C.O.W. - #060: Ethereal Stalker - Voting!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #060 VOTING

Topic: Ethereal Stalker

Deadline for the voting: Friday, 22th September 2006

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76784


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OK - before voting/posting read this!!!

1. Please give c&c or a reason why you voted for the image!

2. Feel free to comment on any or all entries, the artists will appreciate it!

3. No voting for your own entry!!! If a participants votes for his own entry, every member has the right to call him a stupid lame morone in this thread! And i will delete his/her vote anyway...

[Fozzybar]

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artist: Supervlieg
concept: Ghellofosh
(aeris vermes)
The Ghellofosh is a being that can hardly be seen with the naked eye. It stalks drunk people at night and extracts glucose rich fluids from their brains and necks, causing them to have headaches and painfull necks in the morning. It is made from a gass like material and is very fragile. A wave of the hand is usually more then enough to completely annihilate the Ghellofosh. As The Ghellofosh are often in plain view but are mostly mistaken for a blur in one's vision. Only when amplified around a thousand times they become clearly visible.


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artist: xgabo
concept:


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artist: Simonl
concept:
The Luminous Deep Squid inhabitants the very bottom of the deep sea trenches. It feeds on the various micro fauna that live in the inky depths. In common with many deep sea creatures, it is transparent. It also has light emitting organs (photophores) with which it seeks out it's blind prey.


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artist: Vampire Ninja
concept: Celestialitous
The Celestialitous is a dark spirit that dwells in the pastures of Scottland, preying on the souls of sleeping sheep. Since the dawn of farming these creatures have plagued humans pastures. A Celestialitous can feed off the souls of cows, chickens, roosters, and pretty much any barn yard or field animal, but prefers the satiation that a sheep's soul provides. Once the Celestialitous has stalked its prey and devoured its soul, the animal is left to wonder aimlessly in the pastures as a mere shell. Farmers, however, cannot tell the difference between a souless barnyard animal and one with a soul. So, they have never attempted to scare away this creature (whose greatest weakness is the voices of humans). One whisper within earshot of a human voice can kill a Celestialitous.


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artist: Lodin
concept: Nightmare Beast
When the plains of great battles are cover in blood of soldiers... When almost sons are the wailing of the last survivors... The clouds hide the moon and we can hear the deadly sons that claws have making. Each Soldier know when he cross the look of the beast, it will be the last test of his soul. If he suspects a coward action in the battle, his spirit will be not stronger to resist to visons of nightmares. If She breaks the spirit of soldier, she eat his soul and the victim is convict to eternity of pain.


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artist: rawwad
concept:
Kids like stories about life in forest, about wooden spirts, about .... death! Reality is a bit different than sweet stories we know. We think that wooden creatures don´t exist, but there are people which see them, there in mental institution. We don´t believe that madmans who can´t sleep and have terror from pink color, but they said truth.
Everyone from these guys was in forest when it happens. In the middle of the day set up dark and cold, they saw something like small pink light, this light was far away. Their hearts started to pulse faster and they was attract to pink like. When they saw shape of that pink light they started to feel abnormal scare. They want run away but they can´t, now saw what was that. It looks like ghost of 4m big medusa creature. One man from group was pull to monster and ...... others ran away and still hear horrible scream of their friend. Forest hasn´t end, they ran as they can, but end wasn´t. Now they still saw pink light . But creature killed another one and another. Scream was everywhere as creature. They could run but they couldn´t hide. Death was everywhere.
Next day were found, 5men from 12, one hasn´t eyes and nose and one was without arm, all were in coma. After in hospital four men awaked, but they was in critical mental case.


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artist: Orifice
concept: McCliffords Horse
Old McClifford was an old scientist who lived in the 19:th centurie. He had alot of wheird experiments and no one really had the courrage to ever ask him what or even talk to him. He got very isolated and for over 40 years he never talked to anyone. As he got older and felt that he didnt have much more on this earth to do, he locked himselfe in for some years in a bunker like hut deep in the woods and worked on his final project before he took his life, once he had done enough in this world. Some people that came close to his hut said that they felt very cold and could hear chanting and se bolts of light bouncing about inside the hut. As a revenge to the cold and unfriendly world he had lived in he had summoned the powers of other dimentiones and with his science skills bound the powers into a Etheral monster. This monster, invisible to the naked eye would forever roam the woods of earth, stalking whoever enters them at night. So whenever you feel a cold chill when taking a walk in the woods at night, its McCliffords Horse whatching you for any reason to rip you apart.


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artist: QSeptember5
concept:
According to legend, flowers are left on the graves of loved ones in a desperate attempt to keep them on earth. It is said that souls are attracted to the scent. My creature plays on their weakness with the tip of it's tail, which secretes a fragrant, entrancing smell that lures the souls right into it's jaws.(Yes, I made the legend up to suit me.)


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artist: Illustrange
concept:
the ethereal stalker is a creature as much as it is many creatures at once, it is a dangerous deceitful entity.
it may seem like liquid but it is never confirmed it is. the stalker it self is not organic, but it can grow organic limbs on its *body*
ranging from tentacles to faces and perhaps even entire bodies, the organisms growing from the stalker function as tool to deceit, trap, capture and most importantly feed on its prey, wether the many corpses inside the stalker are part of his deception is so far unknown.


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artist: cgfuller64
concept:
The Micinycae of Juide 4 uses a combination of bioluminescent funghi and its own chameleic bending of light to frighten off enemies as well as stalk prey.


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artist: kovah
concept: Nyx
It attracts lost souls with its beacon on its forehead and once they are close enough its grabs them with its long fingers and devours them. Or in times of plenty it stores some of the souls on the spikes along its back, which slowly drain the energy from the souls until there is nothing yet. This can take years. However if it finds a particulary tempting morsel of a soul that still inhabits its body it coaxes the soul out using its long fingers...


