C.O.W. - #077: Glue Maker - Voting!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #077 VOTING

Topic: Glue Maker

Deadline for the voting: Saturday, 03rd March 2007

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89824


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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!

3. No voting for your own entry!!! If a participants votes for his own entry, every member has the right to call him a stupid lame moron in this thread! And i will delete his/her vote anyway...

[Fozzybar]

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artist: Woodlandwalker
concept: Stripped Slimander
(Cryptobranchus Stickius)
This amphibian has a unique way of both getting around and repelling enemies.
White milky secretions from its suction cup like feet act as a glue, enabling the Slimander to climb both vertical surfaces, and to hang upside down without ever loosing its grip.
Secretions left behind from either its foot prints, or sloughed off its body will harden within minutes creating a bond that engineers liken to regular epoxies. However the Slimander never gets stuck and in fact uses its extremities to rub this “glue” over its body keeping enemies from making a meal out of them. No one wants to have permanent lockjaw after squishing around one of these in your molars. Scientific studies continue in both the glue like nature, and the resistance the creature has to its own secretions.


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artist: kboss
concept:
The glue maker is an insect that wishes it were an invertebrate. It has developed incredibly strong muscles along its side which it uses to drag itself around like a slug, its legs now used more as mandibles than apendages to move with. It secretes an incredibly sticky mucus from the nodules lined along its spine, has a teeth filled maw on its underbelly and next to no appreciable vision.
The glue maker is usually found in caves or any other dark, damp place with a roof. When first arriving at a suitable hunting spot the glue maker covers its body in its gloop and uses the adhesive qualities to climb the walls and attach itself to the ceiling. It does this by hooking its claw like legs through the thick, viscous ooze and suspending itself as on a trapeze. Once it is secured the glue maker begins excreting a prodigious amout of mucus which forms a large puddle beneath it. When an unlucky creature happens to wander into the glue puddle the glue maker is alerted to its presence by its long dangling antenae which sense the hapless victims struggles. The glue maker then unhooks its claws and, in a surprising show of agility, flips in the air to land on its lunch. The whole process is then repeated ad infinitum.


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artist: ChaoticKnight
concept: Glue Vice Gecko
These creatures are carnivorous, and leave traps to catch their prey. They secrete a highly adhesive substance through a large gland on their underbellies. Because of their slick scales that are coated with their own anti-adhesive, they cannot be caught in their own traps while devouring their prey. When eating their prey, they first use the vice-like tusks around their heads to cut large pieces down, and then use the thousands of tiny teeth found inside the roofs of their mouths to break it down even more. They travel in herds and are very quick, so they are known to be extremely dangerous.


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artist: Greenjack
concept: Sticky Moth Catcher
secrets bulbs of glue from glands in its tail which it illuminates via bioluminescence. Moths can't resist the hypnotic blue light and are quickly lured to a sticky end. Once trapped in the glue the moth catcher simply releases the sticky burden into it's upward facing mouthparts. The glue is simply recycled.


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artist: Peg
concept: The blood bee
Earning its nickname:“the blood bee” this breed of mosquito share abilities with the common bee and the bloodsucking mosquitoes.
After sucking blood from various animals these creatures return to their hive to deposit the blood in a sort of honeycomb. Inside the bee the collected blood is treated with an enzyme altering its consistence and transforming it into a sticky red glue. The Queen lays her larva in these treated honeycomb pods.
Due to the heavy rain and floods ravaging the blood bees habitat, those larvae not in a protective glue shell would be drowned.


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artist: WhtTigress
concept:
The glue lizard is a nocturnal creature that digests insects. It has stalks on its back with luminescent orbs at the tip which are covered in a globe of glue. Moths and other insects are attracted to the glow from the orbs, and get stuck in the glue. When the glue is full of insects the lizard retracts the stalk back into its body to absorb the nutrients from the insects and to replenish the glue. The stalk then reemerges ready to catch more food.


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artist: calebgresham
concept:
During the first year of this creature's birth, he will crawl towards water and moisture and set its legs into the soil. Than, the glue maker will turn into a carnivorous plant like creature thats capable of movement at a very slow pace. The glue maker secretes tons and tons of stinky glue that attracts birds, insects, small rodents and even mammals. The victims crawl ontop of the gluemakers face and get stuck into the thick stickness and are eventually crushed to death by the gluemakers powerful jaws. The gluemaker's have the tendency to over eat and when they do they bulg up and gain excessive amounts of weight and fat that digests into a warm bubbeling glue. Than when the time is ripe, they will expell all this goo, along with their fat and digestive juices into the air like a geyser so they can become mobile and search for more food. This picture shows a gluemaker's resources being harvested by the elmer cult.


