My initial reaction to the original colored picture was that Cloud’s coloration was too close to Sky’s (though the slightly lighter hues did make me think a little of clouds). I think the darker colors are a step in the right direction, though. And even before I saw your last post, Sky, I was going to suggest that light blue might be a good color for Cloud’s underside. Or you could try the belly color Glide has (though I’m guessing it might not look as good). Giving him entirely bluish/grayish hues seems suitable, as it would give him a more “clouded” appearance.
By the way, Caustizer, did you envision Cloud’s eyes as being blue like his father’s, or more grayish like Star’s and Glide’s? On one hand, his current eye color seems to suggest that his personality is similar to Sky’s, but on the other hand, giving him cloud-colored eyes would further differentiate his appearance from Sky’s, in addition to being appropriate for his name.
I also thought that Glide’s pose looked very familiar, but I really like his expression.
Good to see what his tail looks like, too (I can’t remember if I’e ever seen it before :blink:).
Personally I thought that Sky, Star, and Cloud’s poses all looked very good, especially for a family portrait. The fact that they are in physical contact with one another makes this an even more affectionate picture (in my opinion) than “One Longneck Family”. And I like how Glide’s sort of standing off to the side; it implies that he still doesn’t completely approve of his sister’s choice of mate.
The wrinkles at the front of the adult characters’ eyes look fine to me, but I agree that the ones underneath do look a little odd. And Sky’s left hand does seem kind of boneless; maybe you could change the fingers so that the black lines between them divide them completely, and they all point in the same direction, and from one all point in the same direction. It might also help if less of Sky’s hand (the main part, not the fingers) is visible behind Star’s shoulder. Do you think any of that might help?
In my opinion, the background looks fine; the bush in the lower right-hand corner is a little simplistic, but still, I wish I was that good at drawing backgrounds.
If you want to draw landscapes that look more like the Mesozoic, I’d suggest focusing on plant life. While the climate and geography of the Earth during the time of the dinosaurs was vastly different from today, the land on its own probably wasn’t much different. Many of the mountain ranges that exist today had not formed yet, but on the other hand, there were probably mountain ranges back then that have since eroded away. And while certain areas of the Earth were more geologically active than they are today, on average, there were no more volcanoes or earthquakes than there are now.
My knowledge of Mesozoic plant life is limited, but I know that any grass that existed back then was probably bamboo-like (there were probably other plants that were short and thickly covered the ground, but none of the true grasses would have made good lawn material
); ferns, tree ferns, cycads, and horsetails were more common and diverse; up until nearly the end of the Mesozoic, conifers would have outnumbered the broad-leaved trees that we are familiar with today; and flowering plants did not become common until the early-to-mid-Cretaceous period (~130–100 million years ago). For the record, LBT doesn’t seem to invest much effort in making its landscapes look “prehistoric”, as most of the plants that appear are similar to those that are around today.
I hope some of what I have said is helpful; ask or contact me if you want more help with prehistoric backgrounds.
