Ceri's little playground

[cerimonster]

Hi all

I started spriting a couple of months ago, which sort of led me on to trying to actually draw dragons. So this is where I'll post my progress, and any constructive crits, hints and tips would be helpful, with both drawing dragons and spriting them. I believe my biggest downfall is drawing legs and arms, so any tips for those would be amazing.

 

 

These 2 are just a couple I have so far, everything else will be uploaded later, in stages.

 

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/b...zps2e38ed2e.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/b...zpsc05fd904.jpg

 

Sorry for the lighting in the second one. and linked for the sizes

Edited May 30, 2013 by cerimonster

[sfate]

The face is amazing, however in regard to the body his head is too big. Right where the jowl is, the bulging area of his jaw, you should connect the neck.

 

For flight his wings would have to attach very very far along the length of his body so his tail won't hang. Also, it allows for gliding.

 

That is all I know really ^^;

Keep at it! Drawing is less about skill and more about experience in my opinion, the longer you draw the more you learn and gain those skills! :3

 

And for legs, stare at other peoples' drawings That is what I do! I'll stare, compare, then try again! Though I haven't been drawing as of late.

[cerimonster]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

~another image~

 

 

and the spritelines

[sfate]

I am having the same problem, you need more contrast for your colors when shading and adding a light source or the sprite will look flat. ><

 

It is a constant difficulty for me because I love subtle color shifts, but in spriting it isnt good. =/

[cerimonster]

I used a premade colour pallete from the internet >.> silly thing was almost too hard to see

[cfmtfm]

That looks awesome! The colours you chose are really interesting; loving the vibrant purple you've got (on the tail). o3o

 

I'm the worst at anatomy, so I can't comment on that. X3 But the light source isn't clear on your sprite. It looks like it was originally from the bottom left, but it's not easy to spot. D: And if you found the colours too hard to see, maybe try to brighten them up a little? The blue (on the tail) is especially hard to see for me.

 

If you're using Paint, you can just use the eyedropper tool to select the colour you want, then click Edit Colours and adjust the brightness/luminosity.

 

Here's a tutorial on legs and arms that you may be interested in. :3

 

Could I ask what you're basing this dragon off of?

[cerimonster]

The tail is supposed to be black with an electric sort of blue the only purple i've used is on the wing bones, to differentiate between the membrane and the bone, but thanks for the compliment! I will try to brighten the blue up, I wasn't sure how bright I should have it, and then I also need to use shading on it, so it didn't turn out as bright as it was originally. and it's hard shading the light source, that's something I do have to work on.

 

Well the head of the dragon I did from a basic tutorial on how to draw dragons, and then I just sort of drew the rest of the body + wings but I was sort of aiming for a halloween look for the dragon, sort of going for something like a hellwurm, hence the red and black look, the fire sort of mane. It looked much less... cartoonish? in my mind.

 

I'm using photoshop, but I use the eyedropper on that as well, so no problems there.

 

I've also had a look at that tutorial, too much detail around the toes for me to be able to sufficiently draw, so I've sort of avoided that for now

[cfmtfm]

Oh colour vision fail; my laptop is just by the window and it was very sunny yesterday afternoon. Result: annoying ball of light on your screen. D| But I can see the blue now. :3

 

I'm not sure how to get rid of the 'cartoonish' in your dragon. It's not too 'cartoonish' but I see what you mean. Just fiddle around and see what looks best - brighten/darken the colours, use a different scheme, etc.

 

The tutorial was for sketching so I suppose it didn't really help with the spriting part. X3

[cerimonster]

No probs colour fails happen to anyone.

 

I have the red lines there, I guess I can try another colour scheme, fix the shading, and maybe change the head a bit, maybe remove the horns, and enhance the flaming fin thing...

[xChemi]

Heya Ceri! I hope you don't mind but I red lined one of the lovely dragons you drew and I certainly hope it helps. Now, I'm certainly no expert and nor am I the best artist on the forums but I'd be happy to explain at least what I learned.

 

Here is the redline: Here

The Original: Here

 

I've but the letters A-D on the red line (D is marked twice, I'll clarify which I'm meaning to talk about etc.)

 

Any who let's start!

 

A. That's a great head shape you drew with nice lines and a good snout/jawline.

The only thing I'd suggest is that you move the eye down slightly because when looking at skulls, not a lot of creatures have high eye sockets like your lovely beastie however don't get me wrong! some prehistoric creatures did Proof!

 

B. The neck while it is a nice "S" shape like most serpentine dragons (even giraffes have a slightly S shaped neck) so wonderful job, however the point where the neck is thinnest wouldn't make sense on a living creature as the muscles would connect to the jaw as well, thickening it out making it fuller.

 

Examples:

 

Horse

Dog

Even You!

 

C. The wings and chest look great in the picture but when compared to birds the wing was placed just a tad too far back for this critter. (unless it was intended to have a long neck?) i that case, the overall shape of your wing is fantastic.

 

Wing References:

Wings1

Wing 2

 

Great drawing! I certainly look forward to seeing more from you. Keep drawing!!

 

 

 

[cerimonster]

OMG! Thank you sooo much, that helped with a few issues I had no idea how to improve, but those wings are huuuuuuuuugggeee T.T but definitely fix the issue of having the wings cut short.

 

Thank you xChemi for your input!!

[xChemi]

Not a problem!

 

I certainly look forward to seeing your finished art<3

[cerimonster]

xChemi, if you visit here, you missed clarifying why D was mentioned twice O.o only just noticed...