Alvizaar Rises

[AdamAtomic]

You've got some really good stuff here, but I think you are crippled a bit by the overall contrast on the image, it looks like it was painted on a bright white background or something: a quick levels shift in photoshop results in an image with a far wider value range:



Levels shifting is not the right way to fix it of course - each color in the palette should be tweaked to allow your image to cover a wider range of values, to prevent it from looking washed out!  This is not ALWAYS the case, but for this image in particular I think it would be a great improvement.

[Turbo]

Sorry for not responding earlier guys. Thanks for the help.

@Stefano: i noticed, from reference, that reptiles and lizards in particular have loose skin with lots of large wrinkles, and little muscle definition. Your edit was nice but moved away from that looked that i wanted to mix into a somewhat humanoid and muscled creature. Thanks for the comment though.

@Adam: I remember seeing the image you left here, i thought i had saved it but i didn't. Anyway, i made an attempt at following your advice, adding a greater value range on the foreground subject (lizard).

@miscdude: made an attempt at unifying the palette to go for a more consistent lighting. Below are a few attempts at palette unification (2nd and 3rd images).

I'm gonna call this done. Here's my initial idea, followed by palette tweaks. You're free to pick your favourite. I'd go with the first because it has a funky palette and it's closer to my initial intention, but if i see people going some specific other way, i'll follow
Further comments are still welcome.
                              

[happymonster]

I don't think the darks are quite strong enough, but I like the less purple palette. Here's a very quick edit:

[TrevoriuS]

The higher contrast is ok, but only on the additional darkness, not the brightness. Further, I DO like the first palette best. It's alien anyway, so why can't it have a strong bright colour?

[happymonster]

True the highlights are too strong..

The purple is OK, but it seems a bit overused when compared to a lot of pixel and game art, whereas the subtle colours are more unusual and refreshing IMHO.

[Helm]

I think the piece suffers a bit from single pixel semi-noise.

[Pizza Tom]

It seems to me that the highlights on his head and back are a little too white, and could be toned down a bit. Also, his elbow looks a little out of place to me. It's a bit pointy and sharp compared to the rest of his body.

[Turbo]

I don't think the darks are quite strong enough, but I like the less purple palette. Here's a very quick edit:

I like the edit, values are better and it's a good palette alternative, but it loses some of the vividness of the colors and a bit of readibility between foreground and background. I'll try to reach a midpoint.

The higher contrast is ok, but only on the additional darkness, not the brightness. Further, I DO like the first palette best. It's alien anyway, so why can't it have a strong bright colour?

Yeah!

True the highlights are too strong..
The purple is OK, but it seems a bit overused when compared to a lot of pixel and game art, whereas the subtle colours are more unusual and refreshing IMHO.

But i liek the purple! I agree it can be a bit overwhemling, it's a bright color and it's like 50% of the image. But how often do you see a pink/purple dragon, fer cryin out loud! I tried to smooth it out by moving away from it on the shadow colors.

I think the piece suffers a bit from single pixel semi-noise.

That's an issue that you mention often, and sometimes i see it and others i don't. I tend to do lots of single pixel detailing, and the current palette and color count could make it happen in a few areas, mostly due to lack of anti-alias in such areas (due to me trying not to add more colors; doing lighting requires adding lots of color mixing combinations, which end up being used only in small specific areas, but adding to the color count).
Here i don't think it's bothersome. If you have a suggestion for reducing the effect, i'd like to hear it.

It seems to me that the highlights on his head and back are a little too white, and could be toned down a bit. Also, his elbow looks a little out of place to me. It's a bit pointy and sharp compared to the rest of his body.

On the highlights, i went for a overexposed look, such as a strong light like the sun shining on a highly reflective surface such as scales. If i make it darker or less saturated, it no longer looks like such...
The elbow is for an edgy stylish curvy lizard shape Although i agree the use of this design element it should occur in other places, looks like it doesn't fit with the rest of the anatomy.


Before doing changes, i think i'll try not to look at it for some time (a day or so), to get a fresher look the next time. I'll limit it to palette tweaks. Thanks for the comments.

[Helm]

Color edit and detail edit in squared area. Look at it up close a bit and perhaps you'll see what I mean about almost-noisy-single pixels. It's an intuition of mine, your tastes are the final arbiter for your own art.

[Turbo]

Good stuff, i see what you mean, mostly on the snout's highlights: antialiased "hotspots", clearer scale shapes and creature anatomy... Not many single pixels there.
The palette looks good, the darker tones mesh better, and the green to purple also transitions better; i don't like the lighter purple much, and it loses a bit on the contrast between foreground/background and clouds, but i'll apply the stuff you've shown in the more significant places. Thanks!