CHOW #41 - Arrakthura - The Weapon

[Oblio]

ROUND #41


PLEASE CONSOLIDATE YOUR WIPS AND FINALS INTO YOUR FIRST POST.

CLEARLY DESIGNATE YOUR FINAL.

FOLLOW THE TOPIC & POST A DESCRIPTION.
You will receive votes for every successful representation of the topic elements and for your description. The ammount of votes will be listed in the round topic.


Please save your files starting with your nickname.
example: "Oblio_CHOW23_Platformer33 copy copy.jpg"


PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC

(you can add CA logo, etc).
-------------------------
DEADLINE
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
The way the deadline works: if deadline is on a Sunday and your image is posted on that Sunday 23:59 your local time it's a good entry.
In fact - as long there is Sunday somewhere on the planet your entry is ok. I will make the poll sometimes Monday afternoon my time (GMT +2) yet i'll have a look at the last entries.
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Arrakthura - The Weapon
inpired from J Absinthe's post in the suggestion thread. Thx J Absinthe

A weapon hunted by all.
A weappon with a will of it's own, that merges with the true virtues and sins of the one who helds the handle.
Some say it talks.
Some say it can look you in the eye.
Some say it's like a sword others... describe it as a cannon... it has so manny shapes no one can say what's true.
Some say it has God's powers and will.. some say it's forged by devil and only serves the evil.
If you can, noble artist... tell us, SHOW US... Arrakthura...
Now... concept!

______________
Topic elements:
remember, It's a character... not just an object

1 = It's a weapon.
2 = Can be handled by man.

Make sure your picture contains these - you will receive 3 VOTES for each topic covered.
4 extra votes will be offered for the description.

[Moai]

Wow...awesome topic!

[Swift (BM)]

When is the dreamcatcher vote coming?
Awesome topic, should get people thinking!

SKETCHBOOK

[Orifice]

Promissing indeed.

[KaWaii]

what? :/

[jackenstein]

Oh you, Oblio...*bats eyelashes*

My scanner is on the fritz, and I'm still reeling from the cherry popping entry that was The Dreamcatcher. I think I'm gonna play spectator this round.

edit: Bow dow! I fixed my scanner/printer! I think I'll sketch some stuff up today and see how it goes.

[t11]

So many places to take this, so juicy a topic... I... I... Oblio I need a cigarette now thanks! sheesh!

[Supervlieg]

The Arrakthura was bred by biological engineers as a future weapon for the army. It is a selfcontained walking, thinking and most of all, energy ball shooting weapon. The arrakthura can be ridden by man, even if it purely for directional purposes. Once the Arrakthura has locked onto its target the human rider had little to no influence on the walking weapon. Best bet is to get of as soon as possible because the Arrakthure tends to jump right into the heat of a battle. Since its shielding and other parts heal very quickly and because it was engineered to feel no pain the Arrakthura is considered one of the worst foes to meet on the battlefield. The bioframe is enhanced by some mechanical parts. The eyes are fitted with all kinds of extra sensory machines allow it to see in the dark and sense heat. It also has a digital aiming view mounted on its nose/barrel for long distance aiming. The Arrakthura rarely uses this, it prefers to get close on the target and blast away.

[trevor]

Make sure your picture contains these - you will receive 3 VOTES for each topic covered.
4 extra votes will be offered for the description.

what exactly does that mean
up to 3 votes, 1 for each representation
and 1 extra for a description?
or 3 votes up to....however many for each representation plus 4 votes for a description
iif its the latter isnt that a little steep?
kind of nullifies alot of the voting process seeing as how some entries just get 9 or ten in the first place and some get 30 or more
i mean its not as if someone would totally disregard the subject and get 50 votes if it is obviously not on point

sue me if im wrong
i dont think i can participate in this due to my enormously swollen and painful finger but i will be keeping an eye on it

[mrdoom]

Make sure your picture contains these - you will receive 3 VOTES for each topic covered.
4 extra votes will be offered for the description.

I think that is confusing too. And unnecessary. You are all artists here primarily right?

By the way, where do we get to vote for the last topic, Dreamcatcher?

