C.O.W. - #006: Digger Creature - VOTING!!!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #006 VOTING

Topic: Digger Creature

Deadline for the voting: Tuesday, 22.03.2005

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=40009






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coondoggle:
concept: The Sand Swilling Castle Fiend
Indiginous to deserts across the globe (Language may vary with location).
The sensitive skin of this creature prevents it from living a diurnal lifestyle and owning beach front property. Salt and sun kills these fleshy creatures quite easily. To combat this they shovel themselves under the sand where they can stay moist and cool during the day. After foraging each night the Castle Fiend builds elaborate structures in the sand before day breaks. The structures help it fend of the heat. The more sand the better! The intricacy of the structural design is very important as well, for you see the ladies love a phat pad and are attracted to the coolest areas in the sand. The female won't see her mate's lair until the evening, so she spends all day burrowing, searching for cool napping areas. If a male can keep her in his lair until evening it is a good sign! Though when they emerge at night the male may be dissappointed to find his female rejects the decor of her would be home.
One note on anatomy:
Protruding eye stalks peek above the sand at the slightest disturbance, always on the alert for danger. Walking among these animals during the day is like an amusing game of peek a boo. Desert children often throw things near Castle Fiends to see who can get the closest without arrousing one. *ahem* Rather, having the creature poke it's eyes above the ground.
One more note:
Desert children are excellent sources of tiny Castle Fiend sized plastic shovels and pails.

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magicgoo:
concept: This little guy is a xenopod, a distant and ancient relative of the armadillo and sloth. He has boney forearm plates that help hip to dig through the soil where he can find delicious ants and termites. He has a very long snout to hold his long tongue, which is perfect for licking up insects. He also has a boney jaw and chin for packing the earth tightly around his tunneled home under the ground. He's generally harmless, but very shy, and may try to backhand and claw his predators if they get too close. He's approximately 4 feet hight at the shoulder.
Please don't frighten him!

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Dougbot:
concept: The Rotwood Burrower lives around the perimeter of the Yunogoth Jungle. It's on omnivore that feeds off of batanka grub, roots and nutrients in the soil. The soil is passed through the tubes on it's body. Nutrients are pulled from that soil as it passes through the burrowers body. Then is expelled behind it, covering most of the tunnel it had just created. This way predators can't catch them from behind.
Rotwood Burrowers are about the size of a large dog, and have nasty tempers. Think warthog or wolverine. Usually though they avoid settlers, and contact with them rarely ends in death of either party involved.

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Matt Dixon:
concept: The Rocksnapper's natural habitat is the barren surface of the planet Subtarboria. This wasteland of low mountains and parched earth is ravaged by dust storms and high winds, but conceals a surprisingly diverse ecosystem of fungi and invertebrates in the water-soaked substrata of porous rock a few feet below the surface. The creature uses it's powerful foreclaws and beak to smash it's way through the stony soil and rock on the surface to feed on the rich subterranean food source.
It's spiny back and collar protect it from predators while it's head is below ground, and the Rocksnapper has evolved hindclaws of different sizes to help it retain traction in the debris of gravel and shattered stone that surround it.
Interesting Rocksnapper fact 1 : The creature intentionally ingests a certain amount of soil and rock when feeding, which is 'digested' to help strengthen it's tough carapace and claws.
Interesting Rocksnapper fact 2 : Despite it's rugged appearance, the clouds of fine dust that blow constantly across the surface of Subtarboria mean the creature's hard extremeties are polished to a glass-like finish.
Interesting Rocksnapper fact 3 : Wind blowing through the Rocksnapper's spines produces a low, reverberating hum which the creature appears to be able to control by moving it's head and spine. Research into the Rocksnapper's 'song' as a means of communication have been inconclusive.

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fungi:
concept: Bone Backed Jelly Tunneller
The bone backed jelly tunneller is well known for its hugely venomous underbelly. that being its only defence mechanism apart from its rock like shell which covers its main bodily muscle. the huge muscle spans the whole length of the creatures body and is used to power its rock crunching teeth mounted just above its "mouth". the mouth itself has rows and rows of black teeth designed to chew up dirt and smaller rocks. dirt being its main food (it also likes to eat plant roots) it chews it up and sucks out all of the moisture and nutrients before passing it out its tail, thus covering its tracks. the venomous slime which covers its underbelly not also provides a defence but also a lubrication for its body to pass through the ground smoothly. the venom itself will almost certainly kill you if you happen to eat it but is quite harmless to the touch.

