Creature in Repose

Tom, my email is flames679@yahoo.com.au, please email me, I have hundreds of pelican images, a couple of them would be awesome in pastels..if I had the time I would attempt it myself, but life is just toooo busy right now..I’m honoured that you’d consider painting one of my images by the way, as I’ve said before, your work is amazing!

favourite! blending, contrast of the sharpness of the vessel versus creature below was superbly done.

Many thanks sleepygreentofu. It was fun to do- it started life as a pencil sketch in a hotel room while I was in between training sessions ..many hours later the concept was finally realised in cyberspace

Wow.! what is this Tom, just MAGIC for sure. I just love this, Your killing me Tom, going to buy this work of art for sure. I just admire your art work.

thanks Cliff, I really appreciate your comment. I’m not sure what the creature is actually :) -I was thinking, when I started drawing it, of something that may be down in the deep, but may have remained undetected because of its size and natural camouflage.

Tom, you truly are an inspiration. Your imagination is out of this world!

Thanks aaria, your praise means a lot

Brilliant Tom – great image – great concept – I want to see how the story ends!

Thanks Peter – maybe I should do chapter 2 some time

The gobler was, of course, only the tip of the problem. The iceberg of it was that it drew life and breath from the sea and earth itself. As it stirred the sea transformed from something tranquil and forgiving into pure motion. The earth came alive as it nurtured ts hungery child. Earth and Sea, mother and father of the now needing infant were mindless of any but the call on them. The small craft in the midst of these elemental forces was beyond help. But Schnarly’s captain, Belch had not survived the ice tempests of Inner Cycle by relying on others and he had more than one trick up his sleeve.

What childrens stories you could make Tom ! These illustrations are sublime.

Thanks James – I’ve often thought of illustrating children’s books. I was a teacher for almost 30 years so I know what crazy stuff they like :) Got any contacts? :)

Good on ya Pilgrim….......

…Belch pulled his sleeve back sharply, exposing the bionic panel with glowing fluorescent buttons, On this unpredictable planet, having help close at hand( he smiled at the pun), had saved him more than once.. He had often joked with his men about, “having a few tricks up his sleeve”. For him the cliché was real and a lifesaver He rapidly punched in a code, with a practiced bony index finger.

Belch burped, as the force field radiated through him, his men and the Schnarly. It coalesced some 50 metres beyond the ship, wrapping them in a giant translucent egg like energy bubble. The skies darkened as the water and debris fell, the Schnarly was instantly fathoms deep, the force field streaked through with dancing nervous streaks of purple light, like the veins inside a giant Krispotch egg, as the barrier was tested to its limits. The men, miraculously, were alive, strung like sausages along minor strands of the force field. The designers of the protective shield had done their job well, thought Belch, as he viewed this surreal scene, but he had forgotten one seemingly small but quite significant detail…

.... there was nothing, but nothing this side of the dwarf galaxy of Dromeen which a newly wakened Lava Gobbler hungered for more than the very Krispotoch egg that Belch had seemingly tranformed his ship into. The Gobbler seeing, or so it believed, the glowing egg that it craved above almost all things hesitated for less than a bleem before reaching out and swallowing Belch, ship and crew whole.

Belch had rarely known real fear, but he knew it now as they passed through the awesome maw of the Gobbler and down into the very bowels of hell. The force field had been made to withstand unheard of forces of the universe. But Belch knew that the digestive track of Gobbler could pull apart a black hole itself. He and crew were heading for a most unpleasant end.

…Belch resigned himself to his fate and took one last look at his men. They bobbed, stony faced on the energy strands, waiting for the end, which would be terrifyingly sudden. Screeching metal, electric flashes and now a grey dank smoke filled the bridge, the force field was buckling, not long now…he thought of family and a tear escaped and splashed alone into the rolling deck at his feet.

The force field had completely surrounded the ship and it was fast buckling under the pressure of vast gastrolavic energies, but the net, initially snagged had also been part of the ship when the field was first activated and was itself wrapped in the glowing protective sheath. The force field had a tail, a long impervious strand clamped to the lip of the Gobbler, running all the way down its throat, like a piece of giant spaghetti. The Gobbler shook and retched, all the way down the bowels of its inner hell. The Schnarly flew from the mouth of the Gobbler and spiralled upwards…free…

...

Free … and flying. Being vomited by a lava gobbler is somewhat akin to be launched by the Gravity Blasters which send payloads into orbit around Julex. Schnarly and its crew was definitely going up but this planet was not a mere Julex and Schnarly was surely going to be coming down. And down it came towards a frothing mess of rock and sea.

Belch was not going to be holding any workshops over what to do next (not that he had ever held any sort of meeting on his ship). He surmised that sails that could catch the thin blast of a star wind could also surely assist in this descent. He issued a simple thought command to the systems and multiple sails unfurled, the crew hit the decks and the ship began its descent. The first set of sails held for not even a milicrom before dissolving into the sky. The ship had slowed just slightly and a second set unfurled under Belch’s commands. It held just a little longer and the ship slowed just slightly more. Four sets of sails later and Belch had no more tricks and no more sails. He felt they had slowed just enough but they were going to land hard and with no options. He grimaced as he saw the back of the Lava Gobbler approaching like a runway …

