The Unfinished Dragon

kugelblitz1 2016-09-30 03:13:22 UTC #1

Here is a painting i did a while ago, but i think its kinda "unfinished" looking, i just cant seem to figure out what i need to add. Any critiques welcome.

thunderdumpling 2016-09-30 05:36:27 UTC #2

Hmmm, It looks really good. However it seems really close up. The cave and dragon seems a bit cramped. I think that if you make the cave larger and a little farther away from the knight, it would look a lot more grand. Also I feel that having the dragons eyes glow green would make it seem more menacing given that it's hidden in the darkness.

beauviarts 2016-09-30 05:40:30 UTC #3

The first thing I notice is my eyes don't really know where to focus. The items by themselves are good, but together they are lacking a cohesiveness. I think there is an issue with the values as a whole piece. Have you tried going grayscale and examining the grayscale levels? It would be a great way for you to visually see where you need to add some gradient or balance the value to bring our eyes in!

shiv0r 2016-09-30 06:25:53 UTC #4

The other comments already pointed out the problems of the picture.
Also be carfully with your colors you lose a lot of the atmosphere.

Here a overpaint to see the difference:

Cheers!

kugelblitz1 2016-09-30 06:35:29 UTC #5

AAHH, i see what you mean, i appreciate you taking the time to do that!

brohawx 2016-09-30 06:43:20 UTC #6

When thinking of what to add, you really need to also consider what to take away.

First set your intention. I assume yours was something like, "I need a dragon, and a knight, and I need to have him eerily coming out of the cave." And if its for concept art or illustration. What story are you trying to tell. If its environment and scale, then shiv0r's paintover does great.

However, if you your intention is, "I need to scare my audience, and show a good dragon design"

Your focal points are the dragon and the knight. All the extra stuff in the composition you need to consider if its necessary. Consider a crop in.

Your brightest light values and darkest dark values need to be your main focal point. Lead the viewers eye around the canvas to your focal points. You have a light knight on a light background. Which makes for no contrast. Make him a light knight on a dark background. Your cave, is an element you have to play with however you want.

For illustration follow a simple rule of dark on light, and light on dark for now, and frame your piece based on your focal points and storytelling elements of composition.

Cheers.

kugelblitz1 2016-09-30 06:57:42 UTC #7

thanks for the revision! And yes, though shiv0rs paintover was awesome it its own right, 'grandness' wasnt what i was going for in the first place. I was thinking less "smaug" and a little more " xenomorph" type of scary. The idea is that it behaves more like a large bat rather than a kaiju, and i think your crop idea does the trick.