NDA Art Critique Message Boards

While I was gone from these forums, I developed an obsession with Pokémon.

I decided that I wanted to create something called the International Pokédex, a repository for both official and fanmade Pokémon to be presented side by side as equals. This, combined with an obsession with dragons that never really faded away and was originally piqued by joining these fourms, caused me to think about making a Pokédex where everything was a dragon (or dragon-like creature) of some sort.

I've created pencil sketches of just one of the Pokémon in the dex so far, and have yet to even conceptualize most of the others.

Here's what I have so far (I know, it's just one lousy sketch, but many more will come after this):


It's a snake that will eventually evolve into a dragon, of course.

Here's the link to all the sketches I have so far: http://daniel-ernston.deviantart.com/gallery/31253358

Also, I wonder if this would eventually belong in CCCCCT if somebody wanted to help out with it. Especially with the artwork because I'm legendarily bad at colouring >_<

That's a really cool idea! :D I'd love to help out some, but at the moment I'm kinda busy. If you make the club/group thing, I'll join you but I might not be doing a lot.

Here come a rather unfinished-looking sketch of Wyfern:


Just showing you some of the stuff I go through while sketching. It's hard enough to come up with what the guy's going to look like in the first place >_<

It's a dragon-kinda-thing with a fern for a tail.

I haven't come up with the head yet - any ideas?

Maybe larger eyes and a small snout?

Unfortunately, I went the other way :P

Usually, larger animals of any sort, not just Pokémon, will have a smaller eye-to-head size ratio as they grow. It might not always be like that, but that's usually the way I've seen it go.

Here's another reference, this time with two poses:



I'm going to need somebody to redline this one for me. I'm 100% sure I got the angles wrong, but 100% unsure on how to correct them. (I'd also like a front view of the face, plox, it would really help me with those views in general >_>)

It's a Grass/Flying type, in case you were wondering why it had those leaf-wing-thingies.

I got your PM thing, so now here's a redline thing! Though I sort of just drew all over the place trying to work out ideas for how the body and proportions could look, and maybe it will give you some ideas too:


I think the only significant anatomy problem here is that the legs seem a bit far back on that one you drew in a standing position...! Or it feels that way to me, so the ones I drew have legs that are positioned more directly under its centre of gravity. Or something. A few of those kind of have different body types, mainly that one at the very top where I was thinking of something along the lines of long-necked raptors or birds or something! I tried to keep its chest small so it could still look relatively snake-like, but often used the bit where the bottom of its ribs would be as a point for its belly to start curving back under the body so it looks like it has a bit of chest-like structure or something? Heh, I wish I could offer some more detailed critique or suggestions, though I can't really think of too much else to change about the design. xD

I also did that front view thing of it in the bottom corner since you sounded like you needed help with that, so hopefully that little image there helps at least a bit! I drew it so the cheeks sort of tuck below the head, under the mouth, but then make the chin visible as just a sort of u-shape under the mouth.

It's a cute design though! I like it's fern-like tail and the leaves it has instead of wings! I also probably like creatures with body types like that.

Oh wow, I cannot thank you enough for that! You drew it better than I did, and that's amazing.

About the body parts, yeah, the legs do look a bit awkward, I could put them a bit further forward in another sketch. I still don't really have the hang of drawing legs yet.

(Also, the leaves are at the back of its head, although having them at the sides also looks pretty good :P)

About the front view, that does look good, but I just don't understand how the eyes could be tilted like that when you're looking at them head-on if they're embedded into the sides of the dragon's head. Perhaps it's how the face's surface is tilted, but I haven't had much practice in that regard. I suppose I think more of horses when I think of the dragon's eyes at the side of its head, which caused the discrepancy.

*bump* So, here, I tried to draw Wyfern in the pose at the bottom left:



I got the head looking weird again, so I'm probably going to need yet another redline >_<

Haha, yes, I was probably thinking more along the lines of canine/feline/other forward-facing predator eyes when I drew that, which is more a matter of personal preference than anything. Hopefully looking at things like lizard, horse, or deer faces from the front might give you an idea of how to draw the type of eyes you had in mind from a front view better. X)

And ah! I can see how I misinterpreted the way the leaves on the back of its head were meant to look...! I wondered they might be attached around the back of the head, but wasn't entirely sure. Oops!

I think it's turning out really nicely so far, so I couldn't really think of much to do for redlines on this one:



I didn't really make any big changes to it and mostly just smoothed out the lines of its neck a bit and gave it some slightly more defined shoulders...! I added a bit of a dip or a bump or something where the brow of its other eye would be, though that's only if it's meant to have any sort of distinguished brow. It could just be smooth, though I like the way adding such a thing contributes to the sense of form the head has. Or something. I moved the eye forward a bit so it's a bit closer to the horizontal middle of the head, and then showed where the jawline would be in that green colour to sort of show what I was visualising under the skin when I was positioning the eye, which might explain a bit better why I moved it forward? I don't know. o_O

I'm glad the previous redlines were of help and wish I could have been a bit more helpful this time, but maybe that just shows that your drawing is coming along well enough to not need any major changes. xD

Thanks for that brow bump, I can never tell where to put it

(And for the rest of the redline. I think I'll try my hand at inking this one :P)

Okay, so this time I tried inking it.


Digital ink, of course. This took me almost four hours >_<

And now coloured in (with flat colours):


This didn't take me nearly as long, but I know that shading and highlighting is next, and I'm scared ._.

And now you'll know why I was scared:


This guy is a monstrosity when shaded because I just suck at shading