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JoBeSu:
concept: The Double warted digger worm" is a hard-working digger that spends most time of the day and night digging maze like tunnel systems ,Gladly under smaller towns where they look for foad soaked into the ground from pubs and resaurants...they dont mind some beer spill from the pubs, Intoxicated they love to play around in their mazes, Which sometimes leads to copulating with the opposite sex. Joy of the day is when they can look upp from the ground and enjoy some sunshine after a good meal...or other activity.
They are nearly blind which make them look sleepy but they rarely sleeps, they are very hyperactive creatures.

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sone_one:
concept: Tunnel Rat
first to be heard of during vietnam war, scientists got very excited bout the rumors, mistaking it as the existence of a new creature.
about 30 years later, now a strange animal has been spotted on madagaskar island. dedicated to the embarrassing fault of the 70ties its been named tunnel rat (lat. specus rattus).
its about 4 times the size of its relatives the house rats (lat. rattus rattus) and living in wide tunnels, it digs below the surface, which fact explains its been spotted that late. its diet probably mostly consists of maggots and worms (lat. vermis).
scientists are still about to explore this newly found animal and its habitat.

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Pixeldragoon:
concept: He's got shells like an armadillo to prevent scratches, a tail to balance if he gets up on hind legs, and monster claws for getting through the earth and gravel. His schnoz is strealined so he is aerodynamic. Why it helps in digging is beyond me.

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Scarn:
concept: Ships Log: Captain Sam Solar:
"Caretaker of Emaruul" :: As I made my way towards the 'Hell Horse Nebula Science Space Station', or the H2.N.S3, I took a short detour through the woods of Emaruul, hoping to catch a glimpse of the three setting suns, but my timing was far too early and I arrived mid-day. My little adventure was nearly wasted until I spotted a 'Caretaker' planting some forest extensions in a nearby field. Usually these giant creatures are busy deep within the forests gathering sick or dying plant life onto its back, nurturing them back to proper health. I took a few documental pictures with my robo-cam to be sure people would believe my story, and so that I could remember such an experience through my greying years. I read somewhere that the large drill-like structure in the middle of the Caretaker could be created from the sick plant's roots as they grow stronger, that tiny arms inside the inner ring adjust and form the roots into the tightly wound drill, so that when the time came for them to be re-planted, the Emaruul Caretaker could then wedge them deep into the ground, stronger than ever. Perhaps these trees I saw in the middle used to be sickly? It would be a good assumption. I will have to show my new images to the scientists at H2.N.S3, I'm sure they'll love to study them for further understanding of the worlds around us.

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JeffZNY:
concept: Alas, what horror the flames of passion hath wrought! The love-child of a drunken coal miner and a hideously seductive ogre, the tragic hybrid Orthranx is a walking advertisement for the morning after pill. Taunted by the human community for his horrific face, and shunned by the ogre clan for his dashing good looks and stellar dental hygiene, Orthranx lives a lonely existence in the Earth's very womb, passing the days by compulsively digging a labyrinth of tunnels right underneath our feet. Responsible for more cave-ins than a natural disaster, time and time again Orthranx has enacted his vengeance upon those who would drive him underground. But who is the true villain here? The tortured monster, the cruel society, or the inebriated artist who concocted it all?

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rev:
concept: DESCIMATION GRUB
This newly discovered grub takes "root" in soil and sucks all of the nutrients out. Once it has exhausted one area it moves on to more fertile areas, descimating vast amounts of land. It has unusually well developed appendages, which allow to to travel much more ease than previously discovered grubs ever have.

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lukavi:
concept: Though it resembles an overgrown house spider, the wandering root is really just a plant. This transient root tree spends its life tirelessly digging tunnels deep within the earth. Using it's tough, slithering tendrils, it burrows underground in a constant search for its food source Cummingtonite (it actually exists!), a rare mineral found miles below the crust. It resurfaces once a year to absorb sunlight, about the time when the bud found in the center of its body blossoms. The bud is essential for energy storage. For a full week the wandering root will bask in the sunlight allowing the bud to recharge before it can begin its year-long subterranean trek.

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Uziel:
concept: Giant Rockdigger
This creature lives in the rocky deserts of AlTh'yr. It has a massive forhead and metallic teeth to dig its way thru sand and rock. It feeds on everything that crosses its path (minerals,other underground creatures, miners, younger Rockdiggers). Waiting in its labarynth of tunnels (depth: 10-95m) it can pick up movement with its sensitive membranes behind the eyes. It has hollow tubes running around the membrane area to amplify the smallest vibration.
Mankind succeeded only once to kill an adult G.Rockdigger, using a small nuclear weapon. The specimen was estimated to be over 325 years old. Scientists believe they can become at least 400 years old. They also assume that to attract female rockdiggers the male hits solid rock at full speed causing local earthquakes...

