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FluffySharkk [2012-03-07 23:46:32 +0000 UTC]

Everyone's pretty much said what I would say so, all I will say is keep up the great work and I hope you finish this soon

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tsong-ming-yi [2011-10-16 18:24:35 +0000 UTC]

I love what you're doing with the lighting so far; I think making it more dramatic would really improve the piece! Not sure about the path, but the trees make me jealous, they look so nice

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NerielMi [2011-10-15 20:25:54 +0000 UTC]

I agree with everything what was said before, especially with that thing about making more detailed foreground (and everythink you'd like the viewer to focus on) and less sharpened background.
In your place I would also think about the lightning. I thought that the light source is simewhere above and behind the hills on the left side (according to trees on the right side), pehaps the rising sun. But where are trees on the left side lighted from? If the light source was where I thought it to be, trees would make shadows of another direction.
And the wolf as well. Shading is more complicated in his case, because there'll be a shade droped by the rock also. I think that the darkest shade will occure where it actually is, but there'll be also shade in front of him because of the light source. Shades on his fur will occure on the other side of his body as well. Now it seems as if he was just randomly added to the picture, he doesn't fit in. I'd also add some of the background colours to his fur. I know that he is the focal point, but I think that branches and leaves above his head would give him a slight tint of their color.
This is just a subjective critique, I hope it helped at least a little bit. This 'sketch' is very nice and I'd like to see it done. The most important think about drawing is to enjoy it, I just hope we didn't make your will to draw fade, it would be a real pitty. Good luck in the next progress!

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Andantonius [2011-10-15 17:08:39 +0000 UTC]

Very nice work! There's a lot of good painting going on here, your color variation is excellent, and although I agree with ~Dragonwing75 and *Rhineville that the trees are drawing too much attention they are nicely painting (good job for not using custom brushes!)

For critique, I agree with what has been said already and will elaborate a bit on it. The biggest issue is that the dragon is not enough of a focal point, and there are a variety of ways you could solve that.

What you want to keep in mind is contrast; something shows up strongest when it's in front of something different. Black is darkest on white, orange is warmest in front of blue, a square is most geometric when surrounded by circles, a robot is most mechanical when in a forest. Apply this concept of contrast to your piece wherever you can and you'll have a much stronger composition going; the dragon is orange, but those same oranges are being used in the trees behind him, if you were to dull down the oranges in the trees you'll start making the dragon a color anomaly and he will begin to stand out more.

Also apply it to value, everything is very mid-range at the moment except for the dark trees and the light sky; try focusing more on that. What if a cloud were passing overhead and it shrouded the light everywhere except the dragon, so everything became less contrasty in terms of value, but then the dragon is a super strong orange with light lights and dark darks around him that stand out against everything else, suddenly you have a focal point. You can do the same thing with edges; though I agree with *Rhineville that a simple blur isn't the best way to go, softening your edges is a great way to create space; if you hand paint those trees to just have slightly softer edges without feeling blurred, and then keep your super crisp edges in your dragon, again you've created a contrast and a focal point. And if you're not sure what I mean by edges check this out: [link]

I would also suggest getting some reference, the trees in your BG are painted excellently, but the overall structure of the hills, the path, and arrangement of the rocks feels too planned, there would be a lot more going on in real life. Find some photos of hillsides and see what information you can take from them to create a more believable environment. The dragon is feeling pretty good, but I have a feeling that when you start polishing it you'll run in to some trouble, so don't be afraid to get some photos of wolves or lizards or horses to help you make it the best darn dragon you've ever painted in your life. If it's worth spending 10 hours painting, it's worth spending 30 minutes finding some great reference.

And lastly, try and solidify the shapes of your lights and darks. Again, finding reference will help with this, but when you decide that this area is definitely light and this area is definitely dark it will start to feel more like real light; right now everything is pretty mushy, and if it was an overcast day that would work, but I feel like you're wanting to have more of a clear sunshine being blocked by trees look in which case there would be a much more distinct separation between light and shadow.

Otherwise this is looking great, compositionally things are arranged well, it's great that the dragon isn't right in the center (though you might try and add a few more foreground elements), the scene has a good scope and sense of scale, it feels nice and big, and like I mentioned those trees are really well painted.

Keep it up, looking forward to seeing this finished, and thanks for submitting to #SeriousArtists !

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Nebquerna [2011-10-15 16:04:42 +0000 UTC]

I love !
The only problem I see for this time is the stone on the top of the creature.
It's really .... I dunno, strange, I think :/

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HydraTamer [2011-10-15 15:11:06 +0000 UTC]

I think the only thing I noticed was the wolf thing's right (our left) arm looks like it's coming out unaturally from the shoulder. I'm no expert, but I think if you make him laying on his arm a little more, it would look better.

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DragonstormStudios [2011-10-15 13:40:12 +0000 UTC]

If you want the orange creature to be your focal point, you'll have to blur out the background material. Those trees back there are a little too crisp - when I look at your work my eye moves to them first and that's not supposed to happen.

Try adding some material (like the sticks you mentioned) in front of the where the creature is sleeping so the eye moves towards him and doesn't follow the path into the vanishing point.

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TansakuWolf [2011-10-15 00:06:50 +0000 UTC]

An artist once told me that there are never objects in the background of a painting, but only colors and spots of paint. For example a tree painted with several brush strokes can be more artistic and even a better representation than a extremely detailed tree.
I don't know anything about painting/using a painterly style or composition, but I still think that's something interesting to keep in mind =3 aah, never mind me, I'm just a bored teenager xD Still what you have so far looks good to me

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