[Brynn_Metheney]

Some excellent work happening! I'm really wanting to join in this round too! I've got some ideas and will try to post some sketches tonight

Also, I updated the banner with our last two topic winners! Check it out!

[pixel-chick]

So I was thinking of making a creature that lives in a very dusty, windy environment without eyes (he uses whiskers, feelers, or both to get around), but as I worked on him, he became more and more slug-like and slimy (probably because I was inspired by the other work posted here! lol). So now I think I'm liking the slimy version better. He may change altogether though depending on which direction inspires me as I continue fleshing him out, hehe

[Scorge]

I can't thank you guys enough for helping me out. Made a huge difference. This will be my final. Not sure how I ended up with that washed out thing I submitted earlier, but I've made my penance. Thanks again guys.


Some crits and praise.
DanAlm: I'm a big fan of personality in creature design. In fact, I try to inject it into just about every one I create, makes them have more life for sure. Your egg eater, while loaded with personality, might be pushing the envelope a little too much. It's bordering on a character. One of the hardest things to do in creature design that's meant to be realistic and believable is giving your guy the right amount of that instinctual look that all creatures (even the intelligent ones) posses. They're involved with what their doing, but at the same time their eyes tell us that their instincts are going a mile a minute giving them an almost blank look. Know what I mean? Tough to explain. Anyway, check out some of the awesome reference sites people have posted in the thread above this one to really see what I mean. Thanks a lot for your advice by the way, totally fixed the pic.
Givera: I think a Horizontal crop and maybe moving the furthest creatures more into the distance would help your composition and allow you more focus on the guys in the front. I have to admit I'm a little unsure what the guy in the front is doing at the moment. Nursing? Eating? The pose says the former, while my gut tells me the latter. It does seem like a very relaxed place, wouldn't mind living there myself.
mindbender: I know its only a sketch, but I'm really confused as to the angle we're seeing this fine action shot. You might want to determine where your horizon may be (even if it's off the page) then make the elements follow towards that place. I'm pretty sure it's the awkward frame of stalagmites or stalactites (always get em mixed up) that need some rearranging. Looking forward to where you end up with this, appears to be the most active concept so far.
pixel-chick: Definitely like #2, great movement.Looks like it's gonna be pretty cool.

[mindbender]

Well, at least 1/10th of the image (the upper left corner) is getting to a somewhat less messy state. Hopefully the perspective makes a little more sense now, will turn the creature in space as I start tightening it. Will also adjust the stalactites trying to make this one-point-perspective work in the end.

No matter what, I'm having a great time learning more about vicious perspective and using color temperature to give a sense of depth while shaping things up. Enjoy working in this experimental almost abstract way from time to time...

[PhilippDege]

Originally Posted by Scorge

(My wife picked the orange).]

really like how the head and expression turned out. BUT in my opinion the orange served the picture quite better in terms of contrast. now its too much blue/violet and the creature doesn't pop out that much anymore. before the focus was much better and the eye rested calm on the creature. only the shadows need blue/violet. but all in all, my favourite!

[DanAlm]

Nice Scorge, this looks way better, in my opinion. A great way to see, if the levels of your pictures are well placed is, to create a new layer on top of your work, select the blending mode to saturation and fill it with a midgrey tone. If you see, that the background and your focus have a similar grey tone (like it was in your older version, i checked it), you should think about lighten the foreground or darken the background. But this looks pretty cool!
Thank you for your support, too. Youre quite right, i will try to give my creature a more animal looking view.

Heres mine with color and a little bit of rendering. Any critics&comments? :-)



Sorry for my bad english, btw. I hope you understand what I mean.

[mindbender]

Another update, have finally begun working on the actual creature. Still many adjustments needed for the stalactites to make the perspective look right.

[choo]

Scorge- more thoroughly lighting the midground pond things (behind the stream/light source) might bring a bit more clarity to the picture. Otherwise the rendering is hot sauce.

