approach for a papercut- style - dragon with traditionial elements of chinese dragons.



tell me your opinions. cheers..

There are a couple of issues here and there....but it depends on what you mean by "papercut - style". If it means that you're planning to cut it with home/craft cutter, or CNC, it will be a problem that the outer path is broken in couple of places. And a few other issues, if you are planning to cut digitally.

But maybe you were looking more for comments about the artistic style? Oh! I see it's a whole artistic style - somewhat historic Asian style artwork (http://www.shutterstock.com/s/papercut+ ... ctors.html), or a type of papercraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercutting).

I'm not sure why, but I like the scales. And I don't know if this is a problem or not, but above the 3rd foot from the left, in the middle of the body, it looks like a smalle white object....perhaps it has a thin black stroke?

(Off topic:
I have a game on my computer called Liong the Dragon, which has some really amazing graphics. It's a mahjong and matching type of game where the icons on the tiles are displayed in the body of a chinese dragon. It gets longer and longer as it continues along the winding garden path, and you have to finish before it escapes through the garden gate.)

brynn wrote:There are a couple of issues here and there....but it depends on what you mean by "papercut - style". If it means that you're planning to cut it with home/craft cutter, or CNC, it will be a problem that the outer path is broken in couple of places. And a few other issues, if you are planning to cut digitally.

..i'm planning to embroider the drawing onto textiles, so you're right, i'll have to put some time into the finish solving the issues you were pointing to and then export the svg via the extensions we've been discussing at another point.

brynn wrote:But maybe you were looking more for comments about the artistic style? Oh! I see it's a whole artistic style - somewhat historic Asian style artwork (http://www.shutterstock.com/s/papercut+ ... ctors.html), or a type of papercraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercutting).

..yes, i was looking for that. i'd like to see the drawings with your eyes because while working at it, i am getting used to it too much and another point of view is most helpful improving the artwork.

brynn wrote:I'm not sure why, but I like the scales. And I don't know if this is a problem or not, but above the 3rd foot from the left, in the middle of the body, it looks like a smalle white object....perhaps it has a thin black stroke?

..cool, the scales are one of the mentioned "traditional" elements, insofar as i've seen them at chinese paper - cuts. you have eagle-eyes, don't you? haven't seen the white stroke until now, this shouldn't be there.

brynn wrote:(Off topic:
I have a game on my computer called Liong the Dragon, which has some really amazing graphics. It's a mahjong and matching type of game where the icons on the tiles are displayed in the body of a chinese dragon. It gets longer and longer as it continues along the winding garden path, and you have to finish before it escapes through the garden gate.)

..nice game, the artwork is really beautiful as far as i can see on the screenshots.

Even without your style description, dragon looked to me like it`s made of paper.
Still, there are a few things which might improve the appearance and make the drago look more convincing.

In order to make it more convincing, as if it`s made of paper, perhaps you should add a few more pattern elements on his body. A few, meaning as much as needed to connect body lines and all of the elements inside. Or at lest, connect the existing ones. A few nice touches would be welcomed on the back of the head, nose, end of the tail and on right elbow and knee.

While at the back of his head, perhaps you`ll find a way to connect his eye with it.

Other than that - quit nice drago.
Full sails!

Maestral wrote:Even without your style description, dragon looked to me like it`s made of paper.
Still, there are a few things which might improve the appearance and make the drago look more convincing.

Dont forget this is going to be embroidered. This will change the look significantly.

I dont have much experience with embroidery but i did a few appliqués and i think the art should be simple.

BTW, theres an embroidery-stitcher script for Gimp, and the result looks like this. See how much detail gets lost ?!
I really like how the legs came out, i dont think they look good with all the black in the original.
.

Maestral wrote:In order to make it more convincing, as if it`s made of paper, perhaps you should add a few more pattern elements on his body. A few, meaning as much as needed to connect body lines and all of the elements inside. Or at lest, connect the existing ones. A few nice touches would be welcomed on the back of the head, nose, end of the tail and on right elbow and knee.

