its prey like a flower. Every now and then the "flower" will produce too much poison and will cause pain to the beast.During that period the beast will cry out to attract the "beauty", cause only the "beauty" can feed on the poison and relieve the beast. So its a common sight to see the beauty near the beast.


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artist: Tom Garden
concept:
The beauty wanders the forests, weaving in and out of the trees with its slender body. It has hightened senseory recepticals on its nose, which allow it to track the scent of its mate.
The forest the habitat is huge, and the beauties dont live very long. They desperately run rampant through the forest in search for a mate. The beast sadly is not of the same species, and nor can it mate with a beauty. But it lusts for the beauty, and has learned to reproduce the scent of the beauties mate. When beauties come across the colossal beast, they often stare in amazement and confusion. The beast advances with its bold romantic thoughts, and sadly - through its best efforts - kills the poor beauty. The beasts eerie moans can be heard for miles, as it mourns for what it has done.


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artist: Goertz
concept: Kar'aal & Sidyiick
In the daytime on the planet Aurooba, the Kar'aal are often found searching for carcasses on wich to feed, if not allready lucky, stomping, teering and biting with foots, claws and beek in some unfortunate dead animal. This is often a dirty affair, wich typically ends up with a larger part of the Kar'aal covered in the insides of the carcass on whom it´s feasting, resulting in two things: first, the smell of the flesh and blood attracts other Kar'aal´s attention, wich often leads to dreadfull fighting and secondly it attracts all sorts of insects and parasites wich feast on both the remains and the Kar'aal itself.. Parasites like the protection its black backplates provide, from the ultra violet radiation coming from the star midas.
Besides protecting the Kar'aal when fighting, the backplates also stores heat to the coldblooded creature, beeing non-reflective; the perfect dwelling place for a large amount of Aurooba´s many species of parasites.
That´s also perfect for the Sidyiick, being an eater of basically anything wich can come through its tiny oral opening. When a Sidyiick finds a Kar'aal that has´nt got any Sidyiick "living" on it allready, it will stick by it, cleaning the large scavenger for small unwelcome guests and chase any other aproaching Sidyiick´s off.


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artist: redehlert
concept:


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artist: JakkaS
concept: Glishuk and Coreillo
Glishuks are huge creatures that inhabit the dark side of the moon called Kol. Because they live in a total darkness, their appearance is not so important. As opposed to other alike monsters, they didn't evolve such specific senses like smell, infravision, telepathy or even bioluminescence. However, Glishuks survived because they are big, have hard skin and they are omnivorous. Amount of food they have to eat every day forced them to live in dispersal. In the darkness it is almost impossible to find a good source of food. But to meet adequate partner to procreation is even harder. In a period of mating, instead of eating they collect Coreillos, small glowing snails. These little creatures are very poisonous, but their beauty affects everyone. Their shape reminds of bright flowers. Glishuks keep them in crops made of thin skin, so thanks to that, big monsters start to glow with all the colors of the small creatures. Yellow and Pink lights lure the females. After the mating period, usually up to one week, Glishuks release their dangerous cargo. Most interesting is that the scientists discovered, that the number of Coreillos is a little higher than from the beginning. Probably those snails multiply themselves in Glishuks' crops.


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artist: kyi_72
concept:
this parasitic nudibranch forms a symbiotic relationship with its host. beginning as a spiny egg that imbeds itself into the lining of the mouth, it follows the bloodstream further into the head where it moves into the brain and central nervous system. gathering nutrients from the host it grows to enormous size, reaching maturity at 2 months, it sprouts apendages that extend out of the nostrils and move onto the top of the host as well as through the skin along the spine. these apendages relay information to the host, giving it a heightened sense of awareness. the host suffers no ill affects from the parasite, and continues its life as normal.
the 'flowers' at the top draw oxygen and moisture from the air, supplying the host with oxygen and using the moisture to produce a mucous that covers the nudibranch and deters predators, who find the smell repulsive.


