"BIG" - WIP - Suggestions?

[avfarrar]

Here is my idea for "Big" drawing prompt. It is a small girl knight challenging a huge dragon.
Even though there's already some art submitted that has dragons in them, I thought this would be fun to do anyway . I would love some feedback because I think the composition needs a little tweaking. Any suggestions?

[avfarrar]

Will probably put it on the computer and clean up the line work and color it digitally.

[JerrySketchyArt]

Love the fully unimpressed expression from the dragon.

[ThisKateCreates]

@avfarrar I love it. The only thing I might change is the tail angle where instead of tangent to the left side it appearseems to fully leave the page and return. The "draw through " thing.

[avfarrar]

@ThisKateCreates Thank you for the feedback!

[avfarrar]

@ThisKateCreates Do you think you would be able to send me a quick sketch drawn over my picture of what you're talking about?

[avfarrar]

Alright! So, here is my progress.

I just finished the inks stage. I am about to move on to shading, which will then be followed by color. Yay! :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_smiling_eyes: Let me know what you think.

[ThisKateCreates]

@avfarrar
You kind of did what I meant already.

It looked like you might ink the tail right along the page edge as in red. I was saying imagine it extending out as in black.

Really excited to see your piece! It gave me a laugh.

[avfarrar]

@ThisKateCreates Ah. Thank you!

[A Former User]

Your characters are so cute, the dragon's expression is brilliant, it's made me chuckle haha! Look forward to seeing this in colour!

[avfarrar]

Here is my current progress. Shading is pretty much complete. Also, I changed the dragon's face to match the original sketch better. I will probably fix up the rest of the quirks in the color stage.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

I love your shading and linework. Great job!

[avfarrar]

@nyrrylcadiz Thank you! I am trying something new, where I do the shading first and then add color. We'll see how it turns out.

[Justin Moss]

I really like the direction you are heading.

I would suggest pushing your darker values. This could really help the focal point. The line width is great. It does a wonderful job of leading the eye around the piece. Along with the shape language you are using.

Keep up the good work!

[avfarrar]

@Justin-Moss Thanks for the feedback! Yes I agree that it needs to be darker. Trying to figure out how to do that without losing the dragon's expression--changing into something else...

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@avfarrar you’re work is already looking great. I can’t wait for the final version.

[avfarrar]

Here is my final piece! Just submitted it in the contest. Yaay!

[theprairiefox]

@avfarrar I love the expression on the dragon.

[djly]

@avfarrar did you like coloring using the "shading first" method?

Thanks for posting your work. I love the final piece. I'm new to the world of illustration and so inspiring to see work like yours.

[avfarrar]

@djly Thanks! I appreciate that. God bless your journey in art!
To answer you're question, I think that I did like the shading first method. This picture was done in Photoshop, so doing the "shading-first" method made it easier to do quick changes on the shading even while working on the color, because they were on separate layers.