Idk i saw a cool dragon image when looking for inspiration so i decided to make it. Its started off just about the sculpting but I decided to put some materials and render it out. Took me about 5 days. But i learned a lot so i count it as a win. All criticism welcome!
*I did not make the bottom reference image.
wwanttolearn3d Thank you! I believe i just used the ambient occlusion node in cycles cause I didn't feel like texture painting, and just used a noise texture to change the color of the emission, I have been doing blender for about 3 years.
Holy, wow. Thats crazy, how long did it take you to get this good? The emission behind the scales looks amazing, how did you do that?
This looks dope! I agree, much better than the reference. Maybe try adding a background or even a back light to make the edges of your sculpt stand out more?
I think your render is more realistic than your inspiration image—as much as the word ‘realistic’ is applicable to dragons. :-) On your inspiration image, the poor creature looks like it’s choking on a lightsaber it accidentally swallowed; yours one breathes plasma all right. ;-)