[trevor]

hey mr doom
the poll will be up as soon as oblio has a chance to put it up
hes out of town right now (where i will be next month incidentally if anyone in new york, paris or marseilles wants to get together and draw)

[mechp]

This is a cool topic....sounds like J. Absinthe played a lot of Soul calibur!

[jackenstein]

This is a cool topic....sounds like J. Absinthe played a lot of Soul calibur!

Dude, I wasn't even thinking about Soul Calibur when I made it up, but when I started sketching today, all I could envision were Nightmare rip-offs.

[S.C. Watson]

Why does something disgustingly *cute* come to mind...?

[brokk]

It's the Witchblade!

[Simon Boxer]

I keep thinking industrial design... There's gonna be a lot of concept ambiguity when it comes to voting. Time to mull this over.

[Jska]

Just messing around tonight with the idea - I liked that the weapon could be parasitic in nature, and somewhat organic... I'm messing with the idea of making it a parasitic alien species that transforms itself into weaponry. (Is that cliche??) The final will have an "action shot" and a more elaborate story - not something static like this.



(edit - and another!)

(trying to get more of an armor concept out too - plus i bought new pencils today )

Here's my story:

Arrackthura (meaning "of the Arrack civilization") is actually a parasitic alien species that landed on earth thousands of years ago. Some say it is the root of most, if not ALL mythological weapon stories, from Brahmastra of Hindu myth, to the Ark of the Covenant itself. The species needs a host body to survive - and the more hosts it consumes, the more its deadly power grows. It calls out to its victim, in a seductive telepathic song that only the chosen can hear. Once Arrackthura has attached itself to its host, the only thing that can seperate them is death.

It feeds off of hunger for power, greed, and violent thought. Although the parasite and host are always connected, once Arrackthura senses an impulse into any of these devious channels, it envelops the host's body immediately with a tough organic armor, which is very much alive and can react to the slightest movements. Because Arrackthura comes from an advanced species, it perceives movement and reacts far faster than humans are capable of - giving it an unfair and devastating advantage over its opponent. At a second's notice, it can turn into whatever will deal the most devastating blow, while fending off attacks on its host as well.

A secretive order has been keeping Arrackthura alive for centuries, for use in their ultimate plan for world domination. They have bred an army of children over time, all engineered to be mentally void of any devious thought. They are nicknamed "The Innocents" and they are charged with being Arrackthura's keeper. Because the parasite cannot use its deadly powers on these children, it simply sucks their bodies into dry shells.

The time has come - Arrackthura has lost its taste for Innocent flesh, and has been contained for too long. It is calling out to feed on what it loves most - the war monger, the killer, the demon.

A little dramatic maybe, but I was bored at work More sketches coming soon too...

[Irish_Jim]

"Arrakthura, the horrible weapon was alive, I tell you. The man who held it had no face; his eyes dim burning holes behind his mask, wielding the great and terrible assembly with one great arm, the other a shattered stump capped by a silver medallion. He had paid greatly for the power he now used to cut a great wide swath through our ranks, as evinced by his flesh's unholy, fetid pallor and the keloid scars dotting his remaining arm. In order to loft the powerful assembly, it had been made enormous, thick and knotted as a tree trunk and flexing in thick bunches as he drove the very steel of hell into man after man, crippling, maiming and killing in single blows. The weapon had grown to his immense fist, veins visibly driven into the mass of flesh at his forearm, puslating with a life not of this world.
There were only a handful of the hundred of us who survived that encounter. None of us could stay with the army from that day forward; even now the sickening swings of the cursed weapon cast a chill over my memories.

-Gustav Antonin Malachek,
His Majesty's Third Infantry, retired"

[Cam Sykes]

When I first read the description I immediately thoguht of Witchblade.. It's a character not just an object, this will take alot of thumbnails

[Chuck,mate.]

very cool topic, indeed.
in a way we`re ALL weapons.
i`ll try and come up with something, too.

[Oblio]

Hello,

1 - Dreamcatcher Voting - as soon as i can. Hopefully tonight... not a promise thought. SRY.

