[GeoCat]

Challenge begins 12:00 am Wednesday, July 11th



This months challenge, Exotic Reptiles!

As creature artist, there is no better way to attune your eye and hone your skills than through keen observation and study of the many beautiful and exotic creatures among us.

MEGA PRODUCTIONS creative directors have assigned its lead creature/character artist (you) to venture out into the depths of the "world wild web" for 30 days, to observe the many exotic reptiles that inhabit our planet. As lead artist's your goals are to accurately capture, and depict your chosen subject matter in all its exotic, bold, reptilian glory, to set the pace and standards for the rest of the 3D team. At the end of the 30 day milestone each artist will be required to turn in a complete (modeled, textured and posed) high-poly asset for approval. Once approved, the asset will be added to the MEGA PRODUCTIONS asset library to be used by the modeling team, as 3D reference and or re-purposing etc for an exciting new MEGA PRODUCTIONS, production.

To make this assignment interesting to all MEGA PRODUCTIONS art leads, the more adventurous and imaginative artist among us can take a stab at creating their own exotic reptile species. However, since this is a research/study assignment to help strengthen the teams artistic eye for believable creature anatomy, gesture, structure, silhouette, and surfacing, and provide solid in house 3D reference and assets, Mega Productions AD's ask that your designs adhere to the established laws of the reptile world. Humanoid character/creatures with scales, and mystical flying dragons miss the point of the assignment, and will not be accepted.



Rules and guidelines:

Post reference pics or mood board of your chosen subject, prior to posting any wip images.

If creating your own, you will also be required to provide reference (multiple if borrowing from multiple species) and a brief bio that includes the name of your exotic reptile (doesn't have to be scientific), the creatures biological make up, and behavior.

Some things to think about when writing your bio's:

Is it an undiscovered variety of an existing species, or a new species altogether? Is it carnivorous, consuming small to medium sized mammals? Maybe its dangerous to humans like a croc or komodo dragon? Is it poisonous? Is it a herbivore or vegetarian, or both? Maybe it eats anything to survive? Is it a quick and nimble rain forest tree dweller (maybe it glides) or cliff/rock/wall crawler? Does it spend allot of time in and near water? Or is it a powerful land dwellerr that inhabits the desert, muddy river banks, or sub-tropic grassy plains of wherever?

Once your bio and reference material is posted, you will need to post at least 3 progress images during the course of the assignment, starting with a block out: than a secondary detail pass, a final detail pass,

and last but not least...

~ Front, 3/4 and close up shots in greyscale
~ Posed and textured/surfaced beauty shot (grey scale or color)


Examples:



~Challenge ends Sunday August 12th, 11:59pm EST ~

[carvuliero]

nice title this month I am wondering if creature made of few parts form different existing species fulfill requirements ?

godzila + chameleon tongue = insanity

[stonestef]

Yes, it says that you are allowed to make your own.

[Daitengu]

Hi all

I'm Really excited for this challenge. especially since I missed the last one. Just had a quick question. Can we reconstruct an extinct lizard species?

http://raulramosart.blogspot.com/

[AaronRogers]

This bad mo-fo is a Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko!!! They grow to be 2.5" to 6" long and obviously love to pole dance.

They probably do lots of crazy satanic stuff too. Still researching.

[AaronRogers]

Here's my first pass render. Never done a 3D sculpting challenge before. Looks like fun.

[nitrox721]

Wow finally i am on time .
looking forward to work on this it will be fun making some new creature . hope it comes out well
time for some case study and exploring reptile world .

[absorbentghost]

AaronRogers looks great man but strange just floating around linke that,add a support for this guy ,maybe a branch etc

[GeoCat]

Looking great Aaron, way to kick things off!

@ Daitengu yes, an extinct species is more than welcome, as long as its not a Dinosaur ... that would be another contest altogether

@ Carvuliero yes. If your up for it, you can create your own species entirely, "as long as it adheres to the established laws of the reptile world" not Hollywood monsters. There will be plenty of contests for that in the coming months

Looking forward to seeing your entries guys! I'll be joining in on the fun asap....

Good luck everyone...

cheers

[johnchen]

Nice topic Geocat!

[galloPinto]

Hello, new here and am excited to participate. I'll be doing the Green Basilisk from Central America.
Here's my ref board:

[Didzis]

Cool, I was notising the basilisk too, but decided to go with the galapagos iguana.

[Daitengu]

So I have two reference sheets here. The first depicts multiple subspecies of Draco Lizard. The Draco Lizards are fairly small insectivores measuring only about 8 inches in length. The genus Draco is represented by 41 species and is found in forests ranging from India, Southern China, The Maylay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, The Philippines, Malukus and Timor. The most unique characteristic of the Draco Lizard is without a doubt the their winglike membranes that flare out in bright colors and intricate patterns from their sides. Though they are called Flying Dragons these lizards can't actually fly, rather they glide from tree to tree. They can however, obtain some lift during their glides. Distances of up to 60m have been recorded over which the animal looses only about 10m in height.



This guy is Icarosaurus its an extinct genus of Kuehneosaurid reptile from the Late Triassic. It's closely related to lizards and tuataras. It was a small animal only about four inches in length from the skull to the hips. Much like the Draco Lizard it was able to glide using wings supported by highly elongated ribs covered in skin. My plan is to use the information I gain from studying the living Draco Lizard to accurately reconstruct this lizard.

[absorbentghost]

We can make our own lizard right?as long we stay away from hi fantasy stuff like dragons etc?

[GeoCat]

Originally Posted by absorbentghost

We can make our own lizard right?as long we stay away from hi fantasy stuff like dragons etc?

Yes. That is correct!