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Chromamancer β Seiryuu
Published: 2011-02-12 14:44:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 38472; Favourites: 2692; Downloads: 1482
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Description
Finally finished!From the initial sketch, every piece of this picture changed at least once. Overall, this was a very frustrating piece to work on. It's been a while since I've drawn an eastern style dragon, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It took several attempts to find a good pose and design, but I think it turned out well in the end.
I've been trying out some different brush packs lately. The magic circles are stock from [link]
I usually try not to use stock like that, but those circles were too cool to pass up. My attempt was much less impressive, but maybe I'll design a few awesome ones someday.
Making that mirror was one of my favorite parts of this picture.
Also, I tried to show a smoother texture and more even distribution of detail on this picture, compared to my last few pieces.
I defined a few custom brushes when making this one, and have uploaded them here for people to use: [link]
I hope you enjoy it!
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Comments: 434
Whao.... I got to tell you this has got to be you most creative dragon i ever seen. i loved how you incorparrated the backgroiund with the dragon i feel like i was coming from a scifi fantasy book. and i've seen Dragons so many times but i never seen one qiute like this oddly enough this would of felt like I've been in Avatar with a splash with world of Warcraft. so this is what i wanted to tell you and how i feel about this project you have blown my mind from the world of fantasy thank you
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When it comes to colossal and incredibly outstanding artworks such as this, they are both a pleasure to see, yet are also quite visible in their focus and detail value to the right areas in order to keep the sight clear. For this artwork starting with the background, it's not necessarily hyper in its detail nor exceptionally distinguishing as far as to how much complexity is emphasized even to that of the sky and the clouds. It does contain a proper direction of light to the dragon, but even by its radiant source, it has quite an exquisite palette with a well-infused saturation surge that it utilizes so the colours and their intensities are set in the right place without having any particular area looking too gamut-warned (a.k.a, hurtful to the eyes).
The composition is very well done here to what is added, not overloaded, yet also as I said: Well-painted with a soothing detail amount that isn't too extreme, but it also has birds that are coloured based on from both the light sources and the shadows.
As for the subject (dragon): The off-central position of the dragon is also a good idea, but there's something slightly obscure on a proportionate perspective to how it was designed, especially for the right leg(s). The attention to proper texture and detail use here, are equally phenomenal, so for that matter, it's still a fantastic and even just emotionally powerful sight to see such a mythological creature of its kind fly like that. The mirror concept, being the electric-hue, cyan, & mostly true/sky/ocean blue colour infused with any of the mentioned shades and gradients, is an amazing idea to carry upon (no pun intended, if I am not mistaken). It's shape is smooth and not anywhere rough or "wavy"/"the least bit squiggly" by any means, while the circular (though skewed oval, I am seeing) shape and design is also unique. For that matter, even the light and its intensity to the amount that doesn't dodge too much is also quite impressive, including the colour theory and cooler complimentary use. In fact, the shape of where the light distances off from is very sleek too, a.k.a the blue rays coming from the magical mirror. The dragon's eye glow is a fascination too, and as the whole thing is, it's a beautiful, even perhaps masterful use of smooth shaping to make the dragon, as well as its design and distinguished use of lighting, shading, & for the most part, the proportions, since what I also see obscure is the horns. Could it be a perspective thing, is it actually uneven when this was drawn, or was that the shape design of the horns that the dragon already has? Either way, this is indeed a staggeringly stunning piece (excuse my habitual use of allusions).
In the end, it's kind of tricky to tell where this is set, but it seems to be relatively high up in the mountains in an other-planetary sky in its seemingly ephemeral and ethereal-like atmosphere.
If I just HAD to give a specific score, on a quantitative and qualitative means, it would be this:
9.00/10 (based on the star ratings avg. by a max score number range of 0-10, double-measured in other words) a.k.a 36/40 out of the total units for all stars w/all sections (10x4): Wonderful!
Hope this helped, even though I sounded almost too euphemism-wise on my choice of words. Thank you for reading.
With honesty & sheer appreciation:
~Azure Enigma Paragon
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A very stunning and eye catching artwork!
The dragon itself provides a fantastic flowing movement to the piece, and the hues of its scales blend perfectly with the surrounding atmosphere. The illuminating blues of the mirror and eyes are a well placed vocal point here, immediately drawing the eye to it, then gradually moving along the length of the dragon's body.