[mindbender]

Starting to find a perspective and composition that I'm happy with. WIP7:

[Rdhillon]

Hello fellow creative minds just felt the need to get involved here, can’t help but notice the progress some of you have made (excellent!) can’t wait to get stuck in either just hope its not too late small wip – at the moment some kind of fusion between earth like creatures is taking place my planets environment is far more advanced in terms of evolution on earth. As a result pollution the inhabitants of the world have naturally fused over time to survive.

At the moment best way to describe my creature-Flying Dry lizard like predator uses wind currents to travel.
Lots more work is needed open to suggestions.

[choo]

put down some basic tones/colors. wanted to make this a really difficult challenge, with erratic lighting and deep shadows (like he's being lit through a canopy of leaves and foliage.)

it's always a hot mess as this stage, bear with me :S



Edit: Dropped in some more stuff and closed up the distracting break in the background. The colors still need a LOT of fixing, especially the chalky color of the leaves The plan is to use the warm glow of the sprigs/the green-yellow-oranges of the creature to balance off with deep, cool shadows. Warms are put in using soft light layers. As I keep painting I will use a multiply layer to keep the color of the shadows cohesive (multiply layer with a baby blue color set to medium opacity).

[Rdhillon]

Apologies if my previous image appeared too big little rookie error there posting file with a large pixel rate anyways so here’s a little up-date on how I’m getting on, you can almost feel the heat with these values. Still lots more work.

[choo]

Update:

It's still a mess, but you can start to see how I've gotten rid of most of the base local colors. I'd like to experiment with a camera-focus look, and you can see where I tested it on the upper left with a Gaussian blur. I'll probably stick with it throughout the background. I added two gradients set to low opacity: A spotlight green on the light openings in the back, and one from the top right. It helps break up how blue it was, and is a base for me to paint the misty, hot air in the background.

[Yulcha]

Scorge,thanks for crits,I know the distance-composition problems =(...well I`ve done some work on that,...dont know,Is it getting better?)
Rdhillon,like the colors and that yellow bubble : D waiting for more!

Second pic was croped ..well,dont like it much =)

[pixel-chick]

Scorge, I really loved your more colorful version of your creature, it was so awesome. Alot of the detail and flow seem to be lost in the darker, more purple-ish version. It looks overworked compared to your first ones which looked fresh and alive (like you had alot of fun with them).

Choo, I think it's cool that you post your workflow with your image so we can learn from your techniques. Your painting is looking pretty sweet, I love the colors, they're so vibrant!

Rdhillon, I love your sketchy style. The face is really cool. The energy the creature has, the lines you put into it, flow so well. I look forward to seeing more. And I, too, like the yellow bubble, lol.

Mindbender, wow! That perspective looks very challenging. I look forward to seeing more. I would like to see more of the creature though, with the steep perspective visible more through the background behind the creature's body. If the creature were higher up, much closer to the viewer, the perspective would probably look alot more dynamic. It would be like 'woah, that's a steep drop! sort of thing. Does that make sense? Just an idea.

Givera, your piece is really coming along. The creatures are very unique, I like the mouth (I think that's what it is?) on the one to the right, and the colorwork/shading on the tree to the upper left. I think if you tighten up the edges and add some texture / color variation to it it will really come together. My mind is kinda picturing the creature on the right much larger, closer to the viewer. His long head would help in directing the viewer's eye towards the creatures behind him. Would you mind cutting the right one out and enlarging it x 3 just to see what it'd look like? I have a feeling it would make the composition flow better.

Also, try not to use black in your shadows so much. Shadows (according to Jose Parramon's book on Color Theory that I recently read), are composed of blue, the compliment of the local color (so if the object that is having the shadow cast on it is green, for example, you'd add some brushstrokes of red to the shadow), and a darker variation of the local color. Does that make sense? It took me a bit to wrap my head around that sort of stuff but it sure helps.

Here's my critter, I decided to switch gears and do something slightly different. This is a 'dual tree slug'. It is one creature, with a body that splits into two halves that create a slimy net inbetween much like a web, to capture insects with. When it catches a nice batch of insects, it fuses back together in the middle to digest them. I'm not too keen on the composition just yet, and I'm still fleshing them out. The environment will look swampy.