Creative Corner

@roadworthy @Fernleaf123 @cordifolium @NuovoSangue @Sionainn @0rangedragon (and friend @commoncomitatus ) Hello everyone! I just wanted to give an update to a post I made a little over a week ago! As you remember, I just picked up digital art and made this wonderful, beautiful, amazing coatl drawing lol :P [img]https://i.imgur.com/gQfWJxk.png[/img] I wanted to let you know that I dove head-first into practicing, and I wanted to show my appreciation of your support by drawing your dragons! I hope that's okay... It really meant a lot to me to get your feedback and help, so I wanted to repay you as best I could! I'm going to post these in the order that I made them. I sincerely apologies to the people I drew earlier, because I know they're not the same quality as the later ones. I've been using them to practice, and each drawing taught me so much about how to use the program! From this practice I have learned three important things: 1) Layer Clipping is my new best friend! 2) Fade In/Out Brush is the BEST THING 3) Organization is KEY @Sionainn - This is my second drawing! I drew your Korra <3 She's a beautiful girl! I actually went back and edited it a little while later because I noticed you took the Capsule scry out of her bio! If you want to see the original, you can find it [url=https://i.imgur.com/3EQ4Ccg.png]here[/url] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/28973977][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/289740/28973977.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/QU0gPo4.png[/img][/center] --------- @cordifolium This is my third drawing! I drew your Cordifolium! Thank you so much for teaching me about layer clipping! It's made my life so much easier lol [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/41265779][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/412658/41265779.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/BENHOLQ.png[/img][/center] --------- @roadworthy This is my fourth drawing! I drew your Sunbleach! I tried to give her a fun expression. And that emblem was a lot of fun to make! [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/138152][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/1382/138152.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/8Ji1atw.png[/img][/center] ---------- @Fernleaf123 This is my fifth drawing! I drew your Halloween! I experimented with feathers~ I hope you like it! [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/64448436][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/644485/64448436.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/ukPmJNR.png[/img][/center] ---------- @NuovoSangue This is my sixth drawing! I drew your Snakefilet! I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do all that hair, but I think I got it! And those horns were a lot of fun! [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/63490305][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/634904/63490305.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/m39ThMj.png[/img][/center] --------- @0rangedragon This is my seventh drawing! I drew your Sugarmelon! I had a lot of fun with the halo, and learning how to do sludge was a challenge~ I think I did it though! [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/57471484][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/574715/57471484.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/zUDC116.png[/img][/center] ---------- @commoncomitatus This is my eighth drawing! I drew your Sandy! Now this... was a challenge. It took several days and lots of learning! I know it's not perfect, but it was fun! I also made a silly rainbow outline one you can see [url=https://i.imgur.com/dEersGd.png]here[/url]! I hope you like it! [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/47022951][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/470230/47022951.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.imgur.com/tEccARj.png[/img][/center] ------------ AND that's it so far! Please tell me what you think, and if you have any advice on how I can improve! I was thinking about opening a shop, but IDK. If I did, what do you guys think I should charge? Hmmm.... Anyway, sorry to whoever posts here looking for free art. If you want to bribe me, I'll be happy to use one of your dragons as drawing practice! Hit me up if you do :D

@Nekomori These are amazing! I can really see all the practice that went into these, and it paid off. I love the dimensions and shading on each one, and your attention to detail is incredible! Thank you so much, and I would definitely want to be on a pinglist if you ever open a shop. As for pricing, I have seen headshots of this quality go for 80kt as a base price and then an added 10-20kt for skins or apparel, but I could be underpricing it. [s]You don't have to read this, but you've kinda inspired me more to really go through with practicing and going through with a D&D art shop for real (because I'm getting a drawing tablet for Christmas) so thank you! [emoji=coatl love size=1] [/s]

