C.O.W. - #088: Buoy

**Fozzybar** · June 5th, 2007, 05:36 AM

Round #088

Topic:
Buoy

Deadline:
Tuesday, 12th June 2007

- for any questions or help go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37512

note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know

Post your creature for this week!

Attachment 17332

**Fozzybar** · June 5th, 2007, 05:40 AM

thanx to infinitemonkey for this topic!

ADDITIONAL INFO

- The creature must float on the water surface. The body must be partly outside of the water, partly underwater.

- The fluid it's floating in has to be water! No lava, swamp or anything else.

**Eric Gerhard** · June 5th, 2007, 07:31 AM

Here we go again....

**AntiMatty** · June 5th, 2007, 08:43 AM

how about a bloated zombie? floating around and trying to climb onto passing ships?

**Melis...** · June 5th, 2007, 09:11 AM

Ok, I'm in. Here is muh quick concept sketch...

Will update when I finish.

**Alejjo** · June 5th, 2007, 09:56 AM

Rigth on, back to bussines

The Water sloth receives its name because he spends 18 hours a day sleeping, he is normally under water but while asleep he naturally floats, since he is always asleep his always floating and because of this land critters jump on his floating body to reach the lotus berries that grow on deeper waters, this is why he is commonly referred as the creek buoy.

Final

please Crit and comment

**Supervlieg** · June 5th, 2007, 10:32 AM

Floating devices eh. Ok, Ill think about this one.

**corspufo** · June 5th, 2007, 10:57 AM

Melis I like where you're going with that idea.

I'm out on this one, but I'm gonna keep my eye on this. Especially since EVERYONE did KILLER work on The Razor Fly.

**Baltasar_Ali** · June 5th, 2007, 11:02 AM

Acid Buoy
Really dangerous for swimers and boats.
(Still working on my final...)

**hammajamma** · June 5th, 2007, 11:07 AM

Yeah Bouy!

Still moving, so VERY limited time. Let's see what I can do.

Awesome subject as usual, I expect this will be full of amazing designs. This contest is full of talented artist!

**jchery** · June 5th, 2007, 11:37 AM

hello ! thank for all your compliments about my last concept !

today my sketch, I awaits your criticisms !

**Moai** · June 5th, 2007, 11:37 AM

All right, buoys and gulls, let's draw!

**Sangmort** · June 5th, 2007, 02:03 PM

Time to think outside the box. I hope everyone just doesn't do jellyfish creatures...hehe~

**Alex Alexandrov** · June 5th, 2007, 03:02 PM

ok im in again cool subject

**Rist** · June 5th, 2007, 04:02 PM

Pulled out

**Piru** · June 5th, 2007, 04:22 PM

Eager to join in, no time but I'll try!

**hammajamma** · June 5th, 2007, 04:56 PM

So the basic idea is a very large creature who lures unwary sailors into it's waiting maw.

**Sangmort** · June 5th, 2007, 05:54 PM

Looks like I wont be able to finish my entry this time around

Ahh well...there's always the next cow.

thumbs1 thumbs2
Alright, so here's my...not so little...creature. I'm really trying to improve my painting skills, so c&c are greatly appreciated, as always. I tried to make my creature look a little more "wet," and used harder brushes to give it a more polished look.Still a long way to go, I have a few other views of the creature to do. Blue scribbles are the water line.

Going to put my concept down now...still needs to be tweaked a bit. Will c&c everyone's tomorrow.

---
Nare eggs are found deep down on the ocean floor of the Atlantic and Pacific, hatchlings roughly the size of a small elephant. Quick, and agile swimmers at first, a nare spends it's first few years near the bottom of the ocean hunting prey; sharks, crabs, fish, bits of driftwood and whatever else they may get into their mouths. As a nare ages, it grows rapidly, bloating up to the size of a blue whale, it begins to collect oxygen in the large chambers in it's back and tail, discarding the gills it hatched with. At this stage in it's life, a nare has only two goals; to eat and breed. However, as a nare continues to grow and becomes the size of a small island, it looses the ability to control it's fins and tail, the muscles become overly weighted down by fat, making a nare utterly immobile. It's once mighty fins succumb to it’s massive size, and hang limp at the creature's sides. The nare, however, has planned for this moment since birth, and if it has gathered enough oxygen stored within it, the creature consequently floats towards the ocean surface.

Once on the surface, the floating nare opens it's large gaping mouth and allows the waves of the ocean to push it wherever the water dictates. A nare remains on the surface of the water for the remainder of it's long life, eating whatever floats into it's open mouth, whether it be ships, sailors, fish, gulls, or the occasional whale. The nare's greatest weapon now becomes it's long tongue, which may stretch out and snatch whatever wanders by, pulling it into the depths of it's immense stomach. As such, the nare is called the "Buoy of Open Water," and was a large reason why many believed the earth was flat for so long. In truth, much later it was discovered, that sailors did not fall of the edge of the world, they simply sailed straight into the gullet of a nare.~

**Nexus** · June 5th, 2007, 06:29 PM

Ok kudos to Infinitemonkey. This is what CoW is all about. A simple topic with little or no descriptive words that has nearly endless possibilities. Im excited about this one and hopefully Ill have enough time before I leave town this weekend. Good luck all.

**zeldalady** · June 5th, 2007, 08:03 PM

I'm in for this one. I'm thinking something that needs sunlight for some reason...like it has a symbiotic relationship with algae on its body, or it had cells within its own body that can process light energy...

**Arn J.** · June 5th, 2007, 09:25 PM

I like this topic, I'll give it a shot. ^.^

**zeldalady** · June 5th, 2007, 11:07 PM

Here's my final:

Description: The Buoy is a creature that has developed a symbiotic relationship with the plant matter that grows on it. It has evolved to feed off the energy that these plants pull from the sun, and so must float near the surface, and most preferably above the water. This also means that it no longer has need of a mouth and that feature has disappeared over the years. Its nostrils are on the top of its head due to its floating nature, and the air sacs near its lungs can be filled with air as the creature wants, allowing it to float more easily since the plants don't provide alot of excess energy. The massive size of the Buoy keeps most predators away. Sailors will sometimes see the Buoy floating and think it is an island, but as they approach it will dive under the surface to escape, which has given rise to the myth of the Disappearing Isle.

I really like your concepts so far hammajamma and Sangmort!! =D

But jchery, I'm a little worried that yours looks too much like a plant...though I guess that's alright if that's how it attracts prey or something.

Alejjo, maybe this is too picky, but how does the sloth breath if it's underwater for so long? =P

Baltasar_Ali, make your concept a bit clearer please, I'd like to see what you're thinking better =)

Rist, I can't tell what your creature looks like at all right now. Please be sure to show more of it somehow!

**fate** · June 5th, 2007, 11:24 PM

First time doing this. My WIP so far:

This creature uses an air filled sack to float on the surface of the water mimicking a clump of seaweed. Its tentacles, which bear a resemblance to kelp, contain poisonous stingers which paralyze any unwitting bird or fish that tries to take shelter in or feast on this peculiar creature. After its victim is paralyzed, this creature takes its time slowly consuming it.

**Alejjo** · June 6th, 2007, 12:31 AM

With each cow the entries get better and better.

Melis Funny lil guy, it would help your creature if u depict him hold his breath to flout, like with his cheeks filled with air or something

Baltasar Interesting take on the subject, i know youre working on a killer compo so ill wait to see those results

Jchery i liked youre preious entry, i see some good sketches, the pink guy calls my atention, it seems that he is able to open..jajaj when i see him i cant help but think in a cacoon..its a fish,then becomes the boy and then opens up and bam a flying creature, good work keep em coming

Rist I think im speaking for everybody when i say I WANNA SEE THAT BIG MOUTH OF HIS OPENED!!

Hammajamma interesting Silhouettes, a funy one its on its way..lol

Sangmort i support your iniative of Thinking out side the box, nice primitive concept but i see a seamer rather than a floater, perhaps reducing all of his fins will help

Zelda lady Niiiiice esplanation, having to float because of the sun, i love it, i think u can dig deeper into that idea and work it some more. Lol you werent to picky on my crit, it was on my mind the whole hile too so i solved it by adding a respiratory whole on his back, kinda like the whales.

Fate Totally national geographic, your creature its perfectly belivable, a killer render and you have it in the bag!..lol love the lil man..seemsparalized hilarious

These are my comments so far, i invite you all to comment on mine, come by my office its located upstairs between posts 5 y 7

**hammajamma** · June 6th, 2007, 02:24 AM

Alejjo - thanks I hope it ends up being funny when I'm done. Love yours as well mate. Very cute and funny.
Fate - Great idea, I'm impressed. Keep up the good work.
zeldalady - Thank you, It is going to be a fun one. your concept is looking good.
Sangmort - Great start! Looking forward to yours.
Rist - Great minds think alike I gues.
Jchery - You've got some great thumbs there. Any of which will make a very cool creature.
Baltasar_Ali - Unique concept, very creative.
Melis...- Hehehe, very nice. Devious little monster you've created.

**Rist** · June 6th, 2007, 04:20 AM

Replies:

Alejjo: AWWW I was feelinf lazy! Hmm, well I never said it was finished so I could design the seagull having fits over the gas and falling into the great blobs maws.

Zeldalady: I know, I know, I think as I do not usually draw illustrations (I have been studying from books for months and seem rusty with just drawing from the mind) I was trying to go the easy route without the consideration of how others will see the actual creature. The number one rule in illustration is to make sure the audiance can read your image clearly, it seems I broke that rule on this one.

Hammagamma: If yours breaths out deadly bad breath to capture the prey, then sure we do! I love the idea of luring the sailers, but with the size of that thing would it actually need to go through all that trouble? Maybe you could make the beast look a little more fragile, so that in order to capture its prey properly it needs cunning.

**Fozzybar** · June 6th, 2007, 09:30 AM

Baltasar_Ali
Your creature is not a buoy itself...it is an individual which is trapped in ice...the topic is referring to a creature species. So the buoy theme must be find in the anatomy of the creature

Rist, all
The creatures anatomy must be visible. COW is about the creature not the environment or in your case the gull, which is the main focus and content of your artwork (even if it is a wip)

**polydrawer** · June 6th, 2007, 10:23 AM

wow so much nice ideas allready ^^ i really like the enthusiasm in here
here is my idea and a scene ive been workin on this afternoon

info is coming

FINAL:

**zeldalady** · June 6th, 2007, 11:44 AM

Fate, I can't tell you how much I'm liking your concept--definitely my favorite one so far =) I can't wait to see it finished!

ravenslayer, looking good, but pay close attention to what Fozzybar says: you will need to show all of the creatures anatomy in the final, and I'm worried that your second picture doesn't do that enough =( Keep working on it!