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[Fozzybar]

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artist: Dr.Pants
concept:
The infamous Green Gooey Spore Creatures terrorize the universe as they hop planet to planet using their advanced camouflage techniques to blend into their surroundings and stalk their prey. That is until... they landed on EARTH! Dunn dunn dunnnn.


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artist: AztcFireFlower
concept:
An ethereal stalker also known as The Reaper- It always hovers over those whose hearts are poisoned. When the evil in someones mind becomes a reality, that one becomes marked. If the thoughts do not turn back from hurtful comtemplation and does indeed cause unjust pain to innocents, it will appear to the marked one, and will eat at his thoughts and drive that one to madness and perhaps death by one's own hand, and the Reaper will harvest another unrepetant being. The only shield against it is compassion and unselfish love.


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artist: Moai
concept: Amoioi
There is one fundamental difference between our world and the ethereal plane. In the material plane, disorder always increases. In the ethereal, it fluctuates between opposite extremes of order and chaos. Solid surfaces melt and evaporate; mists suddenly solidify and trap anyone traveling through them; time itself can move backwards. It is, of course, an extremely dangerous place, but those who can work around, or even control, the shifting chaos of the ethereal plane are assured great riches. The ethereal plane is a bridge between our world and the Outer Worlds, and fugitives seeking passage often need a guide who can see them through the chaos. However, there is one word that will chill the blood of even the most veteran ethereal traveler: amoioi.
Quick, highly intelligent, and hunting in packs, the amoioi (singular and plural) are among the most feared predators of the ethereal plane. Even the most alert traveling party can find themselves caught off guard by an amoioi ambush, for the creatures are perfectly adapted to their bizarre environment. Their purple hides blend perfectly with the swirling fog of the ethereal plane. Their faintly luminescent yellow markings emit a wavelength that pierces through the ethereal mist, yet is only visible to their own specially attuned eyes. They are also capable of changing the brightness and even color of these markings, an ability they use to communicate silently. The amoioi's footfalls are completely silent, thanks to the soft pads on their toes. The main weapon of the amoioi are the cruel talons that adorn their forefeet. They use these both to "box" with foes while standing on their hind legs, and to carve up the carcasses of their prey. The spines along the amoioi's backs are in fact extremely acute sensing structures. Remarkably, they use these to detect the invisible currents of chaos and order that run through the ethereal plane, and thus travel only where the level of disorder is at a safe amount.
Very little else is known about the amoioi, for all specimins disintegrate when removed from the ethereal plane.


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artist: Cloister
concept:
At the time when all humans still lived in ancient Africa, a race walked the earth that the people then called Chuma Chimencha – or the Stalking Fathers. These could often be seen in the jungles, apparently following prey that could neither be seen nor heard. It was said that the Chimencha were gods and that the village elders learned many secrets from them, such as plane-travelling, and conversing with the dead.
The Chuma Chimencha lived solely out of beings or creatures from the ethereal plane of existence. Although able to, they disliked being in such unstable surroundings, and thus stalked their food-to-be from the material world (with the help of sensitive body organs). When the ethereal game calmed down or came to a stand-still, they simply conjured a hole through the inter-dimensional fabric and brought the prey through to the physical world. According to present time shamans, the stomach of a Chimencha is an actual part of the Ethereal plane of existence, and a few specimens of the species supposedly still lingers in deepest of Africa’s jungles... but that is only a lot of bull...


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artist: Michael Jaecks
concept:
There are many 'puppet strings' between the netherworld and our universe. All pass through the ethereal plane, for cosmic law forbids the direct intervention of demonic beings in our lives. Within the ethereal plane, these nefarious intentions take the form of creatures. A demon's ill will manifests itself as many kinds of monsters, like the ethereal stalker seen here. Compared to the many alien forms that lurk in the ether, the ethereal stalker is a minor player. Seen in its natural state, the ethereal stalker is about the size of a common house cat and acts like a kind of psychic mosquito. If you've ever felt a sudden, unexplained panic attack, a bout of paranoia, or a prolonged sense of anxiety that seems to have no cause, chances are good you're feeding one of these foul beasts. Ethereal stalkers are thought to be particularly fond of feeding off people with drug and behavioral dependencies. If you've ever felt like you carried the proverbial 'monkey on your back,' this is what it looks like.


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artist: BlkCelebration
concept: Seme-Chispotio
The Seme (as it is commonly refered to) loves to intercept souls that are departing to the next life. He searches village after village for souls to trap. No one knows what drives them to such behavior, since they do not need to consume anything for energy. Perhaps this is just a learned behaviour which they have observed from their master...


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artist: cowboy surfer
concept: Forest Wyght
This soundless predatory creature of the undead fuels the fear of all living entities.
It is drawn to body heat much like a shark to blood and it leaves its victims as cold as the grave. The bodies, if found, appear to be mere drained husks as all the lifeforce has been consumed in an endless need to feed.
Occaisionally a being will survive a Forest Wyght attack, and for months will shiver uncontrollably, but they are the lucky few.


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artist: Tom Garden
concept:
From out of nowhere, this beast will appear, and will open up the ground beneath your feet, ready to suck you into dispair and dred! If you are lucky it will push you straight down, but if you arent - well....lets just say it likes to play with you, and eat its dinner in small bits!
It is carrying out the work of the spirit realm, capturing wrong-doers, and sending them to a worthy fate.


