CREATURE LAB #005: BRIMSTONE LEGION

[JakeyChan]

The Creature Lab is a weekly activity that puts your monster creation skills to the test against other artists. Each week there will be a topic and description of a beastie, and it is open to as many artists that want to participate. At the end of each week each artists' rendition will be put up and a poll will be created and everyone will vote for the creature they wanna see forever immortalized in the Inkblade Beastiarium. Good luck to all participants and may the best creature win! Creature Lab #05: Brimstone Legion The Brimstone Legion is an army of demonic warriors that live beneath the earth. Though they swear allegiance to the demon lords of the underworld, these beasts are of mortal blood and therefore easier to defeat in battle than their immortal counterparts. Be that as it may, felling these enemies is no easy task, they have an extreme tolerance to pain and are built like a tank. The Brimstone Legion exists to serve the demon lords' conquests on the earth's surface, and they serve their masters to any end. Your job is to depict either a "Brimstone Brute" or "Brimstone Seer", a warrior type or a caster type. Brimstone demons are humanoids, the warrior types having huge muscular builds and the caster types being usually leaner and taller. They all have horns, though this vary greatly from spiraling horns similar to goats to bull-like horns, their feet and hands are brandished by razor sharp claws. Their eyes burn like the fires that surround their homeland, a fiery yellow, with the exception of the magic users whose eyes glow blue from the arcane energies that flow through them, and they usually have long, black hair that is sometimes braided or decorated with bones, jewels or other decor. Matching their hellish surroundings, their skintones range from a reddish orange, to a dark scarlet. Though they have been called "the Dragonmen", they do not have wings. At the end of the week, a poll will be created and the victor will be chosen, and their monster added to the almighty Beastiarium. Name: Brimstone Brute or Brimstone Seer Location: Bloodfire Gorge Description: Footsoldiers of Demonic Highlords, the Brimstone Legion fights the mortal wars of their masters. These fighters are more than a formidable foe, as they fear nothing (with the exception perhaps of their demon masters), and fight with unmatched ferocity. When the Brimstone Legion marches, one can be sure that a terrible battle looms. Brimstone demons are impervious to fire, physically resilient and especially gifted in the dark arts. Though they are tough to bring down, they are mortal, a lone positive on those they meet them in battle. Despite being of mortal origins, they are especially weak against holy magic, so taking on the Brimstone Legion without a priest could prove to be a most difficult task. Physical Traits: • Use the physical traits outlined in the descriptions above • Make sure to state whether you are choosing the warrior type (Brute) or caster type (Seer) • You must follow all the physical traits described above, however there is no mention or armor or garments so in this aspect you are free to design any kind you'd like. Make sure you choose a look that suits your chosen topic. Also, the smaller details are not mentioned, such as their facial features or skin texture or even a tail (tho they are demons so maybe they SHOULD have tails!) • Size limitations: Brimstone Demons are humanoid but much larger than average humans, ranging from 8-12 feet tall, and much more muscular (with the exception of the caster types). . ACTIVITY START DATE: WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 14th, ends WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21st, all submissions must be turned into this thread by that date. Also, all WIPs should be posted in this thread! Starting with this activity, all finished entries MUST be in COLOR since it will be part of a full color manual. Also, a note about backgrounds: they are NOT required and I also encourage you to do a simple one or none at all, considering there will not be a background featured in the manual. The focus here is on the creature ONLY.

[JakeyChan]

Good luck to all participants! Remember to NOT incorporate the background into/onto your creature, as a background will NOT be used in the Beastarium. For example, if the lab was a Giant Squid, don't depict the squid pulling down a ship or something like that. It'd make for a cool painting but it wouldn't be able to be used in the Beastarium. With that in mind, I wanna see some kick-ass Brimstone Demons!

[Meteorskies]

A little note about the background restriction, as apparently it is not clear: The winning concept of each creature lab is meant to be incorporated in the Inkblade manual. Most the images will be placed with text wrapped around it, and we don't want to go with only squared images, so we want to give a little more dynamism in the placement by using some transparency. While we can "erase" a very simple background of a piece to recenter the image and the interest on the creature, if you go for too complex lighting and background it will look very ugly after the adjustments. Think about concept sheets, no or very few background elements (generally around the feet). If you really want to use a background, try to visualize how it would look like if you erase it all around the creature (will it be okay, will the lighting make sense, etc). And work big if you can, it will only be better quality.

[Meteorskies]

Here we go, first draft with silhouettes. I think I'm definitely going for the first one

[JakeyChan]

Nice start so far Mets, glad to see ya joining in! I do like the first and fourth, the 1st looks most monster like but the fourth is also interesting.

[TomDeVis]

I like the lines in the neck of the first one! But I agree with jakey , the first and the fourth look the best. Where the first looks more like a minion and the fourth more like an emperor or leader of the horde!

[Mugshotpro]

The bar has been raised..to the skies...meteorSKIES. see what I did there

[A-Lien]

That are really some good concepts... but i like also the second one Cool armor with all these spikes ^^

[Meteorskies]

Thanks guys, much appreciated! Nothing said there were humans anyway, so I'm going for the demon style. And bring it on, I want some competition here:

[Dm7]

She is a really hot breathtaking sexy brimstone seer! Super famous in sedating all guys, especially holy priests, within a nanosecond of the first sight, which in demon's fiery eyes, showing a tremendously promising favor in winning not only the battle, but also the most epic war ever! *Dramatic music starts playing* Okay, okay, now for real, I only did 3, 4th is unfinished. I'm too lazy and got distracted to continue. Plus I want to hear your feedback. As you can see, I have been trying Meteorskies' approach with his thumbnails. I'll say how I feel about this method later. Anyways, he has been helpful, thanks man! On irc we have discussed on how all my poses weren't evil enough. I agreed and got some refs to start with. Thanks again Cheers !