Congratulations, winners!

Congratulations, E!

Congratulations, E!

Yep, Gretchen's was judged, we just didn't write up any official comments for any of the pictures other than the winning ones. I can tell you what I thought, though, if she'd like that. I don't mind talking.

I had a hard time with Gretchen's and E's when I was first trying to decide between those two. Gretchen's had some lovely details (like the mottled spots), and the color choice was just as good as E's in my opinion. It didn't do as well in the blink test however – where I take a quick glance to get my impression of the image as a whole. Gretchen's wasn't as tied together as E's, and the clouds didn't go with the sky quite as well.

Some of my favorite ideas was making the riders match the dragon (though not completely, which was good), and the sun up in the corner.

If the orange had been faded into the pink less abruptly, and the clouds had been given a hint of the picture's predominant colors, and if there was a more concerted contrast between light parts and dark parts, I don't know if I would have been able to choose between it and Patrick's.

Congratulations Lady E! The golden wings caught my attention the first time I saw them: they were amazing, I thought they would win! How did you make them mottled that way?

Thank you Lady AzlynRose, Lady Sister mine, and Lady Celestria, for the Judges comments!

Yes, I got a lot of ideas, and did not plan enough how I would fit them together.

I think if the smoke was thinner, and curved around opposite the dragon, it would have balanced it instead of interrupting/distracting from it (and it would have looked neater, and I could have done little tendrils branching off instead of having the words pack it tight... but I rabbit traileth).
I also could have done better patterning and shading on the dragon.

Unfortunately I thought of some of the transparency ideas after I had already started the picture. The dragon should have been only less transparent than its wings, rather than mainly solid colored. The focus should have been on the riders, which would have been really the only thing that the face behind does not appear through.
I also could have had some of the smoke tendrils come behind the riders, instead of over them like it does to everything else.

At first I was trying to make the smoke poem at least a little easy to read, but now I wish I had done the letters smaller. They could have been spaced better, and might have actually been easier to read, but more in the distance.