yo, do you like crits?

Critiques? Feel free to give them. I'm by no means an expert, so they're appreciated. XD

a'ight, much obliged

- First thing I noticed was there's not a really big tonal range goin' on. To see what I mean, toss't into photoshop, convert it to grayscale, then apply a 10px gaussian blur. (or you can just look at it and squint -- the photoshoppin' method helps me remove the bias of having made it and stared at it for hours, but whatever works for you) That is to say, relative to the rest of the picture, almost everything is a midtone. there's no contrast, no focus. mix it up a little -- look at photos of heavily moonlit scenes:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all.....lit&m=text
http://images.google.com/images?hl=.....=&gs_rfai=
http://browse.deviantart.com/photog.....&q=moonlit

take in mind the exposure rates of photos vary, so, particularly at night, there isn't a 'right' one. you probably want a high exposure for the effect you're going for; sorry if I'm using weird terminology, but thinking of myself while painting as a human camera or renderer taught me a lot about light

- did you dodgeburn? don't take it as an insult, but it's been a while and I can't really tell. don't do that.

- you drew all the scales, but didn't paint them in in the highlights? do it man, it's repetitive and fun!

- the moon itself looks kind of wacky but there's not much I can say for it -- maybe soften out the sharp edge of the shadow on it, otherwise, look at refs of a crescent moon. (lot of light for a crescent moon for that matter, but it's really close too -- just say it's fantasy and let it slide?)

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=crescent+moon

tl;dr push your shadows and highlights! it's the moon!

i might be taking an undue focus on painting and not lines, but to be honest I don't see a huge issue with your lines -- you seem to understand 3d form and mass well enough

also yell at me if I'm being patronizing I'm trying to get better at this

http://www.elfwood.com/farp/dramash.....ramashade.html this isn't a particularly good tut but it does get across my meaning pretty well -- in particular that lights look lighter next to dark, and vice versa -- and what I mean by 'pushing' value.

Thanks for the help. I've always struggled with lighting. And I don't use the dodge/burn tool. I tried highlighting the scales, but it looked funny. On my next dragon piece I'll give it another shot. :)
I've also always struggled with the sun/moon, because I suck at the gradient-lighting. I know that it's irregularly large and such, but I did that on purpose for the picture. XD I'll try doing a more serious piece with harsher lighting next time.

Thanks again for the help!

This is gorgeous

Thanks! X3

Wow, stumbled across this while just browsing recent uploads, very beautiful.

Thank you!

I also randomly stumbled across this in newest, I like. Lot of potential up in here
I like the texture overlay you used on the rocks, I always forget to use those x_x It's a nice touch.

Thanks! Your comments/critiques are much appreciated. I've just recently started branching out with lighting/textures, I'm glad it shows potential. :3

Beautiful

thanks! X3