First Post - Winter Encounter

[Skye Ingram]

A knight out to make a name for himself may have bitten off more than he can chew.

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This is my first post of a finished piece. This painting is a Christmas present for my brother-in-law. What do you guys think? I was so nervous about posting, there are some huge names and amazing artists here.

[Saelyra]

Overall I think this is quite impressive! I love the sense of atmosphere and the dramatic scale of things. There is definitely a nice amount of power captured there... the more I look the more interesting little effects I notice. The powder sprayed up by the dragon's feet landing, and all the size variance in the snow in the air really gives a sense of dimension and space. I also quite like the steel blue color scheme and the smooth shading.

There are only a couple points that get me. Namely, the fact that the dragon's tattered wing is along the same level as the jagged tops of the treeline- so initially I was a bit confused and had to look for a moment to determine whether the wing was actually draped -over- the first row of trees, so that they were closer than the far edge. Perhaps if the edge of the wing membrane was tightened up just a bit it would be more evident that it was closer? Also the dragon's left (our right) wing seems not quite solidly anchored to the rest of the form. Personally I think it makes more sense with dragons to have the membrane go further back along the body and attach at the hip, but since it's a fantasy design, that is of course all down to personal taste and not anything to worry about I think just adding some more shadow at the base of the limb so that it follows the same treatment as the upper forearm would help though.