2 - Voting - If you cover one topic you get the votes assigned (It is a handheld - you get 3 votes).
If everyone gets the 2 topics plus description you get 10 votes. 3+3+4
This will be done only if the battle is tight... and it came in a time where no matter what the subject was, people were drawing something.. arpoximative.

see my comments on this
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72637
and voting here
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=73878
(votes were indicated next to the poll entry.. but not added until - and they could not make the difference then)
one vote for topic was not enough.

since then... either we had no topics, either the votes would make no difference.
it takes A LOT of time to crit and add and so on.. therfore i will do this only if it is necessary.
If "Jason and the Argonauts" would have had topics... i would take that into account since the winner wad only one vote more (funny thing... i consider _Jakkas_ giving the winning strike )
uhh.. gotta run now..

[Uziel]

This topic reminds me of a noah-kh illustration.
http://www.zemotion.net/images/noah/sinner.jpg

Chuck mate you're working 24/7 on those weekly activities or what. Respect.

[VirusArtist]

GAAAAAHR!!!! I seriously need to stop coming here. Everytime I do I feel the urge to participate and everytime I come here, I have a more than full scedule for the coming 2 weeks...

a few times I could resist, but this time I'm giving in-the topic is too good to be true...

I'm in....

CUUUURRRRSSEEE you, oblio!! CUURRRSE you for making me abuse coffee and ignore my need for sleep!!



Etienne



WIP- wish I would have had more time, but work kept me busy...




description:

"arrakthura"- according to the Scryggian dictionary, the term roughly translated means "deadly hand puppet". In fact, it is a powerful biomechanic weapon with a will of its own - a heavily armoured "NORZ"-maggot. A scryggian scientist once enhanced this creature with a unique acid-plasma blaster and several tools to disembowel the enemies of the one who wears it in order to create a biomechanic frontline weapon for the army. The creature killed the scientist in an accidental defense reaction before it could be completed and vanished.

the "NORZ" maggot is known to attach itself to the extremities of other creatures, feasting on hormones and blood until the host dies from exaustion. according to legend, arrakthura is different, creating a perfect symbiosis of host and parasite, following the will of it's wearer. still, the host has to be very strong in order to feed both him and the parasite.

survivors of arrakthura attacks are very few, but those who encountered the parasite and its host, describe it to be rather silly in appearance, a piece of junk with big teeth and dumb eyes looking around for targets. some even claim to have heard something like a gruesome sound ("BLAAAHRRRRGH" to be exact), before the weapon attacked, but this part of the legend can be excluded, since "NORZ"-maggots dont have any organs to articulate themselves.

[jackenstein]

Uziel, that painting is hot! Oh, I've chose to ignore the voting process and focus soley on the creative output. I started reading Oblio and Trevor's explanations and I started to sink into a fetal position.

*shut's up and drawrs*

[Moai]

My idea is a sort of gnarled carapace that covers the right arm and shoulder of whoever wears it, ending with a set of nasty talons at the hand and covering the wearer's face with some sort of mask. I'll probably do images of several different species wearing the weapon, showing how it can alter its form to fit its host.

[jackenstein]

I've been working on sketches, and I have the concept, it's just determining how I'm going to execute it, that's going to be the pain in the ass.

I think you guy's will dig it though, I'm going to keep it in a very contemporary setting and just go with it.

[trevor]

looking nice jska
like the cartoonish style
i really like the topic on this one i hope my finger heals enough so i can draw before the deadline
at least it isnt broken (after spending a crapload of cash on x-rays ugh)
cmon guys you need to post for me!
i cant draw so i want to have some good stuff to look at!

[Johann de Venecia]

Thats a neat topic, J_Absinthe. The topic description is compelling too, I can hear the voice-over guy from movie trailers doing that one...

Gonna start on something after I am fed. I think the challenge, at least for me, is to avoid the SoulCalibur and Witchblade pitfall

Cheers everyone.

[jackenstein]

Oh snaps, Lukavi about to bring the thunder! Hahaha, can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Viridis]

When I read this week's topic I totally thought of River Tam (of Firefly) who fits the description quite well.

I think I've got my concept down, just need to start painting...