Another Dragon design. sorry lol

[englishduke]

I know that there are a lot of dragons that get posted on these forums but since they are part of my favorite subject matter I cant resist do a few every now and then. I hope you can forgive me. This piece was created for a friend's tattoo but he desided to go with another one of my designs. I like this one the most tho, hopefully you guys like him to and hopefully i can get some good crits and advice. thanks guys and girls.

p.s some ideas for a background would be awesome. or maybe it shouldnt have one.

[englishduke]

Just messin around a bit with the background. I wanted somthing simple so i tried for an deep sea scene ( i hope it shows.) I know the color sceme doesnt really go together right now and he is a bit detached from the background, but I was just wandering if anyone thinks I should just leave it alone or change the design. I'm open to any crits and advice from the many talented artist round here.

[Jasonwclark]

Don't ever hesitate to post a dragon dude

For this one, I think you could do more to make the hind limbs look alike. Right now, his right foot seems to have a different construction from his left. I rather like it though, maybe you should modeled the far leg on the near one instead of the other way around.

I also prefer a warmer background, to a cool one.

[englishduke]

Cheers Jason I guess my hesitation stems from having such respect for the subject I just wanna do it justice and not be just another run-of-the-mill dragon pic.

I know what you mean about the hind legs and it has always bothered me a little from the sketch stage. At first i wanted the near leg to be flenched like he's making a fist of some sort and the far foot a bit more relaxed but I ended up making the differance between the two too noticable. not sure where to go from here, I might try taking one of the toes out of the near foot or atleast change the position. If it was the whole limb you were refering to I guess the probelm would be my lacking ability to portray accurate fore-shortening in the near leg lol.

Thanks again for viewing and the sound advice. a fresh pair of eyes is always welcomed

[Hexokinase]

I have to agree with Jason regarding the background in your second post. The very saturated red adjacent to the saturated blue has too much visual tension. Furthermore, being underwater, the dragon would be much cooler due to the bounce-light of the surrounding water. If you want to keep the dragon underwater, some grays would prove to be warm when surrounded by the blue.

I really like the design of his right arm. The left is rather lacking though. The contour seems too amorphic and the finger positions feel awkward.

The main issue I see is the apparent lack of perspective. Though it may be too late to address in this particular image, for your next project you should mark your horizon line (which coincides with the viewer's eye level). You would see the top of body parts below the horizon and the bottom of parts above the horizon. The extremity of this effect will dictate how close the subject is to the viewer.

Hope that helps

[englishduke]

I really appreciate the helpful crits havoc. I realized the clash of warm vs. cold when was working on but went along with it. I have amended a few things like his right hind feet and adjusted the overal color to a softer red/orange ( i hope it cooled it down a bit.) and I added a very sutle blue tint to some shadows. not sure what else to do cuz like you said its pretty far along to change any perspectives. thanks again for the help.

[Duman]

Its a pretty cool dragon, has some nice design aspects. I might consider trying to pop some color in the eyes, though. Right now they seem like lifeless eyes, doll eyes. Try some yellows, oranges and greens, see how those look. And maybe try to see how it would look with a few more teeth. Again, cool dragon.

[Ragathol]

If you actually want to have it underwater, the colors would be a lot bluer. It also looks like it's pretty deep down, since the surrounding water is so dark. With less light, the reds and yellows get dulled, and shadows are deeper.
This is just a quick edit with Selective Color change, and some extra (spiral) bubbles added. Far from perfect, but a bit closer to what you need for an underwater picture.

Maybe it's better to place this dragon in a desert, and paint a new one from the start?

[englishduke]

Duman- I'm really glad you like him, that makes me feel like i'm doin somthing right for once lol. I know what you mean about the eye color and have addresses the issue and i even squeeked in a few more teeth just for you. Hope it is an improvment.

Ragathol- Thanks for the help about the color. I have changed the color on mine and I think I have have cooled him down as far as i'd feel comfortable without changing the vision in my head. I think it looks pretty good and I have you to thank for that. I hope you think it has helped the piece as a whole.

Thanks again guys for all your help.

[Ragathol]

Maybe you could lighten up the background a bit? It looks like he's so deep down now. The colors are better, but should still be darker with that background. Well, just a suggestion.

[Duman]

I do think the extra teeth are an improvement, and so are the eyes, but we can make them look even better. Try to make the pupil a tiny black slit, and then try to make the rest of the eye a little darker color. If it doesn't look good, you could always keep these ones.

[englishduke]

Again I have to thank you guys you've been a huge help with this and I hope it shows. I have lighten the background a tad and took the big plunge and got rid of the red completley and made him a full blown water dragon and I kinda like it, I hope you agree. I have changed the eyes too Duman and I think you were right I think it bring them to life a bit more, let me know what you think.

please let me know if this has help the image I would love to get one picture finished that I could be proud of

thanks guys

[Ragathol]

Maybe adding some bubbles in front of him would give it more depth?
If he's doing a kick, the movements of the various limbs should stir up some bubbles. Or maybe not, but it would look better anyway

[Duman]

I really dont have any other comments besides good job. Cant wait for the next one!

[englishduke]

Thanks a lot Duman I think you are the first person to tell me that on this forum, hoepfully not the last.

Cheers Ragathol, yeah I don't think if he was very deep down that he would cause any bubbles through movement but I do agree with you. The funny thing is I actually put bubbles by his foot in one of the originals but removed them for tha reason lol. Ive put some back in however and might stick a fork in this now. Unless theres anything else needing improvment (besides my drawing and rendering skills lol.) thanks for the help.