Dire Prawn

[artkitty]

Done monster manual style



original sketch is here

[Ladyviv]

Now that is cool looking. I want stats!

[Mr. Pale]

I saw this and laughed so hard milk shot out my nose! I just had an argument with a friend of mine who truly believes there actually were "Dire" creatures running around at one time.(Too much lead paint as a child there)

I told him if he could bring me evidence of "Dire Shrimp" or "Dire Minnows" I'd give him a hundred bucks! Damn looks like I'm out some cash.

Awesome work. You should do a series of these... I suggest a "Dire Minnow" next.

[bwkeough]

ah cool pic, nice to see a finish of this sketch! So this is a flying shrimp that can kill me? Good presentation, too.


mr. pale: hate to burst your bubble: http://www.naturalworlds.org/wolf/hi...anis_dirus.htm If you google "dire wolf" you get a bunch of hits, half of which are D&D creature pages, but the other half are legit natural history/zoology.

[Mr. Pale]

bwkeough, I'm aware that there was actually a so called "Dire wolf." However, my friend's argument is that it was huge, as big as a horse. Sorry the dire wolf was 125-175lbs that isn't even as big as my dog right now (New fondland/st bernard mix 180lbs, he's a big puppy). Also according to him there were dire bears, cats, squirrells, monkeys... ect. Each of wich is a giant version of todays creatures.

If you can find me a dire squirrell I'll give you the hundred dollers.

The bubble has yet to burst

[defcombeta]

ive been waiting to see some of your stuff on CA, this looks natural and the colour tones look real and well placed. it reminds me of some of the early life from this planet, post the genetic soup stage. hell if i remember correct the fly once had 4 sets of claws( and some other nasty pieces) that evolved off according to some history books as dangers to it decreased.

the presentation makes me think of a Victorian collectors watercolour of the creature, just after he has stuck the real thing in his stuffed animal cabinet( well it would be in character).

great stuff as always artkitty

john Mac

[Perfect Organism]

Also according to him there were dire bears, cats, squirrells, monkeys... ect. Each of wich is a giant version of todays creatures.

If you can find me a dire squirrell I'll give you the hundred dollers.

The bubble has yet to burst

There are quite a few giant versions of modern animals in the fossil record, such as aurochs (big hairy cows), mammoths (significantly larger than modern elephants), cave bears and the various saber toothed cats, not to mention the weird stuff like giant carnivorous sloths. I think there were some really big crocodiles and sharks at some point in prehistory, as well as various large insects.

At various times there have been relative advantages in some environments to being really large and various types of animal have taken advantage of that at different times and evolved into giant variants.

At the moment we are a bit short of really impressive megafauna, due to prehistoric man's apparent tendency to kill them in massive numbers, although we do have a few blue whales left (which are the largest animals ever as far as I know).

Of course there were also variants of modern animals which were much smaller than modern species, like those cute little primitive horses.

As far as I know the only animal with a 'dire' prefix attached to it is the dire-wolf, which as you say wasn't exceptionally large by canine standards and appears to actually resemble some kind of lightweight hyena. I think that the scientists who discovered it must have wanted to get a bit of attention so they chose a really cool name for a quite everyday creature.

[fukifino]

Dire prawn..haha, sweet! Although it looks more like a wacky mutation, given the pincer tail and wings, but hey, regardless of what you call it, it's a bitchen picture. I could definately see this in a Monster Manual. Submit to WotC! Hehe...too bad MMIII is probably already finished, seeing as how it's being released in the next month or so.

[WildSpruceMoose]

I laughed when I saw the name. Cool pic though, love the rendering and all =D
I like seeing how you went from the thumbnails which were a few quick lines into this fully rendered, detailed machine of death =)

Funny little fact about giant sloths is that in a very short time (relatively for evolution anyway) they turned into tiny sloths are all around and the larger breed disappeared. My theory is for whatever reason, the giant sloths evolved rapidly into the smaller creatures, however maintained the slow movements of their larger bretheren. The giant sloths were not the type of creature you would want to run into, very agressive and powerful. Some claim the behemoth sloths still lurk in Southern America. O.O Just my 2 cents.

[Gilead]

Mmmm I'm getting out some dire butter and a vorpal skillet right now. Can't wait!

[Mr. Pale]

HOLY CRAP!!!!

My office was just overrun with GIANT "DIRE" SQUIRELLS!!!!!!!

Looks like I owe someone a hundred bucks. Incidently we should all be afraid of Dire squirells....there after our nuts you know.

[Claudia]

Very cool and funny image!!!

[bwkeough]

ah, ok, I see now that mr pale's friend thought that TSR's monster manuals were factual.

I'm sorry I helped hijack your thread, art kitty. Are you planning to add to your zoo? I'd like to see more.

[artkitty]

bwkeough - it's cool, I had the same conversation with my gaming buddies about the existence of dire wolves. It was part of the inspiration for this illo in fact :3

everyone else, thanks for the comments. Glad you're getting a kick out of this guy!

Maybe I'll work on some more precambrian megafauna next week...

[Mr. Pale]

I too apologize for hijacking the thread. Just thought the idea of a dire prawn to be hysterical.

Still think you should do a series. Dire cricket, dire minnow, and the best for last a Dire Midget!

Great work artkitty.

[Tiina]

Heh heh, that's great! The name made me giggle.

[Marie]

This is great! I love the presentation, the creature, everything

Going to show this to my d&d group today, I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it. I would LOVE to see more if you plan on doing any.

[Darkstream]

I like this design, looks like that muppet King Prawn got hit with gamma rays or something and went nuts. hehe. It reminds me of the giant demon/mosquito creatures from Blood Omen II. had the wings and and claws and body shape only they were a sickly green and spewed noxious gas at you.

[BlueMech]

lol awesome! this totally beats the Dire Flea I made! you need to post its stats so we can use it!