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[Fozzybar]

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leckronium:
concept: Spade-billed Platysaurus
The Spade-billed Platysaurus was a creature that roamed the earth during the time of the dinosaurs. Archaeologists have only discovered bits and pieces such as plates and claws near what is now the Grand Canyon. It is thought that this creature may have been responsible for digging the start of this well known landmark while searching for meals. It's bill was used just like a shovel to start holes and move large amounts of dirt quickly along with its claws and a questionable horn protruding from its lower jaw. The plates on the tail could have been used to loosen rock walls or large dirt mounds.
The Platysaurus didn't have very many enemies since it spent most of its time in the ground out of harms way. It is thought that this creature had an obsession with digging. Sometimes digging for no apparent reason for days. According to some archaeologists, it is said to have dug so deep that it would become trapped and have to survive on seeping groundwater and insects and worms until it could dig its way to another place.

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grimmy:

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flaptraps:
concept: This guy is known as a green lumpy. Despite it's furious look and killer instinct it moves at a alarming slow rate by lofting it's fat head and rapper like grill through the depths of the earth. Dragging itself like a dead person would drag itself, if a dead person could drag itself, itself would drag,. . . . drag. You can find this creature digging from Malbone ND, to somplace in China... usually it doesn't make it there but i just made up a spot for it to go for the story.
Fun Fact: you may think those chubby things on the side are like legs, however they are legs, . . . and there chubby.
Fun Fact: Malbone ND isn't a real place, I made it up.
Fun Fact: Malbone ND IS a real place, I just lied to you.

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vigostar:
concept: There lies an ancient myth of a warlock named Arotraz. Myth has it that this evil warlock once tormented the small town of Slaughtersville. He would kidnap the residents of this small town in order to create his evil spells which he thought would give him enternal life. The towns people eventually captured this evil warlock and sentenced him to life of solitude in the "hole with no name" to live out the rest of his life. Rumor has it that every 9 years he would summon the digging creature named "the digger" that would escavate dead bodies. It is told that for every body the creature dug up it would give him one more day of life. The digging creature is controlled by the "mask of darkenss". This mask allows the warlock to have complete control of this creature. March 27th is the date for the next rising of the creature. so, make sure you pay attention to the graves of your loved ones. Visit them. Please! Make sure that they are there. And if they are not.. Let all your fellow CA'ers know. That he's Back!

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Helzon:
concept: Think you have a mother lode in your back yard? Always wondered if crude oil and other precious gems were but a few feet away?...Would you like to live the life you always wanted? But the thought of back breaking work while fighting heat stroke and muscle fatigue can't quite motivate you....well Dust Mite Industries L.L.C. are proud to present "L'il Prospector®"!
Our motto: "Easier Living through re-engineered and behavior controlled Bio-technology!"
Here are just some of the incredible features you can expect when you order your L'il Prospector®:
Compact size: L'il Prospector® is only the size of a Great Dane and merely a tenth of the weight, so even the little lady can help. It also comes with a great built in E-Z carry handle along the spine.
Earth Moving Power: The L'il Prospector® is equipped with naturally occuring carbide nails that need no sharpening and yet plow through the toughest stone and rock, but gentle enough not to burst or tear underground sewer pipes or electrical lines. It can also strip mine a football field size patch of earth in merely an afternoon.
Programmable Memory Sacs: L'il Prospector® will naturally find any precious mineral or sediment..but for those that really want to fine tune their searching potential...The L'il Prospector® can be gently stimulated by a customized Dust Mite Industries stun gun (optional and may be seperately billed) to hone in on specific gems, metals and precious stones....."they really think it tickles"~claims Harvinia Terwiggins...of Pockhick AK.
But best of all, The L'il Prospector® comes with not one but two! glow-in the-dark super strong membranal pouches to haul your treasures back to the surface and right to your back door...
So call now! 1-888-DIG-DEEP...our operators are standing by...Sorry No Checks or C.O.D's...Limit 1 per family.....Not available in CA, OR, or IA...
"L'il Prospector®" is sold "as is" and the buyer will hold Dust Mite Industries and its subsidiaries harmless in the unlikely event that the "L'il Prospector®" destroys adjacent properties, civil and federal, is disabled due to repeated shocks, or becomes psychotically violent, resulting in buyer's death and/or dismemberment (full or partial). All mass infestations will be upon the buyer to remediate.