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artist: DECYPL
concept:


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artist: j a k e
concept: The Curm
contrary to first inspection is a very harmless little thing. The glue it creates comes from deep inside it's belly, where it sits there for 7 years. The animal doesn't feed, it just creates. The glue is generated from the stomach wall, from which the Curm actually eats in the first place. The purple "glue" we see coming out of it's tail/tentacle/tube is actually the waste. Although this is actually stronger than the beginning state of the glue.


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artist: Spitch
concept: Tortucae Chrysalica
This specie has a strongly gluing saliva. It covers its entire body with this fluid.
Grass, leaves and woodsherds stick to its soft body, creating a protective shell.
This shell becomes harder as the glue dries.
As the Tortucae grows, it adds layers of plants to its shield.
The long retractable neck of this creature allowes it to glue itself from front to back.
This method of protection provides also a good camouflage for this pacific vegetarian animal.


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artist: davi
concept: Horse-Gnaw
Borrowing itself under the grasslands where Horses travel during the summer months, the Horse-Gnaw hibernates until the horse's travel the land again. The vibrations from the hooves above awaken the Horse Gnaw, and the beasts feeding frenzy beings. During the hibernation the Horse-Gnaw turns the bones of its previous victims into a glue which it uses later as an oral spray which to catch Horses trying to flee from its maw, so the beast can have an easy meal without a chase.


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artist: AbstractPagan
concept:
The creature as a predator blends in with the resident wild horse poulation waiting to strike the sick, weakened or young. Its jaw is double hinged and its tongue secretes a powerful tranquilizer that is used to devoure food whole. The stomach then digests the horse and creates its other entrapment. The glue with its incredible resilence is much ado like rubber cement, providing highly effective snaring tool against poor unfortunate horses everywhere. The tail secretes the glue in small puddle in which the glue maker then kicks dirt on to cleverly disguise it. Enjoy!


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[Fozzybar]

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artist: Tortur
concept: Glutt
Creature that swings from tree to tree like spider-man but not on web. He uses highly strong and extensible substance that has also sticky properties.
He uses also hes glue to set traps, stun&immobilize enemies and females


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artist: Alayna
concept: Glipper
Kind of like the "bottom feeder" of the forest, because that's all it does. It creates its own sticky substance from the top of its head and uses it as a medium to slide and suck the nutrients off the ground. Since there aren't too terribly many things to suck up that are nutritious, the glipper spends almost all of its life attached to the ground, slowly pulling itself forward, leaving a trail of glue and excrement behind. They are easy prey, their only defense the glue they produce (it is slightly toxic).


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artist: edujante
concept:
As tall as an usual caterpillar. Mine is a litlle bit dangerous, a little bit discusting but in some countries people use to catch this caterpillar to fix any kind of things, shoes, buildings...etc...
We found it in humid regions...



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artist: Yoitisi
concept: Killer Caterpillar
This member of the caterpillar family is special in the way that it eats meat instead of plants. The butterflies lay their eggs on large creatures like elephants and buffaloes and after the eggs hatch, the caterpillars start eating right away.
Its protection against birds and the prey itself is a layer of glue-like substance. The caterpillar transforms part of its food into a sticky substance that covers its own body as well as part of their preys. It numbs the senses of the prey locally, and after it hardens in about half an hour it is quite hard, protecting the caterpillar from the outside world and preventing the prey from getting rid of the insect.
The caterpillar then starts to eat its way inwards, and when it has eaten enough, it forms a cocoon from the glue and becomes a butterfly in a couple of hours. With a solvent the butterfly finds its way outside.
An attack of just one caterpillar already leaves a scar on the prey, but since the butterflies lay about 50 eggs in one go, if the prey doesn't lose the eggs before the caterpillars come out it will be eaten alive by them. The glue the caterpillar produces makes the carcass useless for other predators.
Locals use the glue for medicine, since it is an anaesthetic that can cover large wounds, acting as a bandage as well.