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artist: Ostrander
concept: Sideratio Ichlea De Sade
Paranormal Creature Entry 60c
Class 3 Ethereal Stalker
Sideratio Ichlea De Sade
A lack of answers is part of what makes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) so frightening. SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants who are 1 month to 1 year old, and claims the lives of about 2,500 infants each year in the United States alone. No one has ever been able to actually catch a Class 3 ES. It remains unpredictable despite years of research. Even so, you can take steps to help reduce the risk of SIDS in your infant.
As the name implies, SIDS is the sudden and unexplained death of an infant who is younger than 1 year old. It is a frightening prospect because it can strike without warning, usually in a seemingly healthy infant. Most SIDS deaths are associated with sleep (hence the common reference to "crib death"), and infants who die of SIDS show no signs of suffering.
While most conditions or diseases usually are diagnosed by the presence of specific symptoms, most SIDS diagnoses come only after all other possible causes of death have been ruled out through a review of the infant's medical history and environment. This review helps distinguish true SIDS deaths from those resulting from accidents, abuse, and previously undiagnosed conditions, such as cardiac or metabolic disorders.
Most deaths due to SIDS occur between 2 and 4 months of age, and incidence increases during cold weather. Both boys and girls fall victim to SIDS. When considering which babies could be most at risk, the single highest risk factor most likely to be sufficient to cause a SIDS death...an open window.


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artist: Marco Mazzoni
concept:
Oh, god. I don't know how it tracked us, but I'm sorry for bringing it here with us.
When we first spotted it it just appeared to be strange plum of smoke on the horizon. We were initially curious as we noticed it was following our convoy over the strange planet's surface, however we became alarmed when we realized that it appeared to be tracking us through the atmosphere as well.
Panic spread throughout the crew when the high resolution images first came in. This thing is huge, at least the mass of 12 cruisers. It's movements defied physics. Several tentacles of varying size protrude from the central mass, and at the tips of the larger two are thousands of tendrils that seem to be constantly grasping at something that cannot be seen by out eyes. This motion can only be compared to how our terran cephelopods propel themselves across the sea floor.
As we left the atmosphere, it appeared that we had finally lost the beast. After 15 months of uneventful travel, the bizarre creature had been long forgotten. Slowly reports of strange occurrences began to come in among the ships. They all involve some massive glowing strand piercing through a ship and disappearing, leaving the hull in tact. These incidents were always followed by missing persons reports.
By the time the fleet began taking the reports seriously, it was too late. The horrible creature seemed to just materialize right on top of our supply ship. Those thousands of glowing tendrils would effortlessly dip into the ship, each time pulling out another member of the ships crew and stuffing them into what could only be described as segmented mouths. Then it just vanished leaving the supply ship to drift crewless through the blackness.
We have since lost the rest of our convoy to this beast in similar fashion. After the last ship, however, it just stopped. Three months had past as we continued on our course home. We foolishly hoped it was no longer stalking us. Here now, as we break through our own atmosphere, I can see that we were so terribly wrong.
Edit/Delete Message


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[Fozzybar]

not accepted entries:

All WIPs

j a k e
Though i loved your concept and style very much...the creature design was a little bit on the simplicistic side...too simplicistic for me



close to rejection:

Dunno




special note:

None

[Fozzybar]

meeeeeep, new round is on:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77409

[cowboy surfer]

Wow, looks like first vote to me. Really good stuff everyone especially all of you who went for see through stalkers - I had so much trouble trying to wrap my brain arround it.
Fucking pressing the wrong fucking button fucking.
Just spent 45 mins giving every one of you a considered crit/ comment the went and pressed the wrong fucking button and it all dissapeared!
Mazzoni to win - awsome, amazing, good concept, great painting, good story.
Runner up to Ostrander, real menace and well painted see through.
Good job everyone sorry I cant be bothered to re-type my comments, but trust me they were insightful and brilliant.

[QSeptember5]

Went with Orifice. Very definite feeling, quiet and eerie. Kind of like it'd just saunter up slowly and peacefully, giving you a feeling of hesitation and confusion. Then, slowly just start eating like it was just another day at the office. It'd be the most interesting to see animated.

[llothcat]

vampire-ninja...
took a spooky subject and went and made it cute

[llothcat]

ninner ninner ninner...I'm rejected!

[Cloister]

I voted for Rawwad. At first I thought the creature looked just like any huge purple plant, but as the days passed by, the artistical touch of it grew, and there is something deeply mysterious about it that I fall for.

[Moai]

Supervlieg- Great transparency affects! I especially like the way some of its nerves and vertebrae are visibile. That was a nice touch. I just noticed that the rendering of the drunk guy is top notch as well. Despite the sharpness and clarity of the image, there's also a paintery feel in the way some of the lines are rendered. Nice job!

xgabo- In a picture like this where it's not extremely obvious how the creature fits into the topic, a description is highly desirable. It's a shame there isn't one. Besides that, though, the image is rendered very nicely. It's very detailed and textured without an overwhelming number of lines.

Simonl- I have two things to say. Rather like that highly explosive anglerfish a couple of rounds ago, this creature is very similar to already existing fauna. Also, some sublte tone shifts or small drifting motes would've improved the single-color background a great deal. The creature is well-drawn though. Blue and purple seem to be the colors of choice for this round.

Vampire Ninja- I love the description. The bit about farmers not being able to tell whether a sheep has a soul is great. The whole thing is tongue-in-cheek and I love it. The moon looks rather lumpy and uncomfortable, but I think it fits the whimsy of the image. I like the way the sheep turned out, because I didn't really care for how they were drawn on your pen and paper WIP. Color makes all the difference, I guess. Only one nitpick, and that's the way you cropped its hands. It's a very minor thing, though.

