Dragonflight by theSea
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Hi thanks for looking!
"Dragonflight" is a materials sketch. I spent some time working in pwSurface 2 trying to get the reflection and bump on the hide right and the translucence of the wings. There is also some subsurface scattering on the horns that worked out nicely.
Oddly, I think a year ago I would have been very pleased with this image, now I just get a feeling one like... "it's a picture of a Dragon, meh." Maybe it needs more of a story to it or something. What do you think?
Production Credits:
Millennium Dragon 2 from DAZ with default textures. Wing textures from MilDragon 1. This is the first time I used some of the additional head and fin addons that come with mil dragon 2 - I think they look nice and enable a very different look. Pose is, I believe, a stock Mil Dragon 2 pose with some tweaking to bring out the silhouette.
Ruined Castle by Stonemason from DAZ. pwSurface2 on everything but the background.
Lighting is LDP2 from Dreamlight with the 'Oncoming Storm' sky that I did for the Dreamlight club freebie.
Rendered as a single pass with 16 skylights. I also rendered a Moodmaster Deep fog pass to use in post. Render time was ~3 hours - mostly due to the reflections on the hide. The depth of field as done at render time, not in post.
Postwork - added the mood master pass in screen mode. I felt that this washed out the sky a bit so I used mask creator to render out a mask for the background and then did a quick layer mask with the sky as a gradient - the net effect is that the atmospheric fades out around the horizon line and the sky is more or less intact. I also did a contrast adjustment to the castle and background, using the MM pass as a layer mask; again just to give that effect of the air having some thickness.
Finally I did a quick exposure adjustment just to tweak the values a bit. Title and copyright message finished things out.
So, I've finished a couple of things lately, but just have not been happy with them. Was this one worth posting or should I have left it on the harddrive, never to see the light of day?
As always, your comments and constructive critique are appreciated!
Comments (29)
DarkStormCrow
OUtstanding work and render, well done...
Naoo
Excellent Render!!!
evs69
Blimey, that's just incredible. Very impressive texture work and effective lighting as well as DOF. This is a fave! :)
Cimaira
Well, I think the image is fantastic! I do usually like a little back story though, lol. Oddly enough, I hardly ever add one to my images..hmmmm...so I guess I'll shut up and just say ..amazing work, he is is beautiful creature. lol
johnny_damnit
Wow Awesome image. Excellent lighting and details are amazing. Well done!!!
GothamCatWoman
positive powerful work, your dragon looks wicked.
scooby37
Reminds me of the Beowulf film. I think it is better being posted than sitting on your hardrive. Better on mine :)
Revelation-23
Worth posting? Absolutely. I've never been fond of the excess membrane on the wings, but here it lookes pretty good.
7Sins
Love the lighting and feeling of depth to the scene, the dragon looks very much like he is up in the clouds and far above the landscape, well done!
blainenorth
Great image...thanks for sharing.
frogdot
Would make a great bronze statue. Excellence.
Timesurfer
awsome... love the pov and lighting too :)
fodder937
I definetly think it was worth posting!
Waver88
Nicely rendered!!!
anitalee
Excellent
barking-seal
To be honest, when I got the email notification I though - "not another dragon render" - its not that I don't love dragons - I do , I think I have just got over saturated with them. That said - this is a lovely image and I am very glad I got to see it, the image has been treated with such care and an eye for detail, the light and materials make this render quite special. With your image I can fall in love with Dragons all over again.
maraich
I completely understand where you're coming from. Stories do help make images feel more fulfilling, but I also believe that as skills improve it becomes more and more difficult to impress one's self. The great leaps of improvement are no longer there, instead it's small tweaks that make the textures jump out a bit better here the eyes appear more lifelike there. In this particular instance I think most people would be thrilled to be able to claim the image as their own. As far as trying to provide you something resembling a useful critique... I would like the wing membranes to be more transparent. Steam coming from his mouth and nostrils might add some interest as well. You may want to look inside yourself and find something that stirs your passions and focus on that for your next series of images. Your technical skills are incredible, so now you need to go beyond that to find satisfaction in your work.
PhilW
A great render - more realistic than more dragon pics - even better in Full View!
debbielove
Utterly WOW! Rob.
dshield
Let's see, Great pose, Great composition, Great work on the textures and background. Full size is magnificent! Yeah, I definitely think it was worth posting Michael. D
Seaview123
You really got some fantastic realism on this image. Your textures are very well done, and your lighting is excellent!
callad
Textures and lighting are very good! I think you did the right thing to share it!
dbrv6
The textures are very nice - even the framing. Might suggest that the head is to flat to the camera - I think it is causing it to lose the affect from the light and texture the rest of its body is gaining. Not sure about the wings.
kobaltkween
i agree with maraich. i think if you did it today, the pose and scene would suggest a story. but you worked on materials, and that dragon has a lot of different types of materials. it's a great image (especially for what's basically a materials study), and the low-contrast colors paired with detailed displacement make it the dragon look like an illustration. i think the materials could pop more, but it's a very solid work. i especially like the tail going outside of the matting.
gomcse
Great job!
Conniekat8
Most excellent detailing and materials on the dragion, and very cool dynamic posing, and a camera angle. Yes, adding something for him to interact with would enrich the scene even more.
ontar1
Wow fantastic scene and dragon, love the details, outstanding work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mhossack
Fantastic render! Brilliant materials and lighting.
amirapsp
Pretty Impressive work!