[Merekat]

Hello, all! Sorry, it's been a while, I haven't been able to submit to the cause as diligently. ;} My bad. ;}

Brief background: I've been asked to do the graphics for a gaming store website my friend is coding. I actually get paid for this, btw, so this is a legit project. They have a big dragon painted on the side of their building. Not anything like this, mind you, but there's a theme, I guess.

Here's my first attempt, just to show you that things can radically change, and some days it doesn't pay to force yourself to draw:



Sucks, hunh? Well, at least it's not up to my usual standards. I had SO many personal gripes about it that I decided to trash the whole thing and start over. So then here's what I did in one sitting, Sunday. Took me about 5-6 hours from start to finish, roughly. (I was thinking of you for that deadline, Enayla!!! :P heheh!)

Without the navigation:

And with the navigation. Those boxes below will eventually hold ads for say, warhammer stuff or whatever. Some sort of graphic.


I think the bicep of sorts on the dragon's left wing is a little off, but I've been mussing with it for a while now, so I think I'm taking a break until I get all the opinions, okay? ;} thanks.

And as for the first, I knew it wasn't what I had envisioned. Sometimes, the first is the best, but this pic is the difference between two sets of things: 1) inspiration and motivation (you make the judgment call which is which) and 2) drawing on the computer alone with no direction or plan vs. sketching and scanning first.

I'd love to hear your comments. I'll be sure to post once it's actually up and running. But I thought everyone would like to see the first try and the final decision.

Been pondering submitting it to Dragon Magazine. Might get some commissions out of it. What do you guys think?

[edit: updated the links. new server.]

[This message has been edited by Merekat (edited January 20, 2001).]

[EviLToYLeT]

Looks much much better. The first dragon was shit. Anyway, one thing you may need to do is use the light from the flame to brighten up the dragon. And drfine the face a bit more. especially aorund the eyes. Other than that.... looks great.

[TheMilkMan]

Looks good you just need to paint over your line work. It looks a bit messy cause you dont color comic book style. Like liqued for example. So just fix that and it should look pretty tight.

[Painted Melody]

Love it, very eye opening -- my suggestion is for the graphic design: You may want to add a light source to those flat blue buttons, a warm glow on the right to suggest the glow from the fire.

Nice!

JJ



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D u s t T r a c k s

[Merekat]

Evil: hahah! You know, I completely agree. It was dung. ;} I had posted this in another forum, and they actually liked the first dragon more. Something about the buttons, but for the life of me, I really couldn't understand why. Thanks. I feel oddly vindicated now. ;} And thanks for your suggestion. I think I will get crazy with it. ;}

MilkMan: Hmm..but I purposefully left the lines in there because it reminded me of the old AD&D style of illustration, which I thought completely apprepriate for the gaming store. Messy? Do you really think it's that messy? Hmmm...well. I don't think I'll color it comic style, but there's a few things I could do...Does anyone else agree it's messy?

Painted: haha! In my first version of that, they were actually translucent gell buttons that would glow with fire in rollovers. But the other forum said it was WAY too much information and too much going on, so they wanted simplification.

That's one of the reasons why they liked the first dragon, I guess. So I toned it down. I do like it a little more simple, but I do miss the cool factor and it's possibilities. Is there anything you would suggest to keep it simple, or do you think it can handle all that detail?

And thank you three for your comments. I appreciate them greatly. But is there anyone else who has an opinion? I could really use the feedback. Thanks! ;}

[AcidDrone]

wow
love the style, you've certainly progressed from the original concept.

[Enayla]

Aaah, this is so neat! I can't draw dragons at /all/ (I did a pitiful attempt a while back, but man, it didn't come anywhere near this!)

Talk about an improvement from the first version!

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��You can't leave footprints in the sands of time if you're sitting on your butt��
(And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?)

[Spooky]

I love dragons and dinosaurs...what a fantastic piece! Nice choice of colors. I do like the way the fire overlaps the buttons slightly too. As a web designer, I also admire this piece. Definitely submit it to Dragon, check their Release Forms and stuff first though, or they may not look at it. Great Stuff! Keep up the very nice work!

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"I have wrought my simple plan, if I give one hour of joy, to the boy who's half a man, or the man who's half a boy."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
http://www.digitaldreammachine.com

[Jezebel]

I like it a whole lot! I really like the color of the dragon as well... too many red dragons these days

I personally like the way the lines show through. Nifty work

-Beth

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Take off your clothes. It's OK - I'm an artist.

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http://div.dyndns.org/beth/photography

[SlightlyTwisted]

That second version's fantastic!

Perseverance pays off, I guess.