@Nekomori Oh my goodness!!! I do not spend nearly as much time in the Creative Corner as I should, so I didn't see your original post -- so this is a wonderful and unexpected surprise! It's a huge leap from buying art to actually making it, and I can't express how psyched I am to see what you've been working with! (Also, wow, so much progress! That feather especially! And the gaolor horns, and the melons, and--) And I don't even know where to begin with how amazingly you did my Sandy -- that's seriously some of the best and most dynamic detail on the Reaper Guise I've seen. And the Trident is fantastic!!!! [emoji=spiral star size=1] Thank you so so much for drawing her (and I am definitely going to be using the rainbow version, because SHINY). I'd love to see you open up a shop and [s]yeet all my funds[/s] patronise it, if you feel comfortable / confident enough! I'm pretty lousy at estimating the value of work, having no experience with how long it takes, but I do see a lot of advice to new art shops not to underprice -- both for the quality of your work / time spent, and for fear of getting overwhelmed with orders if you price too low. I tend to see starting-out shops begin at around ~300-500g/kt for headshots, increasing with complexity / apparel / fullbody, etc., and increasing with experience and practice -- I definitely would've paid more for the piece you did of Sandy, for example! I'd love a ping if you do set up a shop (or even an artdump thread just to show off your practice!) Congrats on the new skill, and the leaps and bounds of progress you've already made! <3

@Nekomori
I love your coatl in your pic and the art you drew of them!

oh... wow. ima take a moment to take in the stunning detail and smoothness of your art.................... *sigh* im still pretty bad at art.... i think dragons are nice to draw though!

Woah! you've already improved so much! :D and thank you very much for the art, she looks lovely! <3 Here's some more advice: if you are aiming for feathers (like coatls - example on their side-feathers with the spirals) try to cut down on the highlights, it makes them look more scaly and shiny instead c: You can still have highlights, but be careful ^v^ here's a good example, i think c: [img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/6699d5a7d02cc5f035c23bb7e6a8e8c4/tumblr_p6e2y1Qcj01v4pvfto1_400.png[/img] Here's another example with nice feathers :) [img]https://e7.pngegg.com/pngimages/968/835/png-clipart-bearded-vulture-bird-illustration-bird-animals-furry-fandom.png[/img]

@Nekomori WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for being an incredible human Nekomori!!!
I love my art that you did for me!!! <3

There is SO MUCH IMPROVEMENT between the first and last one!!!! Holy smokes dude!!! :D INCREDIBLE JOB!!!

I love the Halloween one! The way the large feather is placed, is pretty cool!! :D

Hope all is well!~

Thank you everyone, so much for your support! Sorry for the late reply. My life has been... hectic to say the least.


@NuovoSangue
I'm thrilled you like them! I tried to put all my effort and attention into each one, and I think it's really paying off <3
I'll definitely ping you for a shop! Probably raise the price so I don't get overwhelmed, but I think it would be a good way to get practice and make some dragon cash~ And I'm happy that I inspired you to go through with a D&D art shop! If you open one, let me know! I have some characters I'd love to get commissioned :D


@commoncomitatus
Lol, I'm with you there! I think this is only the second time I've been on this forum. I don't browse the non-FR forums very often. I'm SO HAPPY you like Sandy's picture! I was unsure how it would turn out, since it's only the second full-bodied dragon I've done (just don't try to understand how her body twists, it's impossible lol) The Trident was so much fun to make too! Lots of "parallel line tool" and "curve line tool" abuse heh ^^;
I'll totally ping you for a shop :O I'm excited to get some practice in and make dragon cash for it! I hope other user's like it, but I'm scared I'll be asked to make some really complicated dragons! I guess if they don't mind how long it takes, I might be able to do it... But yeah. I think 300-500 price range is probably the best way to not get overwhelmed. considering a bust takes me all day to do, and a full body takes several days! We'll see how it goes~


@roadworthy
I'M GLAD YOU LIKE HER! :D She was a good lesson in shadings. Due to the basic genes, I could really focus on her shape and colors. She was a lot of fun! And thank you for your support. It means a lot to me and I'm excited to keep learning~


@EmotionalEgg
Thank you so much :D I'm glad you like them!


@Feathershine22
You're so kind ^^ Thank you for the compliment! Though don't give up on learning art! I never, ever thought I'd be able to make anything like these, but with a little (a lot) of time and effort, you can and will get better!


