C.O.W. - #014: Shadow Producer

[Fozzybar]

Round #014

Topic:
Shadow Producer

Deadline:
Thursday, 19 May 2005




- for any questions or help go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37512

note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know

Post your creature for this week!

[Fozzybar]

MIKECORRIERO picked the topic for this round! GO!

[S.C. Watson]

...um..."shadow producer"....

As in anything solid?

[possessed]

...um..."shadow producer"....

As in anything solid?

lol! I like the topic.. have some idea's I need to doodle allready.

[redehlert]

joy of joys....this one is going to be 'deep'.
good topic mike!
cheers,
d

[I.was.ink]

It's basically the same thing as shadow maker right? Not a cast shadow, but a smokey, ghostly type of character right? I know its open ended, but I just want to make sure what the topic is.
-ink

[OLSEN]

Got this from dictionary.com:

Producer:
"A photosynthetic green plant or chemosynthetic bacterium, constituting the first trophic level in a food chain; an autotrophic organism."

Let's see how far we can bend this insanely vague, but cool topic.

[Mike Corriero]

Ok to clear this up - SHADOW PRODUCER: This is meant to be somewhat vague/open ended leaving it to your imagination but as far as my meaning of it, is a creature that creates/produces shadows. I leave it at that..and let you guys CREATE.

[Phuzion]

Oooohh... this sounds like fuuuun

[Mike Corriero]

updated..reposted at end of thread..

[brokk]

Thanks Mike. I'm afraid to go to bed now.


And I'm almost 20.

[Phuzion]

Well, this is a sketch of mine so far... explanation to come... and maybe a different angle. We'll see.



Sweet dreams all

-Daniel

[brkofdon]

interesting designs mike,phuzion. so many of these creatures look at first glance evil or scary. i might try to start switching that up ...try!! i actually have sometime on this one since it just started...i hope i can attempt this one.

hmmm shadow producer hmmmm *clueless at this point*

[kawakaze]

first post here.. heres a quick skethc. its not really supposed to be scary. more like some spiritual soul i guess.

[vaughany_boy]

Cool topic. I love open ended ones, more room for inturpretation.

[Craig Houghton]

The Shadow-Puppet Bug

It's all about the bug booty. On the colonized planet Erg-6 there's a little native inhabitant that comes out when the sun goes down. It's the Shadow Puppet Bug, and it has a unique way of competing for the attention of the females. A bioluminescent spotlight on it's rear bulb flames up. Then, it uses little prehensile wormlike tendrils atop it's head to pose a little shadow puppet. This particular bloke has a rather decent shadow-puppet projecting of a female in the 'accepting' pose plastered against the wall. Judging by that reddish antennea-tip glow, the adoring female is damned impressed by the cast.

[PHATandy]

my first COW . Anyways, my idea ive been working on. Sry if its a little low quality but ive been having some PC problems so its all been done by hand. no PS or Painter . IF you guys think its not cool enough thats ok with me.. i just like the idea of it more than my actual Drawing skills.

Anyways:

INFERIUS-UMBRA:

Meaning ' Under-Shadow ', The IU lives and feeds underground. The Open front mouth sifts soil through the large tube like stomach/intenstine digesting nutrients and the odd animal as food. Although a slow process it is continuous as the IU moves through the soil. Large fangs/teeth at the front end work as diggers to plough through the soil while the side arms/legs move the IU through the soil.

At varying intervals (only at night), the folded in tube on its back, erects to puncter through the soil and lay flat on the surface, held still by the fatty flaps that are pumped out to the side. Smaller tubes pump out the special chemical made inside the main part of the IU, that is shadow. The fine gas chemical coats all objects within a large radius and begins the process. When light from the sun passes onto the chemicals it is made colourless and thus normal colour shows through. With the absense of light, the chemicals dry out to form the blackness that is shadow. This effect is of varying amounts depending on light intensity. After deploying, the shadow, the IU moves on.

Yay, got painter working:


Second Image, Not really important.. the one above counts.



Any crits and so on are cool. .