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artist: Ham-e
concept:
Recently discovered in the depths of the Amazon this creature, dubbed the Glue Maker, produces an organic two part epoxy. It carries the two components of the epoxy in separate abdominal sacs, each part is excreted from it’s tube like mandibles and then mixed with the tongue, the Glue Makers saliva is the only know solvent for this amazing organic epoxy. Scientists and researchers are busily finding new uses for this super glue and super solvent. In the wild the Glue Maker sets glue traps by spreading glue on tree braches. Unsuspecting birds who land on the glue traps become easy prey for the Glue Maker who’s sharply pointed feet are well adapted to avoid getting stuck in the glue. The Glue Maker pins its prey using its rigid for arms and feeds by inserting its needle like proboscis into the bird and draining its blood.


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artist: TomCardin
concept: California Dew Frog
Recently discovered in the marshy coastal regions of Southern California, this small frog has a marvelous method of catching prey. From the pores on its back which in many species of frog produce a poison, the California Dew Frog oozes a powerful, clear glue. Using a specially adapted tail, a holdover from its days as a tadpole, the frog manipulates the glue into fake dew drops which it deposits on leaves and trees. These immitation dew drops lure insects to drink and traps them securely in their sticky embrace, a delectable meal for the Dew Frog. The moist skin of the frog grants it immunity from its own glue.
During mating times the male California Dew Frog will build up a large dew drop and hold it while croaking out its mating calls creating a much deeper resonance to their croaks. Many people have confused this mating call with the famous California Barking Tree Frog but this is a common mistake due to the resonating pitch gained from the males large glue ball.


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artist: jfwalls
concept: Gluttonous Glumorg of the Crystal Caves
This feared creature lives in the crystal caves of Morpathia where it reportedly guards Fozzgar's magic sword. Not much is known about the creature since most that have ventured near it have never been seen again.
The Glumorg belches out an odious ooze that ensnares unsuspecting creatures, and allows it to waddle up and eat them. It is said however to favor horses for food, but it will eat anyone or anything that gets too close.


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artist: Lander
concept:
Once captured you only have to supply enough eyecandy in the shape of fish to make the Sanpposarus produce all the glue you need


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artist: VegasMike
concept:
This subterranean insectoid-crustacean uses its spit which is essentially glue to form an underground chamber and nest. The creature leaves the roof of the chamber weak so that any prey that walks over the hardened saliva will fall through. Once the creature is triggered by the falling victim it releases a thick ropey load of glue that ensnares the prey and hardens... the beast can then dine at leisure, hanging the leftovers for later consumption.


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artist: Mark Hershberger
concept:


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artist: m or p h o
concept: Ninhus Ambulantis
this creature carries its eggs in its back, using some king of glue fuid, trying to avoid "nest violator" creatures. This fluid is expelled when the female deposits eggs, after that, the female put the eggs on the male's back, and they wait until the little-ones come out.


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artist: BlkCelebration
concept: Colaccion Gommah
This creature has a hard time keeping what it eats in its body. A very small amount of what it eats is actually digested, the rest comes back out through its mouth in the form of a very sticky substance that never dissolves and hardens after a few hours.
Some unfortunate Gommah's get caught in their own "glue" and when the substance hardens they become trapped and are unable to find food, leading to their inevitable deaths... (teardrop)


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artist: Carnifex
concept: The Snffzaah
Apart from using glue to trap his victims for dinner,he uses said glue for nauseating them aswell.His favourite meal are small children,who apart from being very delicate,are also prone to sniffing around in his lair.


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artist: rushwolf
concept:


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[Fozzybar]

not accepted entries:

All WIPs/sketches/not finished yet/placeholder/yaddayaddayadda images...

radu.andrew
No concept posted, but it's necessary for this round, because no one can tell what your creature is about actually.

Whiteboy
Not polished enough.

life on the sofa
Dunno if the mushrooms i ate are playing tricks to me, but i see only flashy colors and funny shapes





close to rejection:

AbstractPagan, Alayna
Close on the edge, you need to improve for the next entry. Alayna, i am saying this after looking at your previous works, they are much more polished.




special note:

edujante
Next time 1 image only!

[yoitisi]

Voted for VegasMike, with Chaoticknight and TomCardin close behind. VegasMike's piece just looked the most professional to me I guess. One thing though, I wonder if any insect-like creature with chitine armor can bend its back like that...

[Michael Jaecks]

I voted for Tom Cardin. There are shapes in the rendering that flatten out just a bit, but overall I think its the coolest concept, the most interesting relationship between creature and glue, I like the way it holds the glue drops and think the watercolory look is very appropriate for such a water-dependant animal.

Vegas Mike's was also very cool looking.

[Alayna]

My vote goes to jfwalls~ I like the concept a lot, and I also really like your illustrative style- The crystals, sword, and especially the textures on that creature are very well done!