@cordifolium
OOooh, good catch! They are really shiny. You think smaller, finer shine marks would work better? I'm still learning where and when to put shading and highlights. I never noticed how flat non-gem genes were before, so I felt I needed to add some highlights to make it pop a bit better!
To be fair though, are the head swirlies feathers? I feel like Coatls have a lot of ambiguous body parts. The head swirls, the neck blobs, the wing swirls... are the swirls feathers? Bones? Seashells? Curly hair? Or the neck blobs... feathers? Fluff? parasitic egg sacks? After getting ~100 commissions for the same Coatl, I feel like no one can really agree what those are lol!
Though, through my practice, I do have some questions. I totally understand if you don't want to or can't answer them, no pressure. I really appreciate all the help you've given me. In the last picture, the Spiral, the wing and the arm wing kind of blend together visually due to the chromatic coloration. Do you happen to know how, under the circumstances when I have different overlapping layers with the same colors, to make them distinguishable from each other? I'm a bit stumped about it. I also am having difficulty drawing front-facing or quarter-facing dragons. I've bee trying, but I just don't understand facial structure or angles :X I could probably get away with doing side-views, but I could really use advice on how to do other types of angles...


@Sionainn
I'm so happy you like them! Sorry about the quality difference between yours and the rest. I was just so eager to draw your girl that I drew her first! If you want, feel free to let me know if you want art of another dragon! I'll be happy to draw one for you, especially since you've been such a good friend to me :D Thank you <3

@Nekomori Hmm it's hard to say when looking at a finished piece, i think it's just something you need to pay attention to when you are doing the art :) But guessing, i think it would be better with fewer shinemarks rather than smaller. And that is because feathers are very light-absorbant? or what you call it, eh..they are matte rather than shiney... so if you want to portray debth it's better to concentrate on using the shadows to do that :) look at the 2nd example i posted! no highlights on that one, but it still looks very 3-dimensional :D I also just recommend looking at references in general! here's a bird in sharp sunlight [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/b5/2e/08b52e3aa04306692108be6947cec492.jpg[/img] See how the light is spread out over a larger area of feathers, rather than concentrated in a small spot? if you have something shiney like an orange for example [img]https://c8.alamy.com/comp/EN5P62/orange-fruit-on-a-wooden-bench-in-incline-sunlight-the-fruit-casts-EN5P62.jpg[/img] the light concentrates in one spot, making that spot super light compared to the rest both of those might be bad examples, but hopefully you understand >< let me know if i need to re-explain ^_^' Oh i wasn't talking about the swirlies, but the small feathers behind the swirlies :) sorry for not being clear. I see the thing on their chest as feathers! and i think there's a general consensus here on FR that that's what they are - but yeah again, its mostly up to interpretation c: I think the distinction between the arm and the wing is clear enough, you can always fudge the colors a bit, or make the shadows darker if you want that. but you can also say that they are kinda melded together to begin with, so maybe they don't need to be so clear what's what? but again yeah, it comes up to your artistic intuition, you'll get better with time! :D But to answer the 2nd part of your question: if you have parts going over each other, that have the same color and value, i recommend trying this art-hack: make the outline white on the parts where they overlap! This is an old example of some art i did (from 2017? i think) where it's clear what i mean [img]https://i.postimg.cc/qMBWwtJF/ex.png[/img] see how there's a white outline where the red feathers go over the orange wing? and also a white outline where the leg goes in front of the tail... Mine is bad and wonky (and i overdid it!) but hopefully you get what i mean ^^ But yeah i also moved away from this again, in general i think it's just something you learn to deal with, as you grow as an artist :D And different angles can definetely be challenging! i recommend looking at references of animals with kinda the same face shape for help! [u]You can also check out the art-forums and see what other people have drawn :D[/u] also: check out the official art! you both have a side-facing view and a front one for spirals for example! (the hatchling art can be a big help as well, sometimes c:) My favorite art-user on FR is/was Ursus! they have super awesome art :D (but aren't really active on here anymore) [img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/abe062201a718975f3c009ce2d35cf3e/tumblr_oiartkWTw21tyj61do1_1280.png[/img] (link: https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/art/2078096/1) and look - they also do the white-outline thing ^v^ Also a good example of how the things furthest away from us don't always need to be darkest! it comes down to style, i would say c: