C.O.W. #291. Kappa - 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 #291 – Kappa

topic:

ROUND#291: Kappa

Thanks to Rob Powell for suggesting this, a while back. The Kappa, in Japanese folklore, was a water imp. They are described as being reptilian with webbed hands and feet, with most descriptions involving a carapace or shell of some kind and a beak of sorts. They are also described as possessing a bowl-like indentation in the top of their head in which they keep water. When a kappa ventures onto land, the spilling of this water, according to some legends, causing the kappa to become paralyzed or even die. There are many representations of the kappa, from traditional Japanese scrolls, through to fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons and permeating pop-culture;some have even made the association of the Ninja Turtles with the creatures, including the creators of the questionable third film. Your task is to try to create your own iteration of this creature. Obviously its form should remain recognizable as the mythological creature, but try to add your own twist to the concept the best you can, and remember to try and push your designs further from the more humanoid representations Kappa sometimes receive. Bipedal is fine, humanoid is not.

More info about the creature can be found in many locations, but here's the Wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_(folklore)

Round Requirements:

- The creature must have webbed hands and feet, a carapace/shell and a beak.
- The creature must have an indentation in the top of its head.
- The creature must reside primarily in fresh water.

Deadline:

March 12th, 7:00pm PST (GMT -8 )

Finals go here: (To be posted.)

[Meteor Panda]

this is going to kill me. l fail everytime l attempt backgrounds so haha, please crit my wips, l feel l'll need it. for some reason the attachment manager is crashing on me

google search "Jiuzhaigou national Park" for all the reference you'll ever need on pristine clear lakes for anyone looking

also for an interesting take on the kappas indention

[annar]

Don't forget they also lured people and horses into water to drown them and rip their livers out through their buttholes Don't look at me like that, that's seriously how old school kappa rolled.
Don't move, prompt. I'll be right back with a drawing (though not of what I just described so CHILL).

[Coool Brain]

@annar: hahaha

Quick Sketch. Let me know what you guys think.

[Grumbleputty]

Don't forget they also lured people and horses into water to drown them and rip their livers out through their buttholes ....

Ahhh, Japan....way to keep it weird!



Here's one of the sketches I'm starting to like- he looks like the sort of critter who might pop out of your local pond, abduct some women and kids, have a quick trans-anal snack and then teach the community how to set broken bones, all while not letting the water slosh out of his noggin-bowl.

Seriously, Japan...just, wow...

[annar]

In regards to my earlier post-- sorry guys. I wrote a paper on the kappa for an anthropology class a while back and I haven't been the same since.

I've had some kappa thumbnail sketches that have been neglected for months, so thanks for the COW prompt to prompt me to actually do something with them
I may redesign him a bit for the contest (not sure if this is considered too "humanoid" or not), but I just wanted to upload this quick sketch for fun.

[spiralout]

Hi! These are the ideas I've had for my kappa :



Mix between a cat, turtle and giant japanese salamander (face shape and what the skin will look like). Definitely leaning more to the animal side than the normal humanoid look used for kappas. I'll try to get some WIPs by tomorrow. Peaceee

[spiralout]

Stayed up last night quite a bit for this one.. didnt go to class. I dont know what to do with it now though. I've never been too keen on adding color to a greyscale image

[Sseal]

Think I might be able to build on this scribble?

[spiralout]

Ok, that was quick. I'm leaving to England on wednesday to see some friends, so trying to draw as much as possible before! I've put in about 15 hours on this one. Enjoy! By the way, I just realised it had to be portrayed living in water or something... Anyways, accepted or not, I had a great time painting it

[DefiledVisions]

Long time no see! not too happy about the head.. I want it to look less.. sophisticated, and more 'reptilian instinct'.





*edit* made some changes!

[scorge]

Sorry DV! Didn't realize we had such similar comps until it was too late. Looking forward to what we end up with.

WIP

[DefiledVisions]

Looking really good Scorge! composition is a bit similar, yes, but no worries we'll see how they turn out

[DefiledVisions]

lil' update. Trying to think of my brushwork and colours. Still just playing around at this stage. Also having second thoughts about that tail.. more to come!

[Jager]

looking good guys. love the kappa creature

[NickyBeats]

there is so much awesome work in here! you guys are a huge boost!!

here is some lines for my Kappa. i know i know i forgot the damn beak!

[ToddBushman]

My sketch. Great work everyone.

[Rob Powell]

nice stuff so far, quickly drew this in my sketchbook, will take it further in photoshop

[NickyBeats]

i did some sketching in my sketchbook too! markers ftw!

[Si_Swe]

Hey guys, coupla' process crits completely ignoring the fact that the deadline is tomorrow night:
Rob Powell - Watch the eyestalks, the one on the left is jutting out at a really odd angle/is a bit too long in comparison to its counterpart.
DefiledVisions - I really don't think you need to worry about your brushwork. In your work, I've found that your brushwork always has this gorgeous impasto-like quality, but when you over-think it (like it seems you might be about to do) then the texture becomes busy and the creature begins to lose form. Trust your brushwork and focus on finishing forms first such that there isn't such an intense contrast between the hyper-polished and the out of focus (I think I talked about this in my crit of your spitters a bit).
scorge - Man, I love your use of colour. You do it like few others. The tail right now seems impossibly positioned with the way the torso is formed. It's hard to explain without doing a paint-over (which I can't since I'm out of town, on my laptop) but it seems like it isn't far enough in the background for how low it is in comparison to the height of it's backside, so it almost seems like the tail is jutting from the torso.
Jager - I like the almost muppet-like quality, but the shell/carapace elements are very unclear right now. It would be wise to give them a little more definition.