Lodin- I think it's safe to say that you blew us all away with this image. It reveals abilities quite a bit greater than your previous entries have hinted at. The swirling effects around the creature are gorgeous, and the rendering of the stones and bricks in the foreground is flawless. In fact, the only flaw I can see in this entire painting is the disparity between the left side of the sky and the right. The clouds on the right are more like mist, while on the left they're more fluffy and cumulos-y. I liked the description as well, though I think you meant "sounds" when you wrote "sons."

rawwad- Very eerie and alien. I like the minimalist approach you're taking, now that you only have traditional media and a clumsy mouse. Despite your limitations in equipment, you still managed to create a beautiful picture. The textures and forms on this creature are superb. The only flaw is that the surroundings could have used a bit more contrast, especially the tree in the foreground. Great job! I hope you don't have to wait to much longer for a PC, tablet, etc.

Orifice- What a bizarre creature design! I like it. It seems that most of your effort was put into your Character entry, though. The picture does seem more simple than rushed, so that's good. Nothing specific to crit.

QSeptember5- It's such a shame that this didn't get finished. I love the way you rendered it, with the bulging muscles and smoothness of toning. But until I read the description, I thought that its tail was part of its metal collar. Coloring would've cleared that up quite a bit. Nice job, but it could have been much more.

Illustrange- Nice picture. A few things are bothering me or could be improved upon, though. It's not very clear what's happening with the squirrel's hand or what that gray and red triangular shape near him is. The moon is a bit too photoshoppy. Seeing the sillhouettes of the trees in the forest would have been nice, and making those trees brown and green was unnecessary. Despite all my harshness, nice illustration.

cgfuller64- The thing that bothers me about this picture are those blurry areas in the foreground. They mess with the illusion of space somewhat. Also, there might be a few too many colors in the creature itself. Less colors create more visual interest. Nice textures and creature design.

Kovah- More clarity on around its head and more variation in the background beside that dark spot would improve this picture a bit. Aside from that, nice creature design, and I really like the images of the souls.

Dr.Pants- So, those buildings on the creature are part of its camoflauge? Nice rendering of its sporeyness and its jelloyness. You gotta love making up words. The only problem I have with this entry is that I don't really like amorphous creatures, but whether I like it or not, you depicted it well.

AztcFireFlower- Your entry fits right into this round's color scheme! I like the whispy feel and the way the tendrils sort of fade off into the distance. However, like many entries this round, your picture suffers from an utterly flat background. Also, there are too many colors clustered around its...brain. Aside from that, this is by far the best thing you've submitted to CoW yet. Keep it up!

Moai- I made the background too blue when I adjusted the color levels. The stripes on its neck probably would have turned out better if I'd rendered them first in value tones rather than strips of color. There's an area of blurriness on its right foreleg that I don't really like. I would have done something with the area behind it, but I didn't have the time. Despite my acute awareness of its flaws, I still really like it, and I know it's a great improvement over my previous entries. Probably won't get any votes, though. *scowls at Marco, Lodin, and Supervlieg* And hey, did I say something about a blue and purple color scheme in my previous critiques?

Cloister- Nice! I like how well the strange colors you picked work together. I was confused about the left area of the picture at first, but the description cleared that up for me. The creature design is very regal. The only thing I don't like about it is that area of white light just behind its head. Too bright, and too white, in my opinion. Excellent work.

I'm taking a break, now. Gotta eat.

I'm back. Soup in a bread bowl at Quizno's. Yum.

Michael Jaecks- I like how tightly this is rendered, and the multiple sphincters are drawn well. However, I'm not liking the musculature on its legs. My skepticism is compounded by the fact that I watched a 74 minute video on the anatomy of the leg for life drawing class this morning. Besides that, my only other crit is that there are some points on its knee and back where the edge quality is more blurry than elsewhere. Love the tail, feelers, and sphincters!

BLKCelebration- This has much promise, but as it is I'm somewhat confused. I see that it has a canine/reptilian head, and a serpentine rear body that's coming out of a portal, but I can't really tell what's going on in between. Also, is it in a cave or what? The village in the background looks nice, and I like the angled perspective.

cowboy surfer- Nice job rendering the skeletal look of the creature. However, pure white, black, or gray is almost always a no-no when making a complete picture like this, and I'm seeing a lot of pure white.

Tom Garden- Just when I'm thinking that this would be a genetalia-free round, here comes your entry spreading its...tentacles. Seriously though, nice creature, and nice painterly style. My only crit would be that, like Supervlieg said, the source of the blue light is a mystery. Strange that I'm refering to a post after mine.

Ostrander- Nice picture! The creature is very creepy, except for that row of little rounded spines on its back. Those look much to friendly for this Quake-esque creepy-crawler. The portion of its body behind its left tentacle should be a bit less bright, so that it reads more clearly as being behind it in space. Good job.

Marco Mazzoni- Wow. This is an amazing picture! It's incredibly rich and textured. Very nice render and design on the creature. My only crit is that its right limb with all the blue tendrils is the same size as its left, even though it's far enough away to have some atmospheric perspective. All in all, very nice. A strong contender for my vote. It's pretty much between you and lodin, I think.

It usually always takes me a while to vote. I'll decide later. Ninth, Dragon4lunch, and various others, get your butts in gear and participate in the next round!

[j a k e]

Right ok. Was not aware that mine was too simple, maybe it could have helped if I was told before the deadline by someone that mine would not have been counted? I mean, so my time was not to waste. Anyway, voted for Marco. Great textures, lovely creature.

[Supervlieg]

Supervlieg - Uhm yeah, whatever. Stop posting first you freak.

xgabo - I like this picture, the composition and creature almost made me wanna vote for it. But then again, you had a week or so to add some colors and description since you were on of the first ones to post. Please add some coloring next time, I think it will make your work even more pleasant to look at.

Simonl - Nice one. It would have been nice to see some transparancy differences. For example a less transparant to the edges and more transparant in the middle parts of the creature. Maybe add more variety to the background as well.

Vampire Ninja - Overall very nice, but it looks like the coloring was a bit hurried. Its very easy to notice the brush strokes which kinda distracts. Blend the colors more to put the focus back on the image itself.

