AuthorTopic: Dragon boss (modular animation)  (Read 3781 times)

Offline Decroded

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Dragon boss (modular animation)

on: November 12, 2014, 12:56:06 pm
Here's something I'm working on as an end of game boss for a Zelda-style rpg.
Just a rough and dirty animation because its made of modular parts and is animated smoothly in engine by code.


I feel like the wings especially need work but it hasn't come to me yet what I'm doing wrong so any crits are welcome.
Here's the PSD if you feel inclined to edit  :0'
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dfo3le08rzwr3x9/dragon%20demo001.psd?dl=0

Offline heyguy

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Re: Dragon boss (modular animation)

Reply #1 on: November 12, 2014, 11:46:24 pm
Hey Decroded. I really like the detail of the scales. This piece looks like it's going to be awesome! One thing that is coming to my mind is the character design of the dragon. What is under the lava? Are the wings the dragon's arms or does it have not have traditional arms? I feel it's got more of a batwing than a dragon wing because of their placement on the body and the arm shaped look to them. Or is this some wing snake dragon-like creature? Right now I think the wings are kind of small and there isn't a large dragon underneath. Small wings wouldn't support a heavy dragon.

It might be good to do some character design orthos or some 3/4 perspective image on what you imagine the creature to look like. It's kinda hard to critique I think since I'm a newbie and I think you can take this in a lot of directions. How close is the dragon to land? Presumably, the dragon is blasting fire at the hero who is on some land directly below right? Can it rest its hands on the ground?  Maybe you can make its neck thicker going down, hide the arms under the lava but still have the hands on the coast of the lava ground and give it a large wingspan. If you plan to stick closely to what you have, I would suggest bigger, more powerful wings and placing them on the dragons back. Since the neck seems to be made out of individual pieces, I'd suggest even varying as it gets to the belly or something like that.

Also, for some reason, I find it odd that there is not a light outline on the horns when the dragon is look straight at you. That's just me though. Keep up the awesome work!

Offline AlcopopStar

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Re: Dragon boss (modular animation)

Reply #2 on: November 13, 2014, 10:02:50 am
Some sharp pixeling, but I agree with the design points heyguy brought up.

In particular the wings look non functional, it looks more like it's holding two wing shaped shields then anything,  I think some connecting tissue from wingarm to body (vague google example: http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/232/b/5/b5e5e0fbf319f1a3876bd745a3791866-d478acc.jpg) would make them look more powerful and make that arm look fade. The whole design could benefit I think from more of a sense of predatory power.

None-the-less a good start, keep it up!

Offline Decroded

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Re: Dragon boss (modular animation)

Reply #3 on: November 13, 2014, 01:57:06 pm
thanks for the crits and the reference guys.
personally id prefer there to be no lava and have the dragon rise up from the darkness, i might go back to the dev again and discuss this option (he really seems to love his lava!).
the location is deep underground in a cavern.

yeah i think i need to trash the wings and start them again.
i just dont think a dragon DESERVES arms. i mean it can fly, breath fire, has hard scales and live for hundreds of years.
having arms is just GREEDY  :lol:
i was trying to follow what would be a more realistic version of a dragon where the arms ARE the wings such as in a bat and everything else in nature.
but thats just turning out looking weirder than if i follow the standard interpretation of arms plus wings.

i like the idea of the hands on shore of the lava...ill check with the dev if we can do that :-)

Offline Maki

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Re: Dragon boss (modular animation)

Reply #4 on: November 13, 2014, 02:21:34 pm
Pixelwise, your dragon seems great. Although there's a thin that's always been bothering me, the anatomy of a dragon versus the anatomy of a wyvern. Surely these are both mythical creatures so therefore they can be interpret in different ways. But as far as I know you're doing a wyvern right now. Whether this is highly important or not, I'll just back you up with some pics.



So basically dragon's hands are not wings, while that is true for wyvern.