Monthly Art Challenge – June 2023 – Chimera

[sooz]

Hello Krita Artists

We completed the monthly art contest for May 2023. The winner of the contest is @Mythmaker. Congratulations to everyone who participated and submitted wonderful art, and also to our members who voted for the entries.

And now It’s time to announce the monthly art challenge for June 2023. @Mythmaker has come up with an interesting topic for this month.

Monthly Art Challenge – June 2023 – Topic: Chimera

The short brief: Design your own imaginary creature using elements from at least three real-world creatures.

I hope plenty of people will be inspired by this topic - even if you don’t normally do concept art/illustration. I’m sure our many skilled nature painters would fare well!

More detail (click to read)

The Chimera is a creature from Greek mythology, commonly depicted as having the body of a lion, a goat’s head at its midsection, and a snake for a tail: Chimera (mythology) - Wikipedia

This is the inspiration for the topic, but not what I want you to paint; The task is to create your own original Chimera-style creature from three or more existing creatures.

• Try to ensure the chosen elements are identifiable. It doesn’t need to have the creature’s heads like the Greek original, but should be more than just a skin texture for example.
• You can use any kind of creature e.g. Mammal, reptile, bird, fish, insect.
• You don’t have to consider the environment it lives in, but doing so might lead to a more interesting design.
• That could also make for a more interesting image if you choose to go all in with your illustration and include an environment.
• You can draw/paint in any style, but try to make good use of references!

Optional extra challenge: Produce a turnaround of your creature i.e. a diagram showing the creature from different angles - commonly used as a reference for modelling.

Happy art-making!

---

Rules

• The concept and idea for the artwork should be your own and not an exact copy from someone or somewhere else.
• Artwork should be done in Krita. Submissions must be done from scratch in Krita, no paint-over or tracing allowed. Photobashing is allowed only when explicitly specified in the topic.
• The topic changes every month. Your submission should be somehow related to the topic. If possible, please add a few lines explaining your idea and image.
• No AI-generated images are allowed, not even partial use of AI and paint over. It is unfair for those who are drawing from scratch.
• You can post a maximum of 3 entries and also edit the entries until the deadline. All your entries will be clubbed during the vote and you only get one vote. Reply with your entries to this post in this thread.
• In order to have the image featured, the entries need to be safe for work so please avoid any NSFW or controversial content. The moderators can use their discretion to disqualify the image from the contest with prior notice. Of course the artist will be given a chance to submit an alternate image or change it.
• The submission will be open until 2023-06-27T00:00:00Z. The topic will automatically close. You can check how much time is left at the bottom of the thread.

We will hold a poll at the end which will be open until 2023-06-30T00:00:00Z. The artwork with the most votes will be the winner.

Prize

• The winner(s) will be featured on this website in the featured row.
• The winner(s) will have the privilege to set a topic of their liking for the next month’s challenge. If the winner is not available or reachable then the 1st runner up will be asked to provide the topic and challenge
• The winner will also be awarded the Monthly Art Contest Winner Badge.

Please spread the word about this contest by posting your artwork on various social media websites with the #KritaChallenge hashtag (include a link to the forum post, if possible).

Let’s get started!

 
**P.S. We can change the rules based on the feedback on this contest and modify the format. Any suggestions are welcome. Please provide #KritaChallenge feedback in a new topic in the #site-feedback category. Please post only artwork in this thread.

Note : We have changed the name from Monthly Art Contest to Monthly Art Challenge as it is more of a challenge for learning together rather than a contest.

[edgarej]

Head and body of a rabbit, arms of a man, wings of a bird of prey, octopus arms for a tail, and attitude of a road rage driver in the middle of Friday afternoon rush hour. This chimera can be only found in one environment; your nightmare.

[Sketchy]

LOL! Love it!

[edgarej]

thank you.

[MisterOutcast]

The Alpaxolider:
Half alpaca, half axolotl, half spider, full bizarro monstrosity.

It was a peaceful day for Dr. Dodo who was minding his own business when he heard someone crying in the distance. It was his lovely assistant Masumi-tan who was crying because she needed a new friend to play with (even though she was responsible for destroying her other pals).

And so, Dr. Dodo went over to his lab to create a new buddy for the adorable catgirl. He took an alpaca, a spider, and an axolotl and put them into a special machine that was capable of creating unique and bizarre combinations. As soon as the mutation process was finished, out came a horrifying but fluffy freak of nature whose unusual quirks defies all matters of description, (even by the mad dodo’s own standards.)

Meanwhile, Masumi-tan was crying so much that she formed a giant ocean when all of a sudden, she heard a strange roar that piqued her curiosity. When she came over outside the lab which was where the noise was, the pink-haired catgirl stood face to face with the monstrous Alpaxolider. It was the most adorable creature that she ever saw in her entire life. And so, Masumi-tan has finally earned a new friend to play with for a very long time.*

*To be honest with you, I’d give that strange creature a week before that catgirl cries herself another flood.

[AhabGreybeard]

Wow, wonderful back story, yes

[edgarej]

I now have the axlotl song stuck in my head.

[100100]

Chimera of the Alps.
Roe - Eagle - Fox

Just finish hunting his prey, a boar.

[Dale_Ziemianski]

OK, throwing my hat in the ring.
I started using Krita this year, mainly because I’ve gotten fed up with proprietary art software that is completely out of the price range of most young artists starting out. I’ve decided to make open source software my go to software for all my art projects, and Krita is no exception.
Community over Corporations!
When I saw the Monthly Challenge I was inspired. I wanted to do something majestic. To pull it off I created 2 brushes specifically for this piece.
One is a Hair Brush, using the MultiBrush Tool and Brush Basic nr 5. I describe how to do it in my Ko-Fi Blog Here.
The other is a Fur Brush that I just made yesterday, and I describe how to do it in this Ko-Fi Blog. Hope those blogs help fellow Kritans.

My Chimera has the head of a lion, body of a gorilla and the tail of a scorpion.

[Sketchy]

OK, for my entry, I give you:
The head of a fox, the front body (and tail) of a horse, and the back legs and other tail of a peacock. Dunno why that popped into my head, but there ya go.

And for my bonus cartoon characters entry for fun, I give you:
The head of a hedgehog, the body of a cat, and the tail of a turtle.

[Sketchy]

Nicely done!!

[Dale_Ziemianski]

Brilliant! In color and concept

[obah_art]

How do I join?

[sooz]

Hi @obah_art - Scroll up to the top of this topic to read the rules, then when your artwork is done, post it as a reply to the topic. I hope you join in. Have fun!

[ArtTrooper]

My attemp at chimera, worked out more like a coherent design.
Meet poxyenna, hind legs, body and horns of an ox, front paws and head of a hyenna, and rear of a porcupine

side view

poxyenna in natural habitat

[Sketchy]

I like the way you’ve done the spines on the tail.

[AhabGreybeard]

Is there a bit of zebra in there?

[ArtTrooper]

it certainly looks like it, but i was inspired by fur patters of some hyenna species

[TazTopaz]

Here’s my entry. It’s got the head and the claws of a Snapping Turtle, the body of an American Mink, and hands and tail of an opossum. At first I tried a Garter Snake tail but it came out more opossum. Snapping Turtles, Garter Snakes, and Minks are all animals that are found in my home area of Nova Scotia. My Chimera is pictured here trying to get a meal from a bird’s nest

[KNap]

Camoork (cat/moose/shark) is an excellent swimmer. It often uses its horns to carry snacks across rivers and lakes, especially its favorite food - watermelons.