[Gecko]

You'll never go near your sister's aquarium again!

Dwelling in the deep dark waters (in the whole of 50 feet the red light gets through :) the Seamonster seeks for submarines to eat. Well, not really, it's there just for scale. Sorry it's a bit darker than intended.





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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[Jezebel]

*gasps*

that is sooooo cool....

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Take off your clothes. It's OK - I'm an artist.

http://div.dyndns.org/FOO
http://div.dyndns.org/beth/photography

[Joachim]

ooh, that is very nice gecko. Love the colors and the technique also. Only complaint would be the cropping-composition as the head goes all the way and are being cut off by the canvas. fix that, it's a kick ass picture !

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www.JoachimArt.com

[klaivu]

isss too dark.
grr

[mac65]

Love your work! You're one of my favorite artists here, always seem to be trying new things. I agree about the croping and you might want to consider making the tail a little longer so the tail fin will have some seperation from the main body. (but what do I know?)

[GreenPeach]

Nice line work. That's great.

[ManiacX]

That's so neat...I love his eye.... But, what's with his dorsal fins? Scales and everything else look really nice, though, d00d.

[TheMilkMan]

I think it lookes great gecko I just wanted to see what it would look like with a little more ocean color...ya know???

[edit] did not relize he was so big!!!

[This message has been edited by TheMilkMan (edited March 01, 2001).]

[Brue]

nice! I like how you put the sub under him as a size refrence, he's huge!

[Isric]

Holy Crap that thing is gorgeous. Gecko, your sense of what is beautiful is impecible

[Rinaldo]

Nice one Gecko.
I think maybe you would have a more monotonal colour scheme, due to it being underwater. also you might want to play with fading out he fins that are furthest away from us, it would make it look more like it was in water (I think anyways ).
bit it looks cool as is.

[Spring]

hehe, for a sea MONSTER..... it's pretty cute

[BooMSticK]

I agree with Joachim. This is a kickass picture, with only a few minor details to fix. Love the colors. Very nice Gecko.
,Boom

[Gecko]

There's a problem with the pic that I really can't fix.. sea illusion requires the bluish/greenish/brownish monochrome color palette, so it's either that or no illusion but the colors stay. And I like the colors :)

I didn't bring the brightness up a lot, just the most important places, head, some of the neck, the orange side. Also lightened the background underneath to bring out his silhouette.

jez: :)

joachim:
I fixed the cropping, I'm not sure but I think the 1st way of cropping implied the creatures size more, like it wouldn't fit on the pic even from that distance. Not that it was a good way of implying the size, but still. :)

milkman:
The bubbles are a good addition, but as the creature has to be at least half a mile long, their shape would be different, more parachute-like. And of course most of the bubbles would be so tiny they'd look like groups of sparkles when light hits them. (or groups of something tiny, heh). The teal background already makes it look more like a water scene.
Haha, did you paint nostrils on him?!? :)

mac65, thanks! I try to keep from getting too stuck on any subject/way of painting. The tail fin.. I didn't have any specific idea how it should look like, so i just let it be :), sorry :):)
maniacx: Yeah, the fins really sucked :) They're supposed to be transparent, i hope theyre better now.

isric: whoa, thanks.

rinaldo: you are so right, the whole thing should be repainted or rather faded into the background and toned down to a monochrome silhouette. I'm too much of a sissy to destroy what I've already painted :]. Also, that kind of spotlight in the background could only be caused by a huge explosion or something of that caliber.

cute..? hehe.

boom: hopefully the changes were for the better.





Its a big image, 3200x2400 i think.
Let's see if i can whip out a more realistic color scheme in the pic.

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[Capt.FlushGarden]

Like ALOT!

but I think you should keep the sub as it was in the first pic

[travis travis]

Awesome skills! Too much cool effect in the rendering to even comment on...

but there's another distraction in the picture, the creature's huge bulk and it looks like the start of thick legs like a mammal or reptile rather then something under water... maybe that's just my personal view though, but I always think when I see one of these super giant sized monster pictures that the monster should look less like regular nature, and more original to accomodate it's size, but maybe that's just because I've never seen a super giant animal, maybe it would look similar to the littler ones we're familiar with... I don't know

but COOL pic, nonetheless

[Speve-o-matic]

I don't really like the monster here. It just doesn't scream sea creature to me at all, let alone massive sea creature. I think you should give it more typically deep sea creature characteristics and study larger sea animals a bit.

Even though you put the submarine their to give a sense of scale, the submarine feels more "dinky toy" to me, than make the monster feel big. Larger sea creatures have very small eyes in comparision to their bodies (take a look at whale sharks for example, or whales in general). In your pic the eye is massive. It reminds me more of a fish and takes away from the potential scale. The skin is also very leathery looking and scaley, more typical of lizards than of sea animals. Also those fins . . . very dinosaur looking.

