[Andrew-Berends]

Hey guys throwing my hat into the ring a bit late but here we go.
great work all round guys

[Rocu]

@cyl1981 - Great advice. After giving it some fresh thought (and the feedback from yourself and rob_powell) I am going to change up the face a bit and try to make it more draconian and less derpy. I want to do this without losing character, so that should be fun.

Thanks for the great posts! Really liking this community.

[beaulamb]

Andrew-Berends - Nice start! love the design.

Little bit more from me, trying to finish the background off abit more before i work onto the main stuff.

[Andrew-Berends]

Wip number 2

[Rocu]

Originally Posted by beaulamb

amadarien - Thanks man nice work on yours! really liking the colours and the creature. focal point works well to im really drawn to the face first then im able to explore the rest of the scene. loving the stone ruins too

Thanks a lot! That's absolutely what I was going for. Still really liking yours so far. The colors stand out so much against a lot of the green that is traditionally used in scenes like this.

[Tsayar]

amadarien & rob_powell: Thanks for the feedback!

rob_powell: can you say exactly where the perspective is off? I noticed that the edge of the water in front of the dragon looks kinda weird, but are there any other parts? I can't figure out anything else...thanks for pointing the perspective out!

amadarien: I'm going to add some more detail, especially to the trees, they're still looking too fuzzy. I'll work more on the dragon and water as well, but still keep it relatively loose. If I start detailing too much, I won't be able to stop before it's too late...

[GaussianBlur]

Everyone’s been busy! I slacked off enjoying BBQ. I have a lot of work to do before I can post a catch-up, but I wanted to add my own thoughts to the other designs posted. Going latest to earliest to try and catch the most recent WIPs


Andrew-Berends: My favorite parts of your design are the webbed forearms and the fat tail (almost gecko-like), the crocodile mouth also helps. I’m interested to see how the design’s incorporated into an environment, and similarly how more of the swamp is incorporated into the dragon—basing off of the one piece, it seems like a lethargic creature, so perhaps there’s more overgrowth (similar to the vines already on it)?

beaulamb: I love your colors. The creature is great, too—it’s nice to see varied interpretations on what a ‘dragon’ can be. My only real suggestion at this point is that I’m confused about its size: it’s detailed in a way that suggests it’s quite large, but the toadstool’s throwing me off. I wouldn’t suggest changing what it’s sitting on though—maybe more details or points of reference just to make it a little less ambiguous?

amadarien: The atmosphere is great, there are lots of cool details like the suggestion of stone relics around the beast. The face is great, you can tell what kind of creature this is supposed to be. While I like it as it is, you’re probably right in that it could be pushed further along the ‘dragon’ direction—its face seems more mammalian.

rob_powell: Really cool, great sense of scale, and I love the head (and beard!) There are lots of creatures referenced, but it’s still very much its own thing. I agree with the others, either add more trees on its back or make that single tree more ‘special’—maybe it’s blossomed, or a different color. The other thing I’ve been noticing are the figures, I like their inclusion (helps with scale, too), but I’d like to see a bit more of them, or even just making their silhouettes less ‘black’. But that’s a little irrelevant to the creature so feel free to disregard, haha

RhB: Great start... keep going! While the turtle’s the main focus, I’d bring up the background (and immediate foreground) while you’re at it.

Tsayar: It looks like you’re using white as your light source—maybe try a color, like a pale yellow? And the very bright highlight on the back of the tail is bringing it forward which I think is confusing the sense of depth. I like the seahorsey dragon though

Earendel: Play with the shapes in your background, having some dark tree silhouettes can draw your eye down to the parts of the dragon you want to emphasize. I’d also play with the wings—maybe they’d be covered in vines and moss and muck if the dragon doesn’t use them much, or throwing water if it’s just pulled them out of the swamp. The alligator reference is clear—didn’t get sea lion at first, but that’s cool!


I’ll keep working on getting something up that’s a little easier to comment on, thanks rob_powell and amadarien for your responses, and also to cyl1981—you raise some excellent points, I completely agree about removing the environment/context and checking a design’s readability... will keep that in mind!

[Ogi-G]

Great work so far everyone!

Deadline is slowly approaching, July 8!

The finals thread has been posted HERE, make sure to include the voting thumbnails as well.

Good Luck

[cyl1981]

Did a quick rough to demonstrate the theory in practice, hope it helps ~

[beaulamb]

GaussianBlur - Thanks man anything you can suggest about that? im abit unsure :/

Andrew-Berends - Looking really nice, i can imagine that thing lurking around in swampy water

cyl1981 - Did you just draw that? its awesome haha. Thanks for taking the time to show us all that

Heres an update for today, ill work some more on it tomorow hopefully.

[Rocu]

Hey guys! Made some fairly major tweaks, but I think it's looking better for it.

[beaulamb]

amadarien - Yes thats awesome! it has a tail ... and the squirrels watching! good work dude

[radeaton]

@amadarien- I really like your swamp dragon, I liked it before the major tweeks and his nose was one of my fav things about it. But, I have to admit that I think I like it better now. Great work everyone keep it up.

[GaussianBlur]

@amadarien - Cool! Love the tail and added creatures, really helps bring a sense of scale to your dragon!

@beaulamb - It's kind of hard to say haha, though I think with all the detail you've given it, especially with the light reflecting off the dragon's scales and in between on his foreleg and hind haunch, it does a lot for showing he's not tiny.. perhaps that sort of detail on the mushroom itself so they match a little more. But it's looking great, especially with this latest revision.

ahhh I'm playing catch up haha. Obviously WIP and I have a lot of things in mind, but at least a little more tangible than before

[Rocu]

@ beaulamb - Thanks a lot! I really like how yours is coming along. I notice that Guassianblur ( I think) was mentioning that it's hard to tell what size he is. With the insect he looks like he's small, as does the mushroom. I am completely cool with a mushroom being huge, but if he is supposed to be tiny then what I think is throwing it off is the grass. The grass conflicts with some of the elements as it is at about human size. Hopefully that makes sense, lol.

@radeaton - Thanks a lot! I might go ahead and add a few more small things before I submit the final due Sunday. Hopefully I submit everything properly as this is my first time doing this (it's REALLY fun though, hope to do more).

@ Guassianblur - Thanks a lot! The tweaks were helpful, I had some great feedback. I think yours is a great concept, and I hope to see it developed more!

@cyl1981 - Cool start. I like the whole alligator/chinese dragon hybrid! It has a strong silhouette, which matters a lot.