[Shahan]

Don't forget they also lured people and horses into water to drown them and rip their livers out through their buttholes Don't look at me like that, that's seriously how old school kappa rolled.
Don't move, prompt. I'll be right back with a drawing (though not of what I just described so CHILL).

dude this ...THIS.. . is hilarious. you've inspired me to give this a shot. thanks. WIPs soon... getting stuff on paper maybe, will scan when home.

[DefiledVisions]

Thank you very much Si_Swe! I really appreciate your feedback. And I think you're very right. I'm still not so good at getting the whole form down. I often get lost in details and the over-all piece and form is lost. I'm getting back into studies and will try to focus more on form! also, sadly I have to throw in the towel for tomorrow. I won't be able to finish my piece in time. I'm going away so won't have any time to paint. Looking forward to see you guys artworks in the finals!

[NickyBeats]

DefiledVisions - ah its a shame to see you take off, but dont feel bad, i get it. work and other things definately need to take priority, but i think you should still finish up your entry at some point! next time you have some free time, go back to finish this! keep working it up! but good luck getting all your other stuff done first !

ok heres some minor changes to mine!

[Shahan]

So I started my concept with thinking about the water in a bowl on the kappas head. What is this really symbolic of, how could I do something different, yet still "make sense" (i realize "making sense" is relative to the viewer)
The spilling of the water in the -bowl in the kappa's head- seems to be critical to the Kappa's health and life.

So here was my "train" of ... "thought" :

1)Kappa's head has a bowl with water in it, so there is water above the kappa's head.
2)Kappa has water above head, can be in other forms.
3)Kappa has a psychic forcefield holding water in a sphere(s) above its' head.
4)I just gave Kappa psychic powers... he IS very persuasive and messes with people's heads, this is my creative license...
5)Adjust Kappa's frame to something that has psychic powers, I associate psychic beings with meek and pale bodies.
6)Emphasis on Kappa's brain or mind power -> cephalopod's head (try to be as UN-Cthulhu as possible)
7) Why cephalopod? We need a BEAK right? Squids have these awesome beaks at the base of their tentacles and they're strong as hell... Like a parrot beak. It's wild man...
8)So now a squid like head and avoiding humanoid shape... Leviathan body w/ with chitanous/craw fish like, long body... Small enough to be fresh water... HOWEVER bull sharks are fresh water
so... idk... so is the Loch Ness monster... dunno about size of the thing yet...

This was my basic concept... then came the beacon like neck apparatus to keep the vital water in stasis above the Kappa's head.

So imagine if Kappas was on land... Some guy swings through the Kappa's orb with a stick... Imagine like... water in Zero Gravity getting a bat through it... Same idea.

Hope this was coherent and understandable and that my drawings back it up.







further revisions will include possibly... like... making the water orb look more like water... imagine Katara or any water bender bending water into a sphere and putting it above their heads...

it will look like that, /w color and details

@ Si_Swe: I totally agree. And yeah i'm keeping those in mind now. Webbed fingers and toes, Beak and Indent head. Usually my finals for these weeklies, if i ever finish them... are way different from my first post, I've done two Finals I think...
Thanks again for the alert, 'preciate it Will have more coming soon.


EDIT:OH DEAR GOD!!! it's due tomorrow?! shit, I have mid-terms this week... aggh... well... Idk maybe i'll finish on my own time later, see yall in the next COW maybe... SpringBreak begins on Saturday for me dudes! Loving the other entries by the way, forgot to comment on 'em. Looking swell guys and hurry up!

murrrrrrr update... are there any rules about posting GIFs as finals??? i mean it'd be a lot better than this one, and i'd have to watch the file size i know.



update dos. aggh im goina sleep... damn it...



EDIT2: okay all the uploads got lost during some CAorg update so don't be confused anybody who sees... this... lol idk didnt finish anyway

[Si_Swe]

That's a really interesting thought process Shahan, and it pains me to have to pull you at all from that direction of thinking, but I will remind you that the round requirements are there for a reason. They are the unflinching rules for what each creature needs to have, which includes "an indentation in the top of the creature's head". This obviously doesn't mean your psychic creature becomes impossible, but it should be kept in mind. It is also worth noting, that while I love the idea of pushing it in the direction of cephalopod forms, your creatures also needs to have "webbed hands and feet", so it becomes important to include hands and feet even if it is in addition to tentacles of whatever other limb-structures you have planned. I look forward to seeing what you come up with but felt you should be aware of those elements. Cheers!

[NickyBeats]

update ~

[Chai]

Very cool thread, tons of solid highly readable concept here !

Hope I don't shift the quality to the sewer with my post, but I gotta practice somewhere
Crits are more than welcome cheers

[Shadoworen117]

[Chai]

small update

[Rob Powell]

yay! the site's working again, dunno how far the deadline will be pushed back, but here's my progress so far hoping for some last minute advice...