02-02-2018, 03:16 AM
(02-01-2018, 06:19 AM)ThereIsNoJustice Wrote: I want to talk about this image:Yea the way I was thinking about this image is I wanted to have a bright background and have a dark focal point that would stick out. The whole dragon thing was an afterthought really I didn't want this to be just a painting of clouds and couldn't think of anything to add to it... so dragon. I didn't much care for the dragon so I didn't put much thought in it and well this is the result. In hindsight I think I should have just left it as an image about clouds and pretty lighting or maybe make the focal point be something much smaller witch is what I'm more comfortable painting. Anyway thanks for the feedback!
I think you have the same feeling that there is something not quite working about this image. In your words, "the dragon looks stupid and out of place like it was taken from a different image and pasted on this one."
Try thinking of your whole painting. Think of the distances between the values and colors, and think more of those distances than of the colors or values themselves. Every large move away from the last value and last color will stand out and draw the eye, and everything similar will not.
Most of the reason, I believe, the dragon image doesn't feel right is because you have a high saturation background which is competing with the dragon's red eye. To me, the image is saying that the background and the eye are of equal importance because they are so close to one another in chroma/saturation and value, and that's not the effect you had in mind. You wanted the eye to be important. If you take the color out of the clouds, the dragon's red eye will regain its punch. It will get even more punch if the value around the center of the eye may reach next to white, and the clouds were darker.
Hope this helps!