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artist: MIKECORRIERO
concept: Infested Wallow and the Carnivorous Ticona Plant
The Infested Wallow is used as a living food source for a carnivorous plant known as the Ticona which in the spore stage floats around and then burrows inside the Wallows skin sucking its blood much like a leech. When the Ticona has had its fill it falls off or burst out of the skin and will then dig its roots into the ground. This is where the Ticona goes into a type of metamorphosis and blooms into a spectacle of beautiful light and color.. unknowingly it also provides a food source for the Wallow which happens to love the taste of the warm blooded flora. Though the process is painful for the Wallow it is supplied with a free meal so it is content with the plant feasting on its blood supply. Various stages of the Ticona Process and an Infested Wallow are shown. The plants are careful not to kill their host because without this breed of animal the Ticona might become extinct if another host was not as accommodating.


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artist: Bruce Jensen
concept: Hormsque
Hormsque are native to a small icy planetoid covered with ices of nitrogen, and smaller amounts of methane, ethane and carbon monoxide. The surface temperature varies between about -235 and -210 C.
A significant , though unmeasurable portion of the female Hormsque resides in 4th dimensional space tapping into the ambient energy for survival. The female is essentially intangible to the male, existing as shifting swirls of mist, and light. The male of the species thrives on the primordial organic matter, found locally. It's ability to draw on 4th dimensional zero-point energy is minimal, and unlike the female is essentially a creature of conventional 3-dimensional space.
Hormsque eggs are passed into conventional space by ovipositer, into a crater that is often reused by nesting pairs. The male fertilizes, and tends to the eggs. Hormsque eggs represent a significant potential food source, and are fiercely protected by the males against all attack. The hatchlings live a brief time in larval form before differentiating into either male or female of the species.


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artist: Plate
concept: Aequidens Ducanthis - AKA the Gorgonfish and Neon Notchfin
For centuries, the male and female of this species were thought to be two entirely different types of fish; it was not until after recent study of one of the reefs they inhabit that they were revealed to be the opposite gender of the same species. While the two seem to have no regular direct interaction with each other, it has been proven that notchfins do in fact fertilize the egg clusters laid by the much larger and fiecer gorgonfishes. The current theory is that the two genders were once nearly identical, but took opposite routes when adapting to survival in their environment - the males have become sleek and agile, with colorful markings that camouflage them among the bright coral reefs they live in; conversely, the females have become large and ferocious, presumably in order to better defend their eggs and hatchlings. Upon hatching their offspring are white and nearly featureless - it is not until a week after birth that they begin to develop the features that identify their gender. Neon notchfins have become popular as pets in recent years, and are especially prized among collectors of exotic fish. Gorgonfishes, on the other hand, are generally avoided as much as possible.

[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!

3. No voting for your own entry!!! If a participants votes for his own entry, every member has the right to call him a stupid lame morone in this thread! And i will delete his/her vote anyway...






not accepted entries:

All WIPs

Eriboss and Telenaus
It's not written down in the rules, but coops are not allowed unless a special round will do it (and hell yes, this could be a good idea)...sorry mates, you should have kicked my balls when you had the chance in Prague, haha...

sbn..
no 2 separate creatures! sorry...



close to rejection:

none



special note:

all
World Cup begins today - yay!

[Fozzybar]

Only 12 entries this time...

Is it the World Cup, the workshop in Montreal, the summer? Or all of them together?

Who knows...don't cry for me summerbreakintina...

[JakkaS]

special note:

all
World Cup begins today - yay!

Fozzy, why you are so excited? We all already know that Poland will win the CUP! Buehhehehe…

Only 12 entries this time...

Is it the World Cup, the workshop in Montreal, the summer? Or all of them together?

Who knows...don't cry for me summerbreakintina...

Is that mean that we have 4 weaks for the next round?

[Kian]

Its really hard to vote, because a decision is soo subjective esp for the C.O.W. JakkaS gets my vote. By far the best execution.

[newmanhyde]

i notice a few plant creature concept this time, is there some double standard not written down in the rules?

[Fozzybar]

new round is on...and it'S related to....guess what?