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xia:
concept: MONTUCKET
Origin: Ruby Dust Jungle, Hell
Description:
-The Montucket is cursed with bad hearing and vision. This digging boar from Hell is sensitive to light, so it usually hunts at night. It uses it’s tendrils to feel vibration from above it. A dense system of nerves travel through the tendrils into the Montuckets thick body. Even the slightest vibration from above is felt. For over a hundred feet the Montucket can detect and identify its prey. This is helped in part by its amazing olfactory system.
-The tendrils also are filled with poison tip spines. When they burst out of the ground and grab its prey, poison spreads through the victim’s body causing paralysis.
-Its strong front arms are tipped with titanium like claws, allowing it to dig through heavy and dense dirt and stone. The mid legs help propel the Montucket through the ground. They also serve as support for its bulky midsection.

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Fozzybar:
concept: Gravedigger Mole
Found under the earth in areas around cemeteries, this mole feeds by the buried corpses...it smells like carrion and has no natural enemies because of that...scientists are not sure about the little spikes on their backs, but they assume that they are some sort of a sense organ to locate dead organisms...

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Xpose:
concept: What has four eyes, has razor sharp claws, and hairy all over? Yep it's your mother..... ok time to get down to business the Cashous is an animal unlike any other. It has two sets of eyes, yet still it cannot see so well. Instead of seeing the way we do it sees variations in heat to get around as well as using it's amazing sense of smell to hunt it's little prey. It spends 80% of it's time underground in passage ways it's dug searching for grub worms and other insects. If one could fit into one these passage ways they would most definitely get lost in the labyrinth it calls home. It was once said that if there is a way to dig to china the Cashous would be the one to do it.

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bRØk3n_sPiRiT:
concept: Nalathnian Seeder
The Nalathi people of Gonwanda are an ethnic group native to the Gonwandan region, their main activity is farming. Generations ago the last of their cattle died of plague. Since the Nalathi relied on cattle for food, the sudden shortage caused massive famine.
Luckily, they began to tame large land-dwelling crustacean arthropods, similar to the smaller type lobsters found miles away at sea. These huge creates, nearly the size of two and sometimes three dogs, proved to be a great food source, thus became the new 'cattle'. Lobster ranches quickly developed.
But what is truly special about these animals is their ability to burrow and travel below ground. That's why the Nalathi people use them for farming and seeding the fields, hence their name "seeders". The seeders prepare the soft soils for the different crops to be planted (since the cows had died, doing this personally took too long and was too arduous, the seeders now made the task a much quicker enterprise).
In addition to being food sources and farming aids, the seeders after consumed, leave a hard external shell, which is used by the Nalathi in crafting several different tools, accessories, and furniture, from tables to chairs, to door frames.
The only problem the seeders give the farmers is that they usually tend to burrow and escape their corrals, something the farmers can do little about, except give them chase and round them up!

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Gloklund:
concept: The Rogue Island Flesh Digger
This creature is a rare Flesh Digger. It is only indeginous to Rogue Island and only lives off the blood of crusty sea faring Rogue Islanders. Heavy populations of these creatures live along the Scarborough coastline and can be easily transmitted over a gusty sea-breeze. Once attached to a fleshy Rogue Islander they "Dig" in past the epidermis and under the muscles to make their home. Here the Flesh Digger's lifespan lasts approximatly 48 hours, just enough time to add to the wonderful complexion of the Rogue Island natives.

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Beatnik:
concept: This is a Desert-native Sandweller. He sleeps at night under the sand when it's cold and only comes out during the day to get his body temperature back up. He uses his front spiked appendages to break up and push away the harder sand clumps and rock and then basically slowly swims through the sand with his lower legs. The feet act as small shovels to push the sand back and move himself further along underground. Beneath his hard protective shell and leathery skin is an enormous air reserve sac that he uses to breathe from when sleeping underground. The Sandweller goes into a sort of hybernation when sleeping to use minimal air so he can exist underground for long periods of time. He loves Frank Sinatra and prefers Pepsi over Coke.

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[Fozzybar]

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Arri.:
concept: "Krem Katerpillarous" is a creature that lives in the volcanic land depths. The duration of his life is 38 hours; during this time is digging like a mad to fecundate de female "Krem Katerpillarous"creature.