Lodin - Great piece overall. Only thing I dont like is the smudgy look of the spikes/flames. I looks a bit like an obvious smudge tool, would have been nice if it was a little more tweaked and blended into the background by hand. The creature itself doesnt strike me as "ethereal" or "stalker". But then again the creature design and the highlights are simply amazing.

rawwad - Excellent entry. Only thing that sticks out is that the pink of the creature is a bit monochrome. Hope you get acces to all your tools soon.

Orifice - Nice one, reminds me of the ghost with the white mask in spirited away. Overall I would say maybe define your strokes a bit more.

QSeptember5 - Looks good but very WIP. Keep on the way you started.

Illustrange - Nice one, would have been a bit better if you took it one step further and got rid of the black outlines and worked it with the colors.

cgfuller64 - The creature design is okay, but I would say the foreground has a bit too much detail and therefor takes some attention away from the creature. Also the you lose a lot of color detail because of the high contrast. If that was done using the dodge tool, try to stay away from it next time and paint in those colors to get a better feel for it.

Kovah - This one needs a bit more work. Try working out the lines a bit more before taking it to the coloring stage.

Dr.Pants - Nice concept, but the sense of scale is not really coming across. Try painting in some mist, more as you go further to the back. Also the main blob looks a bit flat because it is basically the same color everywhere.

AztcFireFlower - Nice one. Although I think it would be slighly better if the creature was more integrated with the background, making it a bit more ghost/gaslike. A bit more contrasty highlights to the front helps to lead the eye of the viewer to the important parts.

Moai - Wacom ahoy! Now its time to get in some good wacom time. I think the piece is way to saturated overall. try staying away from color leveling the whole pic. Just paint the colors you want until you finally get what you want. May take a bit longer, but you learn more. Also check here for some great tips on light and shadowing (and other great stuff)

Cloister - Good one, I like how your progress shows through each round. Overall I would say the execution is good, but the creature itself isnt really strong. Maybe because it doesnt really have a focal point, all the details kinda want all the attention at once. Did you start by doing some thumbs before you started?

Michael Jaecks - Basically I my crits for your entry are the same as Cloisters. Exection is good, you show progress. But the creature is a bit to unfocused, for example the tail is as detailed as the head, making it slightly confusing for the viewer to decide where to look first. Try doing some thumbs before you start.

BlkCelebration - I like your entry. It feels a bit unfinished though. Some more highlights and slight color variations would bring it out more. Its not really clear what the blue void is to the right.

cowboy surfer - Looking good, but a lot gets lost in the "whiteness" of it all. Try less white next time. And maybe work on the design more. The creature is basically the skeleton of a goatlike animal.

Tom Garden - Nice and detailed pic. Some perspective things going on though. The man appears to be standing next to the being and yet one of the tentacles seems to be quite some distance behind him. And Its not really clear where the blue light emits from. The parts of the body behind the creature are hard to read.

Ostrander - Nice and moody pic. I like the tranparancy of the creature. And those brains are lovely. However the perspective looks almost isometric, and the tail behind the right arm (our right) makes the creature a tad harder to read.

Marco Mazzoni - Excellent piece. I like the design very much and the execution of the piece reminds me of Lucavi's stuff. The background color pallete fits the wholer really well. One small crit is that the thingies next to its head seem to be a bit out of perspective. But you got my vote anyway.

[Moai]

Thanks for the advice, Supervlieg. Too saturated sums it up perfectly. I'll stay away from the color adjustments from now on. I actually already have that link bookmarked, but thanks for providing it just the same.
Here's what my entry looked like before adding the foreground mist and adjusting it.

[Wholewheat_keyboard]

Wow, so much eye-candy!! I'll try to give everyone some feedback as a lot of effort obviously went into these designs.

Supervlieg - Very nice presentation/layout - the creature really pops out of the background and the whole composition is very appealing. This is one of my favorites, only criticism would be that the creature looks more like it has the skin of a jellyfish or such rather than being made of glass, maybe more falloff around the edges or reflections would sell the glass composition better? Great job!

xgabo - props for going b/w as it forces you to rely on your skills more to sell the piece imo - like the textured canvas, and all the motion you got going on. Perhaps a more exaggerated camera angle would make the image more dramatic - put the aquaman in more danger! Also wheres the description??

Simonl - Well rendered piece, and though this is creature design and you dont really need a background, I think the background doesn't do you creature service here, maybe some color or tonal shifts in the bkgd would help? Nicely rendered and I think if the creature had a little more life to him it would stand out even more.

Vampire Ninja - I really like this one!! The sheep spirits are hilarious - love the expression and tiny legs haha!! Very cool style, like the expressive lineart you have goin on. This piece has a great design and foundation drawing but i think it suffers from being a little under-rendered. There are areas where the color is just roughed out over the linework and makes the piece feel a little unfinished - like around the creatures head and parts of his body - great foundation but needs a little more polish imo.

Lodin - Wow!! Very nice job on this, looks like you put a lot of work into it - I really like how you painted it, there's a lot of motion in it and it has a loose/surreal type feel to it rather than looking overworked. Only crit i have is the creatures anatomy looks a little awkward to me - the structure of the arms and shoulder/neck area doesn't seem right, looks like a humanoid shoulder on one side, with a arm that doesn't appear to have a joint in it, and the other shoulder doesn't seem to be in the right place, but anyway, blah blah, 10x better than anything i've ever done, nice job!

rawwad - Coo ~~ simple yet powerful!! Cool style to it, but the trees seem a bit flat, mainly the foreground tree, but this seems like a stylistic choice to me. Maybe a bit more color and value variation in the creature would help too, but that looks like a stylistic choice too so that probably doesn't help much. Nice work not much else to say.

