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Griatch-art — Hide and Seek
Published: 2009-05-21 21:29:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 4603; Favourites: 51; Downloads: 0
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Description
First thing you need to do when hiding from a dragon is to shut up the Jester ...This image is huge. A zoom-in can be found here: [link]
A fun little imaginary scene from the roleplaying world of Deep Forest at the rp forum Unicorn's visions ([link] ) (this didn't actually happen in gameplay ... yet):
Old dragon Ebb as well as the four-handed jester is ©Griatch and all that (you see them elsewhere in my gallery).
Other characters are copyrighted to their respective owners,
Meali (winged unicorn) - ©Gaeva [link]
Crystal (girl in green dress) - ©Cristalhoa on UV
Devon (bipedal donkey) ©TheChemist57 [link] (Gaius on UV)
Mao-mao (covering panda) ©Kota on UV
Ribbit (young wolf) © toadiez [link] (Toadie on UV)
MyPaint SVN + GIMP 2.6
You should really, really look at the full size image.
The original is a massive 6896x4320 pixels, I will probably get a print for myself in the future.
EDIT: Made some adjustments of Ebb's armour, shanged some minor things related to light.
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Griatch
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Comments: 38
I love how it actually takes three to restrain the Jester, that she's struggling against them and even looks disappointed about the whole thing XD Devon and Meali's apprehensive looks upwards are very fitting to the scene (mostly seen from the smaller detail version) and really give it that little touch of tension and fear...which is then broken by the Jester of course, lol. Crystal's worried face and pose are very good, the way she covers the Jester's face really gives off the most realistic "danger" vibe. Mao mao is just plain cute ^_^ And in danger of getting accidenatlly kicked by Jester too it seems...
Ebb's claws leaving those imprints really would make one gulp, that's nothing you want to encounter on a bad day! The way his head angles away and will possibly swing towards our little hiding friends adds to that tension I already mentioned, that's nice. There's a mist coming off of his wings, so I take it he's been flying and is now cooling down? Or just opening his wings up is enough to cool down? Anyway, this time I like how he's more blurred towards the back, it fits the dimensions. Just like it looks really great how detailed his scales are all over the place, especially on his arm! I think it wouldn't have hurt to give a little bit more of a scaly impression on his back "hip" wihout giving up the blurriness to indicate he's really covered in them from nose to tail. He could be mistaken for being slightly smoother to the back, though it's just a detail. Another little detail: I really like how it's so dark and creepy behind Ebb, while there's that innocent pretty white glow to the left. It devides the image into black and white sort of, just like the tension and danger combined with that touch of humor from the Jester's addition to the image. Bit of Yin Yang there ^_^
I see Ebb's head has been mentioned. I know his head isn't supposed to be large at all, but I just looked at some other images of him and it seems it's even smaller than usual in this pic. I think the problem is he is hardly ever seen in his full glory (for obvious reasons) so it's hard to judge his normal head size. I would say that normally he has more teeth though, thus a longer head to accomodate them. But that's up for you to decide what his real look is ^_~ The only part that had me staring for a bit to place correctly is what I think is either his shoulder or his wing joint. Or possibly both. The part that sticks out to the left of the tree. I think it's positioned right, but it still creates a bit of a "what's that?" moment when first seen so close to the head.
The trees are great btw, for someone who doesn't like to draw them you've made a very fine forest there. Also nice how the trees to the left are almost devine looking while the ones behind Ebb are eery and hidden in the darkness, lol.
They are so close to safety but it's just out of their reach!
Not much real critique I guess, it's just a lovely picture, lol ^_^
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Thanks for the feedback! This "critique" thing is kinda neat. 
I have made some extra lines on the hind-part of Ebb's armour as you suggest, to show that there are indeed just as much detail there as in the front.
I see your point about his right wing-joint; I could move it backwards, but at this point I think a little "what's that" moment can be acceptable for this image.
Glad you notice the steam rising from his wings. It could well be that he has just flown, but more likely, a creature this size produce so much excess heat that he is probably radiating off a lot of heat from those large wing-areas.
I know several people have commented on the head, it's quite possible I have jammed evem more teeth in there in some images, his maw is supposed to be around three meters in length, and judging from the head being slightly further away from the foreground characters and measuring against them, the scale seems roughly right.
Thanks a lot for the critique, most useful!
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Griatch
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I probably would have written that much even without the word limit, so there 
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Cool, the characters actually are from roleplaying, so it's not too far away with thinking of a D&D campaign. Thanks for the fave!
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Thanks! I'm honored to be added to a collection with the word "elite" in it too, glad you like it!
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Griatch
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Fabulous work, this GIMP thing could really take off too
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Thanks for the comment and fave! Much appreciated!
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Griatch
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We're all hoping that soon it will do even more!
Liam
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Griatch that is absolutely incredible! The amount of detail put into it is just breathtaking 
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Thanks! Glad you like my interpretation of Mao mao; we'll see when Ebb has need for his "favour"...
Thanks for the watch!
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Griatch
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hi Griatch, this is not your best i think. Our best piece never comes since we continous painting .But is a very good one.
Good composition. it is a bit difficult to understand what is what .
Dragon: Great, scary and well textured. i like , it is a bit difficult to see his parts but this is one of your common problems.i don´t know if it is a drwing problem but is there.i can´t explain very well in english.
It is funny see their facial expresions . i like more the zoom out than the bigger one. becouse is more focused and give us more detail about the mood the scene. watching their faces we can imagine what is happening better.
i think u use to much the greens in this image, maybe a range of browns and dark blue or darpurple for shadows will work better. And the hollow of the tree is a bit sketchy-
that is my first impression. Good image but you can improve it with not too much work.
best regards this is a critique imho. of course.