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stormeffex:
concept: cave monkey
The six limbed cave monkey spends most of its time underground, building huge caverns to house its huge family. The first two arms are used to dig into the earth and they are sharp claws that are as hard as iron. the next set of arms are long and used to toss the debris out of the way. The legs of this cave monkey attach themselves to the ceiling of the cave and the powerful grip can hold for hours while it's digging. The cave monkey walks with the first two set of arms, leaving the foot to hang in the air, ready to attach to ceilings at an instant.

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arteric:

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redehlert:
concept: Time Worm
The time worm, creator of worm holes, is known by space pirates as "Seraph". These fossorial creatures of space blend in with their environment due to the countless eyes seen as stars from a distance. Only when the Seraph prepares to depart one galaxy to go to the next do we understand why space pirates call them Seraph. Their paired claws begin to glow as a bright hot light able to separate the space/time continuim and pass into the next galaxy. This bright light makes the giant time worm appear angelic.
The rip in space takes time to 'heal' thus the worm holes. The mole-like digger claws above their space separating claws allow them to burrow into asteroids and comets to lay their eggs and also scourge for their food. They're also known to be rather pissed when disturbed.

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Genital_Eclipse:
concept: The Klogor starts out it's life born underground as a small maggot looking larvae.
It then begins to sprout small twig-like monkey tail arms that scoop the surrounding dirt
into it's pucker mouth. The Klogor grub lives directly off the dirt encompassing it's fat
pig bottom body.
The Klogor ages and grows eternally. The Klogor never moves, it's like an obese octopus leather beanbag
that does nothing but scoop kids into it's soft leather abyss. Well, instead of kids it's just dirt
that it suckles down it's pucker mouth.
The Klogor lives on and on until it eats the entire planet it's born on
leaving nothing but cold dark unrelenting star space. It then explodes into millions of small
maggot meteors that travel across the galaxies looking for more brown dirty earth to grow and die
on.
The only known incident of a Klogor dying before devouring the entire planet it resides on comes
from earth. A fairly famous spelunker named Datch McGown accidentally stumbled upon a Klogor
in the early 80's. Datch at the time was raving on sprouts and LSD when he mistaked a Klogor's
genitals for another cavernous route on a spelunking tour. Datch traversed inside the Klogor
not realizing that a Klogor can not sustain life with a little human in the junk. The Klogor
died and Datch was that much more an amazingly chisled man.

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[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!

[P E N Ricklund]

My vote went to arteric for the most original idea. I really loved it.
He came up with his own concept.
That idea bought a place in my heart

And to all of you other guys, keep it up. This is one of the most intresting things to check every week.

[Fozzybar]

I voted for JoBeSu...i love the rendering and the believable creature design...nice fresh colors as always...

Favs:

sone_one: Cool rendering!

Dougbot: Very weird anatomy...

magicgoo: I love the rendering...the back legs bothered me, they look like the creature would be handicapped when moving...

Gloklund: Nice twist on the topic...disgusting beast btw...

xia: Awesome color scheme and great execution...

arteric: Crazy concept...a little too crazy for my taste

Arri.: Your rendering style is amazing...your images always look like photographs, they have a great feeling of depth...and for myself i would dig like wild for females when i would die after 38 hours, hehe...

[Zafio]

Great entries again... and very difficult decision again...
The level (in all aspects) of this round was very very equal imho...
So I'm not sure if I should vote, it would be pretty random...

I missed this round deadline, but I HAD TO DO IT and here is my quick and late entry.
Basically, it thaws/discompose the ground sliding around...


Next!

[Uziel]

coondoggle: (6.5/10)
The children would love this. It's good material for bedtime stories.
The design is simple and the colouring realistic. Nice combo

Magicgoo: (7/10)
Original body-shape, nice colouring
Legs are a bit awkward, seems like one leg is twisted inwards and he is going to fall backwards standing on his legs like that.
The mouth seems to be endless so I cannot see a strong bony jaw to pack the earth.

Dougbot: (8/10)
Great design, nice colouring
Will be difficult moving that large upper body thru the earth.
Muscles of the arms are attached to the body in a strange way. It seems like those tubes are solid and you have put the arms right on top of them.
Huge hands, it will need some power-training to move them aside his body.

Matt Dixon: (8/10)
I can imagine this creature working in an old mine. Nice colouring
Shoulders are too small if it is able to smash thru rock and stone

fungi: (8.5/10)
Great colors, it’s glowing from the inside very cool. It would have been kick ass if the topic was sea-slugs or jelly creatures (I mean 10/10)
The hard top looks soft to me, perhaps more difference between colours for shell and soft part could have helped. It seems like the hard shell is under a small skin of jelly but it isn’t 100% clear to me.

