C.o.w. #244. Nessy! . voting!

[(lark]

C.O.W. #244, NESSY!_Voting!

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ROUND #244 VOTING

Topic: NESSY!


Deadline for the voting: January 25th

Requirements this week...

- The protruding portion of Nessy that is seen in the pic above must be in the design, but it may be any part of its anatomy (not necessarily its head).

- you must include a way for it to conceal itself most of the time. Remember, It hides and is almost impossible to find usually.

- this creature lives underwater. So keep your image to an underwater scene.

[Eclectix]

Artist: Eclectix

Concept: Loch Ness Monster

Long filaments help keep Nessie concealed while resting on the bottom of the loch. Shoals of fish take refuge among these filaments, daring the long jagged teeth of the beast, and they confuse radar imaging techniques. Her primary prey consists of large sturgeons which make their way up to the loch to breed, though she will take birds or smaller fish when pickings are slim.

[Rob Powell]

Artist: Rob Powell

Concept: Nessy

A very bizarre fish with a reptilian form, much like that of ancient plesiosaurs. Upon the discovery of this species, many questions were answered considering Nessy's existence and why it took so long to discover what the creature actually was. It's very docile and sensative to sonar and often hides in burrows made at the lake bottom with only it's eel-like head poking out to investigate whether danger has past. It uses it's claw-like appendages in front of the pectoral fins to manipulate rocks and soil at the lake's bottom to search for food and burrow. On rare occurances it may venture near the surface to feed, although it has plenty of food at the lake's bottom.

[lunascythedragon]

Artist: lunascythedragon

Concept: Nessy the mimic-fish


This creature's body mimics other fish that live in loch ness.
Up close it is easy to see that this creature is just camouflaged, tough if seen in the distance or in cloudy water humans are easily fooled by it's shapes and colours and believe to see regular fish that are just swimming close together.
The eel-like excesses on it's back can move and have long barbles with which it can feel if another fish or obstacle is above it. This is important as it's back is rather vulnerable and it usually stays close to the ground. The only reason to swim up to the surface is during it's mating season, though since those creatures are rather rare they only swim up if they see a shape similar to their species. It is said that the one living in loch ness was probably fooled once by a boat and mistook it for one of it's own kind.
It churns the earth and sand on the bottom of the lake with it's rake like claws to pull small fish and watercreatures that it eats out of the ground.
The artwork shows a rather young and small nessy to visualise which fish it mimics. The nessy of loch ness might have been an adult though it is not sure how big those creatures can grow.

[AWRECKINGBALL]

Artist: AWRECKINGBALL

Concept: NESSY
Attachment 1402790
Nessy has a rigid jaw for feeding at lower depths and scooping against the bed of the lake in order to chase down its prey. This type of hunting allows Nessy to remain less visible most of its life.
Another unique thing about this creature is, its gills that run along each side of the large dorsal on its back. These gills not only act as a breathing unit, but also as an essential "garbage disposal". Each time Nessy rakes the bed of the lake for fish and other creatures, he swallows massive amounts of debris gathered over time at the floor of the lake. These gills will push the debris out of them in a very dense, fog-like, jet of air. This also may happen if Nessy becomes startled or if his muscles surrounding the gills become tightened for any reason.

[Whiskey Sour]

Artist: Whiskey Sour

Concept: Nessy


Much larger than previously thought, the Loch Ness Monster conceals itself by hiding in large underground holes.

[warburton]

Artist: Logistic Puppet

Concept: Nessy!

A creature rarely seen by man kind, in fact, its so rarely seen that most believe it to be a myth! Its unknown where this creature came from, and whether there is more than one, but its believed that is creature spends many years at a time laying dormant at the bottom of the lake it resides, where its camouflage back keeps it from being detected by outsiders.

[Stinkfist]

Artist: Stinkfist

Concept: Nessy

It's a big fish, or is it.

[J-Sun]

Artist: J-Sun

Concept: Nessie
Niseagus authenticus


It has recently been determined that the primary reason the Nessie had not been confirmed to exist within Loch Ness is because the creatures spend only a very small portion of their time in the actual water, and usually under the cover of night. Daylight hours are spent nestling within their warrens which are hidden among the nooks of the rocky lake banks.

As it turns out the famous 1934 "Surgeon's Photograph" which Dr. Wilson claimed to be an exposure capturing the creature's head and back is actually a photograph one of the Nessie's upright dorsal "fins". Reports of the Nessie's enormous size are vastly overstated, Nessies typically measure in at about 6 meters, some occasionally growing to a maximum of 8 meters.

[Bertling]

Why is my post still not approved


Artist: Bertling

Creature: Loch Ness Monster

Description: In the beginning, the Phrygian snake fed on the blood of the eyeless, cave-dwelling amphibian, the stymphalus. The stymphalus had no effective means of defense against this annoying parasite. Eons pass and in a strange twist of evolution, the parasitic relationship turned into one of mutualism, and the two creatures eventually conjoined into one. The stymphalus provided the snake with protection and nourishment while the snake provided its excellent eyesight in return. Through the use of its "periscope" eyesight, this bizarre union is able to consistently evade man-made vessels and thus avoid discovery.

[Si_Swe]

A couple of entries were left out of the poll by accident. I'm adding them now. I apologize, it is my fault.

[ninety9]

lots of cool creatures/entries but none that fits the brief so good that i could vote for one. almost all left out illustrating why nessy is so rarely seen/unseen when loch ness is searched for the "monster".

