We had some excellent entries for our Animalia II contest! So without further ado, here are the ones that had a little something extra special about them.
I liked the hulking menace of Albannach's "The Bison".
Despite Blaq Aries' inability to put his name on his image files, I thought "Kung Fu Chimp" was a ton of fun and had a ton of dynamism.
borntobealoser gave us a character that would look right at home in my World of Warcraft addiction, but I thought it was an inspired design and a really nice illustration.
dblade's awesome, and so is "Beastmaster". The subtle striping on the legs, the brilliant highlighting on the face, the great belt/loincloth, and the crazy good boots and gloves are all super impressive.
I liked the setting and overall mood of Debochira's piece a lot.
You have to admit, Demonhunter gave us something even more awesome than Chucky.
Gurong7's Babingepet makes great use of grayscale and clever item choices for a unique and cool looking image.
headlessgeneral's "Warrior Sewer Rat" looks totally ready to kick your butt.
Kaldath's "Leo" has a lot of moody awesomeness to it, but what nails it for me is the use of the flowers in the foreground to really nail down the composition. Great job.
I think they should have gone with Kaylin88100's interpretation of Red Riding Hood for the recent movie adaptation instead:
It took a lot of revisions to get there, but I think get there Keith Kanin's "Werewolf of London" (aaaawwoooooooo!) did. A nice bit of cityscaping and mood-setting.
Go ahead, try not to feel like giving something a hug after seeing Luclucluc's "Kitty or something", I dare you!
I love a lot of things about Meniukas' "Rabbit shaman". The concept in general is great, the execution is wonderful, and the effects are awesome. I like the little touch of the flowers in the quiver, and the grass is fantastic. Just a wonderful concept very well executed.
Myro's "Wonderland Agency" is another high-concept piece that I think came off pretty darn well. I like the mod color block background, but my favorite bit is probably the Cheshire Cat character.
I'm going to put all three of PapaKrok's entries in a row without comment, because their awesomeness speaks for itself.
I liked Phatchick's "Kestral" for its classic super-hero roots, combined with a unique twist and an excellent composition.
I'm pretty sure Rhinoman stole the early "Rabbit of Caerbannog" designs from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" movie -- he'll rip your throat out with his sharp, pointy teeth! And axe.
Tarkabarka gave us a brilliant take on the classic logo for "Firefox".
And finally, I have a soft spot for Trekkie's robot designs, and apparently I have rabbits on the brain this week as well. Here's Robot Rabbit.
As the overall winner, I had to go with dblade's "Beastmaster". When you look at that thing up close, it just boggles your mind with how it uses some very subtle complexity to build up an image that gets cooler and cooler the more you delve into it. It's a fantastic job and one of my favorite all-time HM images. Well done, sir!
Congratulations to all of our finalists, and many thanks again to everyone who took the time to share their creativity with us. It is very much appreciated!
Well done, dblade! “Beastmaster” is really cool, I love that subtle feral look in her eyes.
I have to say, “Rabbit Shaman” is absolutely beautiful. Makes me think of Watership Down, in a way.
I only wish I had saved “The Bison” in .png format. The beard area looks a bit fuzzy for my liking.
Congrats Dblade, that is a great design!
And good job all, lots of good work out there 🙂
Congrats on another win dblade! And congrats to all the runners-up, amazing work!
Great job dblade!
Congrats dblade! A well deserved victory.
What the furries? Awesome!! :3
1. @dblade- Congrats, man. I love the whole “Daughter of Swamp Thing” vibe; looks better than the actual daughter of Swamp Thing.
2. @Keith Kanin- I’m digging the whole Victorian werewolf on the prowl. Good things there.
3. @PapaKrok- Ah, and there it is, the creepy-crawly resembling that-which-shall-not-to-be-mentioned which itself launched a brief period of terror on this site. It still gives me the creeps. Good job.
4. @Myro- Dude, that concept is right up there with “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and “Fables”. Lovin’ it.
Congrats to everyone great work.
dblade’s “Beastmaster”
Meniukas’ “Rabbit Shaman”
PapaKrok’s “SheBat”
are all amazing pieces and without question my favorites of the contest. Good job everyone else, some nice pieces here as usual.
@Jeff, for the FNF contest headlessgeneral was nice enough to offer up his prize to me in the form of “an actual hawaiian shirt” I appreciate the offer and if you haven’t already started on that, unless that’s what he wants, I’m going to respectfully decline after seeing those flowers in some of the winners pics, I can and will try to make a couple versions of an hawaiian shirt(open/closed) before the day is up. Thanks again headles.
I have completed the character I’d like you make a picture of Jeff, I will try to get that to you by no later than wednesday.
more awesome than chucky? wow! what a compliment. congratulations to everyone, these entries are all fantastic!
Thanks for the finalist mention! And well done to the finalists, there were some great pictures. I especially like ‘Werewolf of London’, ‘Rabbit Shaman’ and ‘Kitty or Something’, but I do love them all and it’s too hard to choose a favourite.
Dblade, that’s another fantastic picture, that plant-hair is really neat.
