A dragon design!

[ChristopherRyan]

A creature design I've been working on. =)

[ChristopherRyan]

Critiques are much appreciated

[Falchion]

That...is a really weird crop.

[SeeMonster]

Cool dragon. the crop does seem odd given that you miss out on seeing the wings and a bit of the tail. also i think it may benefit from more contrast, it would push the depth from the dragon to the mountains in the BG. over all pretty cool though. How do you see it finished?

[ChristopherRyan]

Here are a couple WIPS. Critiques are appreciated.

[Velocity Kendall]

maybe something like diss

[Griffonnage]

I prefer the darker one the dragon feel more consistant ! Why do you want to cut the wings, is there any size constraints ?

[JordyLakiere]

Darker version is 10x better. You definitely want to take more advantage of contrast. I think the crop doesn't bother me personally, but the lack of arms does. The body structure doesn't support the fact that it's more of a bird like creature (wings and legs). It's very reptilian shaped -elongated, which would lead me to believe it could never stand properly, but would just fall over. I'd say make it more compact if you're going the bird route! Good stuff, keep it up

[ChristopherRyan]

A reptile type body with bird features was exactly what I was going for but the arms issue bugged me too. I didn't know if when it landed it arched its neck back and bobbed when it walked the way a chicken does but I was thinking it would be cool to add arms that resemble more a creature that walks on all fours where the arms stick out from the front of the body more like a horse rather than a lizard where the arms stick out and bend from the sides. The crop doesn't bother me really either because I feel showing more of the wings wouldn't help the composition all that much more. I tried to make the focus more the action of landing on a side of the cliff and added most of the detail around its head which I wanted to be the main design focus. perhaps some simple analytical profile shots would help my cause? =) thanks for the feedback guys.

[keeptime]

I didn't really see the dragon as landing on the side of a cliff. I saw it as the dragon running up the side and using its wings for balance. I think you should keep its feet off the cliff to show it's about to land. I think you could adjust the pose as well. A quick google search for "bird landing" shows many birds tend to land with their body concave facing their perch. I'm no bird expert, but I'm assuming it's because they're stretching everything forward to meet the landing while their wings are being pushed back by air. Your dragon looks like it's pushing its weight away from the cliff, ready to take off.

Also (and this is probably nitpicky so feel free to disregard it) birds have very large chest muscles. I'm having a hard time reading it, but it looks your dragon has only 1/4 of their torso covered with pectorals and the rest is dedicated to abs/ribs. Flight is a pretty intensive activity, so you'll probably want muscles to match it.

[ChristopherRyan]

ah yes I should've clarified better. It is supposed to be pushing off the cliff like it kinda used it to bounce off of a bit. I know what you mean about birds having large pectoral muscles, im currently working on that anatomy as we speak. Im trying to make the wings look like they connect to the pectoral muscles from underneath the armpits. basically 2 sets of pecks. One large set for the wings and a smaller set for its arms which i'm also currently working out. It bugs the crap out of me when animals or people are designed with wings coming out of the shoulder blades. =) thank you very much for the critiques!

[Venger]

You're rear wall is cutting your painting in 2, it's really flattening your image.
I'd move your 'dragon' up into the frame more and maybe make it more bird like.
Repeat patterns thats you've already created (like the rock wall its sat on) to help define more space
(see OP)- Rock plinths in the distance, trees below, with extra dragons flying around. This way you're setting up a location for your beast to live in.

[ChristopherRyan]

Thank you very much for the crit. I do notice that wall as being distracting. i'll work out my composition.

[ChristopherRyan]

I feel like i've learned a lot on this.

[Griffonnage]

Wow, amazing ! I really like it this way ! You did a great job on the plants too, it's stunning !

[ChristopherRyan]

I feel it could be tightened up but I like where I left off. Thanks for the critiques and help everyone it's greatly appreciated!

[Aceoko]

I think I prefer the original one, with the darker contrast. The newer one kind of looks like the dragon is falling whilst climbing or it trod on some lego, hurt its foot and is screaming.

-I think that may just be my stupid opinion though haha sorry.....but I do really really love the first one, lots of movement & power in it.

[ChristopherRyan]

I think this should be the final. Opinions appreciated

[Griffonnage]

I like it so far I'm sorry I will not be super usefull here.
I would say maybe try to stick a little more for the vegetation at your previous attempt (#14) it was giving a nice effect. Here the trees looks a little like bonzai it confuse about the size of the dragon.
I'm not sure if you need the second dragon on top of the mountain, it look like it is falling ?

[ChristopherRyan]

yeah the vegetation was getting to be tricky because im trying to get a sense of this creature high up on a cliff and the more vegetaqtion i aded the closer to the ground he seemed so i was trying to fin d a nice medium. Maybe ill re work it. Thanks buddy.