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69835

[Fozzybar]

i notice a few plant creature concept this time, is there some double standard not written down in the rules?

1. I didn't read the concepts fully, just scanned them quickly, because i already was behinde the schedule of posting the poll...there are sometimes rounds where i accept entries which would be rejected under normal circumstances...because of lack of time...

2. I scrolled up to the entries after reading your comment, and i saw MIKECORRIERO's entry with the concept where the beauty part is a plant. You are right, it's not allowed usually.

3. Yes, there are some double standards not written down the rules. It especially implies artists whose artworks are an enrichment for the activity and also the members (learning a lot from them, opening eyes, fresh ideas, different approaches etc)

4. It's all for the sake of COW

[Fozzybar]

JakkaS
I don't know yet

[newmanhyde]

excellent reply Fozzybar, Thanks

[Michael Jaecks]

First things first: Walnut! Thanks for the vote! As a newbie, believe me, all feedback and votes of confidence are greatly appreciated. Getting a vote so early in the poll has made my whole day!

Second: my vote. It was very tough. In the end, mood, vibe, creep-out factor and innovation won out. I voted for MikeC. Anything that foul looking deserves my vote. It's like I can... almost smell him. (flinch, whince, throw-up-a-little-in-my-mouth)... but obviously in a good, effective way. Very excellent.

[redehlert]

Awesome entires gang! Bruce....Bruce...Bruce. How I love your piece. You get the vote m8.
Cheers!
D

[Goertz]

I vote for Hormsque... Even though the beast is kind of a beauty too..

[Fozzybar]

you know, at the end it depends how you call it, because i don't have the double helix of this being or doing any autopsies (though this will be the next implementation in COW )...as stupid as it sounds, but if you called it a creature nor me or anyone else would have cried for it

I warn you though people, don't post daisies and call em creatures....

[Eriboss]

not accepted entries:
Eriboss and Telenaus
It's not written down in the rules, but coops are not allowed unless a special round will do it (and hell yes, this could be a good idea)...sorry mates, you should have kicked my balls when you had the chance in Prague, haha...

PAH... Pah I say!

You suck.

hehe

[Mighty5cent]

Voted for Mike. I really like your palette, with that mother of pearl looking shine going on. And your textures rock as always.

Jakkas, your execution is amazing, but like Mike said, the presentation would be way more effective in 3/4 view. Looking into that gaping maw would be cool. It's a gorgeous piece.

Tom, I really like yours, too. This may just be personal preference, but I'm a little bothered by the way the bottom of the pic cuts off right at ground level. Because of the angle looking up, I know you wouldn't really see the ground, but I don't know, something about it... I like the pic, though. I feel sorry for the little beauty.

[MasumiX]

for me it was a hard tossup between kyi_72 and Neorepto, while perhapse the depth of their rendering isn't as "fantastic" or perhapse alien as they should be, the creature symbiosis seemed both plausible and yet alien, with the Beauty and beast being less traditional concepts that predominate the entries.

All in all the entries were all fantastic, I'll deffinately put much more effort in my next joining m(_ _)m

[surfacemonkey]

voted for Jakka.

the presentation looks so complete and effortless.

Seeing this drawing is just like surfing, when that guy paddles past me seemingly effortlessly, smiling even, while i'm getting slammed by waves, paddling my heart out and not moving forward at all.... yes, just like that.

[redehlert]

Whoa! I got a vote! Thanks 2Medusa!
Cheers,
Dave

[xyfzc]

went for JakkaS. dunno why but now im really seeing those "Glishuks" wandering on the dark side. and thinking bout those "Coreillos", they r of realy beauties. love this piece so much.
MIKECORRIERO, good as usual, just love ur style. but yeah, it's like after JakkaS's descrpition i found every creature living on the dark side...... and it'll be perfect if ticona is as beautiful as in the text, so wanna see the colors and light......
good lord, last exam next monday and im free for everything! been so long time from last entry, though as lame as any one......