Out of options and out of luck, Belch realised they had not slowed enough, and he prepared for impact. What a fool, he had totally forgotten the controlled deformation potential of the AZR3 field. With milicroms left before impact, he played his last card. His fingers danced in controlled panic over the bionic sleeve panel. The field instantly reformed beneath and to the sides of the ship, and simultaneously changed composition, but would it work? The theory had never been tested. No time to ponder further, the Schnarly struck at destructive speed. Pressed hard to the deck, but not into it, the men lost consciousness as their bodies were compressed. The ship decelerated, the G forces were huge, but hopefully survivable. The field had deformed like a rapidly collapsing toasted marshmallow, but it had done its job, although it was considerably weaker now, As Belch regained consciousness moments later, he did not hesitate, but prodded fiercely and another code was accepted. A thinner, but still complete shield, reformed around the ship. It was enough for now to protect them to some degree, against the lavic “icebergs” that were still rising and falling after the Gobbler’s initial shudder…

... For Gobblers rarely travelled alone. Unlikely though it seemed for a creature of such enormity and seemingly destructive and all-consuming appetites, Gobblers were by nature gregarious and family-focussed beings, very concerned with the nurturing of their young, as well as mating for life. Of course! Belch realised. No wonder they had got away so easily. They had been unlucky enough to be snagged on a baby Gobbler, and now its parents were wondering what all the fuss was about…

The sunset ended far too rapidly and Belch glanced at the sky with a sense of dread. The evening colours were virtually obscured, as both the Sunami, some twenty times the height of his mast and the parent Gobblers arrived in full fury. Belch and his crew had exhausted all their “get out of jail free”, cards and any potential emotion, like fear. Belch and the first mate sat mute and watched with facintated horror as their lives were about to end. The parent Gobblers, dwarfed the Sunami, towering up ready to crush anything that might be threatening their little one, then the world caved in on the Schnarly….

Just ahd come back for a look and read. Love it Tom !

thanks Cliff. You are flying on a creative high it seems and are producing endless amazing creations – keep going.

you have a wicked imagination, im impressed and inspired….

thanks Cheska – I’m honoured that you’re impressed. It re-inspires me.

Love the concept Tom! I spend too much time thinking about what’s lurking unseen in the ocean depths; but some of those thoughts make their way into stories.

There really should be a book or movie made about this. You’ve created this surreal world with great stories.

thanks Damian and Jason. I’ve always wanted to write a book, or two :) maybe some children’s literature, as has been suggested. Time to act I guess…Have either of you two written or published?

Nah not me. I never was that good at writing.

Gotta do it Tom. It’s so good and fantastic in fragments – but all together as a collection of fragments or as a unified story – just awesome.

Hi Anne – I’ll have to team up with Pilgrim and see what we can work out – you never know. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Tom, love this piece. Wish I was watching the action from a helicopter at a safe distance. Keep up the great work.

Check out www.blurb.com, it’s a site that allows you to upload you images in book layout software and allows you to buy one-offs or 100-offs in soft cover or hard cover (with dust jackets) at fairly reasonable prices, considering. they also have a free bookstore where they showcase your books as well. They print and bind the books for you and you set the mark up…sort of like RedBubble, only with books. It would be a great way for you to compile your images as a picture book or as a story book.

Given, thanks so much for that. I will definitely look it up.

Amazing!..... Love it!

Tom, I am fascinated by all your artwork. Sci-Fi is something I love, but don’t have the knowledge to produce. So I look at others works, and yours is excellent. Such imagination.

I love it! Makes me want to dust off my Wacom. Beautiful, emotive!

These are really fantasic works of art. Your skills are outstanding and your sense of humour is greatly appealing. My favourites’ list is gaining a lot of weight due to you.

Thanks Mugsy and derid, glad I can inspire, what more could an artist want. Firedrake -yeh -I love my Wacom. I spend far to many hours pushing pixels. Brian – many thanks, it looks like we share a common love of sci fi and humour.

Nice idea.

sensational ideas…..!

you got an awesome style in your artwork!

....Love your imagination, Tom!.....must show my son this one!!!

Just a fantastic image…. outstanding

This is very very good. I like it!
:)Gorm

Out of this world and great fun too. Highly individual.

Absolutely fantastic Tom !!

So much to it. Incredible

what a stunning work!

I always knew they were down there,I just never thought they were this big.
Great stuff Tom,isn’t having a warped mind great!.

AV.

brilliant, love your stuff and the stories with them!

Love it, very creative.

Don’t fall in the water Bobby…
Fuckin ace work.

AWESOME ARTWORK!!!

man, your work is really good!!

you work is wonderful

Beautifully done

This is a truly beautiful image. well done and very creative. continued success.

Lovely work! this is truly inspirational seeing this sort of work. The effort and originality, are exceptional! great stuff!

Cheers all kind commenters. I am humbled by your praise -many thanks.

wonderful, simply that full of fearsome wonder. Great.

Yes! You should write books (with illustrations! XD ) I buy! I buy! bounces This is really cool.

You’re very welcome. :D I would like that. Just out of curiosity, have you ever seen Ursula Vernon’s work? (www.metalandmagic.com) She does very nice fantasy work, most of which has an amusing story to go along with it. It just seems like something you might like. :)

Wow! Your imagination is wild, and it is so great to see it come alive in this image. Love it.

Creative; interesting situation. Very good illustration. Have you ever been in a art convention / competition before? It seems I’ve seen your artwork elsewhere.

Tom,
I like your illustrative work. It really imaginative. You must illustrate book for a living.
Well since i have seen your art, i am going to have to get a second job to pay for my therapist, who I will have to see until He convinces me that their arn’t monster hiding behind every corner.

Stephen

WOW!!!!

Excellent work.

SUCH an imagination , jeeeshus! awesome work bro!

I’m pretty well speechless…..

hehe, definitely will add you to the watch list!

very creative

Thank you Heloisa

woah
this is amazing

amazing stuff mate – wow!!

GREAT CAPTURE AND CREATIVITY.