ROUND #205. Bioluminescent Invertebrate - WIPs thread

[Si_Swe]

For more info and details about the rules go here:

http://www.concepyart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=110879


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ROUND #205 - Bioluminescent Invertebrate

topic:

ROUND#205 - Bioluminescent Invertebrate

Glowing in the darkness is this strange breed of creature. An invertebrate which bathes the world around it in it’s own light. Design an invertebrate creature that is at least 50-75% bioluminescent. Try and think about reasons for creatures to be bioluminescent. What advantages would this creature gain from being almost entirely glowing? We'll keep it pretty open this week, so go to it!

Deadline:

Wednesday, March 9th 9:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

finals go here:http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212221

[jumei]

Here's my quick sketch and ref sheet. I'm going for a small fetus-like creature that lives in a bigger protective body. Both have no bones at all.

[retter]

Cool topic,

My idea is a creature that lives in a jungle where most of the plants are luminescent and it has a plant-like growth on its back to protect it from aerial predators.

[Eclectix]

This topic is so open for interpretations, it should be fun to see what people create!

I kept tinkering with plankton-like gas giant floaters, but they weren't quite doing the trick. Then it occurred to me to create the thing which feeds upon them instead. Inspiration was a combination of filter-feeding whales, squid, and jellyfish. I'm going to try working on some variations of this idea now.

[Andrew Sonea]

Oh man, this is very similar to a topic I was gonna use later for Teen Challenge. Guess that's out out the question now haha.

Felt like sketching something up for this. Never participated in a COW before...it's about time I do. That being said, I don't really like this sketch very much, and it breaks the blob rule and is more that 75% bioluminescent. So a bit of a fail.

[Eclectix]

I think the key is that it not be a "shapeless" blob. Your creature has definition and even symmetry, I think it would be fine.

I've been working up a composition for mine. I think these are going to be communal creatures which hunt in small groups so I'm going to portray more than one of them. I've sketched up a couple of them breaching through a cloud of small bioluminescent creatures which make up a large part of their diet.

[retter]

Colour Update!
Won't be able to work for the next 48 so I thought I'd just leave this here, looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with over the next few days

[jumei]

Trying out some basic colors.

[jsn]

Didn't plan cow204 very well, last 2 days went to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, family trip, great fun!
Anyway, these cow's are great!
Here's mine so far!
Comments are muchly appreciated!

[zy.]

Here's my quick sketch and ref sheet. I'm going for a small fetus-like creature that lives in a bigger protective body. Both have no bones at all.

There is a creature that does something rather like this. Larvaceans secrete a mucus house for themselves that is hundreds of times their own size. They then use their small, tadpole like body to propel the house through the open ocean, food particles get stuck in the house and are eaten up by the Larvacean. If the house gets too dirty or broken they ditch it and make a new one in no time. Also, they have no sexual openings, they store their gametes in their heads. Eventually the pressure becomes so great that their heads explode, killing them in the process. That's how they reproduce! Their also very beautiful, and the houses can be the size of footballs. The little arrow in the middle is the actual animal:

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explor...a/oik_lab.html

[jumei]

@zy.: That sounds awesome! I didn't know a creature like that existed. But then again, there are so many interesting critters on earth we don't know about

...I do hope my idea is still acceptable for this COW haha :-)

[Si_Swe]

Andrew Sonea - I'm pretty sure you can squeeze some formed creature out of that start. Also, I adjusted the brief to say "at least 50-75%" bioluminescent, so 100% bioluminescent is A-OK with me.

[jumei]

Wow! Drawing translucent and bio luminescent creatures is so hard! I'm enjoying it tho I've learned so much from this drawing already. I'm really curious what this topic will bring forward.

[Eclectix]

Looking good jumei, I like the colors so far.


Here's a progress shot of mine. Like my creatures often do, these have continued to evolve as I've worked on them. Suddenly I realized that these creatures are actually symbionts; the front half was once an arthropedian creature, and the back part was a soft-bodied tentacled creature, neither of which could live to adulthood on their own. They join together as planktonic floaters and are then fused together into a single creature to the extent that even their nervous systems are united.

They flash ever-changing bioluminous patterns on their bodies to communicate with one another during hunting, courtship, etc, as well as to confuse and excite their prey into forming tightly packed schools for easier pickings. These two are working together by grasping tentacles together at the ends as they breach through a school of small floaters. As they pull away from one another, their grasped tentacles will act as a net to snare large numbers of prey.

[Si_Swe]

Hey guys, just dropping off a quick WIP while the night is young.

