BHG Challenge | peter_john | The Wandering Isle

[peter_john]

BHG Challenge | peter_john | The Wandering Isle
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_thubnails/29-game-concept-art-1105-1179632089-BHCC_thumb.gif

peter_john has entered the competition!

[peter_john]

Thumbnail sketches:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_images/29-game-concept-art-1105-1179632319-BHCC_PJL_initialsketches.gif

Turnarounds:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_images/29-game-concept-art-1105-1180024307-BHCC_PJL_turnaround_small.gif

Final illustration:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_images/29-game-concept-art-1105-1180367244-BHCC_pjl_final1.jpg
Less compressed final image here (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/518016126_ebccfc3ecf_o.jpg)

Concept Description:
The Wandering Isle (or isles) is a giant ocean dwelling crustacean. Their exact origins are unknown; partly resembling crab, tortoise, octopus, and human, tales of these creatures have been cause for both astonishment and skepticism. Rarely seen above water, the wandering isle spends the majority of its life submerged along ocean coastlines. Unable to freely swim or walk on land (because of the gross weight of their shells) wandering isles skirt coastlines at depths that best allow them to buoy the weight of their shells and ease their burden.

Wandering isles are communal creatures and travel in family groups of 15 - 30 island pods. Because of their sheer size and longevity (the average life cycle of a wandering isle lasts for 1,000 years) small communities of humans have been known to make residence upon their backs. Furthermore, the communal nature of wandering isles allows entire island communities to form among the network of shifting isles as they plod through the shallow seas.

Wandering isles reproduce asexually but their nesting habits are similar to those of sea turtles. Near the end of its life, a wandering isle will head to shallow waters and then to dry land. The trip inland is disturbing for any passengers as well as for the wandering isle, since the further out of water it travels the more it must bear the full weight of its island shell. The wandering isle staggers inland until it collapses under its full weight and dies. This event is rarely witnessed, but long lines of wandering isle communities revere this process and flee their dying island in a ceremony of mourning and a celebration of new life. Weeks after the wandering isle has fallen to the earth, hatchling isles break free from their parent's shell and head for the sea.

[Frozan]

wow nice work. couldn't have done that better :) anywho that looks awesome so far. keep going!

[COUPLANDROB]

Yes, very awesome. Reminds me of Armon Saga ;) can't wait to see the final.

[peter_john]

Thanks gents. I'm working on the turnarounds right now, won't be near a scanner again until Wednesday. I'm aiming to have those up by then and from there it's the beauty pose...

[FredH]

Nice initial work:) However, the hands make him look a bit comical. Which animal has hands like that? Is it a badger or ground hog? I can't remember. It's quite rare to have hands like humans. Perhaps this is why it looks strange. Regardless, he looks really cool. Nice work man:)

[peter_john]

thanks for the input FredH, point taken. The hands in the thumbnails are pretty blunt and blocky... The Wandering Isle is going to resemble parts of a crustacean, octopus, a sea turtle, and a human (arms and hands). It's rear legs are going to be more claw like, so I've been thinking of doing some other crustacean like limbs too. I cooked up a claw study to explore some ideas:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/509846251_3defa6cb76_o.jpg
#1 is how I would interpret my cartoon hands from the thumb, they'll be more chitinous and gnarly. I may mix in some true claw limbs for the smaller arms (#2, #3) to make sure it looks crab like and aquatic. The smaller arms are mostly used to bring food to the creature's mouth (so it doesn't have to bend down and drown the villagers topside), so some claw like mechanisms would fit in fine. The fin hands (#4) don't really serve much a purpose since they're so tiny, but it was cool to try.

[Antimagic]

giant lobster hands never fail to impress (6):) For the large legs, what if you simply made them spider legs? You could have the small little arms paddle while the large legs simply fold up like a spider does when it's dead.

The face and island-back look good though. Keep that:thumb:

[peter_john]

Here's my modeling sheet.
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/competitions/uploaded_images/29-game-concept-art-1105-1180024307-BHCC_PJL_turnaround_small.gif
Antimagic, thanks for he feedback on the larger legs. I decided to keep them as is so far because the Wandering Isle is a walking creature, not a swimmer. It's back island/shell is too heavy for it to support by just swimming or walking on land, so it stays shallow enough near a coastline and lets the water around it support some of the weight. This is essential to their life cycle, since like sea turtles they lay their eggs on land. When it comes time for them to return to land though, they can only support the weight of their shells for a few miles inland. At that point they collapse from exhaustion and die, but months later baby wandering isles (about the size of a jeep) will break free of the mother's shell and head for the shallows.