The Gang is all Here (BG)

First time using the actual critique box on dA, lulz. Originality is low because there's billions of pictures that resemble this one. Haha, don't worry about that though, since I'd rate my own 'group' pictures that low since it's been done a billions times before.

Anyways, let's get down to business. When I'm looking at the picture from a distance, I say that it looks pretty good. It's honestly difficult to make a multiple character picture, despite what some people might say.

Regardless of that, when I move up closer to it to see any of the finer details, I notice a lot of things that you definitely should work on it.

Let's start with the lines. While at a distance, as I mentioned earlier, they look pretty good, they do tend to lose their luster when you close in. I noticed that they've got a ton of corners like you'd used to line tool or something. Unless you use it on something that WOULD have corners like that, like a type of horn, I'd suggest you practice using something that you can use to make a curve, giving the lines a smoother feel to them. It helps make the picture more appealing to the eyes.

Also, the lines seem to be...rather fuzzy or soft. It's fairly unattractive, honestly. I'd suggest you make them a bit harder. Not so much that they'd have little jagged points along them, but just enough to have them give a solid feel to them.

The outer lines and the ones around the eyes...you should probably work on reducing the size of them in some places. Not every place mind you, as they actually work that way, like in the dragon Wyld's hindleg. It looks pretty good except for a few squiggly lines and the occasional unerased portion where you accidentally went over an upper line with one that should be below it, like at his knee. But definitely try to work on reducing the size of the lines around the eyes, unless you were trying to give them...um, a raccoon-y, sleepy look?

Oh! And some advice for that. Try to resize your picture before you start lining it. Shrinking the size allows you to work with your lines much more than having it so huge that you have to move the picture constantly to get to parts. It makes your lines stop and start again and again, making the lineart rather sloppy. And when you're done, you can just blow the size back up to where you'd like it.

Next, what the bloody hell going on with your dragons wings?? It looks like someone hacked them off, rolled them into joints or cigarettes, then sewed them back on. The wings are supposed to look like they'd be able to carry the creature in flight, but the way you have them folded, it looks like (when extended) they'd have no body to them whatsoever. Try to make them thicker, maybe have a portion hanging down on their sides, or even having a part of the arm portion of the wing visible still so it doesn't look like they've just totting rolled...things around. Because, let's be honestly, bones just don't bend that way, lol!

Now let's take a look at the claws. In some places, like with that green one next to the black and blue one in the left corner, his fore claw actually looks pretty bad ass, with them being spaced like that. But in a few places, you could definitely use some work. I can see where you get some of the techniques from, I've learned the same way using Neondragon's how-to book. Still, I think you should keep working on some of them, like when it comes to that black dragon with the blue horns. The way her toes are placed just makes it look painfully awkward. Same for that green dragon on the blue and white one all the way up top. Try to give them a little more form than what you have been doing. And the blue and red dragon near the left corner...just ouch, man. It looks like it's just got a "L" for a foot, with just one single claw on it. You can barely see any of the other ones peeking over the first. And all that's not to mention the purple dragon's feet. I have no idea what he's supposed to be doing, since it looks like he's sliding down something, with the way he feet are positioned.

And, oh my god, what happened to that tan dragon's front claw??? It looks like it was maimed or something. Even at a distance that thing is making the picture look kinda...strange. It's just because it stands out so badly. I'd suggest working on his claws more instead of just leaving it like that. Elongating the toes would make it look much better than just being a stump with claws.

Ahem, now let's move onto the coloring itself. I must say that I love the coloring on that black and blue dragons with the split tail, it actually looks like muscling from a distance. Anyways, what were you trying to even do with those dots all over the place? Make sweet spots? It...it doesn't really work here. You have them in places where shading should be, like under the wings of that tan one, and in several other places, you haven't even blurred them to give me a more natural look. It's like they're screaming "Here we are!! Look here!" but in a loud obnoxious voice instead of the sweet voice that they'd normally do. Also, I don't think you should put those type of markings on dragons with hide instead of scales. It makes them seem like they're scaled instead of how you have them. The highlights for dragons with hide should be like how you've done your muscling on the black and blue one, long and smooth patches, not little dots. Also, you should probably plan out the shadows and highlights a little better. That white dragon with the bandages around her feet has shadows that just run everywhere, instead of smoothly like a dragon with hide should have.

And when it comes to shading stuff like the claws, horns, spines, and general hard surfaces, like underbellies if they have hard scales, make the coloring harder. Try to keep from smoothing it too much and try to give it a well defined highlight. It definitely makes the difference between the skin and something that's harder.

But now the closer I look, I've noticed just a few more things on the coloring. In some places, you've not smoothed out markings. I can understand if you want it to take a defined shape, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least give it some smoothing. It'll keep it from looking like a choppy mess, like with that blue and white dragon that's making out with the other one, it kinda looks amateurish. And in more places you've colored over lines. Like you've put a belly color on an arm or leg accidentally. Not to mention you've forgotten to color in some places, add detail to a few others, and haven't erased some of the color that has escaped the lines. Whenever you'd done with a picture, you need to go back over it to check these things.

Now the background. I like what you did with the grass, having different shades of green in it instead of one solid color, but...what the hell is the gray stuff? Stone? You probably should add some brown to that next time, it'd make it look a lot more natural. And try to stiffen up the shading for that rock, the colors have been blended so much that it just look like a lump of gray...stuff, instead of a solid rock. The sky looks okay, but you should try to keep the clouds straight instead of twisting to go with the available sky like that. It's not a big deal though, lol, since they're clouds and they have no solid shape.

Shadows on the ground aren't that bad either, they look pretty decent, in all honesty. Yeah, they need to be stretched out better in places to match the size of your creatures, but you didn't do to bad. ...except for when it comes to the tan dragon. It's like you just said "Fuck that" to giving him a shadow.

Aaaaand that's about it. I'll probably think of something later and voice it in the comments, but that's about all for now. All in all, not the best drawing I've seen, but not the worse either. It's, well, it's in the middle. More practice will definitely help straighten out the issues you still have.

Alright, gonna end it now instead of rambling on and building this wall of text even more, lol, since this is the single longest critique I've ever given someone. Good luck in the future.
~Zs99