EDIT: thanks skool :)

A castle in the clouds.

Picture is awesome so far, by the way.

Put like a really tall saguaro cactus with a monkey clinging onto the cactus and have the monkey throwing bombs and stuff like that at the guy on the dragon.

humorman
Put like a really tall saguaro cactus with a monkey clinging onto the cactus and have the monkey throwing bombs and stuff like that at the guy on the dragon.

That's stupid. How does a monkey carry a supply of bombs up a cactus?

Moon-hookers on flying surfboards would be a far better idea. Yo'll be able to see up their skirts. :)

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God pic skull!
One thing- the neck scales need to be more consistent with the scale style you'll go for on the head and neck, or else things won't fit- the head will need smaller scales for those facial features So it could be better to go for small scales all round, and just a suggestion of them at that?

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For the Background, what can help make you decide is the sort of BG that'll give you the finished image you want or help with the narrative.
-Say you want dramatic backlighting, then grey cloudy storm sky with the sun breaking through and small silhouettes of other dragons in the distance could be good.
- Or you could give another reason for the rider's loss of control and help with the narrative of the pic (like Humorman's troll suggestion), so another dragon and rider in hot pursuit would be good. Maybe the rider stole his drgo and so can't ride it very well and they're chasing him to get it back?

-Only draw stuff like castles if you're comfortable with them, You don't want to ruin a great pic.

I'd suggest a somewhat blurred scene looking almost straight down at the ground, so it looks like the dragon is almost flying up vertically. Maybe you could stick some intermediate clouds (ie flying above the clouds) in there too. For 3 reasons:

1- we can't see most of the dragon's body, if you look at the image he could just as well be standing around with a guy pulling frantically on the reins for some reason

2- a sky background is what's 'expected.' Having the ground in the image would actually be more 'disorienting' which creates interest. It would completely change the 'angle' of the scene from head-on to down-from-above.

3- showing the ground below would remind the viewer that it is in fact a very long way to the ground and the rider is about to have a bad fall, creating a sense of tension/danger. If it were just sky, you don't know how high up they are, and in fact they could still be on the ground (although the implication is otherwise).

i like the moon hookers idea but also the monkey idea...
hmm..

make 'em a monkey moon hookers throwing bombs on flying surfboard

Hey, that looks great! (and not just 'cos I suggested it, haha) I really like how it's circular, with the clouds and the little village in the center. It fits with the 'shape' created with the dragon's wing and tail, and the village in the middle draws the eye down into it (an effect enhanced with the circle shapes)... It's sort of like you've created a kind of funnel going down, which makes it look far away :] Well done!

I was surprised by Skool's suggestion, since I've already done that scene before...



Nothing wrong with it, it works well.

I don't get how my suggestion was suprising because you've drawn a similar scene? Unless you just meant the coincidence was surprising. :] I don't think showing the ground in a flying scene is TOO original. I was just suggesting it to increase the tension.

skoolmunkee
the coincidence was surprising.

This. ;)

Ah I see :] For some reason what you said kind of confused me.

Yours was very nice too. :kitty: More floaty effect than fally effect which was appropriate. :]