[warburton]

Sorry these are abit late -

Eclectix Great concept man, and a well deserved winner. I like that you hit the brief well and also did something original. Also the perspective is very cool. One thing you could possibly do is push the atmospheric perspective further to push that depth and scale of the creature. Sorry i could'nt give you anything more constructive, hope to see more of your stuff again soon!

Rob Powell Very nicely rendered piece Rob, and its cool to see you pushing a background and environment into your designs! I also like the colours and textures in the creatures scales. I think although you have achieved a well polished piece the weakness lies in the design. The design of the creature is abit predictable and the spiky legs on the front of the creature look a little random and out of place.

lunascythedragon Interesting design, and i like the colours and textures you have in this concept. I think your main problem here is the overwhelming amount of detail in all your design, which leaves no areas of focus and makes it tough to read.

AWRECKINGBALL Looks prity menacing and beasty! Ive like the armoured body he has. One thing i noticed from your description, about the gills, does not come across in your concept. If the gills are important to the concept, you should push them further, perhaps by adding tones of red or pink to them to draw the eye, or to actually show them in action, like you described in your description. Secondly, i dont think his lower body would be completely black/grey, and its making your creature look flat. Do some still life studys of objects in shadow and observe how they react in light and space, shadows are very rarely ever completely black. Finally, it might have been cool to push the texture in his skin abit, especially in his face, to give a beter idea of what his skin is actually made out off, and also push the believability of the concept. Hope these help

Whiskey Sour An unexpected twist on the topic, which is cool. Kinda what i imagine the Pokemon diglett to look like ;p From reading your description I would have never have put a connection beter the hole on the floor and the creature. Making the hole bigger (or the creature smaller) and incorporating the two elements together would help sell the idea beter. Also, the perspective seems abit off, it almost seems like theres two eye levels, one on the water line and the other at the creatures teeth level. I think you could have pushed the lighting and the values futher too, especially with the eyes and the tentacles with the lights on the end. Perhaps creating more glow from them and pushing more bounce light, making the concept more dramatic and read beter.

Stinkfist Good start dude, but i think you could push this abit further, i like the yellow rim light against the green creature. Firstly i think you could recrop your image and consider the composition abit more. The design looks a little cramped as his head is touching the top of the frame and his left fin is chopped off out of the canvas. The tail in the back doesnt look like its from this creature either, try pushing some perspective abi further. Good start anyways man, i hope these crits help, and all the best with your future designs.

J-sun An interesting and cool idea, that the loch ness monster doesnt spend all its time in the water. It would have been cool to see you try and push that idea in your design. I think your creature looks a little overwhelmed by all the free space in your canvas, which isnt helping your design. Also, square canvases rarely seem to work well, don't ask me why, but they almost always seem to just look boring, so perhaps just cropping your canvas down to a rectangle could help your concept. Also your creature is looking flat, partly to do with your values, and partly because of the perspective. For example, from looking at this creature from a side angle, would we be seeing its feet from a frontal view like that? When painting and drawing, try to imagine in 3D space, or blocks to push your forms, life studies are good for this, as is Micheal Hamptons anatomy book, if thats any help. Best of luck

Bertling Interesting idea, and i like the story telling elements in your design, its good that you had a cool idea and you ran with it, instead of playing it safe. I find it tough to believe though that this creature could be this large and avoid detection, and also, the ship, the birds and its head all seems strangely proportions, which is throwing off the perspective and making it tough to judge scale. The texture on the top of the creature is abit tought to read also, especially as the under part of the creature is smooth. Finally, try to consider your lighting and values more, because at the mo your creature is looking abit flat. So basically, things to study or consider, lighting/values, perspective and texture. Hope this helps man, keep pushing your ideas, and i look forward to seeing more of your stuff in the future.

[Bertling]

Eclectix - Love the lighting / perspective and the photorealism. The rays of light and weeds help establish the composition beautifully.

Rob Powell - Very cute creature. I enjoy the curious expression on its face. Great details and environment as well.

lunascythedragon - Interesting concept with the mimicry. Great texture and lighting as well. But there's too many points of interest on the design of the creature that it's confusing to the viewer. My opinion is that when designing a new creature, you should only change a couple of things while "copy" the rest from an existing creature. That way the result is still convincing and it would be clear to the viewer how the creature functions without any verbal explanation.

AWRECKINGBALL - I like the overall design of your monster. I enjoy the foggy lighting and composition as well.

Whiskey Sour - Interesting choice of canvas proportions. I like the use of magenta lighting to illuminate the bottom of the lake. However I think the storytelling element could be even better if the creature's burrow is made a bit larger and more burrow-like so it's more clear what it is.

Logistic puppet - I like the slimy texture of the creature. The lighting creates a feeling of mystique. However because the creature is slick and slimy, it feels like there is no detailed texture at the focal point and the overall painting feels airbrushed, but that is difficult to avoid for an underwater scene. BTW I appreciate your useful critique. I have much to learn.

Stinkfist - Interesting pose and dynamic feel. Well done. However the lighting is a bit inconsistent - it looks like there are 2 sources - white light in front and yellow light behind the creature, however the tail portion is not illuminated by the yellow light.

J-Sun - A cute take on the Loch Ness. I must say the Surgeon's photograph looks more like your creature's head and neck rather than its dorsal fins though =P.

[Supervlieg]

great work! Voted for Eclectix for originality, composition and most ethereal!