Dragon Warrior (working title)

[Eric Lofgren]

Posting work here is something I need to do more often I think. It's a great resource of helpful information. That said, this one is close to being finished. The sword, the BG and the dragons and the feaatures they are perched on need attention. So I thought I would throw it up here for some feedback. First off, I put in two light sources; one in the back and one in the front. The one in the back is meant more for impact, where the one in the front I'm using to define all the shapes and to give nice tight highlights on everything. Is this working? Is the rim lighting on his left hand side wonky? Is the whole thing working for that matter? I've strared at this painting too long and when I do that I always lose objectivity in my own work. Anyway, any thoughts and any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[arttorney]

I think it's great that you have given us areas that you seek comments on, to begin with. What I have responds to a combination of the rim light wonkiness and the features the dragons are perched on.

I think if you put in some attention to the rim lighting on those pedestals it will help them to pop a little better (especially the one on our left).

[Interceptor]

Great work so far, Eric. The armor looks loveky. Mayeb try spending some time with the face.. it needs just a nudge more brightness.. and the planes could be defined a little more. he's looking a tad pig faced to me.

[Queimheren]

I think you should do a full body image... hehe i know how stressful a comment like this can be but i seriously think you'd ace the aura he's giving out if you got a full image of him posing. It would make him seem more believable and focused-on rather than someone looking up from a battle scene/wherever.
Awesome colour choices.

[Rist]

Get rid of that rim light and made a light metalic tone that is a subtle transition into the midtones. What this will do it help the viewer know that the armour is really curved metal and not just flat metal. If you want a rim light, how about a glow rim light? It will surve as a 'shine'. Not sure how it would look so you would have to experiment a little.

Make the sword more metalic too. Same as the armour, add a highlight or atleast light. Give some spot highlights on those knuckle guards too.

I would have had the foreground light source slightly about the character so I can play with cast shadows. I remember quite a few renowned artists saying cast shadows are what make things more real.

The colour on the armour may need some attention. Look at real world metal and 'choose' which to use for the armour. Look at history and what armour was used in what period. Copper > copper+tin=bronze > Iron > Steal. others might have been used but this is all I know so far. I believe they used bronze because it was tougher than copper and they used iron for the same reason, but also because it could be sharpened better for weapons.

As or the armour design, seeing some straps might make the armour more believable. Also purple chain mail? Are you sure? Or is it some kind of cloth? If so is the guy rich or famous? Is he a champion? The reason I ask is because purple of anything was reserved for the rich back way when.

I hope this helps. I have thrown in a little extra so i hope I have not put you off.

[kev ferrara]

I like the monsters on the skull obelisks. Those make a nice silhouette.

What is the guy doing? Is he afraid? Is he guarding the stuff behind him like a sentry?

The wing of the closest bat monster is touching the top hand of the warrior causing a tangent and flattening the picture and messing up the image.

You might want to spend \ more time getting a really realistic face on the warrior, because he is supposed to be the center of interest after all.

Good luck
kev

[Gory]

(grr, backspace shouldn't make the browser go back. I just lost my post)

I agree with kev's comments.

On my first take of the character it looked like he was resting the sword on his shoulder. His facial expression has a lot to do with it, as he looks more tired/nonchalant opposed to ready to fight whatever is in front of him... If that's the case, that is. Search out reference for his facial expression.

Someone suggested painting in the entire figure. If you do that (and don't want to do a full figure) I would at the very least bring things to midway down his thigh. This would at least give us an impression of what his stance is like and would help establish his action better.

The other thing I wanted to mention was that the character feels very removed from the environment. The environment is hazy and atmospheric but the character is in full focus. You character has a very wide range of blacks and whites, which really doesn't mix with his background.

[Eric Lofgren]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Arttorney- Good idea.

Interceptor- I'll do that.

Quiemheren- I'll comment on the full body shot thing in a minute. Although, yes, a full body shot is usually the best.

Rist- I'll try that on the rim light. The sword is still being worked on so there will be the same type of highlights as well. And the cast shadow thing is a good point. As for the armour and the purple colour I was going for an all out fantasy feel. The purple is meant to be cloth showing through the mail. You make a good point on the straps. In fact, all your comments are very good. Thanks for taking the time you did.

Kev- Good eye on the tangents there. I see one on the other side as well.

Gory- the sword is indeed resting on his shoulder. And thanks for all your other comments.

I should have mentioned at the beginning that this one was meant as a card submission. Quite often when a character is featured they tend to get cut off at the waist, although a little lower down would work better I think. And really, a fullk body shot would be preferrable. And while this is done on cards, as well, you still don't have a great deal of space when printed to see a lot of detail, so I opted for a tighter shot of him from the waist up. I think on hindsight, though, that a more full body shot would have been better.

None the less, thanks again for all the great feedback. I really appreciate it and I'll do what I can to use it all

[CCThrom]

Looking good Eric! I had a feeling this was a card painting.

Rist already nailed the crits I was going to make. Seconded... the rim lighting is detracting from otherwise spot-on 3 dimensionality in the armour.

Awesome job on the clouds IMO.

[Brashen]

Recheck the dragon on the helmet I believe it's a bit skewed.

[J Wilson]

Great start! A couple of things it could use in my opinion.

- A little more indication of background. I really feel like I want more of an indication of the ground especially, even through the mist. Currently the rocks the beasts are on seem to float in the mist, but it feels off because we know the warrior needs to be standing on something. It makes the piece feel ungrounded. The indication can be subtle.

- The rim light on the left doesn't work because it's the wrong color. It's coming from the sky, so pull the color of the light source. It's currently too bright pink. Also, it's just the very edge. Rim lighting is not often JUST the edge, it needs to wrap around the form more, and it shouldn't catch under the armor plates in this case.

- Over all I'd like to see a little of that pink in the warrior. Hints of it in the color of the armor. What you have now doesn't look bad, but it could look even better with just a few touches of that sky in there sparingly.

- His shoulder plate. First, the light doesn't seem to be hitting it the same as the rest of the arm. That bright highlight needs to hit the front like the rest of the arm. With the current light hitting it more on top (I'd put it just above the sword blade), it flattens the shoulder making it feel out of place with the arm. Also, don't forget the sword casting a shadow on the shoulder. That shadow will help show us the shape of the shoulder plate.

- I agree the face needs more light and more planes. Just a few spots will make it pop.

-Dragon wings on the helmet could use a little more color variety. Right now they are coming off a bit flat and boring. Any time you find a dead or boring spot when it's someplace that should be a focus point, find a way to punch it up.

- The top hand on the sword is coming off flat. Just add in some highlights or something.

Over all really good start. I wouldn't have gone into this much detail if the piece wasn't already coming along great. A few relatively minor touch ups and this will be pretty cool.

[Rist]

Recheck the dragon on the helmet I believe it's a bit skewed.

I missed this little, but important, detail. Eric, why not make a new layer, fill it with white, change the opacity to 80% - 60% and then redraw the head, chest, legs and arms with squares and rectangles. This will show you the 'face's' that the light might hit. Then use a perspective guide to make that dragon helmet the correct angle. All you need to do then is make another layer and make a line drawing of the helmet with the right proportions. Delete the white and squares layer and repaint the corrected helmet.

The above might be an important step.