Help! Art beta/advice wanted!

[amberdreams]

So.
I'm trying to do a dragon Sam and Dean picture and I'm stuck. Can anyone help kick me out of this rut? Here's as far as I've got.


I want to do scales and shit, and I want to sort out Dean's colour because that green just isn't right, and I have no idea what to do with the wings. If you need to see it bigger click though to imgr to magnify it.

Ignore the random red, that's just an underlay, not blood. Yet.

Any advice?

Comments

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Dragons! \0/

Oooo, this is gonna be awesome! I love dragons.

Personally, I love the dragon design in Reign of Fire, the wings esp. as they have that bats wings, membrane, ragged thing going on which I think is awesome, so you could take a look at that. see if it helps. (also the movie is awesome...anything where you get to ship Gerald Butler and Christian Bale is always going to be epic : ) If it were me I'd make them bigger too but I guess that might mess with the composition which is pretty perfect right now. You might have to balance that with a tonal difference maybe in the wings...maybe

I like the green, it's that classic heraldic color which is very dragon but I guess if you're going to do scales and shit you could employ another color over the top, maybe try and give it that irridescent, peacock, butterfly thing to give it a bit of depth.

I think you're pretty much there. There's nothing horrible about this at all. I think once you decide on a scale design and get that on, you'll feel much happier about it, Hun : )

Keep going! It looks fab! : ) Dragons! \0/ xx

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, membrane was what I was going to attempt, not entirely sure how. I guess I'm just looking at it and putting off the parts I know will be fiddly! Thanks for the encouragement.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

I really like this! I particularly like Dean. I like how Sam is holding onto him. Are these the wing frame-spine-things and there's going be something like leathery-webby between them? (My technical terms!!) I don't know if this is what you are going for, but Sam looks kind of lion-y to me, between the color, his hair, and his broader face. If you wanted him more dragon-y like Dean, maybe elongate his face and trim it out a bit? I also feel that Dean looks very sinuous, but Sam has some tummy folds and he looks less snaky? Maybe his spine spikes could perhaps be a little more pronounced too for that dragony look.I LOVE the tails twining.

That's the two cents from an ardent fan who loves your work!!! I think this is already lovely, and am just offering some little detail suggestion, with all due respect.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, I'm glad you like it overall, and the feedback about the scales is useful!

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

I'm glad if anything was helpful. I hope I didn't offend you at all, I think your art is fantastic!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Of course I'm not offended! :D

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I'm not an artist but just want to say this already looks great, I love Sam biting Dean and the way their tails are entwined. Blood running from dragon!dean's shoulder would be awesome! I think the green could be a bit lighter and the scales tipped in gold perhaps?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Golden tipped scales was on the cards, mmm. Thanks my dear!

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Great minds eh?!

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

Here are some dragon wing tutorials: http://galidor-dragon.deviantart.com/art/Dragon-Wing-Tutorial-348370491

http://kiki-doodle.deviantart.com/art/Dragon-wing-tutorial-18319651

And here's a scale tutorial: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Tips-on-painting-scales-65031453

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Dragon-Scale-Tutorial-182548094
I used to have a scale brush but I lost it.
And oh you are drawing dragons!!!!! Will dragon!Dean have black eyes? Possessive dragon!Sam looks good :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ooh thanks v much for these links, I will have a good look at these - it's about time I tried some actual tutorials instead of bumbling around by trial and error.
Yeah, this was for that Tumblr thingy though I don't know if I will finish it in time.

Mmm I hadn't thought about making Dragon!Dean also Demon Dean..*goes off to think some more*

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

That's just a quick search on DA. I'm glad you found it helpful :)
Don't worry about the deadline. We can always have our own fun.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you much about the other stuff, but I can tell you that I feel entirely like the Sam-Dragon is making bitchface #5 at me. Also, I would maybe try taking the colour you used for the shadow highlights on Dean and make it the primary colour and then use a darker forest green for the shading. And semi-transparent membranes on the wings (which you probably had in mind already)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes I was wanting the wings to appear translucent...cheers for the highlights idea too, mmm

ha ha ha bitchface #5, thanks that's awesome! :D

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

He totally looks like Sam, I SWEAR. I hope you can wrangle the rest of the problems into submission though!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Well that's half the battle won already if he does look like Sam! Thanks!

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

LOL, yeah, I feel you, it might be that I'm totally conditioned to see J2's features in just about every possible configuration, but I feel you got his expression just right. And I love his direct and challenging stare. Also, I know you already got some tips for scales, and I can't really refer this from any kind of personal experience (I don't even know if they're digitally available, but in this day and age I would be surprised if they weren't) but the question made me think of the shading and texture masks people use for Manga and comics, maybe there's something there you can kind of overlay?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Overlay might be an idea - I think I will try a couple of brushes I have that might suit and see how they look first. I'm feeling a bit more motivated again now after chatting with people on here!

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Well, then our work is successful and done! I wish I could scrounge up the energy to transcribe my last three paragraphs of fic to the computer and then maybe tack on a few more words today... but I'm just so tired... *snore* preparing for my dad's 60th birthday tomorrow and taking my little sister last minute dress-shopping today (spending way WAY more money than we intended of course...) was exhausting business.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I seem to be on a fic roll at the moment, summergen coming out of my ears... But it's too hot here to do anything much else. I'm hiding in the house with the curtains drawn to keep the sun out wishing we had French style shutters!

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Yeah, heat too... I mean, I know people love summer mostly (I'm a winter person myself) but this is ridiculous... I long for the monsoon storms we got a couple of weeks ago, everything got trenched every couple of hours, but at least the temperature was bearable.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

I love his already. Have you tried mixing the media and overlaying the paint with some hatching in, say, pastel or metallic coloured pencil, to create a bit of texture?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

No...because this is digital colour - otherwise I'd be trawling through my drawers for the set of metallic gel pens I've got somewhere! That's the trouble with this stuff, I need to learn its mysterious ways...

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Ah, then I am as much use to you as a fart in a hurricane - sorry!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

ha ha what a glorious saying - anyway, you having encouraged me already by telling me you liked it so far, which is a help in itself.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help in any small way!

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

For me, Dean's coloring is flat compared to Sam right now. Sam's got that nice light/dark contrast. The green shades on Dean are very close to each other. Go with some dark lines for where the scales overlap, and add highlights/shine to the scales. As chomaisky suggested, using a brush could be faster, but if by hand, I don't think you have to work each scale one by one, just enough to contour the whole body.

I really like the composition and am happy to see you tackling dragons :D I'm admittedly too lazy to try them myself.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I think it's laziness daunting me now! I hadn't considered how fiddly this might become...still I've got some great tips now so I shall apply myself with renewed vigour over the weekend methinks! Thanks me dear.

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

Haha, I have no art skills, but I will tell you that I read "if you want to see it bigger, click" as "if you want to see a bigger dick" and was all "oooh, there's dicks?"

I love Sam's eyes. And the way they are gripping each other. Can't wait to see how it comes out!

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

Ahaha! I am so relieved to hear that it wasn't just me who misread the word 'click'! :0

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Bwhahahah you guys!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh dearie me, one track minds round here or what? LOL!

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

I can't art, so no practical help here, just wanted to say that I love the way the tails are entwined...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D