[redehlert]

Hey PHATandy - I've been doing very minor Photoshop work in my more recent COW entries so as to focus on my draftsmanship skills. At any rate, a clean concept rendering a la traditional should suffice.
Your concept is interesting and I think you should keep pursuing it even more. I was told to try to convey it all in one figure and am in turn suggesting the same thing for you - can you anser it all in one piece? Render it up as fully as is necessary to get your message across. Also, I was informed that I should lighten up on my text (as a medical illustrator, I'm kinda 'label' silly) - not saying it's a bad thing, but in this instance I believe your concept copy does enough so you can drop the handwritten material.
Good luck!
Cheers,
D

[End Hits]

This thing's job is to turn the universe's lights off.

[young paddy1]

Filled with the fastest substance in the universe the Shadow caster floats above the vast deserts of Capritz Minor on an actinic blue bed of energy generated at it's core. The giga conductive power of the creature manifests outside of its body as the shadowy overspill which darkens the land, if the creatures bodily waste had continued to spread at its original pace the planet would've been enirely black. However after a couple of months previously unseen species of plants are taking advantage of the lowlevel cloud cover and its cooling effect to start growing. As they grow they seem to feed on the black mist and it thins out until barely visible by which time the pllants have seeded and died back to wait for the Shadow Caster's return.

[PHATandy]

Hey thanks for reply redhelert, will do.. ill get cracking on a more overall picture of the design... although its gonna be pretty damn hard since i have to show above and below ground at the same time.

Also.. interested into the story behinds yours phusion.. looks pretty funky...as usual.

[Uziel]

Redehlert, are you going Fungi style?

[Manuel Baum]

So far, this is the first cow I'm participating and I hope my bad english wont pretend you to understand my description

So this is what i came up with:



Storm-Bird of the Weka Sands
In the deserts of the sand-planet Weka, there exist a lot of strange creatures, the Storm-Bird is just one of them.
These enormous birds' weight caused their lack of flying abilities, so the only way they can move is crawling very slowly. But this doesnt represent a problem for them, because actually they dont have to move a lot... They dont have to hunt - they just wait for their prey: whenever a swarm of bird (birds are the most commen species on Weka) flies along, the Storm-Bird begins to flutter and to stir up dust and sand. This way it darken the sky to take the birds their possibilities to navigate in the air, so the swarm is forced to come down to the ground, where it is an easy meal for the huge storm-bird... The enormous number and dimensions of the swarms on Weka makes it very easy for the storm-bird to survive...
Some of the human tribes living on Weka learned to use the huge birds for their own protection against invaders. Whenever enemies try to enter a village, the villagers escape into their caves (the villages are often built near the strange rock-complexes in the Weka desserts. Only the "chosen" stay with the village-bird and as soon as the invaders are near enough, this group which mainly consists of children begins to attack the bird with lances. This way, they force the bird to unleash a deadly sandstorm, which kills both, the attackers, and of course the suizide-defender-commando too. The tribes' memebers see this kind of death as a guarantee to get into the nirvana...

Well, i hope that i managed to present my sick thought in a clear way

[Uziel]

This doesn't has anything to do with shadows, it's a sandstorm creature.
Das Thema ist Schatten nicht Sandsturm.

[Manuel Baum]

well, enormous sandstorms darken the sky, don't they?
ok, i'll change the text a little *g*
Edit: I know this isnt EXACTLY what's expected, but i think it's close enough

[nightfend]

Shadow Producers reside in old abandoned mines and subteranean caves. They prefer the darkness, where their own bio-luminescence is the only light source. It is through this self illuminating glow that it can summon shadowy beast forms and other illusions. And, it is with these shadowy forms and illusions that it can confuse and confound prey that it is hunting.

[Mike Corriero]

Hey Fozman-
I replaced my image with basically what is (2) concept sketches- to be presented as my final image. If this is a problem, if this is considered 2 entries, then just dont take it to poll.. ill understand
I just know I wont have time this week to render out a painting, so im submitting some rougher concepts.

[Fozzybar]

Corrieroman, absolutely fine...a sketch from a professional is good enough for this activity

[vaughany_boy]

Doubt I'll be doing COW for a good few weeks now, it's Exam season.

Nice design MikeCorriero

[PHATandy]

Fozzy ive done the same as Mike, i managed to get my Painter working so i whipped up a Black and White piece, the drawing doesnt have to be included ( If i win which is unlikely since Mike and Phuzion are in.. )