Hello everyone! Since I greatly enjoyed the Morkko design contest we will be doing another contest for our upcoming Kelpari revamp. Please make sure to read the rules as they are different than what they were for the Morkko. :)

Rules

Please use the following bases to design your gene and mutation on. I have included a base with no fins so that you can more easily draw mutations on.










Since these guys are a bit more complex layering wise than the Morkko were I will explain how we plan on doing their genes and mutations so you guys can properly submit an entry that would be used.

Gene Slot 1: Will be the horse part of the body.

Gene Slot 2: Will be the aquatic side of the body, including the fins.

Gene Slot 3: Will be runes that can go all over the body.

Mutation Slot 1: Body (armors and other things that would go anywhere on the body)

Mutation Slot 2: Their wings and fins, which will be connected.

Mutation Slot 3: Mane, Effects (things like bubbles, glitter any of that type of thing)

You may submit an entry per slot, meaning if you wanted to submit three different gene ideas then you need to do slots 1/2/3 not multiples of the same slot. Thus you can submit up to six things, three gene slots and three mutation slots. Please try and keep all of your entries in the same post and please do not reserve your post.

The end date for this is March 7th 2016 at 11:59PM Server Time.

Prizes

Any genes and mutations used the designer will receive a Mystical Kelpari Essence. Additionally everyone that participates will be put in a drawing to receive a 3 Visible Custom Kelpari. :)

Here we go, a much better version of Mutation One, "Hind Legs"--

In case my art is failing to get the idea across, here's some explanation. To avoid changing the body, the idea is that the four-legged Kelpari has been flying with legs tucked up and, in this moment, is in the act of landing on the ground. This causes the Kelpari to resemble, in posture and pose, an equine who is landing after a jump, like so--


Because Kelparies have the power of flight now, they can land more lightly than a horse can. Also, Kelparies are more flexible than horses are.


Mutation Two, "Front Webbed Claws" (subtle, I admit)--

These are intended to look less like the webbed claws on the old Kelpari and more like feet a semi-aquatic predator might really have. I intended them to look like the webbed, clawed paws of the Catahoula Leopard Hound (I owned one for 18 years--RIP, Maggie!) Here's what those paws look like for real--

Here's a web-footed dog swimming, giving a better view of the webs--



And here's Mutation Three, "Manebow"--

The idea is the Kelpari's mane is throwing a rainbow the way a waterfall can throw a rainbow. This may not be the best way to fit the rainbow into the image, but it gives the concept I'm going for: Kelparies finally get a rainbow trait, but it is semitranparent, as it is just a prismatic effect of their waterfall manes.



Gene One, "Tobiano"--

Lots of people are doing cool aquatic-based Genes, so I did a horse-based one. There are lots of different Tobiano patterns; the above is just one possibility. Here are more--



Gene Two, "Rayed Fins"--

Needs a better name. A simple Gene designed to work well with lots of other Vis Traits.

Gene Three, "Ogham"--

Apologies for drawing the runes in black instead of a bright color. Here's what actual Ogham looks like--


BTW, I frankly like Scath's "Enchanted Dragonflies" better than I like any of my ideas, and I wish I'd thought of them.

Gene 1: Sea Slug

I will try to work on the designs, but I can't promise you anything.

Mutation 1: Rainbow Ram Horns

The mutation's color would be the horns, just so you know. Sorry the lines are so thin!

Gene Slot 1: Crownmarked/Sun Rays

This is based on the fin marking of this lovely betta:


I did the spots as partial, but potentially it may look nice with the spots being the full size of the marking instead.


Gene Slot 2: Sea Leopard

Reworked my original entry some. The little fin doodle is meant to be how the fins look with it.


Gene Slot 3: Diatom Runes

I did Diatoms as much justice as I could. I may go back later on and detail it out a bit more, but this is a general idea of it. ^^ Diatoms are a large family of aquatic, single celled organisms. Under a microscope, with lighting effects used to make them more visable, these tiny little marvels are incredibly beautiful, as they effectively make themselves a 'glass house'.


Artists sometimes arrange them in artistic representations, to show just how striking they are




Body Mutation: Fishscale Armor, with gemstones and lotuses (I burned my hand, drawing is still hard, just pretend they look like lotuses XD)


Wing/Fin Mutation: Runic, semi transparent wings with glowing runes on them.


Glowy-effects Slot: Will o the Wisp

Whelp, this one is going to be fun. Though wow, this is going to make a drastic change to our favourite Glowfish kelp...