JoBeSu: (10/10)
Tihi, I want to see this creature in an animated movie. It could be so funny and cute.

sone_one: (7/10)
Front paws are a bit exaggerated. You don’t need big claws to be able to dig, just look at a little mouse.

Scarn: (5/10)
looks like the matrix revolutions in nature. Good for bedtime stories. I know you are capable of better things…

grimmy: (6.5/10)
They really exist and are called mole rats you just left out the eyes.
http://www.lpzoo.com/involved/adopt/images/molerat.jpg

flaptraps: (7.5/10)
It looks dead to me, perhaps one of it defence mechanisms. Looking dead and smelling dead

Fozzybar: (7.5/10)
Nice colours. Big eyes are a not realistic for underground creatures and it doesn’t have hips.
Looks like you pasted the creature on top of your background.

Gloklund: (7.5/10)
Iiiieew...

Arri.: (9/10)
Good colouring, only legs look too small to support the full weight.

arteric: (9.5/10)
Extra bonus for the twist.

Genital_Eclipse: (8/10)
I like the comic style and the reference of size

[Helzon]

Voted for JoBeSu...The personality of the piece was extraordinary. This creature is damned near almost funny as the skrat. The finished product is tremendous.
It can't go without saying that
lukavi, fungi, Matt Dixon, dougbot, xia, arteric, genital_eclipse, gloklund, arri, coodoggle, flaptraps along with all the rest made this one of the most difficult voting rounds.....
Incredible effort and execution....
Here's to the next round!
Cheers!
Oh and by the way Jull: Dude, would have liked to have seen this sooner, great piece of work!

[TheTigerLily]

Voting for arteric. Very neat concept!

[mackerman]

jobesu's got my vote on this one.
nice painting, mate.

all of them were really spectacular this time, jobey's just seemed a little more unique. the style is great, comical yet with realistic values. again, nice work.

[fungi]

arri is the clear winner in my opinion. apart from the short description its the most solid concept out of the lot. and to be honest i dont see how or why arteric has any votes at all.

[LiL QoH]

I'd have to agree with Fungi on this one. Arri's is the only concept that looks like it would work mechanically for the suggested topic.

[Xpose]

It really depends on how you take the subject. If you mean giant massive holes yea Ari's got it but claws are just as good (moles are a good example of it). Yea arteric's doesn't really fit. It seems like it was meant more as a joke rather than a real submission but oh well.

[redehlert]

For me it was a toss up between Jobesu and Fungi, although I truly enjoyed the variation and direction (as well as execution) from all entries. The entries by the aforementioned were believable to me in their written conception as well as visual presentation. Gives me a better understanding of what it takes to make it happen. Happy voting all!
Cheers,
D

Here's to hoping I can get one vote....someday.

[Shamagim]

I voted for Jobesu, i really liked that "naked mole-rat" based concept, and the colors look great, as for people discussing about "Diggin mechanics". please consider that theres more than 5 types of it, depending in the body of the creature, and the emviroment wher this creature digs, in case of Arri´s creature, this would be the type of creature that could dig in hard stone caves( btw really nice concept and coloring ) , as for other that used rodents, well rodents dig in a relatively soft dirt, so dont use " it doent have the mechanics for digging" as a argument, be more open minded, as for Arteric, well it was funny and very original, but the drawing could have use more work....., ....ahh i also liked the one Rev made

Another original concept was the one Gloklund made, but it was just to creepy for my taste, just to think on a bug that could do that to me......O_O ( nice work )....Buy dont get me wrong im not kissing asses here, theres a few that i really didnt see competent for various reasons, so i cant really finish saying "good work everyone", ( to much honesty could put me in trouble, so im gonna stop here )

PD: i really dont like the idea of people actually grading the art ( like Uziel did)...just a personal thought.

[vigostar]

Im not sure why everyone is breaking on Arteric? I mean he created a Digger creature.. Thats his conceptual design... and I enjoyed his idea... My vote went to Helzon.. even though it was difficult to make out the head.. Especially and I still dont know where it is, i liked the concept..
Honorable mentions go to..
Jobesu, gloklund, arri, lukavi, sone one, dixon, dugbot, and fungi for the great renders...
Well, cant wait to see what next week has in store... Im going to try and work on mine.. Cuz I wont have time to do the following weeks..

[JoBeSu]

OOh thanx for the votes everyone! im bowing.
My vote goes to Fungi mostly becaus its a beautiful painting! I love the style.
But i like most of the concepts here,God work everyone.I would like to comment on all entrys but im to lousy at writing so it would take me a day or two.

