Work in Progress

Okay, so the past few meetings I've spoken of this image, and even though I'm still working on it, I figured I'd give you all a sneak peak to see what I've been talking about. I plan on finishing it up this week (don't worry Matt, it won't be as dark in the end!). :)

It was originally a very rudimentary sketch from years ago. I recently found it and decided to play with it some. There wasn't a whole lot of planning for this one; its mostly been an experiment, trying to combine all the tips and tricks I've absorbed in our meetings as well as my own study. Again, its not done, but I'm looking forward to finishing it; its been the first image I've worked on where its been ALL fun, with little to no frustration.

Things that need finishing up and or tweaking:

The dude - finishing/correcting light and shadow, as well as adding some armor/cloth that gives him more character - I'm wanting him to appear like the bad guy, to play off the common image of dragons being the evil ones.

The rocky mountainside - while I like it, it appears very flat. Not sure how I'll go about fixing it, but I'm definitely going to work on it (I did throw a spot lot on the image to bring the focus onto the dragon's face and the guy, but I think that exacerbates the flatness issue). To help facilitate the idea that the dragon might not be the antagonist, I might throw some slain baby dragons onto the hill/foreground. Maybe that will also help bring the mountain into a more 3d plane.

The dragon - almost complete. I need to finish the tail and do some light/shadow corrections. I'm thinking about playing around with some ornamental feathers here and there; drawing from the idea that the mythic dragons were influenced by the discovery of dinosaur bones by the ancients, and that modern science has shown that many species had some amount of plumage. I want the bruiser to be threatening, but also have a hint of nobility as well.

Other stuff: Background, I want the clouds to be a little more interesting to strengthen the mood. I might also add a faint horizon to show that the scene takes place high above the land. I'm also going to (somehow) add heat waves and a maybe hit of light coming from the dragon's mouth - figure a simple liquify effect at the end of it all will do the trick. Most importantly, as of right now, everything looks like they've been cut and pasted into the scene; there isn't any cohesion to the piece, which I guess derives from the experimenting with different techniques. I hope that finishing up/fixing the lighting will help in the end.

All in all, I'm digging it, and as with my other pieces, I'm learning a lot, and I think I'm finally starting to become comfortable (and maybe even a little confident?) with the medium. As I said before, its been fun all the way through, and I'm certainly looking forward to finishing it!