C.O.W. #245. Great Armored Bird - WIPs Thread.

[Si_Swe]

For more info and details about the rules go here:

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


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ROUND #245 - Great Armored Bird

topic:

ROUND#245. Great Armored Bird


Birds are beautiful and yet often fragile creatures. But what if these amazing creatures weren’t so fragile? The challenge this week is to design an armored bird. The restriction is that bird must be flightless. Think about the type of armor that bird might have. Scales, carapaces, shells and exoskeletons are all open season here. So let’s get out of our shells, then.

Round Requirements:
- The creature must be identifiable as a bird

- The bird must be flightless

- The bird should have some kind of natural armor (scales, shell, keratin plates etc.)



Deadline:

January 25th 9:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

[oodellaly]

So basically... a dinosaur?

[Lege1]

This seems like a really cool topic. I am going to do best to get in no doubt =) Thanks Si Swe!

[Ricardo Robles]

interesting, I think i´m in

[Si_Swe]

oodellaly, your creativity is astounding.

[Ricardo Robles]

preliminary sketches, I liked the one which is walking on the atrophied wings, that way more or less.

[RaphaelLuebke]

fun topic

first quick idea/sketch


those look great, ric - i like the first and the last the most

[AndreaC]

Seems interesting, might give this one a try

[jrbarker]

Neat idea. I think I might do this one.

[lancer_idenoure]

woo nice topic

[MeteorCat]

Great topic and incredible thumbnails. I will be keeping my eye on this thread

[grenogs]

Q: does the armor have to be a natural part of the bird, or can the armor also be a structure or part of some kind of structure the bird has built onto itself, in much the same way caddis larvae or even hermit crabs do?

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Ricardo Robles
AndreaC

I really like what the two of you have worked up so far with you silhouettes.

I'll be joining in for this one.

[Si_Swe]

grenogs - Roll with it. If you can come up with something like that, which works visually and conceptually, I'm all for it.

[Rob Powell]

great silhos Ricardo and AndreaC, and nice start xbert.

I have also created some silhos....some of them look pretty boring, whle some are pretty neat, not sure which to settle on atm...
1-thinking along the lines of a large predator like the Terror bird
2-aquatic flightless and plated, kinda like duncleostes, or so the idea was...
3-big burlly and bulky, charging, not something you'd see often in avian anatomy
4-just scribbled a parrot really quickly, wasn't really trying here
5-has pangolin like scales and a plated helmet head
6-another boring bird, like a giant kiwi
7-rhea like bird with a shell it withdraws it's head and legs into
8-segmented armour plates, like anklyosaurus, wings are kinda crap
9-porcupine bird

[AWRECKINGBALL]

I find birds that can't fly... run.
Here are a few silhouettes of my own.

[Eclectix]

I've got too many other things on my plate this week to do this one, but there are some fun things already coming forth in this thread! I'll be keeping an eye on it to see how they progress!

[sony]

I need to rush some where will write the description.

[Ironbyte]

First COW! Just a few ideas to start with.

1. Bony plates, fast desert runner.
2. Scaled marsh stalker
3. Plated coast/estuary wader

[Wingal]

Just wanted to say awesome topic!!! ^^

[GEB]

Quick 20 min sketch to get an idea down. The Panzerhen lives on an alternative Earth that is almost exclusively populated by avian varieties. It is a large predator approximately 3 meters in height that hunts in packs using there featherless yet powerful wings to sever the tendons of their much larger and extremely aggressive prey. Unfortunately for the Panzerhen they have a smaller and deadlier relation hence the need for armour plating

[Duman]

I haven't been around these parts in a while. Think I'm going to try my luck and see what I can cook up in the next week. I'm already seeing some really great ideas in silhouette form.
Good luck!

[UCT]

looking cool guys. Obviously hard not to sketch out something similar to a raptor, but heres my little homage to Jurassic Park (mother pose is all I can remember of tranasaurus chase sequence.)

[Anthis]

Did some bird anatomy too.

Can't quite hit the right note with the sketches though. Especially the head is giving me problems. I want to get some interesting shapes in without an unnatural or funny look on those beaks. The "great" is missing too.

Digital stuff tomorrow.

Great topic!
And nice loophole, grenogs! haha.

[1chains1]

I am in, but I am keeping my cards held close to my chest if you get what I mean.

[grenogs]

anthis: not a loophole, just broadening my options . btw, i think the 'greatness' you want to achieve will depend on you viewing angle, in much the same way a t-rex greatness is most often achieved by illustrating it from a worms eye view, and very rarely from a birds eye view.

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Did some bird anatomy too.

Can't quite hit the right note with the sketches though. Especially the head is giving me problems. I want to get some interesting shapes in without an unnatural or funny look on those beaks. The "great" is missing too.

Digital stuff tomorrow.

Great topic!
And nice loophole, grenogs! haha.

Try looking up some info on the "Terror Birds". I did a simple google search, and found some neat images/videos on reimaging for those prehistoric birds of prey.

[inkjetcanvas]

Fun! Some quick sketches in Alchemy.

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Here are a few head wips I did tonight.
Trying to veer into the more believable side of it. This is only a head WIP sheet as I am still working with body plates, scales, etc.
All of these are bone formations, by the way.

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Anthis,
I have looked at this image about 30 times tonight, and I cannot get over how cool this one seems to me. I really like the way the beak and teeth are.
I hope you don't mind me pulling the image to make it easier to show you my personal favorite sketch!

(This is ANTHIS's artwork, not mine)