I truly loved taking part in the Creature of the Week contests over at conceptart.org and I am hoping to get back to it some time this summer. This was one of the LAST attempts I made and it was also one of my favorites over my short run of C.O.W. entries. I started playing more with full digital painting in Adobe Photoshop. I was trying to break out the habit of using strong, bold lines. It was a trait from my cartooning, and it was difficult to let go.

The creature concept that week was Light Bringer. My mind immediately latched on to what would be an important REASON for a creature to bring light? I figured it would be self illuminating, but how would that work as either an offensive or defensive mechanism? I thought about what it might use light against, and then it hit me…. VAMPIRES!

Once I came up with that idea, the image came together quickly. My first idea was of a small, bird sized creature that gave off a glow comparable to sunlight. It would be caught, tied to a pole and left in crypts over the graves of suspected vampires to keep them at bay. I modified the idea from that to the final image you see above.

The Bolaris, or Light Bringer, is a spirit creature that forms over time from the coalescing essence of humans who have met an untimely demise at the hand of a vampire. Under the proper conditions, these spirits become bound to their undead attacker. Their combined powerful thirst for vengeance opens a doorway and creates a being of light that will exact revenge on their behalf.

I enjoyed this painting a lot, and learned that I could move rather quickly in the digital medium. This got me pumped for making more digital paintings and illustrations.