Skeletal dragon portrait

Amorphous · Post by **Amorphous** » June 11th, 2023, 4:48 pm

Seems like you've developed a pretty fast work flow for these! I don't really have anything too constructive to say so far; you've got a grasp of where you want to take it and it's looking really good so far.

Post by **doofus-01** » June 12th, 2023, 3:47 am

Regarding the skeletal dragon - I'd say it looks like a really good foundation, but it's still missing some details/context. I'm not trying to nit-pick it to death, but it does need a little more detailing. I've attached a quick example to show what I mean.

Lordlewis · Post by **Lordlewis** » June 12th, 2023, 6:58 am

I changed a few things, such as a few extra scratches in some areas and the dead skin. It didn't look quite right in some areas, and felt like it took away from the overall portrait. I adjusted the colour of the teeth as well to make it stand out more and so it looks a bit less like bone.

As for the eyes. I did try to add an eye early on, but it didn't work after many attempts. Adding glow like you've shown in your example is quite hard to add with my setup, but I might try again later. If anything, I do believe adding the glow may take away from the portrait a little bit and would not be worth the difficulties I would have to go through to achieve it. The spirte itself and other skeleton portraits (excluding banebow) don't have this feature, even the liches. I do think the idea is cool though, but large eyes filled with pitch plack void is also quite menacing. Outside of the drain weapon special, the skeletal dragon doesn't use magic, and is implied from the description to have been raised by another being. If I decide to add an eye to the dragon, I plan on putting it in the eye socket, not the temple.

I could work on changing some of the lighting to create more hard shadows and attempt to add more dead skin in some areas, but I am quite happy with how it looks currently, especially on the unit description. I did try adding a few small details, but the overall portrait just became too messy. I believe the scratches and stuff are in areas of interest and where they matter most, such as the ribs, jaw, and horns.

Lordlewis · Post by **Lordlewis** » June 16th, 2023, 5:32 am

I'm not sure if I like this one over the glowless portrait, but here it is. Not sure what else I should add if anything at all.

Kapiork · Post by **Kapiork** » June 16th, 2023, 6:36 am

Lordlewis wrote: ↑June 16th, 2023, 5:32 am I'm not sure if I like this one over the glowless portrait, but here it is. Not sure what else I should add if anything at all.

Think I prefer the glowless one. Great job!

Lordlewis · Post by **Lordlewis** » June 16th, 2023, 7:22 am

Thanks!
For more context, this is what they look like in game. Although I don't believe there is a campaign where the skeletal dragon even speaks, but the unit is used in the Eastern Invasion campaign and The Wilderlands multiplayer scenario. I don't remember it being used anywhere else.

Post by **doofus-01** » June 17th, 2023, 8:09 pm

The glow might have been a distraction, though I did think you had a good take on it. There would still need to be some touch-ups and highlights for mainline. I'm also not sure about that big headspike - looks artificial (or crystal/prism shaped) and perspective seems off, unless it was one of two and just happens to be in page plane while the other is hidden.

But that's a critique for mainline, it certainly would be a great resource for any add-on as it is.

Lordlewis · Post by **Lordlewis** » June 18th, 2023, 1:59 am

I added a few highlights in the spine, ribs, and jaw and changed the shape of the horns. Personally I like how they were before, but this is fine. I've kept the glow one here just incase someone needs it for an add-on sometime in the future or something along that path. I could add a few more scratches or dents, but that might be overdoing it a little.

doofus-01 wrote: ↑June 17th, 2023, 8:09 pm and perspective seems off, unless it was one of two and just happens to be in page plane while the other is hidden.

I don't really know what you mean by page plane, unless you're saying it looks flat, which I can see. When designing the horns I tried to go for a flat look like in the sprite where it's a similar shape, but it's not exactly obvious in the other portrait. But I do like it more that way tbh.

Post by **doofus-01** » June 26th, 2023, 4:27 am

Lordlewis wrote: ↑June 18th, 2023, 1:59 am I don't really know what you mean by page plane, unless you're saying it looks flat, which I can see

I meant the up/down-left/right plane, 2D, no depth. From the model images, I think it is just the camera angle and lighting, but the horn looks a bit like a flat object stuck behind a 3D dinosaur skeleton. The sharp edges of the previous version were not really an issue, if you prefer that version it's no problem.

Speaking of camera angles, the current one also makes it hard to read what the wing-fingers are, they look a lot like some sort of head-spikes. If you still want to take this to mainline, can you post a few different angles? It's generally good to avoid tangents and accidental alignments.

Gothyoba · Post by **Gothyoba** » July 1st, 2023, 2:34 pm

Good work on this! This is honestly one of the best proposed portraits I’ve seen here in quite a while, and it captures the shape and detail of the skeletal dragon very well. I also like the effort going into this, and it seemingly gets better with each iteration. However, I personally think the shadow below the spine might be a bit too dark.

Lordlewis · Post by **Lordlewis** » July 6th, 2023, 2:05 am

I changed a few things that were suggested. I changed the position of the wings so it better fits each render and I brightened up parts of it too. I tried changing how harsh the shadow was on the spine but it didn't look that good. Coincidentally. changing the position of the wings fixed the issue with the harsh shadow in my opinion.

Here are some renders with different camera angles.

Gothyoba · Post by **Gothyoba** » July 7th, 2023, 10:25 am

These do seem better. By the way, maybe the (now removed) purple glow could be added as a part of the lore. It looked very nice, though it is seemingly unexplained. Maybe there is some kind of magic within their bones?

Post by **doofus-01** » July 10th, 2023, 1:10 am

I want to say more about this eventually, but I don't want to leave you hanging in the meantime, so for now just wanted to let you know that these are on the right track, my initial impression is that #52 is the best, though it does clip the wings on the top-edge (crops on the bottom & left edge are OK, top & right are not OK)