-  B i g g e r   i s   b e t t e r !  -

- Thanks : ) , glad someone did something like that : ) -

This made a really kickass background on my phone. It looks wonderful.

- Thanks! : ) -

This is probably the best sprite I've ever seen throughout my entire history of seeing sprites oh man.

ohhhhh it´s wonderul
Congratulation CraftPixel :D
 

Fantastic!

Gratz for the top of the month, totally deserved it! 

- I don't think I'll be getting 1st place at all, but thanks Stava! : ). I love your work, don't say that D: -

Well deserved 1st place monthly top award. XD

Don't fav my work anymore ! You are too good to like my work ! XD

- very tedious = (... ty! -

Amazing, I absolutely love the rocks, the scales must have been tedious to do xD

- @fairy ty ! :) , I know it still isn't super great, but I tried :I. Ty so much :) -

- @Pixelarq . That's a good edit : p, the shading would of been better shaded that way : I -

Honestly, I wouldn't take to heart those comments saying this piece looks "unfinished". While I can understand from an artistic perspective why people would say that; what I think is being missed is the inherent value of your individual pixel style.

I respect the hell out of you for this work you've done, and this is clear-cut awesomeness. Well done, Crafty. :)

- Thanks for the critique CELS : ). I know... I don't know that much about realism yet to make it look real enough when It came to shading the scales, etc. The scales took forever, and it just led to this. -

This is really interesting. As others have said, it has some fundamental shortcomings, particularly in terms of directional lighting / pillowshading. But the positive attributes are so overwhelming that it still ends up looking fabulous. The dragon has a lot of detail, but it still matches your simplistic style. The water texture looks great, and the bit where the tail meets the water is a nice detail. The design of the dragon itself is very creative and unusual. And those claws are lovely.

- Thanks everyone for being nice and criticizing. I will try to improve my stuff... -

- Thanks : ) -

very nice!

- Thanks : ), The head is the oldest part of the piece : p. I wanted to add more depth to it, but just made it look a little shinier instead   = / . Thanks a lot! I will try to make to improve at adding details. -

Damnit I love this type of artistic style!  The background is amazing as mentioned.  One little pick I could say is that the dragon face could have been more interesting if you used a technique similar to the prongs on his wings at the top of the image.  If you brought that quality look there, I believe you would have transfered into a more creative head.  Solid piece!  

That being said - - 5/5 from me.

- Thanks : ), I hope the atmosphere feels cold when you look at it : p -

Well, Elk is insane, still your's have a lot of style! :D
 

Wow, how did I miss this? This is really amazing. I liked the more roughed up wings in the WIP, but thats just me.

Very impressive. It looks like a seaweed dragon. I agree with bringing back the sky design. I don't think it will take away from the breath focal point but it'll help draw the viewer's eye to the top part of the picture.

- Thx a lot : ) -

PLS BRING BACK THAT SKY I SAW AT THE WIP PLEASE 

Such a big one!

- Never said I didn't care, just was a little random : I. Admirers? There are just a lot of comments, not everyone that posted them regularly even looks at my stuff. -

I understand if you don't care about it.

- After all, look at all these admirers. -

great one

- I agree with you on probly all of it, but I don't think I know enough about making a good pixel piece like elk would or any of the artists on here. I am still learning, and I think I shouldn't of done scales, because they were a bit too difficult to do.  -

Amazing, truly. So large and yet it is so smooth everywhere! Well freaking done in 26 days. Faved of course.

You've done some phenomenal work, as has been said upthread.  That said, I think you do have an overall issue of 'pillow shading', in the sense that a lot of your shading isn't really reflecting the volume of the dragon.  The head is all universally at one brightness, the body at another, the claws all the same, the tail nearly the same, without much regard for where the light is coming from or the 3D shape of these forms.
The rock he's sitting on is very different in that regard, with its shading doing a great job of conveying its form and seamlessly incorporating the shadows from the dragon as well.  The wings are also much more effective than the rest of the body imo.

Anyway, I'm really not meaning to denigrate your effort or your very impressive accomplishment in this piece--I just think that it's detracting some from the work as a whole and might be something to plan ahead for in future works.

What a phenomenally gargantuan piece.

I like the colors a lot.

The only thing is, it seems like it gets dark rather abruptly where the body connects to the neck. I kinda wish the rest of the body was lighter. Wont stop me from faving this monstrsity though.

Amazing work! 

- Omg thanks so much Mandrill :)), yes... it was depressing, and I wanted to get it out there for some feedback, but at the same time I wanted it to look good, and as finished as I could make it. The sky was going to be way more detailed than it is now. It took up an entire month of my summer, and I just wanted to end that as soon as possible... This isn't going to be my only 'HUGE' pixel art, like at this scale, but for now it is. :) -

750px × 1.250px <- This is nuts

I can't help but  love it. You've managed to create a very clean and comic-like look. Certainly one of your best pieces in terms of execution and commitment yet. Superb colours, design and shading everywhere! The backround alone is worth a monthly top position. The dragon though is truly something else!

But there is something about it that makes it look like it's still in a wip phase. Maybe that's because it feels so awesomely clean. To get it to the same, or near the same, level as Elk I think you'd have to bump up the colour count and put ungodly amounts of time into shading gradients, adding details and reworking lightsources. I don't even want to estimate how long this would take... 6 months at least is my guess.

I also understand that it is quite hard to work on a piece for such a long time without getting any words of encouragement. This can easily lead to releasing stuff too early.

Nevertheless, this is an absolutely epic piece of pixel art. More than worth the effort and time you put into it.

You rock Crafty!

- Thanks Skittle :) -

- Him as competition? I already lost... : p but thanks!!! -

Pixel art is over. We have a winner.

(Well, okay, you've still got some competition with Elk, but wow.)

EDIT: Just realized this was inspired by Elk. Well, okay.

- oh. =/ -

Though the outside is pretty bright already.
...To be honest it looks unfinished.

-  nope. spent a lot of time on this, and don't plan on anymore of it being spent on this. -

Loving the wings so far. Will you be updating this? 

- o.o -

- Yes it is, because the lightest light source is the blue fire. -

Is it finished? Why is only the head illuminated?

good job :)