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Thanks for the feedback! Always good to get seasoned critique.
Since this is a character with a rather well-established anatomy I guess it can be somewhat confusing what is what if one does not know him from before. That said people seeing this seems to split into two camps - one camp which has no trouble at all seeing what is what, and a second camp who can't make heads or tails of the dragon ... it's an interesting thing.
I agree the detail offers a more focused view of the action; I was at one point considering to only use that one but felt the full body-view of the dragon was actually quite imposing in itself, even though the characters in the bottom does not really come across as well in that one.
As for the green, I know what you mean, I might play around with it a bit, but I'm not sure I will change it at this point.
... As an interesting aside, the style of this piece is actually done as a wink to the traditional artwork of Swedish fantasy painter John Bauer (1882-1918), whose coloration and painting of deep forests have influenced much of Swedish storytelling.
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Griatch
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My best eh? Interesting (and cool)! And thanks for the fave too!
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Griatch
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I love this! Your trees are awesome! Love the flowers. The dragon's head does seem a bit small (in reference to another comment) but it's ok to me.
The deer look beautiful but to me they seem out of place only because they look... normal... where everyone else is a fantastic creature. In reference to another comment, to me the right deer just seems to be grazing and that's why it's less visible.
Could you perhaps zoom in on the hollow? Like a closeup view? I'd love to see that in a larger size. I love the scene in there, with the Jester being restrained. Very cute and funny!
The hollow part could be a whole painting in itself! It's my favorite part.
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Thanks for the comment, glad you like it! The deer are somewhat large, simply because if I were to make them normal-size they would be a few smudges that noone would see ... I guess large deer is not too strange considering the weird creatures in the painting.
You are not the only one asking for a zoom-in of the hollow, so I set it up as a separate deviation here: [link]
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Griatch
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Thank you! Not to say the whole picture isn't wonderful, but I wanted a better look at the hollow.
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Well...I can't think of anything to say. It's just really good.
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Lol, your comments are always so ... to the point, MNM.
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Griatch
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The whole image looks freaking awesome. The only problem with it that jumps out at me is Ebb. His proportion looks all weird and it's difficult for me to make out what limbs go where in proportion to the rest of him. Either he has a really small head or a really long neck, but from the angle the image provides, it looks like a really small head. I just can't make out the shape of his body or where one leg/arm is supposed to be. To me he looks like a big blob of grey scaly stuff with teeth. Overall though, very nice piece.
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Hmm, you are seeing Ebb's head from the back actually, the head is comparably small compared to the rest of the body, that is true, but possibly the angle causes the headplate that stretches backwards to show less than it otherwise would.
Otherwise he is intended to be bipedal (the wings and front shoulder start at the same place), the only source of confusion I can see is the front claw which is pulled back to grasp the tree...
I think I'll have to let this rest a bit and come back to it to see if his pose does indeed appear confusing to me; it's easy to go blind over things like this having worked on an image for a while. Thanks for the comment!
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Griatch
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This is very cool Griatch! You might want to darken up the inner side of the hollow in the tree they're hiding it, especially in certain spots that seem like they should be in pretty deep shadow. Also, what's with the animals in the lake? I really don't mean this offensively, but they look absolutely terrible, or at least the one on the left does. You might also want to sharpen up the edge on the bottom left, that's touching the lake. The angles don't make sense for it to be touching the water, with the distances and such. Or maybe it's the edge of the grass that's directly to the left of the close leftmost tree's middle-lower trunk, near the roots. The lake also appears a little vertical in the foreground portion.
Apart from that, it looks really great.
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Thanks for the feedback!
Heh, the confusion arises from the fact that it is not a lake but a sea of fluffy white flowers. They do indeed not match the edges of the forest since they are above the ground.
I'll take a look at the darkness of the hollow.
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Griatch
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Oh. That explains a lot. The animals look rather large thought, and it seems like too much of the one on the left is in the flowers or *something*. Something about it just seems... off? I dunno. Like, he's just sitting on top of the flowers, not standing in them, the flowers don't change at all where he's standing, but they change where the one to the right of him is more submerged.
And it seems odd that a deer /wouldn't/ be looking at a GIANT DRAGON.
I also agree with Schingiuire on Ebb; it took me a while to figure out what I was looking at with him.
Really sweet transfer from light to darkness, and Ebb really draws the eye. One could almost not even notice the characters with a cursory glance.
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I fully agree about the size of the deer; the reason for this was more a matter of practicality than anything - this image is so large the deer looked like small smudges if I did them proper size. So they're very large deer (not so strange considering the other weird creatures in the image). As for why they don't notice the dragon, well ... this could potentially be the moment just before they start running for all we know.
You could be right about the flowers around the deer though; maybe some more compression around it would make for a better impression.
Thanks a lot for the feedback, very useful to me. Oh- and also thanks a lot for the fave!
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Griatch
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You know what, you might want to fade the colors of the deer to indicate distance as you did with the trees in the background, because presently they appear to be closer up, and therefore a normal size.
As to the fave, not a problem
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Fading the deer is a good idea, I'll try that. I'm just afraid they disappear again, they cannot be made too inconspicuous, realistic or not as it may be ...
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Griatch
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I know what you mean, the whole balancing act is quite difficult!
Great piece
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I changed the light a bit in this image now, fading the deer somewhat.
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Griatch
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"One could almost not even notice the characters with a cursory glance."
Scratch that, I'm just really tired.
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