@Albannach: I know what you mean about ‘Watership Down’, I was thinking that when I saw it, too.
Gratulate for the finalist and especially Dblade.
Nice work everyone.
Awesome pieces, everyone! Special props to PapaKrok’s Trio of the Bizarre. I love the creativity and compositions.
Also I must mention that Myro’s “Wonderland Agency” really captured my imagination.
And I agree that Tarkabarka’s version of “Firefox” was brilliant.
I just hope the Furries don’t find us. 🙂
Argh, so close! I’m really glad you liked the picture. I just hope I can learn some stuff before the next contest. In the meantime, it’s back to Majora’s Mask!
I thought always that american people are prude… nice picture dblade. I like the patterns, mask and effects, but is her not cold?
I’d say we are about 50% prude. 🙂 Guess which camp I fall into.
The inner fury of the wild warms her body. Besides that, her loincloth and bra are extra furry. 🙂
Wow…that old thing made it on? I did that, like, a year ago… :0
If one of mine got to the Finalists, I was expecting it to be my Wolf Girl or Eagle Spirit, as they’re the more recent ones that I spent more time and effort on, and I’m now better at stuff like shading and highlighting. Looking at Red Riding Hood, there’s a lot I’d do differently now. Oh well.
Meniukas, how on earth did you do the grass? It’s brilliant! 🙂
If only me background would load, just maybe I would have made it on. Anyways good design each and every one of you, good work.
Thanks to Jeff for another honorable mention. Two contest entered and two honorable mentions. That really means a lot to me when you look at all of the other great art that has been posted here. (I knew I was out of the running as soon as I saw dblade’s entry. That was awesome.)
Also thanks to everyone else that liked my take on the werewolf. I really enjoyed working on that one. I had that song stuck in my head for days after finishing it.
There were so many that I liked in this contest. They were all fantastic for different reasons. I have to pick a personal favorite out of this bunch though it would have to be PapaKrok’s cats. Those sepia tones give the picture an antique look that seems warm and inviting.
I also liked Trekkie’s robo-rabbit. Something so simple, yet complex. I keep looking at it trying to take it apart to see what it is made of.
Congrats to all of the finalists, and thanks for allowing me to be included. See you in the next round.
Congrats dblade. Your pic looked awesome.
To everyone who commented on Wonderland Agency, thanks. Even though that picture took so much time, and was difficult to pull off, I ended up loving the concept so much, I’m going to try to do the other, non-animal members of the agency as well.
For those interested here’s the two hawaiian shirt’s I mentioned making in comment 9. I’m uploading them to the forums at the moment. http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m189/acebase_2006/HM3%20-%20Custom/HawaiianShirtgoodv1.png
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m189/acebase_2006/HM3%20-%20Custom/HawaiianShirtgoodv2.png
I would be remiss if I did not thank Mr. Hebert for his kind words and even kinder decision to make the Beastmaster the winner of this contest. It must have been a hard decision with all the great entries to choose from. Thank you, sir.
Also thanks for providing this little creative corner of the digital jungle to play around in. It’s always a blast.
Congrats on another great picture dblade and thanks Jeff for mention me in the finals.
Kaylin88100 about the grass its pretty easy,I just use one item from the backplane section rotated, changed size, multiple a lot and here you go.
Dblade! Another uberfantasybabe for me to love! Beautiful! Congrats all on the various chimera-ing! Mengela would be very, very, very proud of you.
http://www.wanliss.com/2011/07/150-human-animal-hybrids-grown-in-uk-labs/
well for now on I better remember to put my name on things and maybe I will be on more of these, man I feel great right now, and I can wait for the next one~
Congrats, dblade! Amazing masking technique.
Too many favorites to list. However, tip of the gas mask to Cliff for Bullywug. Reminds me of the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
Also to Luclucluc’s Kitty or Something for the fun take. Reminder that HM designs don’t always have to be complex, technological, or action-oriented.
@Kaylin88100(18): The grass effect is done with Backgrounds > Standard. Go to the last page, second cape, flip it, resize to desired effect. Add multiples for fields or hillsides.
I posted a quick snapshot in the HM Custom Items Archives under Backgrounds.
@ Meniukas- I totally adore your rabbits, that has to be one of the most charming illustrations I’ve ever seen in HM.
@Keith Kanin- Your werewolf rocks! I am in awe of your backdrop skills.
There were some incredible entries here and I’m flattered to be one of them.
Congrats, dblade! I honestly think that if it were possible to download brain molecules, everyone would be screaming for yours! I always find that your compositions are light-years ahead of all of ours. Really wish I knew how you got so much detail into your work. Keep up the good work!
Also, congrats to all the finalists! Kaylin, I think you have a devious streak. Tarkabarka, that’s just awesome the way you made Firefox curl around the world. And PapaKrok, you’re always one of my favs simply because you always think outside the box! Great job all! Congrats!
Also, @demonhunter, that Teddy Bear is freaking me out! I know I’m going to be dreaming about teddy bears tonight… and not the good snugly kind!
@Jessica(29): That is very sweet thing to say. Thanks!
My secret is lots of masking and lots of experimentation.
congrats dblade