[JeffZNY]

Dixon and Dougbot pulling in the donuts! The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Just kidding, of course...both their entries are awesome, but very similar...Put them aside Arri's beautiful entry and it's beginning to feel like the giant clawed digging creature is getting redundant. Alas, the perils of posting your work early in the week! But don't worry, it is looking like I'll have to wait for another week to get my first vote...But when I do, beers for everybody!

My vote went to arteric, but I was extremely torn. Right after JoBeSu posted his entry, I left a post stating that he was my early frontrunner. Then arteric threw down the gauntlet and it was on. His piece is not as technically spectacular as the rest, but in my opinion, it blows everyone else out of the water in the creativity department. Ultimately, I was still extremely tempted to vote for JoBeSu, but it looks like he's already running away with the voting a bit, so arteric it is!

[shadoman]

I am voting for JoBeSu.

The creature stands out as something that could really exist. The illustration was very clean and detailed. The little extras, like the falling dirt particles made it so much more real. I thought that the lighting/shadows were great too. It seemed like a cute little animal.

[wanda]

Arteric has my vote because the concept is most definitely out of the box, as they say.

[arteric]

OK, I voted for JoBeSu. I thought the character was phenomenal and the rendering as top notch as they come. The facial expression is priceless and the little details (especially the lighting and shading) was awsomely done.

Everyone will once again get my Upside/Downside critiques in a day or two, so no one will be left out. And thanks to everyone voting for me (best showing I have made yet, so I feel like I am growing and improving.)

And to all the critics of my digger, I can't fault you at all. It is pretty far to left in terms of concept, and I knew people would either think it totally connected (Digger Creature - Heck, it has dug right through the web page) or was off the mark completely. It was one of those all or nothing risks I had to try, I just liked the idea too much and had to see if I could make it work visually.

And no, Xpose, it wasn't meant as a joke, I really thought that it worked in my opinion, but I refer to what I said above about it being one of those things people will disagree on.

I say it every week, and every week it is true.... posts are just getting better and better.

-Eric

[brokk]

I voted for sone one because that rat is just too cute. Just a crit, both the right front leg thats sort of blurred-faded, and the left back leg, are a bit "sketchy" and not all that painted and cleaned up like the rest of the creature.
BUT, since these are not focal points of attention and don't really get in the way of the reading, it's not much of a crit.

It would kick ass to have that rat as a pet!

[leckronium]

I voted for JoBeSu. Not just for a beautiful rendering but because I feel that his has a lot of character. The creature has a personality and a life to it. It reminds me alot of a playful ferret. Plus relating it to our everyday lives brings a sense of realism to it. Good job, I look forward to seeing future art from you.

[Matt Dixon]

JoBeSu gets my vote - it's a great image with bags of character.

Lots of good entries for this one. Maybe the highest standard overall so far. Nice work, fellas!

[Ostrander]

This is getting tougher and tougher each week to make only one choice. There are so many great posts.

Coondoggle- It's fun, it's different. the coloring is really cool, not so crazy about the lineart though. But it's fun to look at nonetheless.

Magicgoo- thats a very, very cool critter. I like the fact that's its much like a sloth, very timid. I wished it was cleaned up a bit more. I think the pencil lines distract from it. Nice to have you aboard, hope to see more from you.

Dougbot- Not your strongest post but still competitive. The head/face sorta looks like a snapping turtle, and the front claws remind me of a sea tortoise.

Matt Dixon- this is my favorite of yours so far. I love the rendering.

Fungi- This thing creeps me out way bad, I can only imagine diggin in the garden and coming across one of these things wriggling around in the soil, I would be so freaked out.

JoBeSu- Man, what can be said that hasn't been said already. Wonderful piece. The way you handle the lighting is really inspiring. I am very impressed with this. Masterful.

sone_one- I think you could have pushed passed what we are used to seeing a bit more with this one. It's well rendered though.

Pixeldragoon- I'm guessing that you are pretty new to art in general so my only comments would be to study anatomy (human and animal), perspective/forshortening and color. Pay attention to what your looking at. And when sketching and developing ideas play with shapes and forms and dont try to be so literal at first. General first, literal last. However in light of the topic of Oddmix's entry I'm not sure why this piece made it to poll. Don't take this the wrong way, I don't want to upset you but as Fozzy has said in the past...

