Drako Sapien II

[artina]

This is Second Lieutenant Draken. He is one of General Drakus' most poweful allies. He commands the seas and wreaks havok on merchant vessels and transport ships. He is the most maniacal and uncontrolable member of the Drako Sapiens.
I did this piece in pencil and colored it in Photoshop. This is the second concept character in this story I'm devising.

If anyone is interested in developing this with me, feel free to contact me.

[Feint]

You've got some really nice textures painted for his skin, but the character and the background come across as really flat. I'd darken the hues on the underside of his right arm, the inside of his right leg, his left armpit, etc. The character will need to pop from the background more also, it took me a minute to notice that he even had "wings." I'd also work with the pure blue tone of the background; it comes across as a blue sheet of canvas instead of water.

[Mattinian]

Feint is right here, you need to strenghten the values on the character. You can consider adding some bubbles, little floating plankton, schools of fish and such to liven up the enviroment. It`ll give the viewer a stronger impression of the world your character lives in.

[Dahami]

Does he have scales? If so are they more reptilian (sea turtle or sea serpent-like perhaps) or more like fish scales? I see some large scutes or armor plating on his lower legs, but many smaller scales on his arms and thighs would make him look more interesting, and give him more biological plausibility. You could do it with some kind of texture brush, I suppose, if you don't want to render the scales individually.

I see the sunlight shining through the waves above him. You could make that more intense near the very top of the image. You could also add a little more shape or texture to the rock formations, but keep them kind of hazy or blurry like they are because of the way the intervening water absorbs and scatters light.

Personally, I would make his teeth a little whiter. I've never seen a fish or reptile with teeth as yellow as that. Think of a piranha or a snake.

[sciboy]

Note, water has its own dynamics, as it is right now, nothing is even suggesting that there is water, his "wings/fins" are hanging down instead of flowing and all his weight is grounded, remember BUOYANCY!

[Naybewon]

Excellent piece, but I agree with the critiques already mentioned. Also, I think you should add some bubbles or something, to give the water some sense of life and motion.

[artina]

I thank everyone for their comments and suggestions. This was my first attempt at an underwater piece. I had trouble figuring out how it would look. I wanted to show the light bouncing off his body the way it bounces in a pool. But then I took into account the depth and thought that there wouldn't be too much light bouncing on him at that depth. I didn't want to add too many colors and "life" to the piece because he is a villain. But come to think of it, the contrast would add more to the piece. I will add some of the tips and repost.

[Dahami]

Does he have to be this deep? Maybe you could put him in shallow water and make the light effects more dramatic. I remember seeing some paintings of sharks swimming (or cruising) near the surface that have all these wavy patterns of light on them. If that's the kind of image you're going for then change the setting accordingly. Otherwise the image will look almost like a night scene, since so much light would be absorbed before penetrating this far down.

[artina]

I have made some adjustments. I added the bubbles and schools of fish. I also darkened some of the values on him. Let me know what you think.

[Fuish]

That's MUCH better, the character stands out a lot more than it was before. Now the "buoyancy issue" his wings should show a bit of fluttering, as should the seaweed. I don't know how much your character weighs, so he could realistically be grounded, but all I know is that whales are huge, granted filled with blubber which is very buoyant.... now I'm just rambling. Looks good, maybe if you don't feel like making this one float, your next one can be floating. (^_^)v

[Dahami]

I like what you've done with the diagonal rays of light coming down from the surface, and the bubbles are a nice touch, as well as the fish in the foreground and the shadowy school of fish in the background. Are the fish veering away as they approach this menacing looking individual? With the fish in the foreground so close to the camera they become part of the action. You have to decide whether they are part of the story or just part of the background.

I would still like to see some smaller scales on the thighs and arms, but maybe that's just me.

[artina]

Thanks again for the comments. I am very happy with how it turned out after applying you suggestions. The buoyancy issue couldn't be adressed because I made the "water wings" and fins to be much like the fins a marlin has. So they wouldn't really move too much if he is not swimming.