Making draws - 2d concept work

exxez

Wanted to make an topic for my concept work. Hoping for some critique and feedback

First piece:
Slug Dragon
A behemoth fan concept I made for Dauntless cause I'm hyped for that game


Final Render


Attach thumbs


Color schemes


Earlier sketches/thumbnails

lotet

cool stuff! really like the early thumbs, i think you lost some of that style in the final render though.

exxez

Thanks!
Could you elaborate a bit on how I lost some of the style. I've known I had this problem and maybe if you could give me a little more detail i'd be able to improve next time.

lotet

Sure.
I really like how you explored poses and form in the black n white thumbs, but then you kinda went for the most boring one .
I do see why you did it, its the best one to show of the design, but there are some rally nice dynamic poses in the thumbs that would have been really cool to see rendered out.

also your rendering and brushwork Is way better. thicker lines, better shading and lighting, and way better values. you lost all sense of material definition in your final render, while your thumb had some pretty nice glossy areas on the arms for example, the nice rim light to separate the arm is also gone. most importantly you lost almost all of the contrast, in the thumb there is this really nice read where the lower body and belly has this lighter tone that makes the head and back really pop.

as for your rendering you are painting with light and shapes in the thumb, but the final render is kinda digressed to some cartoony lineart with simple shading, it looks like  it was drawn by a  completely different artist.

exxez

Thanks for the feedback, that was super helpful!

I'll try to adjust how I render in the future, and I'll try to make some changes to this guy to get some contrast back into the final render

exxez

I made some revisions based on your feedback and feedback from some friends.
Hopeful this should be better.