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Cleanup and More Detailing 

If you look at the last lesson, the whole piece is still rough, and kind of messy. Using the black airbrush tool, I've added a border all the way around each shape in the picture. This just helps the form separate from the background more. You don't need to use black for this - a dark version of the color can do. And, you don't have to outline the whole form. Often, if your background is fairly dark, you can have the highlight define the outer edge of the form. A strong black outline like I have here often makes the piece seem a bit cartoonish, but it's an easy technique to get really striking results. And I love cartoons anyway, so I like it.

If you really want to get extremely realistic lighting, you need to study objects and animals that have the lighting, colors and textures you want for your piece. There's NO substitute for studying real objects when you draw! :-) I have even gone as far as sculpting dragon heads and lighting them to get forms right, or drawing my cats and 'morphing' them into dragons in a series of sketches.

I've also added a deep golden mane to this dimar. I felt the neck was a little boring. Unlike reptiles or traditional earth dragons, Dimar are more mammalian, and all have hair. In the case of the war breed, as shown here, their manes often tuft out under their neck shields.

I've darkened the teeth, because they stood out too much outlined in black, and would be in shadow with the lighting I'm using for this picture. I know this from my experiences drawing from my sculptures - again, there's no substitute for studying a 3D object...

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