C.O.W. #246. the 8 eyed inventors . WIPs

[(lark]

For more info and details about the rules go here:

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


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ROUND #246, the 8 eyed inventors

topic:

ROUND#246, the 8 eyed inventors

First, a story...

In the early 1900s explorers discovered a group of extremely rare creatures in the amazon. The strange beasts had the ability to create and manipulate highly advanced technology. Soon it was discovered that, while lacking any kind of physical ability to defend themselves, their intelligence far surpassed our own. government agencies decided that they should keep the world populace from ever knowing that these creatures exist, and used force to enslave and hide them in the most secure government locations.

Over time the beasts were made to invent useful things for human kind, and are responsible for inventing the majority of technology used by humans today.

Now, this week your job is to design these gentle geniuses that have been enslaved for 100 years. But remember, normal cow rules apply, so fight the urge to make these creatures too human-like.

Requirements this week...

- The creature must be physically weak looking.

- The creature must have the ability to manipulate objects. Meaning... hands, intricate claws, tentacles, anything that could be used to handle intricate inventing work.

- The creature must have 8 eyes.

Deadline:

February 2nd 9:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

[AWRECKINGBALL]

This has a lot of crazy potential.

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Sigh... Can't sleep... So WIPs (from what I can muster with insomnia ) it is...

[millz]

My start... hopefully i don't get lazy and actually finish it.

[Supervlieg]

How is the "no accesories and clothes" rule in this one?

[Lehmann]

Awereckingball you started with some sweet concepts, #2 is the best

[Lehmann]

first sketches

[scorge]

How is the "no accesories and clothes" rule in this one?

Seconded...

Side note: Good to see you Super V. Still turning em out I hope?

[Supervlieg]

Hi Scorge! I always try to join in, but most of the time I dont get enough time in to finish the pieces. Im still drawing though, and always keeping an eye on here

[Si_Swe]

Hey guys. I'm not too sure on what (lark is allowing in terms of that rule. I'd say try to keep it to a minimum. If you have it using some kind of tool, I don't think it's a big deal. If it's in some kind of robot suit, we've got a problem. In the past we've allowed minor use of accessories for creatures like the War Beasts, so I'd say we'd allow accessories on that kind of a basis. That said, it ain't my topic and it's really down to what (lark thinks.

[Supervlieg]

ok cool thx

[(lark]

Yeah I would say accessories are fine. Clothes also as long as you can still see the design of the creaturre.

[gnarl]

Quick doodle...

And then tried painting with my mouse. Damn it why does he look like Plankton...

[sony]

AWRECKINGBALL: #2 seems promising
millz: nice start like the mechinal rig too
gnarl: lol thats funny

[bobtail]

Thinking about the amazon - wanted to do something with massive loris/tarsier-style eyes . Going to continue with idea 2 in this - circled in red for the pose I'm thinking of using.. It's going to have 2 sets of eyes on its head, and eye one each hand/foot so it can see what it's doing in extra-close detail!

Slightly worried it doesn't look defenceless enough, but I want to emphasise that it's lumbering/slow big rather than muscley big.

[Lehmann]

I'm going with this guy. A better concept now, showing some details.

Thinking about the pose, i'll come up with something later.

Bobtail great idea for the eyes!

[Duman]

Going to try my hand at this one as well. I already have a pretty interesting scene in my head. This is going to be challenging.

Lehmann- The creature design is really cool right now, but I think it is also problematic. The rules for this week say the creature must be weak and or feeble. Your creature looks like it has the power of a horse. Its large, its imposing, and looks like it wouldn't have a whole lot of trouble either out running or fighting 19th century explorers. Just my 2 cents.


Some silhouettes. I think I'm going for a super intelligent bug meets slug meets jellyfish. I think...

[bobtail]

Lehmann - looking really good!

First WIP - I feel like it's lost something from the initial sketches, but not sure what. I know backgrounds aren't my strong point... I might leave colour for now though and add it nearer the end. I've gone for showing how defenceless these creatures are by having moss/plants growing on it - they spend most of the day sitting still thinking .

[Lehmann]

Duman Hey man, thanks for the advice. I agree with you.. i'll try to find a way to make it look more stuborn and docile, like a fat giraffe or something.. or maybe givin it and inocent look

(sorry about the bad english)

[scorge]

Tough topic! Seems like a lot of us have similar ideas so far. Here's my wip.

[Duman]

scorge- As always your work impresses. It might be interesting to play with the emotion of the creature in these early stages. Is he really sad and pathetic, or is he harboring some rage and frustration at his enslavement?

[AWRECKINGBALL]

scorge:
I love the dilapidated wings on this guy (assuming that's what they are ). He already has a lot of personality. Nice WIP.

[Lege1]

What i got so far....

[LurkingOrc]

Hey, bobtail, please don't mind me, as I'm just being nitpicking, but you do know there are no tarsiers or loris in South America, right?

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Hey, bobtail, please don't mind me, as I'm just being nitpicking, but you do know there are no tarsiers or loris in South America, right?

I think that if you are going to post sir, you should join in. Saying you are not an artist, then giving artistic feedback doesn't make much sense (ie. The Great Armored Bird COW)

Just some friendly antagonizing

[AWRECKINGBALL]

A WIP design and some messing around with colors... Not really sure about them, but I am enjoying the design

[JaapOomen]

Nice work! Can't wait to see the eyes and details in the finals.

Here's my W.I.P., don't know exactly what to do with the tail yet.

[Si_Swe]

gnarl - Try to smooth those edges. Use longer strokes and a larger brush. Try and smooth the transition from light to dark.
bobtail - The physically weak aspect tends not to come across well in the hulking mass type of design. Eye placement seems kind of arbitrary.
Lehmann - Very interesting design. Three issues come up for me immediately. First off is the "physically weak-looking" aspect of the brief. Your creature looks a little too well muscled for that, especially considering its relative size. Secondly, the creature's appendages are quite small, and would be nigh unusable for effective manipulation of objects. Thirdly, Despite what you've done too rebalance it, the creature is still really to heavy, it would fall over the minute it started to move. That's something that's totally fine if you really embrace it, such that it becomes an element of the creature's physical inability, but it's something to consider.
Duman - Second on second row and third on third row are my favorites.
Lege1 - The creature itself seems vertically stretched. I do wonder what might happen if you were to transform it down. Its environment seems really arbitrary. Use the backlighting to help establish the more conical form of its base, which is really very flat right now. Try and eliminate all that black you have with colder bounce-light.
scorge - Awesome start, as always. Right above the face, between it and the tertiary eye array, there's some visual confusion as to what's musculature on the neck, and what's the creature's skin texture.
AWRECKINGBALL - As colour scheme's go, I like the first one, but its the textures that will really make or break this one, I think.
JaapOomen - I feel like the raccoon-tail isn't quite meshing that well with the design. Why not go with something even more alien. What if it was full set of prehensile tendrils? What if it was a spring?

[dalerepi]

Nice ideas Guys!

[JaapOomen]

Thanks for your feedback Si_Swe, I tried various tails but couldn't get any of them to work well with the rest of the design.
After I gave it some values and fur, the "racoon" tail started to fit in better, so maybe I'll keep it

Wip: