Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to Creature of the Week!
Similar to CHOW, I'll give a prompt every two weeks and you'll create a creature that fits with it.
There will be separate work in progress and final threads. Drafts go in WIP, finished stuff goes in Finals.
Once the end of next week has been reached (next Saturday), I'll post a poll at the end to see whose creature wins. Winners choose the following week's prompt.
Some ground rules:
- One final per person
- Original art, no fan art or pre-made art
- This has to be a creature, no human characters, but people can be with the creature. Humanoid creatures are allowed.
- No unsolicited critiques.
Now, let's get started!
-CREATURE OF THE WEEK MARCH 1st-
DRAGON
YOUR DEADLINE IS: MONDAY, MARCH 15th @ 10am EST 7am PT 3pm GMT
Since most users here have never done a COW challenge, I thought it would be best to go with something basic for the prompt. If you've never drawn a dragon before and are unsure of how to go about it, I strongly recommend that you watch this video:
I'm going for like a medieval cockatrice. But instead of it having a bird head it keeps the snake/dinosaur. So this would be like an idea for like an old-timey fantasy game. I'm going to try to have a little bit of an ancient bestiary overall look to the design with the coloring and the florid style of the tongue and tail lashes. Final version should probably have some scale reference, and might throw in the beefy arm we'll see.
Very cool start, Joseph. I got the medieval bestiary feeling from it even before reading your description. It's like something from a tapestry, but with perspective and modeling. Also, I was heartened to see that great beefy-armed dragon in the bottom left there.
I got all excited and wanted to paint a wyvern-type dragon in the process of burninating some dudes. I might stretch myself too thin with this one, but I absentmindedly drew the knights as orthogonal to the picture frame (which happens to be easier to draw), so we'll see how it goes. This is the sketch.
@public enemy thanks for hosting!
@joseph Love the cockatrice idea!
Thought I'd join in on the fun! Using photos to ideate some ideas, gonna start from scratch for the final design! First I gotta work my story in, and don't forget to actually design the dragon :P
I've been obsessed with getting all painterly and stuff lately but this doesn't help the readability of the design unless I spend a lot of time polishing it. Something to think about...
@gerbenpasjes: Very intriguing thumbnails. Each has a striking mood to it. Also, if you do end up wanting to go with a very painterly and evocative approach, I don't mind. I'll just be glad to have >1 picture in the finals thread.
Thinking about lighting, plan, composition, story. A group of knights assaults a sleeping dragon, thinking this is their only chance to defeat it. Will it work? Dragon silhouette's not working for me yet, the legs are bothering me mostly.
Dragon design: No wings, I want a more reptile, stalker feel to it. No idea what color to give it. Little bonus would be to animate it breathing.
(03-08-2021, 08:53 PM)gerbenpasjes Wrote: Thinking about lighting, plan, composition, story. A group of knights assaults a sleeping dragon, thinking this is their only chance to defeat it. Will it work? Dragon silhouette's not working for me yet, the legs are bothering me mostly.
Dragon design: No wings, I want a more reptile, stalker feel to it. No idea what color to give it. Little bonus would be to animate it breathing.
I think you should use the rhythm of the tail and modify the rock formation so that the leg are taking less of a visual weight that if you choose to keep going with your original plan.Here my opinion normally dragon sleep in a cat like fashion inside cavern this is rather unusual to think that a dragon would be sleeping outside during the day time.For me the storytelling doesn't totally make sense.Did you do a bunch of thumbnail before hand or you simply tried your luck on this composition?
(03-09-2021, 07:50 AM)darktiste Wrote: Here my opinion normally dragon sleep in a cat like fashion inside cavern this is rather unusual to think that a dragon would be sleeping outside during the day time.For me the storytelling doesn't totally make sense.
Apologies to gerben if I got this wrong, but the storytelling makes sense to me. It's meant to be a petrified dragon that is lying dormant and may or may not wake.
(03-09-2021, 07:50 AM)darktiste Wrote: I think you should use the rhythm of the tail and modify the rock formation so that the leg are taking less of a visual weight that if you choose to keep going with your original plan.Here my opinion normally dragon sleep in a cat like fashion inside cavern this is rather unusual to think that a dragon would be sleeping outside during the day time.For me the storytelling doesn't totally make sense.Did you do a bunch of thumbnail before hand or you simply tried your luck on this composition?
Maybe most dragons sleep in caves but not this dragon. Don't really have a reason for it, just thought the composition and concept were cool so I ran with it. For the composition, I just tried my luck in 3D, but I had a visual in my mind of the story I wanted to tell and the approximate POV!
(03-09-2021, 08:38 AM)Pubic Enemy Wrote: Apologies to gerben if I got this wrong, but the storytelling makes sense to me. It's meant to be a petrified dragon that is lying dormant and may or may not wake.
