[Woogity]

not going to use this guy caus i started him before the comp. but might help inspire, crustacean/bug race type dude.





-Woog

[emannick]

poisonous herbivore is done

[NickNitro]

Nice stuff guys!

emannick - that is a really great concept design I wish I could come up with a character like that, like the colors too but is it Volcanic/Aquatic/Moon creature? One other question too, wheres it's mouth!? haha

Keep up the good work guys

[johnchen]

Everyones wip's so far are looking great, keep it up.

Heres a concept I turned into a base armature using Zspheres and mesh insert. This will be the equivalent of the Navi, but living and surviving in the oceans. There will be membrane on the arms and lower leg to help it swim underwater. The head and neck will be bird like.

This will be a warrior race, which starts off as unfriendly to the Navi but end up partnering together to save Pandora.

[Doppelganger]

@absorbentghost, @GeoCat @vitrux - sorry for the late reply, but yes I agree that the smoother more aquatic style guy is my favorite as well. however to explain my chaotic approach here, I don't consider that detail I just lay it out as a way to break up my mind to see new shapes, in fact those details are in the smooth models as well (as there all the same subtool) I just have them on several layers and turned off for the smooth guy. I got the idea from doing 2d concepts, sometimes I would lay down some brush strokes and do some scribbles over it and see what I get. silly I know but it works well as a starting point.
@Woogity- your crustacean designs are really cool, I had similar ideas , but I'm having trouble keeping them in the same world as the Navi, is yours a good or bad race?
@emannick Love that design, really looks like something from that world, not sure but maybe add a little order to the color (like a zebra etc.)

[Doppelganger]

@johnchen Im really interested to see where you take this design. What color will your race be?
A problem i'm running into is that the world is off, by that I mean Its kind of like too much suger in a way and the Navi are so blue they kind of overshadow everything.
here is where im at for now, 1a-c is the original smooth guy the others are variations, I was thinking that the race 4 a-e would be an advance race not native to Pandora and are there doing underwater experaments that were destroying the echosystem or something. they destroyed there own habbitat and now are using Pandora as a testing grownd for saving themselves. The other races will be similar to the Navi and must join together to defeat the coming doom.......or something. The advanced race are small, 4ft or so ( kid of similar to the difference form the invading humans and the naive Navi )so they use exo suits for heavy duty labor, and war. Oh and I just realized i'm not restricted to the length of my words, sorry for the 2 post thing

[johnchen]

@Doppelganger I like 1a and 3a, they feel like a similar race, one of elders, one of warriors.


One thing I would suggest to everyone is thinking about the evolutionary design of the creatures, at the moment they may look great and have interesting shapes, but the elements seem like they are just put on there so they look cool. If you know what I mean.

No doubt eye candy is important, but as a challenge try thinking a bit deeper about the creatures and how they relate to your chosen environment.

EG: A volcanic creature would most likely have really tough armor, tall and long legs to avoid the heat on the ground. etc

[GeoCat]

Originally Posted by johnchen

@Doppelganger I like 1a and 3a, they feel like a similar race, one of elders, one of warriors.


One thing I would suggest to everyone is thinking about the evolutionary design of the creatures, at the moment they may look great and have interesting shapes, but the elements seem like they are just put on there so they look cool. If you know what I mean.

No doubt eye candy is important, but as a challenge try thinking a bit deeper about the creatures and how they relate to your chosen environment.

Hey everyone,

There are lots of cool and amazing entries, but I feel too like more attention could be given to include other important details of the assignment, such as environment etc. Right now there seems to be allot of attention on intelligent, armored, humanoid, creatures (which is cool and perfectly legit according to the briefing) but I feel as though some of them are too general and could more or less fit into any sci-fi or fantasy theme, and I'm still curious about how some of these entries relate to Pandora and their respective environments?

just my 2 atm...

[Doppelganger]

@GeoCat I'm at a bit of a misunderstanding here with your post about not doing intelligent species as its posted quiet clearly in the OP

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

Have I misunderstood this line? if so then i've gone in the wrong direction as I based my designs on that sentence. no worries though if you want more animalistic than that's not a problem. its fun either way.

[johnchen]

Just to clarify, creature characters are fine, since the brief for the challenge can include a race of intelligent creatures.

But you need to make sure the creature fits in with the 3 worlds as volcano, ocean or moon.

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

Do NOT spend time on clothing, accessories, robotics, mechanical extensions.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[GeoCat]

Originally Posted by Doppelganger

@GeoCat I'm at a bit of a misunderstanding here with your post about not doing intelligent species as its posted quiet clearly in the OP

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

Have I misunderstood this line? if so then i've gone in the wrong direction as I based my designs on that sentence. no worries though if you want more animalistic than that's not a problem. its fun either way.

Hey Doppelganger,

Sorry for any confusion or conflict with the op. But those are just my suggestions atm to perhaps encourage some of the other aspects of the challenge I feel are being overlooked.

Whether or not you take me up on that is solely up to you man...

Either way, you're doing some fantastic work, I'm loving your sketches, and look forward to seeing more from you

[Doppelganger]

Hey guys no worries I just wanted to make sure at where you were driving at. Good thing too as I would of probably settled on #4 and made the bio suit as well lol.
I did this over lunch before I read your final posts so its still humanoid ish, I was trying to go for that sugar feel that Pandora at night has, not to sure how I like it yet. but now ill shift gears to more of a creature feature.

Cheers!

[johnchen]

So heres my creature character concept from the anatomy study previously, the concept here is another Navi equivalent race but under the oceans of Pandora, the long neck and thin body helps it to be super agile in the water, while the fin like membrane on the arms and lower leg help it to swim under water, the beaver like tail also help it to swim. Whiskers are sensors much like on a cat fish, gills under the pec muscles for breathing. I was thinking the gap in the centre of the chest could contain some sort of bioluminance thing that identifies the class of the creature. but heck I think that could just look cool.


I would like to say it has evolved from a mountain banshee to survive in the ocean and developed a bipedal look due to interbreeding with the navi

Turntable here - http://youtu.be/HbLFHwXHTSA



In anycase I think this is still looking too humanoid, maybe I can add another set of arms in there somewhere

[GeoCat]

@ Woogity

Solid concept, great sculpt! Looking forward to more!

[GeoCat]

Originally Posted by johnchen

I would like to say it has evolved from a mountain banshee to survive in the ocean and developed a bipedal look due to interbreeding with the navi


In anycase I think this is still looking too humanoid, maybe I can add another set of arms in there somewhere

Looking great John! But where did the beak come from, and why would a highly evolved species such as the Na'vi mate with creatures?

No big deal, just saying

Keep up the fantastic work dude!