IN-DEPTH PROCESS
Values
After cleaning up the sketch I started thinking about how the lighting will be set up. I decided on a dark background, meaning I had to make the dragon much lighter so it would stay in focus. The next step was adding colour, after which I frequently check my values (switching to greyscale) so they don’t get all mixed up. Your render should have similar values to your initial value setup.
How to convey size
Even though you don’t have a strong sense of scale in this illustration, it feels like this dragon is small. A good tip when conveying size in your illustration is using elements from the real world, something you can compare things to, in near proximity of your character. So in this example, even though there aren’t many elements, you know that flytrap plants are pretty small, so making the dragon’s body even smaller than the leaves makes it look little.
Smaller details
One of the most important things to keep in mind when painting is that you don’t have to overdo it. You should think about how people are going see your piece. This one is supposed to be looked at as a whole, so I can leave smaller details like this to a minimum render-wise. That’s why most of my painting looks rough when zoomed in.
Wing texture
Most of the painting was done with a mixer brush. For this particular wing, I tried to convey a slight texture, a smooth surface, compared to the rest of the body. Since this mixer brush has a strong texture I tried to work around it by choosing colours with similar hue, saturation and values. Also, the brushstrokes follow a similar path.
Define the neck
For the neck, I used the same mixer brush, but with higher contrasts and colour values. I also textured it much more chaotically, no strict path of the brushstrokes, trying to convey a more rugged surface. Besides the mixer brush I used a basic Photoshop round brush and the Smudge tool to blend or define a few areas a bit better.
Pay attention to the lighting setup
When painting, always keep in mind the principles of light. The light is hitting the head from the side, but plants and most organic things are semi-translucent, which means that they will have subsurface scattering. It’s like a strong light hitting your fingers or ears from behind and you see a strong red colour, it’s because your skin isn’t 100 per cent solid. I used a strong, saturated green showing up beneath some parts.