[2medusa]

You're welcome, red! Lovely line work and shading on your entry, and the concept is a killer (hahahaha...I kill me). Great work.

[Oddo]

The finalists on my list were JakkaS and MIKECORRIERO .

Both strong works, Mike's beast was more interesting and.. beastly but the beauty.... didn't find it quite beautiful enough....

Had to go with JakkaS since he head both a beastly beast and a pretty beauty


Many solid works all around.

Cheers!

[carotello]

Voted for Jakkas. I love the concept, the design of both creatures, excellent presentation, and I really respect the fact that he improved it after being critiqued.
Mike Corriero would have probably been my next choice, but it doesn't look as finished...I know you didn't have much time, Mike, and I feel like an idiot saying this anyway, because as unfinished as it is it still kicks any of my creatures' ass...
Bruce, I love your piece too, especially the concept. It's original, and somehow melancholy. Beautiful colors, and execution. My only crit would be that both creatures feel a little stiff, slightly unnatural pose... but it's minor, and it doesn't make me love it less.
Those were my top three. It was a great round, I wish I had had time to participate. Next time!

[Bruce Jensen]

Neorepto: Nice concept. I like the angel tear illustrations best. The colors in the sky are a bit raw, maybe knock the yellow down some. The texture starts to get overwhelming in the branching portion of the seraph whale. It's your best entry as I recall it.

Mighty5cent; I enjoyed seeing your WIP. You're playing it straight, so it's pretty easy to offer up some suggestions. Your hi-lights look pasty. It's most evident in the branch and horns. Decide on a warm or cool light source and shift your colors accordingly. A little more gold in the hi-light colors would have made a world of difference. The anatomy is a little bulbous too. Some could be just taste, but the muscle attachments at the knee/elbow joints aren't convincing . It looks a little too much inspired by superhero anatomy. Not saying it is, just that it looks that way.

Tom Garden: The perspective cues in the beast don't quite match the background. He'd be more impressive if the same perspective used everywhere else were used on him.

Goertz. Great job with the anatomy on your beast. I preferred the pencil sketch. Your final got a bit blurry, but there's a nice drawing in there.

redehlert: (Thanks for the enthusiastic vote! I'm mixing personal work with COW. I'm not doing it as practice for work in the entertainment design field, so I know it's a bit off-center for this forum. While I'm not 'playing to win' it's really heart warming, and encouraging to see this stuff get a positive reception)
On to yours: Nice pencils. If it were a painted, I'd like to see a watercolor approach that would preserve it some. The only suggestion is that I'd lower the POV- move the tail portion of the beast down to make him more imposing. Poor vain fish.

JakkaS; Really nice color palette. I like the generous use of grey. What I like most though is this odd character that you can inject your faces with at times. It's in this entry too. Rather surreal. BTW- I liked the eye you had in the 1st version better.
Another vote for you!

MIKECORRIERO: Note my favorite of yours (but so what). Your firestarter and mover spoiled me. Not keen on the gross-out factor, but that's so personal. There's a good "I smell a victory" pun there if it should happen. Lovely colors- another nice use of grey, all done in the last few hours too.

[walnut]

Neorepto: Your concept appealed to me the most, so you got my vote. Not the tightest render of the batch, but the beauty of the idea mad up for it.

MasumiX: Spend more time shaping the creature. You could have gone further with the design. Don't be afarid of shadowing.

Might5cent: Cool creature, and good render. BG and composition are static, and the difference male/female could have been bigger. Really like the head design.

newmanhyde: Freudian jokes aside, it ain't bad. Everything's rendered the same and your beast critter looks too much like an existing species, but still.
I'dhave loved to see some, um, interaction between the two. : lewd grin :

Tom G.: Why the cut off man? I wanted to see more of your creatures.

Goertz: Beast is sick, beauty looks more like an afterthought. Wish it had a BG.

redehlert: Neat pencils, neat concept. I'd love to see this rendered in colour.
The beauty's design is a little bland however.