While at the back of his head, perhaps you`ll find a way to connect his eye with it.

Other than that - quit nice drago.
Full sails!

many thanks for your comments! i'll pay heed to them. regarding the plan to embroider the drawing i'll also have to pay attention to the haptic on the textile. a closed surface of a embroidered drawing is kind of stiff, rigid which is not suitable for a thin textile espc. at larger embroideries making the textile less flexible.

Espermaschine wrote:Dont forget this is going to be embroidered. This will change the look significantly.

I dont have much experience with embroidery but i did a few appliqués and i think the art should be simple.

BTW, theres an embroidery-stitcher script for Gimp, and the result looks like this. See how much detail gets lost ?!
I really like how the legs came out, i dont think they look good with all the black in the original.

you're right, the art should be as simple as possible. the gimp-script is interesting, thanks for the link. i've added the plugin-registry lately but this script isn't bundled. the outcome looks interesting but is not representative for the results of a embroidery - machine which is a lot more accurate depending on scale and details.

actually i am sketching the frontal closeup of the dragon. working at this always remind me of my limited skills in drawing. it is really difficult to draw the same dragon from another perspective, it always seem to look different. what is your impression, would you say the frontal closeup is showing the same kind of dragon like the side view above?

since i am drawing with pen and paper, i wanted to do cool dragons but never succeeded. maybe this time, it won't look like an awful try. to round out this post, you'll also find the original sketches attached.



many thanks for your kind replies - cheers!

To me, your drawings on paper are much much more appealing than vectorized ones.

Perhaps... use another sheet of paper for tracing (overlay the drawing on the window with another paper and trace it with sharpie or similar) and then import it in Inkscape for further manipulation. Also, dragons on paper are more of the same kind, rather than those in vectors.

To me, your drawings on paper are much much more appealing than vectorized ones.

..yeah, to me too and i've been thinking about that and the transformation of the drawing by tracing it. the colors and overdrawing of the sketches are maybe interesting for the human eye. whatever, the traced image is never the same - been tracing the drawing with pen and paper a couple of times and had completely different outcomes just depending on a few lines - amazing.

Perhaps... use another sheet of paper for tracing (overlay the drawing on the window with another paper and trace it with sharpie or similar) and then import it in Inkscape for further manipulation. Also, dragons on paper are more of the same kind, rather than those in vectors.

so many ways .. did that and with some more sculpting by pen:



how is it looking now? would you say the left picture could be the front view of the right dragon? which sharp corners of the drawing should be rounded?

I`d say the head on the left one should be narrower. Also, it looks like his head is tilted down and it does affect the appearance.
Bodies are not quite similar. The left one is well fed ,) and it affects the spacing of the inner elements.

For the head, I`d make nose, "ears" and eyes more prominent, which should improve the desired similarity.
For the body, preserve the proportions (distance between the legs is pretty much distorted, and it looks like the left one has no neck now).

I could have sworn I already posted this. But I guess I forgot to submit.

I don't think the left view could be the front view of the side view. That's because in the side view, the legs are down while the back between the legs is higher. But in the front view, the legs are higher than the back between the legs is lower.

Maestral wrote:I`d say the head on the left one should be narrower. Also, it looks like his head is tilted down and it does affect the appearance.
Bodies are not quite similar. The left one is well fed ,) and it affects the spacing of the inner elements.

For the head, I`d make nose, "ears" and eyes more prominent, which should improve the desired similarity.
For the body, preserve the proportions (distance between the legs is pretty much distorted, and it looks like the left one has no neck now).

..been trying to improve the drawing regarding your suggestions:



..bigger, more prominent ears and nose:



which one would you prefer?

brynn wrote:I could have sworn I already posted this. But I guess I forgot to submit.