Fozz- Thanks for including me =] I was going to polish it more, but I ran out of time... you know how school goes ^^;; Thank you for including me =]

[ChaoticKnight]

Voted for Rushwolf! The style and description are very dark and creepy, and both of them together create an atmosphere thats something out of a really crazy demonic dream. I'm drawn to this type of art, the whole deep chiaroscuro and tenebrism look. Good job!

Close behind are:
VegasMike (as always great job! )
TomCardin (excellent piece! Its really tight and a great idea.)

[ikuru]

voted Vegas Mike.
In my book you Blew away all competition this time.pld:
Peg, I liked your wip better than your final (without the background).
WhtTigress, I like this.. It has a nice mellow ambience to it, it's allmost there, but not quite...

[Johanna Saarenpää]

Voted for rushwolf.

[rushwolf]

I vote goes to VegasMike -- I enjoyed the colors choices a bit, compositionally they don't seem to balance out "correctly" to me. You did a lot of noodled in lines and shading to suggest form on the foreground rocks, but there is very little to no opacity variation in the brush you used. Just looks like lines, not convincing hightlights on a rocky surface. I'd strongly suggest using a more dractic opacity jitter on your brush and then masking the layer with (the layer with only the rock highlights on it) -- if you're using PS CS2, make a layer above it and hit Ctrl+ Alt + G-- I dunno how that'd work in Painter, and in older versions of PS its just Ctrl + G -- on this new contrained masking layer you can have a little more control over the overall brightness and colors of those highlights because this new layer only effects the paint you layd down in the previous layer.

Other ones I found some enjooyment in this round were BlkCelebration and Yoitisi

[Sorknes]

My vote went to TomCardin. The concept's f*ing fantastic, and the drawing came out very well indeed. Thumbs up.

From the others, I'm gonna mention ChaoticKnight, for a good drawing, and WhtTigress for a very good and original concept.

[jfwalls]

Yoitisi got my vote. The design reminded me of a monster Godzilla would have fought.

Vegas: Yours was awesome of course, but in the end I felt the idea of a spider-like creature that shoots glue was a little obvious. Great illustration though!

Rushwolf: You actually would've had my vote, but the idea of it being a glue maker seemed like an afterthought.

[life on the sofa]

ahhh man not again, another rejection. grr stupid flashy colours i knew i shudnt have done a "background" turned out more like an epilectic hellfire lol.


lol i hate having to "paint" with a touchpad and my fingers and im wayy to broke to buy new photoshop and a decent wacom or other tablet lol, maybe i will stick to drawing for a while sav fozzy the bother of rejecting me hehe...but anyhu fozz you gotta stay off the mushrooms dude.

tom cardin got my vote

[rushwolf]

jfwalls - It totally looks like an afterthought [it wasn't at first, you can see the progress on my sketchbook linky]. Im relatively new to creature anatomy-- I had to keep it simple and go with my flow to make the picture look good enough for me to stand.


I wrote a long ass post about concept design in relation to creatures and shit in cow 75 forum.


I'm a hypocritical

[Supervlieg]

TomCardin got my vote. Even if the rendering could be a bit tighter, I liked the concept very much.

[EricT]

Cool stuff Spitch and TomCardin, they are believable and original

[TomCardin]

Thanks for the votes and the feedback. Supervlieg's tutorial on his dungeon cleaner really was helpful. So was seeing close details of Michael Jaecks work. I will work harder to tighten things up more in the future...I was pushing myself towards harder edges and contrast with this piece. I like what I ended up with but I like even more that its appealing to a few folks. Thanks a ton!

Lot of great stuff here also...

edujante - your creature gives me the willies more than any other...you put a sickly human quality to its skin that is disturbing. Its a very nicely painted image.

yoitisi - your killer caterpillar is very well rendered. I like it a lot

Lander - Your creatures predicament really made me laugh out loud...Would love to have seen the creature rendered out a bit more, the graininess is distracting.

BlkCelebration - I love the colors and the the physiological details on its legs

VegasMike - its beatifully done, as is everything I see from you.

ChaoticKnight - I love that drawing...very well rendered out.

[fughi from yuggoth]

fozzy,no complaining this time about being rejected ;-)

i have voted for white tigress because i think that the concept is the most realistic one
when i look at ball the creatures,the lizard seems to be the one,which u would meet first travelling around the world.
in my opinion it's using least energy to produce glue then alle the other ones.

