Dragongirl

[Cavatica]

I'm giving this its own thread a.) Because my original one was getting pretty cluttered pretty fast, and b.) Because this piece contains nudity and I didn't just want to spring that on people innocently clicking on a "jump to end of thread" link.

I had some issues with this one. Though I had a photograph to work from, I only had it from the waist-up, so I had to do a lot of standing on my bed with my back turned to my dresser mirror so I could see what was going on with my legs and feet. I also was initially going to do this with a cartoonier look, but ended up sort of compromising between that and more realistic shading, sort of like I did with Darshanth (http://www.webbestre.net/art/dragons/darshanthbw.jpg).

Finally I got sick of looking at it, so here it is in more or less a state of completion. I think it's only okay, but thoughts are welcomed and appreciated.

Media: Pencils on paper, Photoshop 6.0.

The final product. (http://www.webbestre.net/art/other/dragongirl.jpg)

If you're REALLY interested, you can see the original sketch here (http://www.webbestre.net/art/other/dragongirl_inprogress.jpg) and my abortive in-progress step here (http://www.webbestre.net/art/other/dragongirl_inprogress2.jpg), when I tried to do the legs without looking (though I did a lot of that anyway).

Hope it satisfies!

[Jax]

Amazing! :D I really like the way you did it, the pose and everything, and her little elfin ears :laugh:
I love how you've given the impression of how the wing membranes are see through, gives it more of a, erm, real feeling quality! :ok:

[Cavatica]

Now, guys, I'm not compliment-fishing, here, but 27 views and only one (very lovely) comment?

Y'all are killing me. Say you hate it, if nothing else. I spent a lot of time on this thing and would really appreciate some feedback.

[Ian]

Very cool pic :) I wish I was that good with a pencil (though I probably would be if I could actually be bothered to do "traditional" art rather than using the comp all the time ;) ) I'm impressed with the way the final pic is so close to the original sketch, often they take on a life of their own!

[Cavatica]

Very cool pic :) I wish I was that good with a pencil (though I probably would be if I could actually be bothered to do "traditional" art rather than using the comp all the time ;) ) I'm impressed with the way the final pic is so close to the original sketch, often they take on a life of their own! Well, this one really is mostly computer-rendered, and it definitely took on a life of its own. ;> You can see a pretty clear difference between the original sketch and the final product. I wish I had the attention span to spend some more time on it, but, meh. Thanks, though. :D

[Jax]

What did you do to make it look smore shiny, more umm rounded? In the finished product she has a sheen and I realise that it must be somehting that you do in photoshop but it's rather impressive compared with the original pic! (Even though that is good on it's own! )

[Cavatica]

I spent most of the time using the smudge and blur tools to get everything, uh, smudged and blurred, which gives it a more realistic feel while maintaining the graphite look. To get it to look "bright," there are a few places where I just erased the lines between the highlighted parts of the girl and the background-- so, while your eye completes the line, it doesn't feel quite as heavy as it might if I had done it for you. The contrast between the highlights and shadows also helps, I think. I didn't blend the shadows into the highlights too heavily because very bright light increases the difference between the two -- so when you see a stark contrast like that, it gives the illusion of brightness. :>

This is why it's always important to know one's light source. :>

[Yonuh Adisi Fiend Jedi]

Not bad, remove the tail and that is what I envision my character Sila looks like in the Sci-fi novel I am writing. (well wrote actually, still trying to tweak it to clean it up abit.)

Sila is a mutant with exactly that kind of wings.

In the process of scanning my poor attempts of drawing my Sila character that I made about three years ago so you can see what I mean.

[Cavatica]

There, I just posted This (http://annemccaffreyfans.org/forum/showthread.php?p=152048#post152048) . It is my poor attempt at what I envisioned my charactor to look like. These were done about three almost four years ago.

I know what you mean, I always liked that kind of wings better as well. I have tried and tried looking for pics of people with wings but all I get are feathered wings of angels and fallen angels. You could always try looking up vampires or demons. I've seen some really beautiful ones.

[Yonuh Adisi Fiend Jedi]

I'll try that, don't know why I didn't think of that myself.

[Faren]

Now, guys, I'm not compliment-fishing, here, but 27 views and only one (very lovely) comment?

Y'all are killing me. Say you hate it, if nothing else. I spent a lot of time on this thing and would really appreciate some feedback.
Ok ok...it's a wonderful drawing, but it creeps me out. :erm: No techical critique, sorry. Just not my cup of tea.

[Cavatica]

Ok ok...it's a wonderful drawing, but it creeps me out. :erm: No techical critique, sorry. Just not my cup of tea. It's cool. It creeped GB out, too (as I mentioned above). Why are you creeped out?

[Faren]

Well, the wings are great, but they give me the willies. They look like arms with very long fingers, and it just looks so weird coming out of her back.

And there's something about the ankles. I don't know what, but they bother me too.

Maybe it's because she looks SO realistic...I could see this being a character in a horror movie. :ok: :eek:

If that's what you are hoping to achieve, you did a wonderful job. She has the potential to haunt me.

[Cavatica]

Maybe it's because she looks SO realistic...I could see this being a character in a horror movie. :ok: :eek: Aww, she's not mean. She's just misunderstood.

I will take your creeped-outedness as a compliment. :>

[Faren]

Aww, she's not mean. She's just misunderstood.

