[Brynn_Metheney]

Welcome to the Creature Planets, the CG HUB challenge of exploring worlds beyond our own!

Topic #42 :: June 22nd 2011
Organism: "Laying In Wait"
Planet: Eliza

Deadline: Sunday, July 3rd 2011 - 11:59p.m. [PST]

--> IWCA Requirements – The IWCA wants you to depict a Frilo in its natural habitat. Please also provide an image of the flowers it consumes.

Here are the organism's details. Follow them to the best of your ability!


Bioform Overview
The Frilo is a small Amphibious invertebrate that roams the atolls of the southern oceans of Eliza. They are specialists in eating nectar from the flowering plants in the region. In some areas they have become the sole pollinators of the islands, making them a crucial piece to the ecosystem.

Bioform Notes
Type: Amphibian - Herbivorous Grazer
Habitat: Tropical Atoll – small islands. Along the shallows and shores.
Social: Solitary
Temperment: Cautious
Activity Cycle: Active
Metabolism: Constant
Resperation: Internal lungs but can also breath through mouth lining.
Reproductive: Oviviparous

Physiological Notes:
Size: Small - Rabbit sized
Morphology: Symmetrical
Skeletal: Invertebrate
Epidermal: Silver, shiny wart covered scaled body. Mouth is adapted for eating nectar
Limbs: 8 jointed limbs.
Location of Senses: centralized on the body
Primary sense: Smell
Secondary sense: Sight : Decreased Sensitivity

Other Notes:
The Frilo uses its long adapted mouthparts to consume the nectar from flowers along the Elizian Atolls. This creature can become highly aggressive with others of its kind if food is scarce.

Good Luck! And remember to have fun!

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“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.” --Mike Corriero

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If you have questions concerning Creature Planets Rules and Information please refer to this thread.

Also, check out the rules on Plagiarism - HERE -

[Keenir2]

Originally Posted by Brynn_Metheney

Topic #42 :: June 22nd 2011
Organism: "Laying In Wait"
Planet: Annarya

Deadline: July, July 1st 2011 - 11:59p.m. [PST]

these just get more and more fun! I'm definately taking part in this!


(I confess, when I saw the thread title, I thought it was something that polinates atolls)

EDIT: question - "skeleton: invertebrate" means it also has no exoskeleton, right? just wanted to be sure.

thank you.

[Brynn_Metheney]

Yes, invertebrate means - no spine. This means it could technically have an Exoskeleton, like a crab, or it could resemble something like a slug.

[CJordan]

Initial thoughts on the subject.

Did some fighting/walking/feeding sketches too.


Should be fun!

[Keenir2]

Originally Posted by CJordan

Initial thoughts on the subject.

Did some fighting/walking/feeding sketches too.


Should be fun!

Quite nice. Squid meets butterfly, and doesn't have ugly children (hard to do, but you accomplished giving them a nice kid)

Has a slight Cambrian Explosion feel to it.

one nitpick: the legs seem remarkably skinny...does it stay in the water all the time (pollinating water flowers and flowers near the water)...or is the body lighter than it looks?

disclaimer: i only now realize I forgot to check the planet's gravity; apologies.

[CJordan]

Made a few adjustments, including some conceptualizing of a kind of "becoming your environment" thing -- since they're pollinators and all.

@Keenir: Thanks XD The Squidofly is born. As for the legs... crab legs are skinny...? Haha. Seriously though, I imagine that in open water they'd be used more as stabilizer, latching onto the coral/underwater plants. I imagine the creature swimming (with its fins) more than walking along the sea floor. As for its work in the shallows, the legs bend in such a way to lower the body/center of gravity, with the fins still being utilized. The legs are mostly for the stabilizing named above and combat.

And taking into account the second sketch, the frilo would likely stay very close to the sea floor, using his fins to swim and his legs to sort-of pull himself along the terrain.

[Keenir2]

Originally Posted by CJordan

@Keenir: Thanks XD The Squidofly is born. As for the legs... crab legs are skinny...? Haha. Seriously though, I imagine that in open water they'd be used more as stabilizer,

That explains it -- I saw them and thought of walking on land.

.-----------------------------------.



The three designs I worked on today...not really satisfied with any of them.

First two, have forward-facing senses all bunched up in the center of the back. (the top one, I was turning a horseshoe crab into a plow to turn over the "grass" out of the way so the 'frilo' could puncture and feed from the underground nectarbags)

second two, I was trying to avoid a jaw like we have (bones from gills) and a jaw like ants have (limbs)...so I used either arrow worms or nemarteans(sp), using one pair of pincers to grab pollen and gel-nectar, and the other pair to burrow/support the head, which is pulled over the top of the tongue to form a groove that food is passed through.

....and it ended up looking like a cross between an armadillo and an anteater.

unless I can figure that one out, I may just switch to a box jellyfish as a bauplan.

[Didzis]

some quick skeches

[Brynn_Metheney]

Awesome starts everyone! I'm hoping I can join you guys with this round!

[Keenir2]

Originally Posted by Brynn_Metheney

I'm hoping I can join you guys with this round!

we hope so too.

[Keenir2]

Worked on the underlying anatomy a bit, so I don't later go "wait, where do the inner arms go?"


I think this is what I'm going to stick with...though, while I think I solved one question, another one has come up:

1) the innerlimbs, with their pincer tips, pluck flowers from the ground to the mouth, the hands thereby getting coated by pollen and nectar. (thus being both grazer and nectar-eater, as described in the description)

2) this is my problem: I took a quad-symetrical box jellyfish as the baseline, and let each corner grow a leg as an extension of the corner; then I modified one corner into a digging claw (back when I thought the nectar was underground or inside a fruit). This leaves the creature bilateral if you draw a line from between the nostrils to the opposite side... it doesn't seem right, somehow. can't articulate why - i think it feels like cheating, picking a (too) convenient way of avoiding asymetricalness)


Am I overthinking this? should I try again?

[lukasran]

Seen a few of these and inspired me to buy a bamboo pen and touch. this is a great series, my first go so looking forward to some tips as im complete novice.

Imagined some sort of crab thing lowering itself into flowers to get to the nectar.

Here's the start.

[Keenir2]

Originally Posted by lukasran

Here's the start.

It's a great first post. I like the look of these creatures, and I look forwards to seeing more of them.

[CJordan]

So I've only started painting recently -- I've stuck to sketches, linearts, and greyscale for the most part. Apparently people like color though. XD

Here's my bulbous little Frilo (a.k.a. The Squidofly, hahaha). Not complete yet, obviously, but I'm pretty pleased with the direction that it's going.

Thoughts?

[Didzis]

Pretty cool Cjordan. I like the smooth skin you got going, although one of the traits was warty skin, so maybe add some of that somewhere.