My name is David Hunt and this is an initial sketch of my entry, Atlas.

“When the Island finally collapsed into the great sea over one hundred of the greatest minds were offered refuge upon the back of the turtles. Over three hundred years have passed since, and only two of the turtles remain. Atlas bears Palinor, the Island’s most powerful high sorcerer.”

Atlas is a giant sea turtle standing roughly fifty men tall. Now just under four hundred years old he travels the sea with his friend Palinor, who lives in his house on the back of Atlas’ shell. To aid Atlas’ terrible backache he has constructed two walking sticks, which help him to support the huge weight of his shell.

Thanks,

Dave

Fantastic looking sketch and a great idea.

Look luck for the rest of the comp.

Cheers
a`

Very cool concept sketch, welcome to the competition!

Hi David! Welcome to the comp man!
You have a great design for your creature, it makes me think of some really nice video games and stories. There is a lot of sensibility in it, congrats!
My only little crit would be that his hand and legs (even though we can't see his feet) are a bit too humanoid. That would be awesome if you can make something a bit closer to this: www.chelydra.org/leg.jpg and still be able to grab his two sticks.
You have extra work to do with this little castle, good luck and great work!

Alwyn- Thanks a lot.

Kingroaw- Cheers, nice to be part of it. Lots of amazing looking entries already- I need to catch up!

Goldo_O- Thanks, I think you're spot on about the legs and arms, the same issue was bugging me. I did a quick sketch this morning with some heavier, more turtle like, arms...and it definitely looks a lot more interesting. I'll probably try to do a couple of further drawings before I start modeling- there don't seem to be any rule issues with refining the concept continuously throughout the competition?

thanks again!

Awesome sketch+story! I love it! Good luck with the competition!

Great sketch ! The idea looks cool too !

Hey David! I don't think it's a problem to make your creature evolving from your concept to your final sculpt. Actually it can be pretty interesting to see the evolution in your image render #2. As said in the rules, the concept will not be judged anyway.
Character design is a living process, things keep changing all the time!

But I guess that a mod will answer that better than me. maybe you should ask that in the Rules and Guidelines sticky thread.

Cheers mate!

Greetins David, Love the little story mate, very nice. Fantastic sketch and a wonderful character, the texture of that skins gonna look sweet. Look forward to seeing more soon.

That's an unbeliaveble concept, not just it's such a good idea, but it's also a fantastic illustration. Such a great mood and wonderfully chosen textures. I so much look forward to see this model growing. Great.

Brilliant idea and great sketch, just hope the turtle "parks up" overnight so the Sorcerer dude can get some rest

great illustration, good luck!