I'm going for a more naturalistic lighting inspired by the Pyrenees. Haven't touched the tower since the initial sketch (yet). I changed the point of view so that you're seeing the dragon from a cave. I feel like the composition was good enough to where it didn't need that but I like the effect of claustrophobia or entrapment it has, like you have nowhere to run when this guy gets going.
I'd love to hear some feedback before I (hopefully) finish this tomorrow :)
Color help is particularly appreciated...
Victor the tower needs more definition and whatever is at the top of it. Also the cliff and the Dragon needs to have difference in color, they look to alike or maybe thats the point. other than that hell up tight dude.
ReplyDeleteDragon looks tight. The cave might need a little work, i totally missed there was even a cave until i read the description. Looks a little bit more like I'm looking out of someones eye but i totally see when its on the top left and bottom right. Mouth in the dragon looks wicked as does the ground attached to the limbs. Good job :)
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I gotta say that I am diggin' this color palette. I love the bit of orange in the mouth and the eyes of the dragon--it's really shocking among the cooler hues and is an immediate draw-in. I also really like the composition, of how the person's arm points to the curve of the dragon's wing, which then leads to curve in the dragon's spine, and then the dragon's head points back to the rock (which starts the cycle over again). The framing of the rocks also helps, as well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when I first looked at this piece, I didn't get the feeling I was looking from inside a cave. I thought the bit of rock in the corner was just rock in the foreground, and it wasn't until you mentioned that it was from inside a cave that I saw the bit of darkness at the top creating the frame. I feel like there needs to be more info--maybe adding some more rock near the bottom, and instead moving the sheep somewhere else. Another trick might be to extend the rock near the top part of the composition a bit more to the right, just so it adds to the rhythm of the piece.
Other than that, I can't wait to see when this is done! And the lighting...adklfjaldk;fas, SO PRETTY!!!!
UGH GOD I just wrote like the biggest critique and then it got erased ajkdgksdjg I'LL PARAPHRASE
ReplyDeletebasically a) not sure about the upperleft/lowerright corners, I think they're too similar in size and shape/too symmetrical, try lengthening top or bottom or even maybe connecting the bottom left and right corners more
b) the dragon is too similar a color to the ground, try bringing out more colors in the dragon BUT NOT TOO MUCH because you dont want to lose the illusion of the dragon like coming out of the ground yknow? (which looks BADASS by the way it totally reads and don't lose that)
c) I think all the corners have this weird thing where the diagonals all have a similar size and angle, either mirrored or otherwise, perhaps you should try changing up some of the angles/shapes and placement of the diagonals. right now I think they're making the scene look a bit unnatural, and the dragon is so organic and awesome that it may be weakening the composition
overall good job so far though, and good luck in the competition c:
This looks awesome. Like, that dragon is the most badass thing I've seen all day. So, given that this works for the most part, here's the nitpicky-est stuff I could find that didn't work for me:
ReplyDelete-The tip of the castle is, to me, almost in tangent with the black rock framing device, and it detracts from the main story arc.
-I second Matt Howley's comment about Shadow color. Unless you're on Mercury or some planet that has NO atmosphere, shadows, especially in the day time, will never be pitch black. Even with the castle backed up to a cave there is still a ton of ambient light from the sky that would infiltrate the shadow. Maybe you could use warmer shadow colors like Matt suggested, or use cooler colors.
-The shadow of the dragon's arm to the left looks too similar to shadow it's casting on the ground. The arm underside would be picking up more green light that would be bouncing off the grass. Maybe the shadow cast on the ground needs to be lighter in the middle. Darker on the outside seems sound.
-Parts I can't really critique because it's still sketchy. I assume you're going to sharpen the edges of the claws on the left wing. The wing itself is kinda blurry, but the elbow beneath it is sharply defined, which makes the depth a bit confusing.
-The smoke coming off the dragon at first looked like a mountain peak, until I realized there was no mountain underneath it. If you make the dust less solid looking, that could help.
-I didn't really notice that there were sheep. With them being so far away it would be a challenge to add more detail to them, but rearranging them could help. Like, they could be scattering, which would convey that their terror is defying their instinct to herd together.
-The elbow spike on the dragon's left arm is in tangent with the wing.
I hope some of that is even remotely helpful.
Thank you all so much, great points all around, I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Victor, looks like a solid start. The dragon has a really good shape to it. I hope you don't mind, but I did a quick paintover to illustrate a few points: http://i.imgur.com/mdD06.jpg
ReplyDelete1. I felt that the composition is a little condensed and static, and the elements too 'on grid', so I extended it horizontally to allow more eye movement and to better fit the potentially epic moment.
2. This also allowed having more cave painted, which was a problem as others mentioned before. I played a bit with the tower and rock shapes to , but they need to be adjusted even further to get the best shape relationship and ratio (vs. the dragon shape) in the composition. I also got rid of the shelf shape that I didn't think speaks in the same shape language as the rest of the piece. Having the cave continue into "the dragon's half of the image" is important to eliminate the separated feeling of elements.
3. The clouds end in the dragon's wing, which flattens the space and causes them to merge. You can get rid of them, make the wing overlap etc.
4. Value wise, you are over exposing the image at the moment, getting to white and black very fast, so you basically run out of values. Expanding the midtone range helps you minimize the accents and establish focal points in a clearer way.
5. As far as color, other people have already pointed out about the lack of coloration, which is connected to the point I made about value, since you bleached the lights and killed the darks. There are a lot of ways to go about handling this issue. I added warms to the cave to separate the foreground. I used some of those warms on the underside of the dragon and the rocks behind it.
6. I assume you aimed for the dragon's head to be a focal point, but the glowing effect doesn't seem powerful in that value relationship. I upped the contrast there and made the glowing reds and oranges stronger in color.
7. I also think that the dragon needs to be more separated from the grassy hill, at least in some areas. I added some texture to help distinguish it, a playing with the color would be helpful as well.
8. Cleaning up some shapes, tangents etc.
I hope it was helpful. Good luck!
Wow, thanks so much Gal, that was extremely useful and insightful.
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