RPG monster - Need crits

[Exithium]

I haven't posted anything here since this February, so its about time I post something.
Anyway, heres a dragon thingy I've been working on for a RPG game;



As you can see its quite W.I.Pish at the moment, yet I could use some crits to make it look better and
I can really use some tips on how to shade those wings of his
The style im going for is the monster style from Final Fantasy 6 and Bahamut Lagoon for the SNES.

Im aware of some palette issues on this piece.. especially the darker shades which are way dark.
Anyway, crit this piece for me so I can finish it.. Ive been working on it way too long now. :/

- Current Version -

[fil_razorback]

I'm far to bad to give crits, but let me tell you that this is GREAT. Really.

[BadMrBox]

Heavenly father! Nice! Great! I like it. How good are you on lower resolutions?

[progFX]

I like this a lot, the only thing that seems to be bothering me is the Grey's used for the body, they seem to be more of shades you would use on stone, he looks solid as if a statue to me, posibly try experimenting with more blue/green/orange hues to add more color could just be me though.

[Dogmeat]

Looks cool, but doesn't match the style of anything else you've done. Do you have a reference?

[Pawige]

I agree with progFX that more color would help a lot, you could kick the highlights up a notch and increase the contrast a bit everywhere. At the moment, the three darkest shades are awfully close together. I also think you might've concentrated a bit too hard on the texture and not enough on the overall form, the face is a good example of that. The arms stand out a bit to me as well, they seem to be lit from the side, rather than the top, like everything else.

[Sherman Gill]

The claws are all funky, the shading should be so scattered, with that much contrast, atleast.
And the tail should be more curved, looks wierd as it is.

Besides that, nice.

[Exithium]

I like this a lot, the only thing that seems to be bothering me is the Grey's used for the body, they seem to be more of shades you would use on stone, he looks solid as if a statue to me, posibly try experimenting with more blue/green/orange hues to add more color could just be me though.

Now when you say it.. it should definately use some more color. cheers for the crit.

Looks cool, but doesn't match the style of anything else you've done. Do you have a reference?

Thanks, but what are you refering to, what other work have I done? :p
And no.. I didnt use a reference for this, I drew it from scratch from an idea I had in my head.

I agree with progFX that more color would help a lot, you could kick the highlights up a notch and increase the contrast a bit everywhere. At the moment, the three darkest shades are awfully close together. I also think you might've concentrated a bit too hard on the texture and not enough on the overall form, the face is a good example of that. The arms stand out a bit to me as well, they seem to be lit from the side, rather than the top, like everything else.

I definately agree about the arms.. there was something bothering me about them and now when you say it, altering the lightning should do the trick..
"too hard on the texture and not enough on the over form", hmmm.. Im not really sure what you mean by this.. but I guess its just me.. english isnt my native language and its 2:59 am in the morning so I might be able to understand you in the morning

The claws are all funky, the shading should be so scattered, with that much contrast, atleast.
And the tail should be more curved, looks wierd as it is.

Besides that, nice.

What claws do you mean, the ones on the arms, wings or the feet?
And about the tail, its being fixed as Im writing this

cheers for the crits everyone. keep em comming!


- EDIT -

Updated:


Im playing around with the colors , added some more detail and I fixed some of the highlights on the arms.

- EDIT2 -

Another update:


Im still playing around with the colors.. tell me what you guys think.

[G_Dragon]

Personally, I think that you should use the gray colour for the image. Either that, or change the colour of the dark parts to better fit with the green. Otherwise there's too much contrast.

Great dragon, though

[Takai Soyokaze]

Keep the gray, but be informed that with gray, it looks like a gargoyle, even with the wings.

[Exithium]

I agree with both of you G_Dragon and Takai Soyokaze, the gray definately does it for this piece.. yet it does make him look like a statue.

However I updated it:


I really liked how the palette came out now it makes him look more alive.. I might aswell stick with this palette for now.
And as some of you may think, yes! I do work slow.. but thats just me I guess

[Pawige]

The arm looks like a couple blobs of clay stuck together. Google up some arm mucle references and you'll be able to make it look a lot more realistic. Also, you've actually lost a bit of the contrast you had in the original. Those nitpicks aside, I really like the way it's going so far!

[Exithium]

Cheers once again Pawige.

updated:

and on a dark BG:

[Helm]

About the arm mostly. Colors too contrasty, too dark, too much seperation.

[Ryumaru]

some backlighting could bring out the forms of this beast some, you could use the colors in the wings.

[Wolverine]

About the arm mostly. Colors too contrasty, too dark, too much seperation.

Far prefer the contrast in the first one to be honest.  Much more threatening looking and atmospheric.  The one on the right looks flattened and less three-dimensional...

[Jad]

Far prefer the contrast in the first one to be honest.  Much more threatening looking and atmospheric.  The one on the right looks flattened and less three-dimensional...

Yup. Perhaps we are using brighter screens than Helm 0: That really changes the way a pic looks, really.

[Exithium]

Update

I took Helms edit into consideration (excelent edit by the way) and tried to fix the arm as accurate as I could and yet not copy too much
I also brightened one of the colors up a bit.. just a tad, since I agree with both Wolverine and Jad on this one.

[Helm]

Thanks. I think the arm is good, probably better than my edit. You can keep the high contrast for atmospheric reasons, and I agree it would probably be best if you do, but in that case I'd add a buffer shade likeso:

[rabidbaboy]

That is great work there. It would be perfect for a cutscene of a game or something extravagant.
My only crit is his right wing's claw or horn. Since it is folded back a bit, shouldn't the claw be shorter than the claw on his left wing? Yet in the image, they are of the same length. Here is an example of what I mean, with my edit in red.