[Michael la-Cour]

Hi.
This is my first posting in this forum, so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong.

I'm working on a littel dragon image, this is my first sketch of it.


I've reached a stage where I'm beginning to doubt my colouring of the background.
I would like it to be less toonish, than it appearing now, (especially the cliffs and the Lava)


Any help what so ever would be appreciated

[DeathJester]

Not sure if this will help, but stay away from so much saturation.. try and have more darker shadows and lighter lights.. you have a huge lake of lava... that emits light.. that is gonna create dark shadows...
Also the moon and nite sky being so bright make it feel cartoonish as well.. take a look at some references of what the moon looks like in a nite sky... Its hard to paint from the mind and make it look real.. takes years of practice.. so references are always a plus.. if you live near hills or mountains.. step outside at nite during the next full moon or when its almost full and look at the hills.. take a picture.. Just a few ideas...

But keep it up, I would love to see this progress and turn out spectacular..

[Beowulfthefallen]

I think the toonish thing is working fine. Maybe the lava could use some kind of bubbling or something. Dunno, maybe look at references of real lava to get ideas? It looks really nice as it is though. Can't wait to see it when it's all done!

[ondraedan]

That's without a doubt the coolest dragon pic i've seen to date...can't wait to seen the finished work

[Vhy]

More color variation will make this alot less cartoonish.

[Basse_Ex]

Nice picture... very nice...

Don't change the cartoonish coloring. It works just fine. And I think that by changing the coloring towards something more realistic, you will only make the picture worse, since the basic shapes of the crater, mountains and dragons are all cartoonish\charicatured. Which works lovely.

You could still add some more color variation, but not for the sake of realism. Realism is for sissies!

Personally I'd like to see you rough it up a little. But that's just me. I like 'em rough and rugged.

Looking forward to seeing the finished version.

[Michael la-Cour]

I just wanted to thank everyone for your replies. It really helped a lot.
Fresh with a lot of new idea's I'm ready to proceed my image...

Thanks alot. I'll post the work as it proceeds..

[jester1966]

I also like the cartoonish style of the background. However, it depends on the style in which you want to finish the dragon.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Birgit

[Mangled Alecto]

looks cool to me

i just started a piece with a girl
and a lavalike background

but i haven't really established the background quite as yet...maybe i should do that first !

[Michael la-Cour]

The next step:
I'd still like comments on what's good and what's bad..

[gigatron]

Very nice, hmm dont know why i sense a disney feel to it (reminds me of an tv aladdin episode heh weird, just me i guess i like it

Also i'd suggest adding some sorta bubles of sort in the lava. It is usual to have some things plain in a cartoon but it would add a bit more of a crisp touch methinks rather then just red fill of sorts

[ June 27, 2002: Message edited by: gigatron ]

[pixelsoldier]

The contrast is almost the same in the background as it is the foreground - it's making the image look rather flat. Play up your values a little more, don't be scared to add some red to those rocks.

Awesome concept, and good execution thus far. Aim for more depth!