Divum

Still carrying on with uni work, and thats about it for the moment, might be going to france in april to have a look round the galleries for the week end.

Divum Carnero is a large arial herbivore from the planet Dwarf Blue, neighbouring Belkin. Dwarf Blue's low gravity has allowed life forms to develope bizzare means of locomotion, with many creatures taking to the skies permenantly.

My Fellow Artist.

One of my best freind's has now started his own blog after I've been hounding him to do so for about a year. Anyway hes got it running and its brilliant to see some of his work, most of which Ive only glimpsed in crappy mobile phone shots.




For anyone whos interested in the 'fine art' side of life or just appreciates good expressionism I recommend taking a look at his blog, beautiful yet sublimely disturbing paintings.



I did a colouring of a sketch from his book, the pose and the look on the figures face just drew me in.

Anyway visit his blog, http://thethoughtsoffelixsmith.blogspot.com/

Arboreal Floravore.

I did absailing at university in the week, they'd set up shop for the day and it was £1.50 to go down the side of a 5 storey building on the campus, at that price I couldnt really say no. It was scary waiting around at the top (didnt help that I could see for miles around) but as I lent backwards I found it was a very differnt experiance than what I was expecting, it was good fun. Deffinitely reccomend it if you get the chance.

This critter is an arboreal floravore, whereas species such as Deloricatus and Hippasuchus are strictly terrestrial animals, Brontus Brontus tends to lead a more vertical existence as it feeds from the parasitic flowers that grow upon larger flora, these parasitic flowers tend to be much more nutritous than the normal terrestrial flora, which is an added benefit considering the much more active life style of B. Brontus.

B. Brontus is also a notable fauna for its symbiotic relationship with its flora diet, B. Brontus is equipped with a pair of trendils that are specially adapted to carry the pollen of parasitic flowers from host to host. Although all floravores do to some extent carry out this pollination indirectly, B. Brontus is the only known species with a anatomical conscience towards the preservation and reproduction of its diet.

In return for this specialised job, B. Brontus recieves certain toxins from its symbiotic partners which are utilised as a glandular secretion which is produced when B. Brontus is distressed, this form of toxic defence is quite common amongst many amphibians on earth, how ever on Belkin the use of Toxins as a defence mechanism is quite rare.

New House.

Moved house a few weeks ago and had no internet, that modern gateway to the world of the secluded and technologically dependant western people. Anyway Ive got it back now. Our latest project at uni is to re-design our campus as a campaign or multiplayer map for a game, Ive decided to go with a modernised building similar to the style of Mass Effect but I also want to incorporate areas of the map that have been taken over by shanty sort of slums. I like maps with contrasting scenery, the possibilities of ambush and changing enviroment tend to keep me on my guard as opposed to a map like 'Valhalla' in the halo 3 multiplayer.

Anyway heres another beast from the lush and tropical world of belkin. Like Hipasuchus, Loricatus Nutritor feeds on an exclusive flora based diet, more specifically nectar which has a higher energy content.

Tyranous Undatus

Used a Wacom Cintiq tablet for the first time today and I have to say Im really impressed, took bout half hour getting used to it (kept trying to use a non existent tablet on the desk) but its a great peice of hardware, unfortunately they dont come cheap so its going to be a case of using the tablets at uni for the moment.

This design is for the Tyranous Undatus that i referenced in the post called Belkins Scorfus. Its a well built liquivore predator thats built for long distance pursuits, not the fastest animal but it can keep up the chase for a good ten minuites.

On a river bed in Belkin.

I feel like things are alot easier to paint in scrotoshop when I'm at uni, is it possible that one graphic tablet can be better than another? Has any one noticed a differnce of quality between differnt models?

Anyway these are the 'speed' paintings i tried to do, although the first one took about 45 mins, the rest took about 20 mins which is good timeing for me.

Their all based on life on the river bed or even staionary water beds, some burrow whereas others are adept at filtering detritus from the substrate for nourishment. (The middle one is an almost complete rip-off of the Surinam toad Pipa Pipa)

Liquivore

Did a bit of scanning from my sketch book today, aiming to do some quick speed paintings instead of the usual thing I do where it takes hours.

Generic creature that feeds like a liquivore, impales prey and then drains the carcass of fluids for nourishment. I imagine this creature would take a place in the food chain at a similar level to a large predatory cat.