[MikeCorriero]

Welcome to the Creature Planets weekly activity! As you can see, there are 12 spots (12 weeks) on the banner to showcase a thumbnail for the first 12 winners. There will be a winners gallery showcase thread as well to accompany the first 12 weeks at their full scale and the many weekly winners to come there after. After a certain amount of weeks (to be determined) the activity banner winner's will reset to showcase a new set of 12 winner's. Perhaps at the start of the new year or sooner.
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Week #01 :: Jan. 9th 2010
Topic: Flight of the Dying Swiftwings open to interpretation.
Category: Multiple Angles/Poses - a Flock (4 or more creatures of the same species)
Explanation of category: Show the design of your creature from multiple angles, varying poses and or depths. The point of this is to help the believability of your design in showing the same species from varying points of view so we get a sense of a living, breathing creature in action. It's going to help you to explore the movement of your design, how the anatomy works and how the creature may look from a few different perspectives or specific motions (In this case, in varying motions of Flight as you'll explore creating a Flock of flying creatures fitting the topic). Granted producing a whole flock of creatures is time consuming, so a minimum of 4 creatures is acceptable and if you should choose to put 1 or two in silhouette that's perfectly fine. Though it would be more to your benefit to produce at least 3 varied poses of flight/movement.

Extended Deadline: MONDAY Jan. 18th 2010 - 11p.m. [EST]
This will be flexible for the first week or two.
Topic Guidelines + Rules: Try to vary the angle of your design so there are at least 4 noticeable differences from one to the next concerning the movement of flight. Whether you choose to produce a flying creature with wings or not, at least show varying (movements) of flight if there are no wings. Wings don't need to be conventional or practical. If you'd like to add a character or another living element for scale, go ahead, but the main focus should be on the creature. Harnesses, cloth, straps etc. are all fine if you should choose to incorporate such elements in your design. Whether you choose to incorporate a background/environment is up to you, though it isn't necessary for this topic.

Relevant links: None for this Topic.
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General Activity Info: Only need to read this once.
Creature Planets is a Weekly Activity on CGHUB, covering creature design, creature illustration and creature creation of all related genres and entertainment industry venues. Though there are no obligations of any kind, I'd like to encourage participants to post thumbnails, sketches, work in progress images and final images as they move along with their entries. Please don't keep everything secret, working on your image in private only to post it at the very last hour as a surprise. The point of sharing sketches and work in progress material is so everyone can learn from each other, receive crits, compliments and improve their skills in a classroom/workshop like environment. There are no teachers and no students per say, but try to offer help to others when possible. Please be open to receiving crits, and paint-overs or mock ups of your work, as we are all here to participate, have fun, learn, grow and enjoy what each week has to offer.
Although there will ultimately be a winner at the end of the week, this isn't about competition, who's better, popularity or anything of the kind. The real reward here should be your own improvement and your own goals. Let this be more about sharing, learning, improving and building your knowledge and portfolio in the area of creature design with those who share the same interest. This activity is open to everyone, including new and old members, amateurs and working professionals alike.

Posting Info: Final Images + Voting Info Only need to read this once.
Please post all images using CGHUB's attachment manager, and keep images at a reasonable size IE; 1000-1200 pixels in width or height. Images posted smaller or slightly larger are fine, just don't get out of control. If you need help posting using the attachment manager, send me a PM or ask someone else in this thread publicly and you'll be helped. Feel free to provide a name for your creature and a bit of background information. It's not necessary, but the option to explain things further in text form is available, just don't write a book on it. A New thread for all Final images will be created. ONLY 1 image can be presented as your Final. The main reason for using CGHUB to host the image is so there are no dead links, especially when images are posted in the Finals thread for voting.