[Allen W]

Here's my latest... I'm basically done with it but I'd like to hear any crits/suggestions since I'm always trying to get better.

[scylla]

hey that's AWESOME!!

i just don't know what else to say!!
that dragon ROCKS!!!! arghgh!

Brilliant, just brilliant...

MORE! do more! MORE MORE MORE!

[Guy]

wow that's really nice. i really can't see much to crit. i really like that dragon. i also wish i had a floating chess board like that too :P

[Pat]

What a curious concept. I wonder what will happen to that poor fellow if he loses. Or worse, wins.

-Pat

[arkoh]

Not bad man...

Its bordering on the poster art of the late eighties in style... this persistent use of gradients and flat color areas, but - and I really don't know exactly how - but you've somehow succeded in takin it to a different level!

Personally... I have a heavy dose of negative feeling towards this style! Because I feel it destroys alot of the depth and vitality of the art itself! But hey, thats just me!!!

The composition is pretty original!!! I LIKE IT!!! It gets you thinkin!!!

Concerning your rendering style... well you've got that figured out pretty well ahh!?? I mean... the reflections in the dragons neck, made me wonder for a minute there, if you've made part of this piece with a 3D modeling/rendering package! Its done THAT convincing!!! Either you've got an amazing instinctive undestanding of surfaces and reflections or you've worked with 3D Software before! Well it could be both offcourse, anyhow... I'm impressed!!

Keep it up!

[ April 24, 2002: Message edited by: arkoh ]

[jezelf]

Looks good.

I think it'll be worth looking more at actual chrome surfaces and observe how light reflects off and how things are mirrored. the abdominal region looks a bit flat, as does the back of the neck.

I'm also unsure about reading what is happening on the 'shoulder' joint. it looks a bit confusing there - especially where the pectorals meet the joint.


Chrome is tricky to master as everything reflects of everything so it's worth remembering the form of your object. To me, the reflection you have put on the pectoral just looks like a opacity layer of the same pattern, which means that area looks flat.

There doesn't appear to be much of a reflection of the back of the right wing on the arm that supports it.

you've certainly done a nice job on the head - here you have got much more convincing reflections and I like the lighting on the rock, but there seems to be conflicting lighting sources.

Overall you have lighting coming from behind the dragon. The guy casts quite a big shadow for his size, nothing wrong with that, it's quite nice, but the dragon, a much bigger mass only creates a shadow from his head which is being cast down from above on to his chest. Of course there is also the light bouncing back from the water to consider.

It looks like you've paid much more attention to the dragon's head than anything else. This may be intentional as you perhaps want to draw the viewer's attention to that? otherwise, I reckon you could improve this image if you always treat EVERY element in your work evenly, with just as much enthusiasm and passion. The image would also be improved if you paid more attention to the guy sitting down?

One thing a lot of aspiring artists do (I used to do it myself) get excited about the main focus in their work and not consider other elements equally - lack of consistency. Also when it comes to re-creating things that relate to reality, they draw what they THINK they know, rather than go and look at how things naturally are.

This varies regarding your style of course, but with your work it's got a realism edge to it. it's worth thinking that everyone has seen chrome/glass and is familiar with it's properties, so you are trying to present the same properties so we can work out that the dragon is made of chrome. If you don't get it spot on, people could say to themselves "there's something not quite right, but I don't know what it is"

Best advice I read (from Boris Vallejo) was the simply observe stuff. look at how light effects things and, don't forget light bounces off of things all the time, which is dependant on shape and form. also looking at how light effects hue and texture.

All this is just constructive criticism, of course. take it or leave it. It's a really nice concept you have there, Allen. Nicely composed too. It's got a great sense of dream quality to it. good to see a picture with a dragon where man and beast are getting along well! :-)

cheers
jez

[sensei77]

Good call on the '80s thing, arkoh. The first thing I tried to come up with when I saw this was "what band would have been most likely to use this for an album cover?" A lot of them, actually, as this is better than a good number of album covers from that decade that I've seen. In contrast with arkoh, however, I am a true child of the '80s and got a little misty-eyed for days (and art styles) gone by when I saw this. It looks like you got tired of working on it after you finished the dragon and the rocks and the background. The human could use the same love you gave the rest. The last comment is stricly style, but wouldn't a chrome dragon have a chrome chess board? I know I would if I were a chrome dragon. . .

[Allen W]

Thanks to all who replied:

scylla: I don't know what to say either, but THANK YOU for your enthusiasm!

guy: Thanks for the compliments. If I see floating chessboards anywhere I'll grab one for you.

Pat: Hmm... actually I had in mind that they were sort of like chess-playing buddies. You know, a friendly game every week or something. But it's probably more interesting to view it as a tense moment.

arkoh: Thanks for your critique. I know exactly what you mean by the use of gradients and so on. I intend on moving away from this style (after this piece) to see if I like a more painterly look. And if I don't... well, I'll be back drawing this way. The piece is done 100% in photoshop with no 3D software, so I did make up the reflections and all. As jezelf mentioned it is imperfect in many ways, but I'll say that it's certainly the best metallic texture I've ever done.

jez: Thanks for your feedback. You caught me -- I did enjoy drawing the dragon head the most so I spent more time on it. I had an incredibly difficult time even trying to figure out the reflections I did manage to put in. By the time I was tackling the larger masses I was really running out of inspiration and went lax on the parts I couldn't figure out. As for the lighting, I was going for the impression of a very slight glow from the dragon as well. Artistically I did not want the whole side of the rock area to be in shadow...

sensei77: Good catch. I did indeed get tired of the picture after the dragon+rocks+background. In fact, the picture was stopped at that stage for about two months while I wondered what the heck to put on the rocks. I guess in the end I was too impatient and did a rush job on the chessboard and man. I'm not a big fan of working on pieces that I have filed away as "done" but I think I might go back this time and see if I can't tighten up the drawing of the man to match the style of my picture a little better.

[Awetopsy]

I didnt read any of the previous posts cuz Im not gonna crit this...

I really like the idea of this pic.. andI think you pulled the concept quite well.

I seriously thought "COOL!!" when I first saw it...

good stuff.

[Awetopsy]

sensei77: you are a flesh colored person... do you have a flesh colored chessboard?

[madmouth]

this is absolutely spectacular. the only weak spot is the guy, whom I think you should take out, but the picture would be pointless without him *sigh*.
still, it kicks ass. the inaccurate lighting to me looks better in this case. like a hyper-clean fantasy world.

[visualsiege]

ok, awsome friken pic first off. improvement areas I would say would be the water in the bg. also I would say that the horns on his head need better shading. keep up the good work.

[Rogelio Olguin]

Looks awesome that is all i have to say

[[666]Flat]

all said. let's hope the dragon's a good loser... can you say "toast"?

[Allen W]

Thanks again to all the commenters.

Awetopsy: Thanks. Good point about the flesh-colored chessboard... but supposing you were made of chrome, would you like to have a chrome chessboard??

madmouth: Yes, I agree that the guy, though very much needed in this picture, is a bit lacking in terms of his rendering when compared to the rest... if I get time I will try to fix him up a bit. Then again I could claim it was my intention from the start to make him insignificant in all respects when compared with the dragon.

visualsiege: Thanks for the critique. Did you have some specifics in mind when you said the water in the bg needs improvement?

Rogelio: Thanks!

Flat: Maybe I should consider doing a sequel pic?

[Hyptosis]

Yeah, that sure is a cool picture. Looks like most of what I had to say has already been said. Good work, keep it up.

[The Magic Pen]

It's very well done

[Bg]

This must have taken quite a while to paint, I can see a lot of effort put into it, I just don't believe that drawing details is the most effective way to make a great image.. in my opinion making an illusion of detail is better, because it's faster, less detailed pictures are easier for eyes (detail tends to pull attention away of the subject) and you can spend the extra time designing the image. Here's a quick overpaint of what I mean: (see how I killed the details in some places and it still looks ok)




The value range in your pic seems quite small, Einstein said that everything is relative, even contrast is relative. When you make the image a tad darker all around the brighter places seem much brighter. Unfortunately I don't have time to illustrate this point, need to get some things done now.

Looking forward to your next painting!

[Kool]

Fuck me....that's fuckin' awesome...you're a daddy...

Respect

Kool-Badboy family saluts you