[JanJager]

Si_Swe
Great start Interesting how the eye tend to fill in the parts that cant bee seen.
Eclectix
Beautiful creatures. perhaps at this point the white takes some attention from the creatures.
jumei
Very nice Lovely creature. Interesting to see how you will go on with it.
jsn
It makes me happy. Keep on render it out.
retter
Nice creature and clear use of the luminescence
Andrew Sonea
I like the mystic feeling keep on render it out.

[skullbeast]

looking cool!


I'm not so sure folks know what an invertebrate is? cause there are a couple already up here that arnt... definition....An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone.

[MA-Simon]

Hey all!

Just finished some tutorials and then decided to jump in too.
Took part2 times in a cow, but never came round to the "final" step, hope i can get things done this time.´!

My idea is based on an insect-like creature which enlighs the plants in his moving area. Helping it to find food etc. Sort of like an butterfly, but without wings.

Edit: "invertebrate" *arrrrrrrr*

Here are some wips:

[skullbeast]

work in progress

[Eclectix]

Plenty of good stuff in here. Thanks JanJager for the tip! I'm trying to figure out how these guys are illuminated; I imagined the bioluminescence being something they can change at will as a form of communication.

[Si_Swe]

jumei - Very nice, it feels nice and loose. Making the areas where the folds overlap lighter (additive) in tone, will help establish the fact that the membrane is lambent.
JanJager - The head you have there is great, but it looks like the creature has a very defined backbone, thus wouldn't be an invertebrate.
MA-Simon - Your illustration is really beautiful, but it's difficult to discern the actual creature from the background elements. Since this is a creature design competition it needs to be a little more defined.
Skullbeast - Good stuff. Only concern I have right now is that I only see the antenna and the spots on the sides being bioluminescent. I need at least 50% bioluminescent for this one.
Eclectix - Good sense of movement. I assume you aren't done applying the luminescence, but there needs to be a little bit more in my opinion, push it just a bit further.

Here's some basic colours thrown down on mine... Haven't had a lot of chance to work this week.

[JanJager]

good updates.
Thanks for the crit. I had to figure out a new design. did not know what a invertebrate is

[skullbeast]

Si swe - thanks I'm going to light up the wings also.

[Eclectix]

Too bad JanJager, I was looking forward to seeing the finished creature. I hope you'll finish it on your own anyway, it reminded me of both a flounder and a chameleon at the same time!

Thanks for the crit, Si_Swe! I've been pushing the bioluminescence quite a bit. I'm still not done with it yet, though I'm getting a lot closer I think.

I don't know how to make it obvious that they are gas cloud fliers instead of marine creatures, but I may add a background with moons and stars or something like that. I just don't want to do anything that would distract from the creatures themselves.



ETA; pay no attention to that odd blackish dot by the right-hand creature's forward eye; it's an artifact that I didn't notice when I rearranged the layers. It will not be there on the finial piece.

[volscalkur]

Nice topic!
I'm going to have to come up with something for this one for sure.
Unfortunately I haven't been on CA in a very long time, but I'm working hard on improving my art and doing these weekly contests has always been awesome and a great way to get solid feedback and improve when I have done them in the past.

retter your creature is fantastic! Love the bioluminescent mushroom idea!

Ok off to draw something...

[Si_Swe]

Going for a bit of a new approach... started over this afternoon.

[DmnSpawn]

Hi all , I would like to humbly submit my creature.
It's a Stellar Wurm, it has a hood that it uses to entrance it's prey with a flickering star show with a swirling milky-way nebula thanks to Bio-luminescent bacteria it keeps inside a sack on it's chest to hopelessly hypnotize it's smaller furry prey. These bacteria also gather in higher concentration in pores on the skin that appear as bright as stars. It hunts in the desert dunes, on small nocturnal prey at night where it's display is most effective.

(The tube like body will have more area's of bio-luminescence before complete.)


@ volscalkur - This is my first Cow, so hop on into the contest your not alone.

[volscalkur]

Thanks DmnSpawn!
Liking your idea so far!

Everyone's is looking really good!

...So I was all excited last night and started drawing up my creature until my fiancee kindly pointed out that fish are vertebrates ...which I knew of course lol...so it was back to the drawing board.
Here is my bioluminescent fish for what it's worth:


I gave it another try with an invertebrate, here is what I got so far:

This creature uses it's glowing body and bright lantern appendage to attract prey in the icy, watery depths it calls home.

The bioluminescent factor was very hard to bring across, and it's not where I want it to be yet. I need to work it some more.
Crits welcome!

Thanks!

[Jabberwock xeno]

Oh man, I just found out about this one today.
Tch, and I had just finished on a glowing worm too! Had I known about this weeks topic before I had down it, I would have used it.

XD

[Jabberwock xeno]

Oh man, I just found out about this one today.
Tch, and I had just finished on a glowing worm too! Had I known about this weeks topic before I had down it, I would have used it.

XD