[m o я p h o]

nice entries everybody!

rushwolf,Yoitisi,VegasMike and TomCardin :my top 4 in COW 77

maybe rushwolf creature can have a little bit more of contrast, just to see more

c ya guys

yoitisi take my vote
nice job man!

[VegasMike]

My Vote goes to Ham-e I think it has the best silhouette out of all the creatures this round.

j a k e I really like the soft story book feel to this, nice colors...would like to see more detail in the creature.

TorturI like the little action sketches! The creature could use more rendering.

edujanteCREEPY and excellent rendering..I can feel the flesh, but I dont want too!

YoitisiNice creature...I like the silken looking glue, the background could use something to break itself up though.

TomCardin I like the changes you made to the dew drop during the process...This is a very believable creature and the rendering adds to this!

jfwalls Can't go wrong with a horse swallower! I think the background could be minimized to focus on the creature more.

BlkCelebrationVery Original design and nice sense of form..the glue needs some more work.

Carnifex Neat illustration but the colors are a little too saturated...

rushwolfEerie soft yet ferocious...Would like to see a little sharper detail some places...thanks for the crit and advice!

Woodlandwalker Close second for me! I can really feel the glue and suction cups...the head could use something more...

kboss I especially enjoy the process sketches...

ChaoticKnightAwesome drawing man! I think the gecko in midflight could use a slight motion blur.

GreenjackVery original design, the creature needs a good texture overlay.

Peg Would like to see a stronger lightsource on the creature to add contrast.

WhtTigressWould like to see less emphasis on the photo ref and more rendering...get loose!

calebgresham Kinda confusing could use more details

DECYPL I want to see this take better use of the frame...too much dead area. I like!

SpitchWould like to see more tones on the fleshy areas...seems kinda flat...

Ok Cowies, see ya next round! Thanks to everyone who gave me a vote, I appreciate your support!

[VegasMike]

Oh yeah...Davi post wasn't up on the vote section, for me at least, just a link! I really like youre creature! The horse seem a bit wonky to me though...This was the only thing keeping it back. I would like to have seen a horse reared back realistically.

[Michael Jaecks]

Holy crap, I don't think I've ever seen such a spread out and close CoW vote before.

[ZebraHDH]

edujante: You got my vote... love the concept and the work has serious detail, though subtle in comparison to some of the others

[Ham-e]

Hi everyone great work!

These are all the ones I considered voting for:

Spitch: cool idea I liked it a lot.

davi: creature looks amazing.

edujante: cool skin and I love the x-ray.

Yotishi: Tight render! Looks great.

TomCardin: I think you came up with the best concept storey.

jfwalls: Gross. Nice creature and image.

VegasMike: Best Image, cool creature (got my vote)

BlkCelebration: Gross. I like it.

Rushwolf: nice image.

[edujante]

Hi !!

High quality concepts in this rounds!! Good works and great concepts!
This time i vote Rushwolf, i love the render and the intention! Soo dark!soo creepy!!excellent!

[AbstractPagan]

Ok not sure what you mean by improving Fozzy sir, but a PM might clear things up. Other than the frame I cant think of much to improve on. I know my style isn't exactly primo or my colors, but hey If I make it to poll cool if not, I am really here for community anyway. No real biggie. I voted Woodlandwalker because I could see that thing actually running around making everything a sticky mess. The color complimented well with the overall color scheme and the michievous appearance gave a macabre overlay I truly appreciated.

[Supervlieg]

Thanks for the votes and the feedback. Supervlieg's tutorial on his dungeon cleaner really was helpful.

Glad to be of help.

I find that concentrating the rendering time on instead of two creatures helps a lot. Other then that I think you could have used a little more variating colors in your browns and greens. The blending of the greens could have been a tad better. But overall I think you made some great improvements overall. Nic job!

[Ham-e]

@Supervlieg: where can I find your tutorial? edit: Ooooops just saw it in your signature Thanks

[TomCardin]

Thanks a ton Supervlieg. Yeah I am starting to get too complex with the amount of information I want to show visually...I have to reign it in if I don't plan on spending every minute of free time on these. Better yet, I want to be able to get to a "finished" state in less time by picking up more techniques from the CA community.

You and the other fine artists of the COW's really set the bar. It's very inspiring to me and its really helping give me the drive to improve my skills.

This whole community is just a wonderful resource for any artist out there. I See a lot of other people improving week after week too.

I really love the tutorials people make here, they're in context to what is interesting to us and they are top notch.