DSG 1209: Genetic Tampering: UBER MEGA HIPPO-DILE or CROCOPOTAMUS (hippo/croc blend)

[William b. Hand]

[ How'd we get the Hippo-dile and the Crocopotami, you ask? ]

[ Well, I guess someone thought it'd be interesting, or profitable, or helpful, to blend the crocodile with the hippopotamus... ]

[ Then, I guess they thought "why not toss in some extra growth hormones to really up the ante on this abomination?". ]

[ This might be an illustration of "why not". ]

[ Just take your favourite aspects of each creature, exaggerate them, and mix them together. ]

[ Be a good conceptualizer, and include something for scale, too. ]

Genetic Tampering: UBER MEGA HIPPO-DILE or CROCOPOTAMUS (hippo/croc blend)
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[ogar555]

First? :0

[cw]

bit groggy this morning - jetlag.

here -

[Thorsell]

Omg.
That is really nice, looks like some kind of dinosaurs.
ogar555: Heheh, i like the "wtflol" you've really managed to blend the anatomies.
Apocalypse_Rex: That looks really scary, some monstrous creature crawling up from the sea and destroying the village. Nice highlights, it really looks wet...

[Mydrim]

Nice work. Well, I won't participate this round, no time... And tomorrow, I'd like to do the boots(altough yes, it's DAILY ACTIVITY

[DrFx]

Ogar and Rex: Impressive!

A 20 min quickie:

[Tommoy]

Ogar: that's what i was aming for.
Apocalypse: good light.
DrFx: it's BIIIIIIG.
Here's mine.

[silverblackwolf]

I love your HIPPO-DILE Tommoy, it is just the cutest.

[FabioX]

[Mitze]

Great pics everyone and all so different from each other.

[Eetwartti]

Great sketches everyboy, original ideas!

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[stefd]

[mysterian]

[Vitreous]

this is my one-its a museum stuffed crocopotamus!
Mysterian-great dynamic underwater action and lovely simple lighing effects
Mitze-very immersive scene-i get the strange feeling you whipped it up in half an hour when something like that would take me hours and hours...must keep practicing!
fabiox-great lighing again and a really interesting take on the theme
Tommoy-as usual i love it, its really funny and has an effortless feel to it.
Apocalypse-i think the way you made the skin look shiny is very inteesting-have you got any tips about good wys to do that?
Ogre-wtflol just sums it all up!
Everyone else-great work, i love these daily sketches, they keep me sane in between more...serious work.

[rubicante]

[Sunny]

Here is mine today, Nothing special.

[silentbrain]

Cool textures and cute stuff everybody!

Interesting combo...hippos are supposed to be some of the most violent/aggressive animals evar...although a croc is no slouch either!

[dan liimatta]

Silentbrain
love having you aboard the DSG train - really inspiring piece yet again.

Tommoy
too cute

good stuff everyone, the DSG seems to be on a roll recently.

[Hamsta]

[eblu]

hi guys, this is fun.
dan thats awesome.
love the crazy jaw work mysterion

[Mr. Crow]

I would like to believe that if Steve Irwin were still here, he'd be the man to find the Crocodotamus.....and what else is there to day when you face something like that.

FabioX - Nice concept

silentbrain - Awesome! He's got serious weight and mass, you can almost feel the ground shaking!

dan liimatta - That's great! Looks like it should be the cover for a new game...Hungy, Hungry Crocopotamus

[refrakt]

This drawing a day thing looks like a blast and looks like great practice. This is my first post. Hope it's up to the exacting standards of some of these guys..... formidable pieces I must say.

[Moai]

Okey-doke. This was the funnest thing I've done in quite a while. I feel that this was a very successful image for me, as it turned out pretty much as I imagined it. 'Bout 2 1/2 hours.



Comments and crits (keeping in mind that this is a daily activity):
ogar555- Nice painterly brush strokes. The creature design is good as well, but I feel that it suffers from some lack of anatomical knowledge. Also, try not to let the background color show through when you render the ground, as it takes away some of the feeling of solidity.
Apocalypse_Rex- I love its tusks and the strange lighting. Your creature seems to have a smidgen of marine iguana on top of the hippo and croc. Crits: the front limbs are different lengths, and it would have helped the composition to have some space at the bottom.
DrFx- Hey there, big fella! Seein' as how it's a 20 minute quickie, no glaring crits are jumping out at me.
Tommoy- Reminds me of Disney's "Fantasia." Very original take on the subject. Two crits: the back of its mouth seems too brightly lit, and there's no rendering at all on its swimsuit. At least put a little highlight somewhere. Very cute and likeable character!
FabioX- I can't quite decide if the color scheme's working for me. Maybe turn down the yellow just a bit. Other than that, good picture.
Mitze- Beautiful backdrop! What a lovely little environment. The only thing marring this piece is that the crocopotamus isn't placed very well, compositionally. Everything else is great, though.
Eetwartti- When you add shadows or highlights, don't simply add white or black. That makes a very dull, almost dirty effect. Instead, change the hue a bit for your lights and shadows. Make the highlights slightly more yellow and the shadows more blue, for example. And try to show all of your creature's limbs, even if it's standing in a profile view like this, so no one thinks it just has one leg.
stefd- Nice little doodle. I have two crits. One: its eyes need to be angled up more, since they're on the same bone as the upper jaw, which is angled sharply upwards. Also, if I didn't know ahead of time, I don't know if I would have guessed that it was part hippopotamus. Hippos don't have cloven hooves, hairy chins, or little black noses like that. Try to have reference on hand whenever you draw a creature, especially one heavily based on real life creatures.