Orifice - What I think hurts this image is it feels too photoshopy - hard to say exactly what I mean, but it looks too much like something that was painted in photoshop rather than just looking like an art piece if that makes sense. I think the dark tree branches make it a little too busy also - I hope this didn't sound too negative cuz it's not a bad piece by any means, but I think it needs a little help if you want it to look more professional. The dark straight trees in the foreground are a little distracting - feel free to give them more unique shapes. And i think you should play with custom brushes or textures a bit to make it look more interesting. Keep at it dude!

QSeptember5 - Coo, nice lighting and color scheme. Creature looks really solid and appealing, I really like how you rendered this, cool style. I think their needs to be a bit of separation in the front legs as they look like one solid mass and the muscularity of the creature looks interesting but maybe too stylized. Again great work with the lighting, he looks like he weighs a ton, maybe a drop shadow would make him pop even more and make him look even heavier! Very nice work man.

Illustrange - Haha!! I like it, it's fun so that is bonus! I would say similar things to what I said about Orifice and Vampire Ninja - this needs to be rendered a little more, and i think the use of custom brushes and texturing would help alot, also work on establishing the lighting more, the piece needs a stronger center of interest. NIce start tho.

cgfuller64 - Grrr! Rawwr! Don't eat me plz!! Looks ferocious! Although I think this one suffers a bit from the photoshopy look i mentioned on some others. Although it looks like you used different brushes and whatnot with this one which is good, I think it would help with sticking to some basic art principles more and try to get away from the cg feel a bit. Maybe change the composition a bit so its not so centered and creature has more breathing room - his head points right to the edge of the page, I think that is a bit of a problem, maybe a more experienced artist than me could tell you if thats a problem or not. I like how you established a strong foreground and framed the creature, hmm I wish I could give less vague comments on this one. Anyway nice work, looks like you put a lot of effort into it, which is always good to see!

kovah - I like it. Simple yet strong. Maybe too simple? I think the creature needs some more refinement so he pops more and the background doesn't do him justice. Also the light glow could use with some upgrading. He looks a little crammed on the page, like his tail is scrunched and he wants to breathe! I like how you got a good amount of motion in the image, and the dark silhouette is coo, just seems it was a bit rushed and needs more love put into it. Drop shadow might help too. Good start.

Dr.Pants - Haha he looks kinda cute! I like this one, neat and kinda playful. I really really like how you rendered the gooey buildings that make up the creatures head - if he has a head... Not much else to say on this one, maybe some more atmosphere and lighting would give the city more feel, I like the gooey atmosphere effects coming off the creature tho ~ nice work!

AztcFireFlower - Very nice! Looks more traditional and less computer made so that is cool. I like the motion and how you rendered it, not much else to say. Good work!

Moai - Good start, but this one too has that photoshopy feel. I think that you would benefit by focusing more on basic art principles and less on the software. Maybe try some simple b/w pieces and just focus on lighting/value and composition. The anatomy of this guy looks a little awkward but not too bad, but i feel the composition could be better, maybe if you scooted him more to the right side of the frame, the yellows in the image seem to be all the same color and distract the eye too much, the spines break up your center of interest which would be the head otherwise. I think the background is too busy, or at least has too much contrast in it, which again distracts the eye, not to mention all the text on top. Look at supervlieg's image for an example of a really nice composition, see how his creature pops out more and has breathing room and its not so busy. Anyway try to get more value range in your image, you don't have many 'dark areas' here and alot of very bright areas, and balancing that a bit more would help I think. I hope that was helpful and didn't sound too negative, it's just my opinion and I don't even know what I'm talking about! ha! Nice start dude, looks like you put a lot of effort into it, so keep that up, but focus on the basics and you will be great!

Cloister - hot hottie hot! Very cool, I like the style alot, this one is pretty to look at, I stared at it for a while. Not much I can say, except for very minor trivial things, such as I feel like the area with the highest contrast is where his reddish ear/ornament thing is and the brightly lit area behind it, and that is where my eye is drawn rather than his head (which is painted really nicely - my favorite part of the image I think) and I think the bristles on his body and the ground may be a little too harsh and don't blend in with their surroundings enough?? Very nice work man, I love seeing work like this, hope I see more!!!

Micheal Jaecks - Another really nice one! Happy day!! I really like the way you textured his body, the transitions between the different body parts are cool to look at. His left foot seems like it needs to be more connected to the ground plane, maybe with a shadow or such and I think his tail look a little flat relative to the rest of the image, in that I get the sens that it is closer in space to me than his leg, but in the image they look like they are about in the same depth, I think the background is a little too bright/busy and distracts from the sexy creature in the midground, which I love and think is beautiful in its own kinda disturbing way.

BlkCelebration - Great start but looks a little unfinished imo. Its really nicely done as it is tho - neat composition.

Cowboy Surfer - Neat style, but I think it could be a bit stronger. White is a hard color to paint with primarily so you did good with that challenge, and I like how you put a lot of perspective on the creature, I think the white mist in the foreground may be a bit too strong, and the edges on the creature a bit harsh, his claws and ribs particularly. I like the bkgd it is simple but interesting imo. Not too shabby.

Tom Garden - Holy crap man - you have really improved as an artist!! Not that you were bad before, but this is just . . SUPERMEGACOOLYAYAIIIE! A top notch piece in my book! Wow I've been debating who I would vote for a long time, and this and Marco Mazzoni's are the top 2 imo, and I still can't decide. I kive the colors you've used and it's go so much energy! I really like the expression on the creatures face, props man, it takes a lot of talent to make something like this, you rock dude!!

Ostrander - Disturbing... but I like it! Wow this one also looks like a lot of effort was put into it, the lighting is very nice and the floorboards look like freshly chopped oak! I like the movement of the tail coming through the window in the bkgd, very nice touch. Good work fo sho!