Ah well, might as well have fun with designing stuff, I guess!

Mutation Slot 2,
Extended fins
based off: one of our thought-sketches in the main Redesign thread


We couldn't figure out what it'd do to the tail fins, so we left it out on the basis that it'd be basically the same as the usual (aaaand maybe the kelpari-style fin spines are hard to draw and we gave up for the moment after our slipshod go at the hind fins)
- 'Extended' intended as meaning 'continuing further along the body' rather than 'longer in length from base to spine-tip', obviously.


Gene Slots 1 and 2,
Dusky (Dusky Dolphin)
based off of: These smooth dudes who swim in the ocean, the Dusky Dolphins

- Seperation might be something like this?
- having now done the legs we're wondering. Less on the legs? Not any at all? More? Probably not more.

Gene Slots 3,
Deep Sea Runes/ Sparkling Runes/ Hunter Runes I dunno
based off of: The fins are drawn more from the Giant Flashlight Fish, but the idea is based on deep-sea bioluminescence, particularly the Firefly Squid. Because attracting prey. (And okay, maybe we threw a bit of moon design in there because Tides)


Mutation Slot 1,
Corruption/ Predator/ Corrupted/ Wild/ Camouflage ??? Names are hard
based off: Kelpies and freshwater reeds and rushes (and maybe a bit of Aeridini's Corruption mut.)

Because like. Kelpari are indicated to be a freshwater based species, but they have kelp/seaweed and no primarily freshwater plant mutations for camouflage? Also, I really like rushes and stuff, they're really cute and fluffy.

Mutation Slot 3,
Enchanted Dragonflies
based off: Dragonflies and the Zolnixi's Enchanted Butterflies

What a fun idea for a contest.

I am not the biggest talent but I hope this shows the idea. Still a work in progress though,

Gene 1: Dapple ( inspired by dappled horses )
I am not sure how far the "equine part" was supposed to reach, but ofcourse the coat pattern could also reach till the end of the tail.


Still "under construction"
Gene 2: Whaleshark

file:///C:/Users/Jason/Pictures/Untitled.png

this is mine but i can't get it into a picture sorry

it has fairy wings, unicorn horn, and hind legs

G1/G2: Mottled. Based on this fishy or even two-toned like this one. (And as much as I would like to smooth things out and give it a better flow... Paint. -__- )


G3: Bioluminescent. Based on this image. Would love to add the design to the fins as well, but Paint doesn't allow for layers or transparency so... that would be a mess if I attempted it. A very sloppy, unreadable mess. I would also love to see some sort of glowing effect on them. I've actually managed to find a trait on the Sylvorpa that looks close to what I was thinking to give a better example. :D


M1: Scallop Shell Armor. Use of Scallop Shells as armor, simply put. If I had the artistic skill I'd make it look more like armor, or even something awesome out of a carved shell like this creepy mask.


M2: Seaslug Fins. Cut, stretched, and rotated by various strict 90 degree angles on Paint from this image. Only way I could really get the idea across since Paint is a horrible, horrible artistic program but it's all that I've got. I mainly love the spindley stretchy 'finger-like' forms on the seaslug.


M3: Ice Crystals. If I had the talent, I would have made them look more along the lines of this with the frosty wind streaks around to give it a swirly flow. It's more or less meant to look like the air around the Kelpari is so cold that it makes frosty ice crystals form around it. ^^

Wow, so much potential with that many entries.. can't wait to see what people come up with. I wish I could art better.

The lineart without the fins is a little creepy. :)

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Mutation 1: Coral Armor - Essentially, body armor made of coral that could come from between the front legs to cover the chest/neck area.. additionally could have it wrap around the main body/tail as well. The design itself would be asymmetrical and kind of "random" since coral grows kind of differently in random directions. The coral would grow and branch out around the body of the Kelpari. Since there are many types of coral, this is the kind I was thinking for my idea: 01 / 02 / 03

Mutation 2: Miniature Fins - The head, tail and body fins could basically stay the same size as they are now (maybe a slight reduction in tail size?), but the wings would be much smaller.. more like the scale of the Pectoral Fins in this picture compared to the other fins. It would give the option of the Kelpari being more "fish like" for some, while also reducing the wing size to allow the other genes and mutations to be seen better.

Mutation 3: Unicorn Horn - I think this one is pretty self explanatory and doesn't really need a description.