I don't think the left view could be the front view of the side view. That's because in the side view, the legs are down while the back between the legs is higher. But in the front view, the legs are higher than the back between the legs is lower.

allright! have a look at the actual version - would you say the front perspective and the side perspective is the same kind of dragon? i assumed dragons would behave like snakes contracting the body before attacking, so the front view of the body would look a bit thicker as in side view walking pose.

ha1flosse wrote:

brynn wrote:I could have sworn I already posted this. But I guess I forgot to submit.

I don't think the left view could be the front view of the side view. That's because in the side view, the legs are down while the back between the legs is higher. But in the front view, the legs are higher than the back between the legs is lower.

allright! have a look at the actual version - would you say the front perspective and the side perspective is the same kind of dragon? i assumed dragons would behave like snakes contracting the body before attacking, so the front view of the body would look a bit thicker as in side view walking pose.

Maybe I didn't understand the question. I thought you wanted to know if it was the same exact dragon looking from the side or looking from the front, where the dragon's pose never changed -- as if you had a 3D editor, and you just rotated it around.

But maybe you just wanted to know if they looked like the same kind of dragon? Well yes, they look like the same kind of beast! Could be brothers

I think either your expectations are to high or you didn`t had enough coffee ,)

Developing a character is among the difficult tasks and it`s even more difficult due to the fact that (no matter how odd it might sound) only you can "see" this dragon ,)

Take a look at these...



An excellent illustrator was greeted by an avid fan of his work:
- Your rhinos are so great, I love them all. How do you even make them look so great?
- Which one is the last one you saw?
- The one in (this or that book, or poster...)
- Ah, that one. That was my 189.504th rhino

,)

Move on, don`t get stuck with this one.

brynn wrote:Maybe I didn't understand the question. I thought you wanted to know if it was the same exact dragon looking from the side or looking from the front, where the dragon's pose never changed -- as if you had a 3D editor, and you just rotated it around.

But maybe you just wanted to know if they looked like the same kind of dragon? Well yes, they look like the same kind of beast! Could be brothers

..cool, just wanted to ensure they look of the same kind.

Maestral wrote:I think either your expectations are to high or you didn`t had enough coffee ,)

..no expectations, i'm just trying to push the quality somewhere acceptable.

Maestral wrote:Developing a character is among the difficult tasks and it`s even more difficult due to the fact that (no matter how odd it might sound) only you can "see" this dragon ,)

..everybody looking at a chair see a different chair? i like to get to know your view of the chair. its a nice thing in art to communicate freely about viewpoints and interpretations of artwork, so that's why i was posting this to talk about. i like the "Mushu" character and many other disneys and i am also afraid about that at the same time. the artwork is nice, thanks.

Maestral wrote:An excellent illustrator was greeted by an avid fan of his work:
- Your rhinos are so great, I love them all. How do you even make them look so great?
- Which one is the last one you saw?
- The one in (this or that book, or poster...)
- Ah, that one. That was my 189.504th rhino

..yeah, quantity always produces quality is a general acceptance in modern philosophy.

Maestral wrote:Move on, don`t get stuck with this one.

..this one was planned for embroidery, do you think it's worth the time (approx. 2h+) converting all to a embroidery-format? tell me and don't be daintily.

First and foremost for me is the difference between these two bodies, where left one was well fed and the other one is still hungry ,)

Many thanks for your confidence in my observations, but I see so many tiny things which I`d try to improve and on which the similarity is in fact based on. My advise will be to play one round of "Spot the difference" with these two dragons where in your case, you`ll in fact look for the similarities. Later on, try to build the better one with more and more similarities.

I would also look for more examples of the existing art, since Chinese artists were developing their style through a long long time. There must be some example which would help you improve the en face pose of the dragon.

Is it worth the time? You`re the best judge on that matter. You`ve seen how much attention is brought on Meg`s hair, now imagine how long does it takes for the whole figure. Also, take another look at Mushu, and pay attention on limbs and their distance & proportions.