Marco Mazzoni - I wish I had a cool name like Marco Mazzoni! And the final picture is the one that I voted for! I just really really like this painting, and there was a lot of good one's in this contest. It has a very distinct style, and it feels more traditional than a lot of the concept art I see, great use of colors, I love the energetic background and the creature design is really unique and alive. I stared at this image for a while found it very captivating. Beautiful work man.

Whew that was a lot of babbling, I hope at least a fraction of it was moderatley helpful or thoughtful. I loved looking at everyone's work and really wish I put more entries in

[Vampire Ninja]

THERE WERE SO MANY UNIQUE ENTRIES THIS TIME! just wanted to point that out.

LODIN! you got my vote, because your creature was just REALLY BAD ASS with a great concept behind it. Supervleig, very close second. Also, I'm excited I got my very first vote this round!
WholeWheat keyboard, thanx for the tip. Also, I was viewing my image on a PC the other day (I work on a Mac) and the colors were WAY too dark. So, I hope it isnt on everyone elses computers.

[kovah]

I am going to vote for Lodin simply because that creature has all the things i would find creepy in it. I can imagine it sorta stalking its prey eyes fixed on it like a big cat then pouncing and devouring. The image is great and the background fits the subject matter well.

Vampire Ninja i love yours too, it was a very close second. The stalker looks awesome and the illustrative qualities it has just make me smile.

[purplerose]

So many to chose from,, but I voted for AztcFireFlower. For me, your story really brought out the stalking aspect of the creature.

Next in line for me are Supervlieg and cowboy surfer. There was so much eye candy for this round, but it eventually came down to voting on how well the story reinforced the concept. Great work everyone!

[AztcFireFlower]

Some great ideas this round.

Supervlieg What a fun and weird little creature. Rendering is top notch as always. Transparent form and tissue within is totally believable. Great imagination and presentation. I like the story about unaccountable aches next day. It's decididly cute how It sits comfortably on the guys head. No crits. Ya get my vote this round.
Xgabo Really good flowing creature design. Feels imposing and menacing. Nice value study and compositon. I like what you have. It would be pretty damn impressive in color.
Simonl Seeing your post inspired me to practice transparency and glow for my piece. Someone commented on it looking very much like an animal exisiting in our world and I agree in that aspect. However, there was a definition, I read, that said ethereal is also a visual quality from our point of view. Beautiful! rendering and creation in any case.
Vampire Ninja Interesting color choices. I really like the rendering on the sleeping sheep on the right. Subtle but definately feel the puffy woolyness. My feeling is the other sheep would benefit from furthur rendering as well. Makes the scene feel a little incomplete. I LOVE the idea and composition, however. The overall feel makes me enjoy looking at this piece many times.
Jake I like this idea. Perhaps darkening the sky a bit could give a more definate feel for evening. But otherwise, good start.
Lodin The mood is really tangible in this piece, dark and forboding. Only crit - It's a little hard to read; as some areas blend in with background or forground in terms of value. The darker areas where his feet and tail are kind of meld into the ruin and compete with the other dark areas in the scene. My eye jumps around not knowing where to settle first. Small crit because the creature design with it's majestic hair rising out of its back IS splendid. My vote was torn by you and SV.
Rawwad This is a beautiful render as you know. I like the feel of texture that traditional media gives. Definately get the feel of otherwordly in this being. Strange and majestic. Nice!
Orifice Really different combination of shapes, one familiar and then the other completely out of this realm on the same creature. I like to see folks, as yourself, explore the amazingly different ideas and then depict them.
Qseptember5 I thought I saw a completed version of your creature in here. Good job on the render thus far. Dosn't feel quite ethereal, to me, but interesting design as it stands.
Illustrange Good start! Nice completion of scene. Background as well as creature. I would advise to continue studying form and structure, simply to strenghen the visuals of your vivid imagination. Keep it up.
Cgfuller I really like the bioluminescent idea. However, the glow feels like a harsh, strong backlight that is lighting up the edges of the form rather than glowing from within, I think, maybe toning down the rim glow and perhaps having light leak out in non edge areas on the creature would help. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Kovah Good start and encourage continued exploring of the medium. Keep going.
Dr. Pants So cubic! Such an unusual and epic approach.
Feels pretty graphic and leans more to the abstract. Only, I don't get the sense of light coming off the creature onto buildings. I feel there is no strong light direction in the scene. Values need to be tweaked and widened out a bit. Perhaps adding definate gradual falloff towards the edges of the city would contribute towards a stronger impression.
Moai Nice story, recalls a story I once read I thiiiiiink titled Eldric: At the End of Time, which dealt with chaos and planes and gravity contradicitng itself. I might have this title completely wrong. Anyway, cool description with "pigment" communication between creatures. I think you have basically critted anything that still needed the tweaking ie.the strong color cast for ex. Creature design is on, however. I am a patterns person and love to see markings on critters. Nice render of form. Keep doin what yer doin.
Cloister Quite impressed with the strong and clear rendering of form on this creature, especially around the head. Really, really nice job. I feel the arms, though, are in contrast to the rest of form in terms of completion and solidity, not as clear and defined in form (elbow closest to viewer), considering that the arms all have hands with bones and tendons. It distracts me because the rendering on the forms just behind it are so refined. This is really a nitpicky crit compared to the overall presentation and imagination behind this piece.
Michael Jaecks Great concept and story! This creature is so strange looking, i like it! Good sense of solid form in the rendering! Hhhmm, so that's why I can't sleep these recent nights! Size of creature is a little nebulous. If it is the size of a housecat, the far limbs wouldn't be that different in size from the limbs on our side, I don't think. So i get the sense of an enormous creature, that defies the description. Just something I noticed, but dosn't neccessarily detract from your nice piece.
BlkCelebration Good mood and light in this one. Sense of an ordinary nght with a slight twist in reality. Does feel more like a sketch than a completed piece. I sort of want to feel a directional flow of the extensions under the creature to give it a movement in space as it exits the other realm into ours.
Will be interested in seeing your future entries.
Cowboy Surfer Good concept. Like the perspective view and skeletal design. However, feel the form of head is not as solid as it could be. It's center line of beak is vearing off the center line of head. Even lighting on form makes the creature feel a bit flat, a little cut out. Not a strong differentiation in value to help re-inforce the shape of roundness of the body IMO. No major tweaking required, though, to make it stronger, either. Just a little. But, perhaps, being a mist creature, that wasn't your intention. Good entry in any case. Keep going.
Tom Garden Creature is horrific! Nice rendering on form of the beast. The webbing on the tentacles are a nice touch. Human feels a little off in structure and feels like a sketch compared to the treatment of the creature. Overall I like the piece but feel creeped out by the piece at the same time. Great imagination.
Ostrander Thanks for the info on crib death. Ties in well with your painting. Good concept and background rendering. Would have liked to see a little more stretch in color palette, even tho it is a night scene. I can, in any case, feel the etherealness of it and good job on the rendering of transparent and jelly like form.
Marco Mazzoni Great design on creature. So many wonderful ideas and imagination. Yours does not disappoint! There is a traditional feel to the rendering that is nice. I can see the pencil rendering and it denotes traditional texture in media like a watercolor or an oil sketch, which I find adds richness in depth. This feeling is definatly re-inforced by the background rendering.
AztcFireFlower - Good start on the rendering of the head, Need to keep the same quality throughhout. Overall color scheme is one sided. Should take more care in rendering and value, but then lack of experience can be a drag. Keep going, don't get discouraged. Sucking at BG's is no excuse for not trying. Should continue to take more risks in concept and color each opportunity that arrives.