I know . . . quite contrasting opinions to the other posts, but I'm just being honest. You know you have the skills, you don't need another pat on the back.

- Steve

[janne]

this is really good. i dig those transparent fins and overall lighting.

but. where is the background? having preached to me how important it is to have a good background you are now going with cheap grads instead of a beautiful seascape this pic would deserve? also, how about dropping that sub and replacing it with swarms of little fishies?

janne

[Binke]

I agree with some of the above crits. But I think the first version looked better. You made it too bright imo.

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Art Dimensional

[Speve-o-matic]

Tis true that most sea life has scales, but they are generally reserved to the smaller fish (well some of them aren't that small, but you've got one big sea monster there! ).

I agree that you can't limit yourself to only current sea life, but I think that understanding the mechanics of non-exstinct and exstinct water creatures can only aid in making a more convincing sea monster, but I suppose that this is more of general painting than a hardcore creature concept.

I think the swarm of fishes idea is a really good one too.

I end with one of my favourite quotes that pertains to this thread, I don't know who it was by though . . . "An ocean without sea-monsters is like sleep without dreams."

- Steve

[Joachim]

much better gecko ! I don't think is ruined the sence of scal at all. If you would want more scale, maybe some a subtle background and particles in the air could help ? But, it looks big, so you shouldn't worry -and the picture IS awesome !

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www.JoachimArt.com

[ManiacX]

Wow...that's awesome, d00d.

Close up of the face is amazing...I love the reflection in the eye, totally cool.

[Gecko]

ha! Let's see.
The colors have totally been wiped out, and now we've got a sea background with bubbles instead. Hmm. I guess something in between would've worked better, a hint of color close the viewer, that is. Well, this should make the environment clear, if nothing else :):)

And this is not supposed to be the final over the previous ones, but a test to see how things turn out :)

speve:
Agreed with everything you said :].

binke: :I

joachim: some noise would definitely help! Subtle background.. I think I covered that in the updated pic.



EDIT: Replaced the pic with some of the color brought back.

the old pic: http://members.surfeu.fi/pveik/turhatjpgt/seamonstertaketwo.jpg

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[This message has been edited by Gecko (edited March 01, 2001).]

[Gecko]

travis:
well, moving the huge fins require big muscles, they're a little like arms, which should work well :).

speve:
i think the feel is conveyed through the colors, not how the animal looks like. At least in this case, since it already resembles whale/fish in form, some liberties taken, as it's not supposed to be either.
Most fish have scales, that's not only reserved to reptiles. Also, some reptiles enjoy water, so scales shouldn't be a bad choise for marine life.

Smaller eye is a good idea, that will certainly help giving the right feel. Other than that, fins for moving around should be an obvious enough a sign. After all, using existing big marine creatures for basis is a really narrow selection, with which I don't want to limit myself.

Just to make sure what i wrote sounds like it should:
- Crits appreciated!
- I see the scale problem, but don't think it's solved with how the creature's characteristics
- Fixing the eye is a good idea
- Existing big marine creatures doesn't really represent all the possibilities as there are just a few dozen species, most of them whales, so they can be of help but can make us think too narrowly which is bad, imho.

What I mean is, I want to be able to make a creature that looks like it lives in water and is big, but not necessarily something we're already familiar with.

OK, if that didn't say what it was supposed to, then I just don't have the words for it, hah. Stupid 2nd language...

Thanks for the thoughts.

janne:
bah, now i need to fix it.

Oh and, the sub has to be repainted, hah hah.

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Gecko
[email protected]
GeckoArt.Net

[Lomi]

OMFG

*Is never going swimming again*

[Joachim]

kick ass Gecko !!!
[edit] though, I agree a bit with what boomstick says below, keep a bit more of the original colors on the actual animal...atleast around the face and a bit one the closes parts of the body...but they all rules, so this is just comments because I like it so much that I can't resist commenting

keep up the great work !

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www.JoachimArt.com

[This message has been edited by Joachim (edited March 03, 2001).]

[BooMSticK]

hmm. I actually like the first version better. Somehow I just feel inlove with the more saturated colors and that glowthrough on his back... I agree that it looks much more like his is placed in an enviroment now, but at a cost I believe. How about taking the first version - add some asteroids, a distant sun and some spacefish? That Would make for one hell of a space-wierdo-picture...
Don't get me wrong, Gecko. I still think it looks fatastic...
,Boom

[S4Sb]

May I have a 1280 x 1024 pixel version?

[Binke]

THAT is sooo much better


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Art Dimensional

[Rikman]

Holy Christ,
I never knew such things were possible as that.
I love it.