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Gaspode5 — Dragon Slayer
Published: 2012-02-25 21:16:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 1484; Favourites: 18; Downloads: 30
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Description
Full view please, this thing is huge. And hugs to anybody who looks or comments. It's really helpful.I don't know how I feel about this one. It certainly didn't come out the way I planned but then nothing ever does. It's my answer to all those ridiculously clad warrior women that flood the fantasy illustration market. I was going for a more seductive and scantily clad woman but every time I tried to make the armour more, er, scanty, my reality gland kicked in and said 'that's a bit silly now'. I really pushed myself but still didn't get very far. I ended up with a bimbo and until recently she was actually a blonde.
The problem is I've stared myself blind at this for ages now and can no longer tell why I'm not entirely happy with it. Hopefully somebody will comment and I'll suddenly see what's wrong. I tried all sorts of new things so the whole picture is a bit of an experiment.
I put up a detail version of the picture too since as usual an awful lot is lost when I shrink things down to make them manageable for DA.
I used brushes from: [link] [link]
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Comments: 17
would be so awsome when you draw more slay pictures with
werewolves
dragons
dinosaurs
anthros
lizardmans
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It may happen yet. Currently I'm doing a lot of Dragon Age stuff meaning the most prolific monsters would be Darkspawn.
Thank you for your comment!
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I like the expression on the dragon slayer. She looks genuinely bemused.
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Considering what she looks like it's probably a miracle she succeeded in killing the dragon. 
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That being said, I see a lot progress here when it comes to your posing and shading skills. I especially love her skin tones and the details on the armour, which you can see even better on the detail artwork. Besides being a bimbo, she looks absolutely capable of slaying such a beast, and the dragon's cute!
As for some (hopefully) helpful critics, here are my thoughts on some aspects of this image:
- Where is the blood? It looks like she's posing on her dead kill, but there's no blood anywhere... not on the dragon, on the floor, her face, her weapon... it looks more like a commercial for dragon slaying rather than actual dragon slaying, although that band-aid is a very nice touch.
I know that I really like my warriors bloody and beaten and that these things are not a must-have at any rate, but why not make her look like she had to work a bit to earn that kill?
- The dragon scale texture. I really like the texture in general, but I think it still looks a little too smooth, more like a layer above the colour rather than the dragon's actual skin. I think this could be improved by adding the texture on a separate layer and then twisting it a bit in certain places to follow the flow of the model beneath. I'd also assume that the texture is harder to see in the dark areas, e.g. on the snout. How about using a rubber with a very high opacity value to erase the texture there for improved blending, to help increase the realism of the texture and to integrate it wholly with the dragon?
But all in all, I really think you did an incredible job here and I'm totally looking forward to your next work - any ideas what that will be? Maybe something ranger-related again?
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Thanks for the tips. They will be needed. Luckily the scales are on a separate layer already and I'm planning on tweaking them. As for the blood that was intentional. She's such an improbable character to slay a dragon, the stupid armour, the long nails, the oversized axe, so I figured I'd push it further and leave her without a hair out of place and no blood. That said, it doesn't mean my intentions are clear to others. I'll see what I can do about it. Your comments are most welcome.
As for a certain ranger, he's being planned. What is distracting me right now is a friend on ff decided that since I spent so much time reviewing other peoples work I might as well do something proper and now I'm collaborating with her on a story about Duncan and Riordan, pre Blight. I promised her a few drawings of the lads. Once I'm done with them Bishop is first in the queue. I'm ranger starved.
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Awe, so incredibly beautiful ... just that the woman looks like you had cut out her from another picture then pasted her in. In the preview, at least. I'd wish I was able to learn how to paint like this. Not exactly like you, of course, but in that quality. It's my dream that I will live to see the day when I am able to create something that beautiful. Only a dream, of course ...
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Oh wow, thank you. 
As for quality of painting, one should never say never. Besides good technique is overrated. There's so many other things that matters too.
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You are welcome. You can't imagine how hard it was for me to ... try to give anything which could be considered constructive cristicism.
I am getting help from a great artist already, to learn the basics. It's just that RL doesn't let me to do what I want to do once again. I will have to leave all my attempts for months, at least, because I'm not a novel author or visual artist yet so that there always will be more important things to keep me occupied.
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I hope it won't happen to you ever again! Because it's so frustrating ...
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She has such a cute and peaceful face for a dragonslayer, that it's even a bit creepy
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She is creepy, she's probably polishing her nails as we speak.
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I love the warrior woman's armour and posing, and the band-aid on her arm is a wonderful touch that I just adore. The only thing that possibly stands out to me as a little off is that the scaled texture on the dragon seems to make him look a little flat and less three-dimensional than the warrior. Is it possible to reduce the opacity of that texture and see what it looks like? I really do love this, though. You do amazing work!
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Thank you for that! I'll certainly experiment some more with the texture. I knew the dragon looked flat but after staring at it since November I just couldn't tell what was wrong any more. Yay, you noticed the band-aid.
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