Creature Planet

I love doing these "Creature Planet" competitions at CGHub every once in a while. They're fun creative exercises. Following some creature specs that the moderator provided, I made the following image and wrote the accompanying description:

The Bomorian scinos is a reclusive inhabitant of mile-deep caves that riddle the jungles and rainforests there. No daylight can reach this deep into the planet, so the scinos has learned to navigate without eyesight. It is an amphibious fish-like creature with six limbs, sharp triangular teeth, and translucent skin. The average adult weighs 3 kg., or about 6.6 lbs. It inhabits the ice-cold subterranean lakes and the rocky areas surrounding them. Its diet is mostly carnivorous, but it can survive on plankton for short intervals of time.

The scinos cannot see, so it uses its senses of touch, sound, and smell to locate prey. The bioluminescent markers on its body help to attract its favorite meal, the Bomor lantern beetle. Lantern beetles create their own light and are drawn to other lights. The scinos waits under the surface of the water, with its snorkel-like sensor protruding above. When the beetle is close enough, the scinos will jump out of the water and snap it up.

The male and female scinos are nearly indistinguishable, except for the strong odor that females produce in order to attract mates. A female scinos lays 8-10 eggs in a nest just at the edge of the water. She remains with them until they hatch into their larval form.

Gilgamesh final renders

Gilgamesh

This fall, I took a Sequential class at SCAD called "Conceptual Illustration." Throughout the quarter, we were writing a story, designing and developing the main character, environments, props, side characters, etc. We were required to build a maquette of the character, a model of an environment/structure, and a prop, vehicle, or animal sidekick. Each part had to be supported by developmental sketches, turnaround views, orthographic projections, color keys, etc. It was a ton of work, but it was one of the most rewarding classes in my graduate school experience. (Ironically, it was an undergraduate level class.)

Earlier this year, I had stumbled upon Gilgamesh when researching the Biblical character, Nimrod. I was immediately intrigued, and began researching this Sumerian warrior-king, whom extra-biblical sources sometimes equated with Nimrod. I read some translations of the Gilgamesh Epic (probably the oldest surviving literary work), studied Sumerian archaeology and culture, and began trying to harmonize the biblical account with the surviving Babylonian account. Much of this was surprisingly easy. For instance, the Sumerian record of kings has Gilgamesh ruling Uruk for 120 years. Secular history does not allow for such long lifespans—biblical history does. The Epic also contains a strikingly similar telling of the great flood to the account in Genesis.

Anyway, I could bore you with all the loads of fascinating stuff I learned, or I could just show you the work I did. For the purposes of the class, our story had to be a "retelling" if we were basing it on an existing story line. So this isn't meant to be historical or factual, even though I attempted to give it that flavor.