C.O.W. #289. Phoenix' Cousin - 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 #289 – Pheonix' Cousin

topic:

ROUND#289: Phoenix' Cousin

The mythological bird of flame and rebirth has been depicted many a time in many different ways, but thematically we see common elements tying it together (no pun intended). Slightly less frequently we'll often see a kind of antithetical version of the bird. A creature of cold, of ice. This week my task to you is to create a different kind of elemental bird, one with the same basic principle of rebirth present in with the phoenix, but with it's basic properties of fire transmuted. As an added challenge I would like the bird depicted twice: once in it's prime, as it's reborn, and once immediately before it dies and is reborn, in a state of deterioration. Because I don't want to restrict too much of what may go on design-wise, I am not limiting you to the other 3 elements, but a range of “types”. Your phoenix cousin should be kin with one of the following: Water, Wind, Earth, Shadow, Light, Acid, Plants, Metal.

Round requirements:

- Your creature must be avian in form
- Your creature must have a cycle of death and rebirth as a phoenix
- Your creature must represent one of the following types: Water, Wind, Earth, Shadow, Light, Acid, Plant, Metal. Your creature must NOT represent flame or cold/ice in any way
- Your creature must be depicted in two states: once in its prime, once in old age, right before/during it's death

Deadline:

February 20th, 7:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

Finals go here: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...94#post3646994

[NyleLevi]

Very cool topic. I'm in.

[MasterTroglodyte]

Ahem... just a small note... isn't it spelled Phoenix?

[Duman]

Count me in. I'm looking forward to what people might do with some of the more esoteric elements like metal and acid. Should be cool.

[Si_Swe]

Yep. Fixing it now. Derp.

[warburton]

I thought this thread would have exploded with such a cool topic. where is everyone?

[Flame_Unquenchable]

If no one is up, I'll start it off. First pass on my Shadowbringer Roc.

[WelpIGotNothing]

Alright, I'll give it a shot. Hope this is fine. At first I was going to choose toxic waste but I realized that really wasn't an option so I went for acid! I think it's an interesting (and difficult) concept and not exactly pretty. Here's two sketches/WIP's of its prime and death/rebirth. Sort of a decaying and acid scarred crow.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

So, here's one with both stages, I removed the elephant, though I did want to give it some sense of scale. Don't know which of these I like better.

Acid crow kicks ass, try to get it more drippy! Maybe like with some algae looking wings that constantly drip acid. Keep it up!

[Duman]

Flame_Unquenchable- I like the idea of a shadow bird. You could get really crazy with some of the possible effects here.
http://cdn.designinstruct.com/files/...al_smoke_b.jpg
What if it oozed or wafted smoky mist or something? I also like your bird's death scene. Should be quite dramatic.

WelpIGotNothing-I like your general idea, but I would be careful. I think the rules forbid using existing animals, and having your creature, acid effects or not, as a simple crow might be tempting fate a little. Try to add some features that really separate it aesthetically from normal birds. Either way, I've always liked the contrasts between acid green and black colors. Your death scene has the potential to be quite awesomely gruesome.

[humboldt squid]

I wish I'd found this thread before there was only two days left before the deadline! This seems like a really cool topic and it's a shame that it's not getting more traffic. Here's something to get the creative juices flowing: http://wild-earth.tumblr.com/tagged/birds

[lkjhgfdsa]

lkjhgfdsa
Acid Phoenix death scene at the hands of the avian knighthood.

[AlexaRossi]

Looks really good, but there's a chance they'll reject it since it's mammalian in form and not avian (bird-like), which is really the essence of what a phoenix is... beyond the rebirth stuff, I mean...

[jacobanderson]

OOOOHHHH. I wanna do this one, but I've got so much on my plate already....fine here are some sketches.

[gregogr]

great!

[Banvivirie]

[andartarius]

water eagle/pheonix
and 3 shadow pheonix designs

[Vyse]

Nice stuff, ladies!
Banvivirie, loking forward to the final product

Ok girls, here´s what I got so far, the 'prime'-form of my metal-phoenix. Didn´t want to go for a complete robot-like ironbird, more an embodiment of iron minerals and, kinda.... now I just need a pitiful piece of feathered rust to go with it.


Whaddya think, is it done...?

[lkjhgfdsa]

the beginnings of a avian refit

[Duman]

I'm seeing some cool stuff here.

Banvivirie -I like the style you have going there. I'm also a fan of some of the more...dinosauric qualities of those bird sketches.

andartarius - Your sketches have a lot of personality to them. Can't wait to see which one you take to final. (I'm personally a fan of the one with crazy eyes.)

Vyse - I really like how despite your bird being quite light of build, your rendering still makes it feel really heavy. So I would say that the metal aspect of that phoenix is working well.

lkjhgfdsa - An awesome image, like always. My only problem is that those spears seem way to big for a person to use, especially in mid air combat against a monster. The bird head redesign is working well.

Here's what I've come up with. Comments and critiques are welcome.

(edit: for one reason or another, the images I'm posting seem lower quality than what I'm seeing in photoshop. Would anyone have any idea why?)

[Si_Swe]

Just a reminder that even though the new topic is up, you still have a little less than 1 day left on this topic.

[Rah-Bop]

I don't know why but I didn't check the WIP thread until I was done. Now I realize that Duman and especially Banvivirie and I all had really similar ideas. Whoops.

Well, here's mine anyway, with a closeup of the chick because I had to shrunk it so much to make it more to scale with the others.




I'm really digging everyone's work!

[Vyse]

Oh Rah-Bop... you take the crown. Amazing idea, very well executed - I´m impressed!
Especially the baby is just too cool.

ANYWAY - here´s my final:

[Evergrey]

Behold: the Wind Phoenix! At the end of its life's cycle, it's dissolved into white feathers made out of pure wind and clouds.

I dont know if I will be able to make it in time since I only got the dying version finished, but I figured I'd post it here anyways Some seriously cool stuff going on in this thread!

[Panjo]

I'm new to digital painting (this is my second one!) so any critique is welcome, but this is a rough WIP
Hes supposed to be laying on the ground, roadrunner-esque in shape,green beak to draw in creatures (similar to the lantern on an Angler fish) and uses his wings to stir up a dust storm in case attacked, otherwise unmoving. upon death, his body crumbles and returns to the earth, after 48 hours, rebuilding into a new body