The shading provides a brilliant amount of depth and is placed correctly, adding to the tranquility of the artwork. The surrounding swallows(?) put the size of the beast in perspective, as one can imagine seeing it soaring above a distant horizon- a very stunning sight.
The background is decently balanced in the respect that it does not draw focus from the dragon, but still adds the right hues to complement the beast. The double moon is also very beautiful.
The only aspect I can't help but wonder on is the length of the front arms/legs. The shoulder seems a bit longer than it should be, and I can't imagine how the dragon would look if it was standing on solid ground. Of course this may have been what you had intended, but personally it doesn't look quite right to me.
But overall a very imaginative and beautiful artwork! The effort you put into this really shows, and the procrastination was well worth the final result! e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s⦠" width="15" height="15" alt="
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Thank you very much for the critique.
I'm glad to hear that you enjoy this piece. It took quite a while, but sometimes it's fun to put that extra time and effort into things.
Your observations about the focal points are very helpful, too. In the past, I tried to make certain areas more detailed to draw a bit more focus to those places. Here, I tried to manage the focus through lighting and color use, so it is good to know that it was effective for you.
I re-sized the front legs a few times after pointed out some sizing issues on a WIP. They may sill be a bit large in comparison to the hind legs, though.
Overall, the shoulders would be probably be higher than the hips if this dragon was on solid ground.
I tend to do a lot of work zoomed in on my pictures, so sometimes I'll end up with sizing discrepancies in different parts of things I draw. Thank you for pointing that out, though. I may not have noticed that otherwise, and it gives me something to look out for and improve on in the future.
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Thank you very much.
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I saw this image pop up on Imgur and it was so stunning I just had to find it. Took me a while because most of the "similar images" are for wallpaper websites. Β Glad I found this though! Β It's a really amazing piece of work. Great job!
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If Dr. Seuss had a medieval version of his children books. The physic of the dragon really reminds me of some of his character concepts. Do you see it?
Still originality in it, great, and different. 
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I gasped when I saw this o-o This is absolutely gorgeous.
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Thank you.
It's an honor to hear that.
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Thank you very much.
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If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to get this good with this amazing detailed work? I wish I was like this sooo bad. TT_TT
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I know how that feels.
It's tough to say, there. I've been drawing for quite a while, but I got much more motivated once I joined DA. There was just so much awesome art on here beyond anything I saw before that it really inspired me to practice up and start learning, instead of just trying to draw things, if that makes sense.
Feel free to ask anytime if you have questions, and I'll do my best to help out.
I can always bombard you with interesting tutorials and process work that I tend to look through.
Art can be frustrating sometimes. There is always more out there to learn, but that's part of the fun of it, too.
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This is amazing the deragon is very beautiful and graceful.
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Thank you.
On this one, I tried to add in a bit of a cursive flow to the body.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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They color scheme is just gorgeous, and all the colors relate to eachother, wow you really know how to use your program!
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Thank you very much.
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It's an honor to hear that.
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It's an honor to say that.
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My god.. Such a Piece... Simply amazing!
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Thank you very much.
I'm glad you enjoy it.
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enjoy is an under statement
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this is so pretty! wish i could use it as a cover~
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Thank you very much.
I've thought about drawing a set of the directional guardians... Byakko might be really fun, too.
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Symbolic, stellar, and masterful.
Ended up falling in love with this masterpiece.
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Thank you very much.
This one was a lot of fun to make.
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Thank you very much.
I'm glad you enjoyed this piece.
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A wonderful image...
it's sad that this website [link] doesn't give you credit for it.
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Thank you very much!
Thanks for the heads-up, too.
I might try sending them an email about that... I don't mind the free download, but it would be nice to be cited as the source on there, at least.
I've had to deal with a few sites like that, since the DD.
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No problem.
(I am also unsure why I commented on this with my alt account. o.o )
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Thank you very much.
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pretty much the coolest dragon picture I have EVER seen.
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Thank you very much.
I'll do my best to continue improving and making interesting things.
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this is very stunning. do you have a backround story to this magnificent creature?
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Thank you very much.
I don't have much of a background story behind this one. Sometimes I do, but this piece evolved quite a bit as I worked on it, so while I am proud of the finished result, it is completely different from my original idea. Sometimes it's just best to go with the flow.
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The glowing blue you put in there made it really look magical, keep up the fantastic work!
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Thank you.
I'll do my best to continue improving and making interesting things.
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