I will take your creeped-outedness as a compliment. :>
Yes indeed. :bow:

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

I really like it. It's very creepy but still fascinating. I also prefer membranous wings to feathered, you hardly see them attatched to people. The wings and tail remind me a bit of the Whelan cover of All the Weyrs of Pern. That's a good thing because I ADORE it :D

My only quaffle with it is how the wings *work* and where the pectoral flight muscles are... but then I'm just really picky on anatomy :roll: Excellant drawing regardless :ok:

[Cavatica]

I really like it. It's very creepy but still fascinating. I also prefer membranous wings to feathered, you hardly see them attatched to people. The wings and tail remind me a bit of the Whelan cover of All the Weyrs of Pern. That's a good thing because I ADORE it :D

My only quaffle with it is how the wings *work* and where the pectoral flight muscles are... but then I'm just really picky on anatomy :roll: Excellant drawing regardless :ok: I read somewhere once that a human being would require six feet of chest muscle to attain flight with wings designed for flapping. Basically, if I were being anatomically correct, this girl would have to look like she were taking enough steroids to knock Mr. Universe over. ;> I muscle my actual dragons much more realistically, but I'm not sure that would have been quite as aesthetic in this case. I figure that as the concept of the dragongirl requires some suspension of disbelief anyway, the flight-capable thing isn't that big of a leap. ;>

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

:eek: woops, didn't know those statistics! Fair enough :D

[C_ris]

Very well done! :ok:

[SFAHarper]

Nicely drawn, nicely drawn. I like how her wings look like they can reach out and grab you then hold you there.

[Cavatica]

Wow. I'm really surprised that so many people regard her as so menacing. I mean, that's great! It's awesome to have unexpected reactions like that. Just, I was going more for "sensual" than "creepy." Just goes to show how two people can interpret the same thing so differently. :>

[Green~Rider]

That Darshanth is so :cool:!!

[Cavatica]

That Darshanth is so :cool:!! Thank you! I'm very proud of him.

I'm proud of this one too, actually, and am sort of bummed out I haven't gotten more feedback on her. :/ (Yeah, I'm fishing, so sue me. At least I'm fishing for more than just compliments. I can take criticism without bursting into tears. Seriously, people.)

[Ian]

Must admit I saw the pic as more sensual than threatening :)

[Shalyn]

I don't find her creepy at all. She's quite realistic looking, within reason. (As realistic as a woman with dragonwings could be, that is!)

I think the reason people are more squicked by this is you usually don't see rear-view pics of winged people. Because the effect is so hard to do.

One thing that doesn't look quite 'right' to me, and it's probably because there's nothing to compare it to...the wings look like they're using almost the same joints as the arms. I wonder if it would look better if they were moved down slightly - as if they had a separate bone structure similar to the shoulders, but just a tinch down.

[Cavatica]

This isn't a shameless bump so much as an alert that my old domain has gone away, gone ahead, and thus I've had to change the links to reflect stuff at my new site.

Carry on.

[Beisla]

Wonderful picture.

I don't find her creepy at all. I love her expression, it's almost as if she's dreaming about something, or gathering strength (mental, not physical).
I wonder how she would look if the spikes went further up her spine from the tail? I'm not saying she would look better (or worse), for some reason I just started wondering.

[Wolfegar]

I also thought the spikey bits along the top edge of the tail should continue up the spine. Maybe even all the way to her neck.

About the ankle thing, Faren mentioned...I think it may be that the right ankle looks smaller than the left, despite the right ankle and foot apparently being closer to the observer. At least, that's the way it looks to me.

Then again, I could use a new pair of glasses.... :roll:

All in all though, I do like the Dragongirl.

[Cavatica]

I considered taking the spikes all the way up her spine, but decided not to for aesthetic reasons. a.) That makes her upper half too crowded, visually speaking, thereby b.) Distracting from the parts I want to draw attention to: her wings, her shoulders, back, etc. I maintain that one of the most beautiful parts of a woman is her back, especially her shoulders and, ah, derriere. Though the idea of spikes all the way up is a good one, it doesn't really have any aesthetic value. Further, I wanted her dragony bits to be distinctly so, which is why I also didn't bother with stuff like scales. I COULD emphasize a little rise in the vertebrae in her lower back, though. I'll have to play around with it.

I'm still not happy with her legs and feet, and may redo them at a later date. I considered making her legs longer, at the very least, but that's too close to the ideal of what a sexy woman ought to be and I don't play that game. ;>

Thanks for feedback so far, everyone! Keep it coming.

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

I maintain that one of the most beautiful parts of a woman is her back, especially her shoulders and, ah, derriere.
I have to say I that I think eyes are first and foremost the most beautiful feature of a woman, but the back comes second on my list :) After learning this from you, you might appreciate this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/9305770/). Don't worry folks, it doesn't show any bits.

About her legs/feet, I don't think they should be any longer, they look proportionate the way they are. Maybe just taper them a bit, down her calf, make the lower part look a little more slender. Which would be easy to fix up without any major repainting. The left foot looks good, but the right looks slightly flattened somehow... not sure how to explain it.

One other suggestion, maybe emphasize the line of her spine just a tad in the upper part of her back. Where it's completely white makes it look a bit flat, but just a very gentle line there might help out a bit.

[Ian]

They class that as mature content?? What kind of people run DeviantArt?

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

They class that as mature content?? What kind of people run DeviantArt?
Ugh, I know! :roll: Well, they fired Jark without even letting him know... that should answer your question :crazy:

[Bane]

I like it. The wings look like those of the Listener's in my World of Three. About the only difference between my mental picture of my Listeners and your pic is that the Listeners are more sidhe-like.

I've always liked the bat wing look. It doesn't make me think of pink things like the feathers do. So I'm weird. I'm not a person to say it creeps me out when it's membranous wings instead of feathers. I much prefer membrane.

Good job. :ok: