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Viant-T In reply to Draxiss [2013-10-27 04:32:28 +0000 UTC]

oooooh what a wonderful, villianous idea of thinking about lovecraft influence to this. *grins, giggles a little*

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Draxiss In reply to Viant-T [2014-10-30 17:38:50 +0000 UTC]

Also, (and maybe this is just my dragon bias talking) the image doesn't make me think of the creature as villainous. Mysterious, alien, and potentially dangerous, yes. Grotesque and intimidating, even. Not villainous, though. The creature seems more like a . . . I dunno, like a wild animal? Something a bit more majestic, anyways. 

Also, it seems more aggressive (or territorial) than angry. It reminds me more of the triumphant roar of a lion, or the cry of a bird of prey.

Or, I suppose, any establishing shot of a dragon landing on something high in the distance and letting out a roar (there's plenty of movies and video games to choose from). 

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Viant-T In reply to Draxiss [2014-11-07 04:19:09 +0000 UTC]

Morals sets man and animal apart. When an animal acquires morals, then we would have something to worry about. 

At what point does a vexed man become villainous? Getting a bit deep here, but usually anything that isn't familiar incites some level of terror. 

But agreed, seems more like a hellish creature rather than a sentient servant. does it need to be standing upright and human shaped  to step in that direction?

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Draxiss In reply to Viant-T [2014-11-13 09:37:03 +0000 UTC]

I had a huge, rambling post I was going to write, but I kept revising, editing, reworking, and other redundant statements-ing it until I realized I was going to hit you with a horrible wall of text. 

To sum it up: It's all subjective, so ART IT TO DEATH. 
For the sake of being practical and not spiraling down into a philosophical debate from which there is no escape (unless you've got a super-soaker), I'll cheat a little bit and just list some of my ideas that will trigger the desired response in a person who doesn't over-think things. 

First, the viewer doesn't feel like he/she is in danger. Evil is associated with danger. Because of the background, it feels more like the dragon's being viewed from a safe distance. 
Second, a defensive person is a person who doesn't like what he/she's defending against. People get more defensive the more they feel like THEY'RE the target. Thus, having the dragon focus on the viewer, or something the viewer knows they're supposed to care about (a knight, a child, a prince(ss), etc.), makes the viewer more likely to vilify the dragon. 
Third, give the dragon a sinister expression. That's made more challenging by the fact that the dragon doesn't have a traditional face, but, I dunno, give it an aggressive stance or something. Make it snarl, if you can manage that with the mandibles. Ooh! Have a shadow over it's face, particularly it's eyes. 
Fourth, add a layer of humanity to it. Give it some form of familiarity. This is sort of a summation of the others, as well as being it's own idea. I should mention, however, that this one is much more dependent on the viewer. Many people will automatically associate the alien with the evil, without needing any help. For me, however, seeing something alien doesn't make me instinctively assume that it's evil.
I've been exposed to enough Lovecraftian themes that I feel the question, "Is it good or evil?" is wrong. I have a bit of a monster bias, I should mention. 

On a side note, "hellish" isn't a word I'd associate with a creature that lacks a human-like sense of morality, for good or evil. "Hellish" sounds like you're describing something that came from HELL, a place famous for being associated very, very strongly with EVIL.

Also, I think you mean "sapient," not "sentient." "Sapient" has to do with possessing human-like intelligence. "Sentient" just means that it can perceive its surroundings. 

(Sorry for the text wall; I tried to break it up. )

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Viant-T In reply to Draxiss [2014-11-16 23:03:44 +0000 UTC]

Ah. I didnt want to do a straightforward view on the dragon facing the viewer right off cause it was a bit too common in horror. but no, it makes total sense to give it a target/victim to give the viewer something to base their feelings towards the beast. Giving it expression i'll have to get creative about cause it doesnt have anything other than a mouth of mandibles on that head, and body language with 6 limbs and a tail. lol

I'll have to start breaking down some concept arts for it, to find a better display for this fellow. 

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Draxiss In reply to Viant-T [2015-07-13 05:32:54 +0000 UTC]

Since I noticed I kinda stuck to the criticism, I wanted to let you know that I thought this was AMAZING. Seriously.

Also, yeah, monster facing the viewer is pretty cliché. It's more just a shortcut, and can be misused if you don't understand *why* it works the way it does. 

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Draxiss In reply to Viant-T [2014-11-17 19:19:52 +0000 UTC]

I actually LIKE the idea that the entity isn't necessarily evil. However, I should warn you that I'm the kind of person who cheers for the monster, so my opinion probably doesn't match popular opinion. 

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Draxiss In reply to Draxiss [2014-11-13 09:40:45 +0000 UTC]

Whoops, didn't finish my thought for my first point. I meant to point out that you SHOULDN'T make the viewer feel safe, at the end there. 

*its
I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out where that correction needs to go. 

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Draxiss In reply to Viant-T [2014-02-28 21:59:04 +0000 UTC]

Lovecraft was my first thought, actually.

It's difficult to tell the size of the creature, however. So much of it is too dark and lacks contrast. My first thought was that it looked to be the size of the mountains in the background.

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Viant-T In reply to Draxiss [2014-03-01 05:35:41 +0000 UTC]

Yea. the darkness level bugs me cause it looks so different on both my monitors, even after adjustments between the screens and the image. Also wanted to avoid using blur to experiment with perspective, but eh, still learning. Thanks though for pointing it out, which will help on future pics. 

Wrote a rough draft for a short story about it, still don't like the climax so its gonna be stuck as a wip til something better can be imagined. 

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Viant-T In reply to fisheypixels [2013-10-19 02:21:02 +0000 UTC]

Those stupid cazadors can rot in a space reserved in a nuclear oven on the sun. 

Ty for reminding me of the pain they caused me, this will compound the vileness that this dragon can and will be.

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fisheypixels In reply to Viant-T [2013-10-19 05:25:47 +0000 UTC]

Yes! I concur completely!

No problem!!  YAY FOR VILENESS!!  ....wait....

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Viant-T In reply to Aumari [2013-10-13 02:05:03 +0000 UTC]

Not uhhhh

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Aumari In reply to Viant-T [2013-10-13 02:15:20 +0000 UTC]

oh shush, you are in my eyes!

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