My thanks to Moai, Supervlieg, Wholewheat Keyboard, Cloister for the advice and encouragement. I always appreciate all comments on improvement.
Special Thanks to Purplerose for my very first vote! I am honored that you liked my critter and story.
You must drop into the mix here at COW sometime

[Fozzybar]

llothcat

ninner ninner ninner...I'm rejected!

oh sorry, forgot to mention you
Though i was very surprised by the quality improvement of your art (good job on that!) i kinda missed the description...there were other entries without description, but your creature had a design and also the background which cried for a explanation why there are bunnies and why the creature itself looks like them...


j a k e

Right ok. Was not aware that mine was too simple, maybe it could have helped if I was told before the deadline by someone that mine would not have been counted? I mean, so my time was not to waste.

Sorry that i didnt reply in the posting thread, but this week i had a shitload of work to do and didn't look intensely throught the entries...
Still, don't see this as wasted time...you have a cool piece which you can use for a portfolio or just for your archive...it's conceptart YOU have made...no time wasting here...just rejected for this round. Many other artists were rejected, even pros, but most of them continued to participate...it's your first time, so it's not a big deal if you didn't know what the rules or requirements were...head up

[j a k e]

Thanks man. Will try and continue to come by for more rounds, good work for portfolio as you said. See you soon!

[cowboy surfer]

Thanks for the comments.
Moai - Thanks for the colour advice. Had real trouble trying to wrap my head around getting what I was imagining onto the page. And trying to capture that transparent see through look.
SuperV - Thanks wanted to get a skeletal feel for the undead concept, will try to push it more out-there next round. And less whiteness, I hope better technique and colour understanding will come with practice.
Wholewheat - Thanks, I am getting the feeling it was too white. Appreciate the crit will take it all on board for next round.
Purplerose - Thanks for the third, inspiring me too strive for better next round.
Aztecfireflower - Thanks, was trying to get the mist creature feel but you are right, too flat. I hope that my colour use will improve over time leading to a more three dimensional feel.

[Joey-b]

supervlieg has got it .. love the design

[Moai]

Wholeweat keyboard- Thanks for the excellent critique. It wasn't too harsh or negative at all. Now that I have my tablet I'm going to do some extremely simple depictions of various objects around my house. That'll fit right into your "back to the basics" prescription. Your critiques were right on target. Thanks for taking the time!
AztcFireFlower- You always have the nicest compliments for me! Thanks.

Like many have said, it's good to see people taking the time to critique each other like this.
Voted for Mad Marco Mazzoni, for the description as much as the picture. It's like H.P. Lovecraft writing a script for the Final Fantasy movie. Great ideas and mood!

[Simonl]

Marco Mazzoni got my vote. Beautiful design and rendering. Colours were perfect, too.

[Johanna Saarenpää]

Lodin gets my vote, great work. C:

[cowboy surfer]

I know I am a newbie and this is probably the wrong place to ask but can anyone tell me how to get an avatar (eg the easter island carving that moai uses) and a nice little quote (eg striver on cloister`s). Also what are the gladiator levels and : titles? Thanks hope to understand a little more about CA.

[Moai]

Go to your User Control Panel (the "User CP" link up at the top left) and click on the "Edit Signature" and "Edit Avatar" links on the left of the page that comes up. Your Gladiator level, I do believe, is just a measure of how many posts you've made. 1-49 is level 1, 50-99 is level 2, etc. The number of posts needed to get to the next level increases as your levels get higher. I've never seen anyone higher than level 17. It's pretty much just a way to guage how long people have been members and how much they've contributed.

[cowboy surfer]

Ah Moai, you rock. Thanks a lot. I learn, I grow.

[ScaryPotato]

Man, I sat looking at all of these for days before I could decide one one. rawwad, you got my vote this round. Its strangeness is what I see as ethereal, ugly and beautiful, scary and intriguing. I also liked how you left the trees as simple sketches, to me it is as if we are in your creature's realm seeing our world as it would. Very interesting work by everyone!