Dragons! My sketch practice

[torstan]

So I wanted to post a screenshot today with a white dragon - but I couldn't find any open source freely available white dragon art that I liked. So I'm doing my own.

Not a map I know but as a few people have been putting up non-mapping wips here I thought I'd stick it up too for fun.

Here he is so far:
WhiteDragon.jpg

[Gamerprinter]

Excellent illustration, Torstan! Better than any illustration I've posted.

In fact the only Dragon illustration I've posted here, just got noted because my dragon's got nipples!

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...dragon+nipples

Heh!

GP

[Steel General]

Cool stuff Torstan! (no pun intended)

[Ascension]

I like that a lot but he doesn't have a tongue Great sketch.

[mearrin69]

Pretty awesome. Might be a sketch but it's pro quality as far as I'm concerned. What's the medium?

Also, I hope nobody's taking offense that folks (me included) have been posting non-map art in the General Discussion area. I like to see what other artistic things people are working on. Maybe we need a non-map art forum?
M

[torstan]

Thanks Mearrin! It's all photoshop.

Okay, I think this is done. If anyone has any thoughts then I might do a little more to it.

WhiteDragon.jpg

[Sigurd]

Might make a good supporter for a map .

Needs another head on the other side or perhaps a tail winding down for the lower right.


S

[mearrin69]

Thanks Mearrin! It's all photoshop.

Egad. Well, then, I'm doubly impressed. I would have sworn it was charcoal on roughish paper but was wondering what the white strokes were. If digital I would have guessed Painter. Done in Photoshop that's very impressive.

[edit]As to what else to do with it I guess that depends on purpose. What are you planning to do with it? It's good to go for a lot of purposes. For a cover illustration it might want a bit more work.[/edit]
M

[torstan]

Well it's not going to be a cover illustration. This is for a screenshot in my series about the Breaking of Forstor Nagar project I'm involved in. The screenshot will be up on Monday (but for those who want a sneak peak it's here: screenshot) Note that not all of the art there is mine. The tokens are Devin Nights and the portrait of the warrior is by Tyler Bartley.

However if I were to truly want to polish this - do you have suggestions?

As for the photoshop issue - not only is it all PS, it's all done with a hard round brush. Probably what I use 99% of the time these days. The shades are all done with layers set to soft light and built up over a textured background.

[mearrin69]

However if I were to truly want to polish this - do you have suggestions?

Well, a real artist might have more suggestions but here's mine. It's still pretty sketchy. You've got all of the right shapes and colors in there so I think it's just a matter of continuing to refine it until you get it to the level you want to reach. I've been practising painting lately but have generally done it on just one layer (or one for skin, one for hair, etc). For me it just means progressively smaller brushes, gentler color variation, and usually lower opacity. I'm not fully understanding how you're using layers but I imagine it's mostly the same.

I, for one, very much like sketchy. Most of my favorite art (fine and fantasy) isn't photo-realistic...in fact I generally dislike photo-realistic stuff. That's why I said I think it's done. I'd put it into *my* bestiary next to the white dragon entry...yeah, if I had a bestiary.
M