Yeah, exactly I'm not thinking too much about it tbh, just having fun and trying my hand at sculpting for the first time. I seem unable to prevent myself from making it into an environment concept again though haha, maybe I won't submit it for the final? Perhaps if I try to actually paint up a side view or smth of the dragon so you can see the design!
I've given the dragon a scaly texture now, might still swap that out for stone, I have to see. I'm still in the process of designing my shapes right now so I retain readability but also mood. It helps that the POV is against the sun so I can work more graphically.
I really don't like the fog right now, it's supposed to be this morning's layer of mist but it's really not working. The horses and rocks I like, but they need more shape definition without becoming too contrasty. That's gonna be a juggle.
Whoa i really like that painting Gerben! You say you did it in 3D but it's painted over? Or what do you mean? Anyway it's an awesome start, I really like the morning atmosphere. It is more of a environment concept though.
Here's an update on mine. I actually don't really care for it that much. The values and color are really murky and don't strongly communicate the form. I basically just cleaned up what I had without much editing or designing, but I would like to find some references from animals and go in for a round 2 of the design if i have time.
@gerbenpasjes: That picture is shaping up nicely. The atmosphere is strong. Whether you submit it for the final or not is up to you. This may technically be a creature design contest, but we have an extremely small contestant pool, so all I ask is that the picture has a dragon in it, LOL.
@Joseph: I actually find it very charming. The egg is a nice addition. I look forward to seeing any updates if you have the time/will for them.
Here's progress on the burninator. I tried to maintain a stronger focal point than I usually would through contrast and edge sharpness, but I think I've executed it poorly and made parts of the picture look incongruous. Also did some light jumping I'm not proud of. I'm open to critiques if anyone feels like giving 'em, but barring an epiphany, I might just have to accept it as a learning experience and clean it up a bit for the final.
(03-12-2021, 11:22 AM)JosephCow Wrote: Whoa i really like that painting Gerben! You say you did it in 3D but it's painted over? Or what do you mean? Anyway it's an awesome start, I really like the morning atmosphere. It is more of a environment concept though.
Here's an update on mine. I actually don't really care for it that much. The values and color are really murky and don't strongly communicate the form. I basically just cleaned up what I had without much editing or designing, but I would like to find some references from animals and go in for a round 2 of the design if i have time.
Yes its a paintover from a sculpt I did! I dig your update, you're right about the form not communicating yet but that's just a matter of time! I think the basics of your design is there.
I've put the painting on hold for now and just focused on getting the dragon's design more fleshed out. Struggling big-time with it!
Hey gerben, this is just a quick idea for the posture. Feel free to disregard. Since you're partially using cats for ref, that's the direction I went in. I thought the thigh should be in a relaxed, dropped-down posture. The foot isn't resting on anything, so it looks strange for the thigh to be in that flexed position. The thigh position would make sense if you changed the hind-foot to be resting on a rock, though.
started this pretty late so not sure if i'll get this finished before the 15th but hey, the journey is what counts.
Coral reef dragon - these migrating sea dragons obtain their energy from the photosynthesising algae that colonise the coral reefs growing from its back. The coral reef dragon also provides a home (both temporary and permanent) to several species of fish and other marine life. While some creatures use the dragon as impromptu taxi service, some of these smaller life forms migrate with it for their entire life span, as the dragon seeks out waters with the correct conditions to flourish.
With ocean temperatures continuing to rise, the older and weaker dragons may not have the strength to migrate to colder waters . As the algae providing them with energy die off, the dragons become weaker, their coral growth becoming bleached, until they are so starved that they settle on the sea floor to die
@pubic enemy thanks for the feedback! that was very helpful and I've applied it.
@skeffin looks very cool! I like the narrative you have alongside, good luck getting it to a more finished state!
@pubic enemy I did a little paintover of your painting, mostly making the dragon appear more menacing! I quite like what you have going, very strong chroma. I find it very difficult to critique it because it should be about the dragon's design, yet I can't help but put the story first.
Meanwhile I thought the deadline was today so I finished up my design into a little design sheet. Just realised the deadline is monday but I think I'll keep it at this stage.
(03-14-2021, 12:36 AM)gerbenpasjes Wrote: Meanwhile I thought the deadline was today so I finished up my design into a little design sheet. Just realised the deadline is monday but I think I'll keep it at this stage.
Huh I though it was today, too! Did the date change? If it did, I'm glad.
The deadline was always Monday. You guys probably got confused because the deadline was always Saturday in previous COW threads. I wanted to make it more generous.
@gerbenpasjes: Glad I could help. Thank you for your paintover, too. You have a very good sense for composition. I don't have the will to make major revisions at this point, but I'll try to incorporate your overarching lair idea; it looks much better.
@Skeffin: Cool concept and sketch, the dragon gives a very ghostly and mysterious impression!
