[johnchen]

*Challenge begins 12:00 pm Tuesday, May 22th*

This months challenge is "Creatures of Pandora".

As a creature artist in the art department, you have been tasked with creating creature concepts for the upcoming mega blockbuster "Avatar 2".
You have been given the following details about the creatures that Jim is looking for.

"In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of Avatar's visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I'm looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild."

Cameron has also hinted that the heroes will venture to some of Polyphemus's other moons in the film.

Cameron confirmed that Avatar 2 will explore the oceans of Pandora. He also confirmed that Avatar 2 will contain more volcanoes, it was confirmed that Avatar 2 will take place several years after the events of the original film.

The film is in early pre-production and Jim has asked for fresh ideas and concepts for creatures that will fit in with the 3 new worlds.
Ocean, volcanoes, and Moon.

Keep your creatures strictly Organic and fleshy. Focus on biology, skin texture and underlying anatomy.


Requirements:
~ Front, 3/4 and close up shots in greyscale
~ Posed beauty shot
OPTIONAL : Textures & a video turntable

Examples below:
Designing Pandora - Making of Video http://youtu.be/J1LQ3x4wA30?t=3m28s


Consider the environment and evolution biology of the creature you are designing, pick one habitat from the 3 above. Is it a predator, Herbivore, solitary or pack creature? Is it a massive hulking beasts or small fragile and delicate but highly poisonous. Friendly or unfriendly to the Navi?

Can it be tamed by the navi using the mental link ( the bond )?

Is it another race of intelligent creatures that threaten the Navi in the new movie?

Let your imagination go wild! The aim of the challenge will be to develop your artistic and problem solving skills, try coming up with a few concepts & speed sculpts before diving into detailing.

Post your concepts and WIPS here. Good Luck!



~Challenge ends Saturday June 30th, 11:59pm EST ~

[kryssmen]

Awesome idea dude! Very well thought out...

[KC-Production]

Aww this is Great man, fantastic topic. Avatar and the pandora was a great inspiration. Would Love to Take Part and work it out with a full textured creature. Wishing everyone a Lot of fun and again Welcome johnchen, great start with a great topic.
All the best and happy sculpting,
Kenny

[johnchen]

Glad you guys like this months challenge theme Plenty of possibilities and ideas to explore thats for sure!



Here are some scribbles done in scribblertoo, just exploring some shapes, ideas etc. I can't sketch to save my own life but using scribblertoo is pretty fun and simple and a great way to get the ball rolling.

http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/

If you haven't tried it yet, its definitely worth a look. Once you have saved out some sketches you can start combining them in photoshop to make even more shapes.

Looking for inspiration and ideas? just check out some wild life documentaries, nature is full of weird things. I've been watching this series on the Galapagos, check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzWBq...feature=colike

[NickNitro]

wow this is probably my favorite challenge so far that I've seen on cghub! I cant NOT wait to see everyone's ideas!

[johnchen]

Anyone started their concepts yet?

Here are two speed sculpts done in an afternoon using the sketch concepts in ZB.

Do post your progress.

[Doppelganger]

I hope i'm doing this right, and posting correctly here, if i'm even allowed to. I thought of making a race that can converse with the Navi and or the humans.
Its just a quick and dirty 3 hour sculpt including a paint over for now as you can see everything is loose as I haven't committed to anything yet. I imagine that these things being in water and on a low gravity planet would be taller than the Navi so I figure 15 or so feet. It will be hard finding the balance of creature to humanoid but its a start

[johnchen]

excellent start guys, keep posting your wips and ideas here on this thread, you still have heeps of time to start new concepts before going into detailing!

[absorbentghost]

Doppelganger that is awesome,great work looking forward in seeing more.U got time to do one more?

[stonestef]

Sounds interesting! I'll have to watch Avatar first as it's been a long time since I last saw it.

You can check here for inspiration:

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.c...gory:Creatures

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzool...res-of-avatar/

http://www.ugo.com/therush/avatar-sa...andora-gallery

[johnchen]

Originally Posted by stonestef

Sounds interesting! I'll have to watch Avatar first as it's been a long time since I last saw it.

You can check here for inspiration:

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.c...gory:Creatures

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzool...res-of-avatar/

http://www.ugo.com/therush/avatar-sa...andora-gallery

Thanks for these stonestef, very cool. @Doppelganger as absorbentghost kindly answered, feel free to post as many wips as you like, the point of these challenges is to learn from others and get critic for your work, so go nuts! try to keep the images below 500K if possible.

Heres another concept done today, I went a little too far with the detailing of the scene, but meh Fibermesh is just so damn fun



For you other guys maybe stuck for ideas, take a look at the art of Mike Corriero Mike has a unique style and color pallet that fits in with this challenge I think.

PS: GEOCAT will also be joining the mod team for the 3D creature challenges, look forward to his challenges next month.

now Go Go Go do some art!

[Doppelganger]

Thanks absorbentghost, I would like to do as many as I can squeeze in but i'm never sure how the day to day is. I might all of a sudden get a window or two where I go at these things hard, other times its a lunch hour here or there, but these things sure are fun. I had a moment this morning before I started my day to horse around with his face. its not much, just thought I would share and get input. I used the old shotgun approach and just went in with out much thought.
One question, seeing as this thread is shared amongst many is there a limit to the posts you would like us to commit to? I don't want to flood this thing with all my steps (or should I?)

[absorbentghost]

Doppelganger you can post as many images as you want here ,showing ure WIPs are madatory,but there should only be one final entry at the end of the challenge sessions.

[absorbentghost]

Doppelganger i think your spoiling it with the porous detail, it was great with a smooth skin aquatic feel to it.

[GeoCat]

Originally Posted by absorbentghost

Doppelganger i think your spoiling it with the porous detail, it was great with a smooth skin aquatic feel to it.

Yes I agree with this.

Pore detail this early on retracts from what is great about the sculpt, and is something you would typically want to save for the texture pass in the diffuse, only using a few suggestive key details in the sculpt.

And I also agree that the original concept sculpt and paint-over is already great! The anatomy, proportions, and aquatic smoothness have a very nice "chi" and gesture to it, and overall I find the character very striking and captivating, without the poor detail.

Personally, I would like to see you further develop and refine some of the volumes and shapes of the anatomy, and continue to build on what's there, which is fundamentally very sound, and good....

my 2 anyway..,

keep up the great work Doppelganger!