I don't want to discourage anybody here, but i WON'T allow this thread getting a low quality level of entries like it happened to the DSG!!! -Fozzy

Scarn- I liked the story-like quality and effort of your description very much, I just wished you pushed the art that far. I think that the heavy black line that you have throughout the piece takes away from it. Good effort tho.

JeffZNY- I like it, a bit on the whimsical side. I think its a step up for you in terms of color.

rev- The idea is there it's just hard to see, I think you could use more value contrast.

lukavi- Striiiiiderrrrr!!!! (sorry, that was my first thought when I saw it.) not your best but still kinda cool.

Uziel- It's hard to say much because I want to see the whole creature. Overall It just seems unfinished.

leckronium- It looks like you had fun painting this. I like the light-heartedness of it.

grimmy- It looks like you had fun too, my only gripe is that aside from all the clothes this thing wears its a real creature. And doesn't stretch the imagination.

flaptraps- Heh. I like the technique. I don't like the technique. Actually I lied, you think I don't like the technique but I really do.

vigostar- I would have liked to see this a little bigger its kinda hard to see. The positive/ negative aspect of it doesnt read as well as I like. Hard to see.

Helzon- Looks like you had some fun doing this. Looks like you put some time in. My only real crit would be the creature is hard to read.

xia- I like your use of color. I think that the overall drawing needs work.

Fozzybar- Glad to see you this week. Missed ya the last round. So, this is the frog you had in your throat last week that wouldn't let you come out and play? Just kidding. All jokes aside, I like the rendering alot, and the texture as well. (The face reminds me of a bat. Or a blind bat. Or maybe its the eye, it reminds me of Gollum from the Rankin/Bass version of "the Hobbit.") I just wished that your creature didn't look "pasted" onto the background.

Xpose- It's hard to read your creature from this angle. I think you could have done maybe a 3/4 view so we could see it's hind quarters. It would have given it a better sense of space too. I would look at some animal books and try and develop a better understanding of anatomy. I think it will help your work IMMENSELY.

bRØk3n_sPiRiT- I think I stepped on one of those at the beach last summer. I like the texture, I just think it needs to be father away from what we already know to me more of an interesting creature.

Beatnik- He's a happy looking guy. I think you could have varied your pallet just a bit more with some cooler colors in the shadowed areas.

Arri- Damn. Brought a tear to my eye when I saw this. Masterful. My only complaint are the feet, they dont read well and feel too small for such a lumbering looking creature.

stormeffex- This is your best one yet. I love the camera angle and the mood. I just wished some of the areas were a little better defind, some of your application of paint is a little too "blobby" looking on the surface of the cave making it hard to read and it looses its form. All in all well done. This is a milestone for you, you should be proud.

arteric- Man, you win the award for most creative use of space in a forum thread. This was a very inventive idea. Your creature is kinda blah in execution but your creativeness elevates it as a whole... and makes me jealous.

redehlert- Interesting concept. I wouldn't have thought of this. I think I would have liked to see this as an illustration rather the way you presented it like blueprints.

Genital_Eclipse- Where's Sigmund Freud when you need him? I like this more as an illustration than a creature concept. Very well executed.

Well, I hope many of you can pull something useful from my mess of a mass- critique. As for my vote. I was gonna vote for me, because this creature was a personal milestone for me and I was proud of getting it to look the way I did using nothing but photoshop. I only wished I could paint half as good as some of the people I've seen paint with PS. But you have to start somewhere and I feel that I set out a goal and accomplished it. So, with all that said I'm going to give my vote to JoBeSu. I smile everytime I look at it.

[arteric]

Thanks for the comments Gloklund... it really is great to get varying takes on what people think, and the effort is greatly appreciated.

Your critique of my creature being a bit blah seems to be a common one I sense even from those who liked it or even voted for it... damn my cartooning background and use of hard black lines..... damn damn damn.

Of course, I do the entire think with a mouse so I can only hope that once I get my stylus and drawing tablet (probably about a week away and hopefully making it's debut about C.O.W. #8 or so) then my work will losen up and be more painterly in appearance.

I am more than halfway through my Upside/Downside critique but must go to bed now... and tomorrow is a busy night so it will probably be Thursday when I post it. Until then...

C.O.W. Keeps Kicking Butt!

[Ostrander]

I'm impressed that your work is done with a mouse, that's no small feat. I look forward to seeing your work done with a stylus. I can't wait to see what you do with it.

[arteric]

By the way, has C.O.W. Week #7 subject been posted yet? Didn't see it anywhere and I was just curious.

-Eric

[Xpose]

haha yea it's the lava eating creature.