Jakkas: I like the changes you made, really ties the whole thing together. Definitively worth voting for, good idea and execution as always, but neorepto's idea was better. Sorry man.

kyi_72: That's a twisted idea there, makes me shiver to think about it. Watch your shapes: your creature looks pressed-in.

Mike C.: Damn that's an ugly mother! Neat as ever, though the ugly one's kinda anthropomorphic and the pretty one could have had it's design pushed more into elegance, IMO. I wonder if you're gonna work on this more, cause right now i find it very charming, with your linework peeping through.

Bruce J.: Another close contestant for the vote. I love the "cute and cosmic" look and the extradimensional angle. Great lighting btw.

Plate: I knew someone would come up with that one. It's ok, but there's soem crits: first off, bad lighting. Tope side of the fishes should be e bunch brighter than the bottom side. Secon; loads of empty space. You could have doen with half the canvas, or at least a tighter composition.

[Michael Jaecks]

Guys: Thanks for the votes and especially the crits. I need it. I'm glad though that the concept is reading in a nice way to people. It really went through an evolution as I worked on the piece, including the writing. At first the Angel's Tears we're going to be much more profound and weighty, something on the order of the Spice from Dune. But close to deadline time, I figured... why not just make the humans interested in them because they look pretty, like seashells... and then the whole thing clicked. Just a little bit of beauty on an otherwise inhospitable planet.

Bruce, you're right about the yellow. Someone needs to calibrate his at home monitor. I think its me.

Thanks again for the feedback, guys. I really feel like I wouldnt be as far along as I am without your help, whether its directed at me or just stuff I pick up from other's discussions.

Michael

[Mighty5cent]

Bruce, thanks for the crits & insight. I'm working on improving my color theory, so your comments about the highlights won't go to waste. I've been fighting between getting more color in the light and getting more contrast, and I keep ending up pushing them to white. I'll work on it.
Walnut, thanks for the comments. Wanted to get something going on in the background, but I thought I was out of time.
And thanks for the coupla votes to thoras and haika! Being only my second week, that puts a smile on my face!

[Goertz]

Thanks for the crits, they're more than welcome..!!

Bruce. Working with pencil more what i'm used to, tablets and PS being a new world for me..

Got some of my "traditional" work here:
http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database...l?gallery=8634

[Trashy]

Interesting!

redehlert- Great overall drawing. Your concept is pretty neat and I think the creatures are pretty unique. I'm aching to see what that would look like colored though.

Bruce Jensen- Another really unique design. Your mix of colors work great in this. What I like the most is there is certian similarities to these two creatures that show that they could definitely be companions or that they live in the same enviroment. You get my vote!

Jakkas- Bah! That is so good looking...as I'm starting to learn thats always the case with your pieces. Nice work man! I gotta say the slug strikes me alot with those colors.

*sigh* I got to get back into these. Thanks for choosing the topic Fozzy.

[sbn..]

[B]not accepted entries:
[...]
sbn..
no 2 separate creatures! sorry...

Heh. I was too busy reading the first post and following the link to the guidelines to actually notice the second. I kept wondering why noone had done a combination of the two concepts - now I know. Well, it was fun anyway.

I woted for Goertz due to the concept. It seems well thought out and realistic. The image, though nicely rendered, could use some background. Just a midtone grey with a hint of a shadow under the beast's feet would have done it for me, the white is just too bright. I also definitely prefer the beast to the beauty. Seems like a lot more thought went into the beast.

Other comments:

Tom Garden, redehlert both have strong concepts. I like the way you two approached the creatures in a narrative way, giving them a more "human" feel. Natural stories there. Red's is just sick, though . Nice mood in that one, and a lot of personality in the line art of Tom's. Was it done on paper?

My actual favourite image is MIKECORRIERO's. It's got a lot of mood, the creatures seem believable (more so the beast), it's a very compelling image. The reason why I didn't vote for it was the symbiotic relationship in the concept - the Beast is essentially eating itself, if I understand correctly. Doesn't really make sense to me.

Sorry I don't have time to comment on everything else, but some pretty good stuff there as well.