I have to go now. I'll comment on the rest of yours soon.

[ashton]

mysterian - wow, amazing. So much movement and tension.

Hamsta - the best I have seen from you in 3months, simple
yet it has weight and direction, well done

silentbrain - that’s a confident composition, I like the
flying vehicles and the impression of things.


Special mention

rubicante This reminds me of an explorers sketch, you have a difficult
mix going on which seems to be a very 50 50 blend of the two animals.
The scales although b/w look like real scales. A bold sketch

[Rogzilla]

Extremely quick, about an hour and a half. Look, its in INK! Not sure I really got the Hippo part enough but I think it is pretty! ^_^

[cw]

cheers for the crits and stuff guys, i'll do better next time.

[mysterian]

Nice work Refrakt! Welcome to the party!

[refrakt]

thanks mysterian

[Tommoy]

Everybody: great job. My favourites:
Mitze: i can feel the jungle admosphere.
Mysterian: again, awsome light.
SilentBrain: apart from the little heart it's monstrous.
Dan: the movement is great.
Moai: this one looks like it realy exists.

[William b. Hand]

ogar555 - Good blend. Doesn't feel like it's planted on the ground, but the attention to the mouth and folds of flesh, and the ratio of hippo to croc, is very nice.

Apocalypse_Rex - I think what your creature suffers from most is the lack of depth in the head... it looks flat. I think if you consider the brightness of the other highlights, you'll realize that a lot more of the side of the face would be illuminated. That illumination would be the key to communicating the switch in orientation of the head to the body. Something to consider... I really think you would do well to go back into it and mess around a bit further, because I believe the results will surprise you.

DrFx - Nice enough for a quick one.

Tommoy - He he... curious that you chose to switch the colours. I wish there were some little toes and fingers to add some detail to the extremities, and give a little detail to the areas other than the head. Nice job on the upper teeth area.

FabioX - Might help to have added a bit of green haze over the parts that are further from us... A decent design, although you gotta be careful about orienting a thing perfectly from the side like this, and it might help somewhat to include a glimpse of the other foot and hand.

Mitze - Real nice water, environment, and creature! I like the way you show some hint of the beast beneath the water, and also the way you highlighted the area where the water connects. I do agree with Moai about the placement, and wonder if doing some thumbs first might have helped with that.

Eetwartti - Hmm, kinda simple... It's cute that you made it look ticked off.

stefd - This is really too brief of a sketch. Try spending an hour or so on these. Use of reference might be advised, also... (hooves?)

mysterian - That's a fun one! Seems like it might be more interested in a larger bait... I'm rather confused by where the nostrils are located, because it looks like there are 2 sets.

Vitreous - The hindquarter area's a bit discombobulated, and I'm not really thrilled with the dirty pastels, but it's a decent design and has a cute bird.

rubicante - Kinda huggable. Reminds me of a fat wiener dog, know what i mean? Nice ears and top of head.

Sunny - Cute. I like the shape and texture of the head. The rest of the body's nor very well realized, and the shadowing makes it look like this creature is hovering over the ground... Maybe not "special", but a reasonable offering, nonetheless. One last: Try avoiding the pure white background, and maybe toss in a hint of environment (what's the scale?).

silentbrain - Wow, that's pretty damn cool! Although it looks like it has a white, wooly body, and the leftmost leg doesn't read real well, the overall image is great. I love the head/mouth/heart, and the fantastic animation of the tanks flying through the air. Great tanks, and the long horizontal shape of the pic works well to further communicate the great scale of this thing.

dan liimatta - Wonderful head! The environment's a little wonky, and the placement of the figures is a little confusing, but the mouth and expression of this beast is just so great. Nicely done.

Hamsta - Well, I really like the idea here, but I feel like i'm looking at a cropped image. Chopping the top off just doesn't make any sense to me, and I wish we could see where the head meets the water.

eblu - Hmm... The colours are a bit intense... might wanna take the saturation down a couple notches. Pose is a bit stiff, and mighta been helped by doing some preliminary sketches. Here and there you do a good job of describing the form, particularly in the ribcage area.

Mr. Crow - Like I was mentioning to FabioX... Resist the temptation to draw the thing flat on from the side, unless it's really called for. Also, although you show a bit of the teeth on the other side, you don't show the other side of the jaw hinge thingy... I like the blending of the two animals in the head... you've captured aspects of both and combined them in a natural way.

refrakt - Welcome! A very curious image... It'd be nice if we were a little closer to the lamp, and you could also crop the sides. Looks like an amusing creature. Maybe some more hippo-like elements would've been good... this strikes me as just a fat croc. Nice jorb on the tail and the pose in general.

Moai - Beautiful! What can I say? No crits at all on this... There's such a convincing feeling of the weight and motion... The bird for scale is perfect, the environment is simple, but elegant... the structure of the thing is well thought out, and there's just an overall sense that this is a real creature. I love it. Well done!

Rogzilla - Nice bold strokes and there's personality in the face. It feels uncomfortably unfinished, though... You should at least suggest that the body continues on off the page. Plane doesn't work.

Overall great turnout for this one, guys.
Very nice to see!