IceDragon64's art Reviews on Newgrounds

[Balancing Act]

good stuff

Might have given a 3/5 for a drawing with no background, but the material- the balancing act- is so original it has to be at least 4/5!

As said, the back legs are a bit thin, otherwise, yeah.

[Brown dragon]

very good

shame about the scribbly bits on the background. Hope you finish it.

[Weapons]

nice drawings

Tell us more in the comments- where does your inspiration come from? The view of the blades etc is a bit too standard- formula for my taste, but perhaps you had some kind of symbol/ heraldry in mind.

[Dragon's Rage]

great

all very good- especially texture and light/reflections. Makes interesting comparison with original. Thanks for including the ref.

Men are a bit of a letdown- a bit matchsticky somehow.

[A dragon's Pride]

very good

All very good- lighting, body shape, texture etc. but somehow it doesn't grab me in the same way as your Sunset picture. This one looks more like the standard computer pictures of dragons one gets here and on dA by the dozen. Its a more standard side-on pose.
Perhaps since you have so much scope for detail on Full Size, the body should be not quite so perfect- the odd scratch or irregularity maybe?
Again, this very good dragon work you do could possibly benefit from more studying real animals

[Sunset Dragon]

Awesome! Professional

I love the action in this picture. It really looks like an action photo of flying at speed. the light/shadow is very good and texture of the wings, with the almost feathery look is interesting.
Tell people to see it at Full Size. I love the detail- many people wouldn't bother to do the scales and I love the eyes, which look so much more significant at FS.
Overall, it is very, very good and as dragon-lover, I approve strongly.

Just a couple of tiny thoughts-
Having chosen to do the scales, I would say the texture could be improved. Either you go for the traditional overlapping scales that dragons are usually given, in which case this should show at the edges and would make the image yet more stunning at FS, or you go for scales that look more like real snake and lizard scales. Either way although its good to have the scale effect, when one studies them, they look like the way I draw scales- a series of crescents drawn on the body. If you manage to go beyond the standard images of dragon body/skin in terms of looking like a real animal, you will step out beyond the vast multitude of dragon artists, so perhaps you could look at a variety of lizard skins etc and see what grabs you.
I think of the water below as being on an alien landscape- perhaps not actually water- otherwise despite being sunset and movement-blurred, the look of the 'water' is a bit strange.

I am not so sure about the tilted horizon, I think I would hang the picture at an angle!

o-eternal-o responds:

Thank you so very much for such a detailed review! :D

I always find scales so tedious, which is why i tend to rush them. But i completely agree with you. And definitely want to start improving the scales.

THe water was a rushing afterthought :P I also agree with you there as well, it does look weird, lol.

Thanks again :)

[Dragon Girl in Summer Fun]

Nice- fun!

Its a fun idea, neatly and clearly done. It has that bold, poster style that your other dragon pictures have. I will look at it with a view to the title.
Nice bright border- lovely shells with a bit of detail to them. Nice beach with some details and good trees.

Anthro-dragons are not to my taste much, but that is what this is supposed to be and it succeeds well.
I like the details on her when one Full views- four leaf clover and tail ornament

The shadows look good, but they go the wrong ways. Since the sun is just off the picture, the shadow is in the wrong place for her chair and a different direction again for the tree on the left hand side.
I don't get your interpretation of dragon wings entirely. I don't see how the right wing could be so wide at the base.

Kralissa responds:

XD OH my gosh your right, I do have the shading very wrong on this one mainly the chair part! Lol, I had that funny feeling on this one as if there something I did wrong but wasn't able to figure it out.

I'm very much still learn the trade of being an artist, oh and the wings a bat like where the webbing starts at their buttoms and expend widely.

Thank you very much for you amazing comments, it helped me a lot it truly has.

[Hero's Eclipse]

Very good

I looked at the other red dragon-Before the Battle first. See my review for comparison. The two make interesting viewing.
Obviously they are both technically top quality pictures- The kind that could be used professionally. I like the subject matter becuase I like dragons! They should be viewed as what they are- gifts for someone called Red Dragon, which means they should be bold, clear emblems-something he can say "Thats me!" Like the other, this suceeds perfectly in that respect. I suppose one should accept that the way the wings look in perfect symetry despite the figure being at an angle is just a sort of heraldic/emblamic look. It has great shading, beautiful form and good anatomy.
It has just a little more detail in the Full View than Before the Battle, which I like, but still has that slightly unbelievable shiney/perfect look about it I described in detail for BTB.

I think the eclipse idea is not a good one. You may have had some specific meaning in mind, but eclipses just don't look like that. The light doesn't blaze out of a total eclipse round the edge lighting up the whole sky that is not dark clouds. You want to show the flash of light on the sword; you want the blade to gleam- total eclipses are dark, like dusk and the light round the edge is just a sparkle- so it looks like you created the picture and plonked a black disc in the way.

The anatomy is interesting- this one is not human-like, and as such is more to my taste. more like a horse or a cat. Personally, I prefer dragons to be more reptilian, and look less like a grown-up version of a girly drawing of My Little Pony, but that is a matter of our different tastes, not your artistic ability, or your achievement of purpose with this picture!

The background has just a little more to it, which, given that you want us to see it on full view is good- there has to be plenty of detail to see when one does that. the watermark is a little more subtle, which I prefer. Its less distracting and more modest.

Kralissa responds:

Lol, this was a new style that I was trying to master with a touch or my own flow of colors.

Yes I was basing it of a dog, cat and horse like structures, A lot of dragon fans love the human like type ones, I do too. But I prefer making it this way to defined my anthros from dragons.

May bad on the eclipse, see I was trying to make the eclipse as it hits the sun and it does that blinding glow of light. I didn't look at any picture of the eclipse just remebered how it was when I seen it long ago in real life.

Now I looked at some picture of the eclipse and I forgot to add some details to make that effect of the eclipse moving like and have a shine on one end of the moon to make that look.

[Before the Battle]

I'm a bit biased but I like it

Striking pose, lots of detail. Anatomically good interpretation- the wings look like adapted paws, as they should.
As a sort of badge/logo its perfect, I suppose- red dragon person for Red Dragon with a apt background.

To truly inspire me as a painting- 10/10 it would have to resolve into a bit more detail on Full Size, with a more realistic look. It looks just a bit too shiny/plasticky perfect unlike a real, living character, without a flaking scale or a scrap of dirt, no craters on the moon and the wings are too symetrical for a figure standing at an angle. If it had maybe a nick out of an ear or a few scatches on the blade it might look like it had the neccesary experience to actually win that battle.

Your interpretation of the legs is interesting. The claws look like talons, as most dragons are given, but you have raised the animal up onto its toes, digitigrade like a cat or dog, with a dew claw. That would mean it is geared up for running, rather than grasping with claws from on the wing, like an eagle- which given that it has forepaws like a human, makes a kind of jack-of-all-trades sense for an animal blessed with six limbs.

Kralissa responds:

Thank you for commenting on my work! It's been sometime now that anyone took the time and tell me what to improve on and what's wrong or right in my pictures.

On deviantART every buddy are to layback, That's not bad but it's a little bother some when you even ask for some Critique and they wont give you any and say it's perfect while it's not.