Dragon Share

I have no idea how qualified I am to speak to this but here's what I do. First, obligatory everyone has different taste comment. For me, I'm huge on colors and genes. I keep apparel and skins rather minimalistic and use them to accent the colors and genes, while I find most people use the colors and genes as the background for the apparel instead. But if you want tips on choosing colors and genes, here's what I got. I'm going to use my breeding project dragons because I had complete customization on everything from the color of the eye to the gender. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/81298509][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/812986/81298509_350.png[/img][/url] Amannel is a good example of how you usually want genes that have similar shapes. The leopard has round spots, the toxin has round blobs and the ringlets have round circles. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86894550][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/868946/86894550_350.png[/img][/url] Lorvora similarly has lots of lines in her primary, and lines in her secondary. For colors, I try to maximize contrast for at least one color or gene, and then use another color to pull the other two together. Amannel has lots of contrast with the green and black toxin, but the tert is the middle ground between the blue, bright green, and black. The eye also helps tie in the secondary green with the darker blue. Lorovora has tons of contrast between the red and green, but the eye and the blend of the glimmer on the head frills help tie them together. Also green and red just go together. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/90647462][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/906475/90647462_350.png[/img][/url] For Avaritia, again, there is a lot of contrast between the dark pink and white, with the lighter pink being the bridge. It helps that the mucous covers the entire length of the dragon to really be that bridge. The faceted eyes were extremely important for this dragon. Without it, I didn't like her. The eye adds a cohesiveness to the crystal that just wasn't there without it. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86877228][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/868773/86877228_350.png[/img][/url] Jillia also works with these concepts more subtly. The hypnotic has a lot of contrast in itself, while the dark and light reds of the koi bridge the dark squiggles with the lighter colors of the rest of the dragon. The crystal also is cohesive with the color patterns of the other genes with having a lot of different shades of light and dark. In summary, contrast and cohesiveness. That's the biggest thing. Hope that helps.

@starrrycattt Matchy genes and colors, having fun in dressing up, and UMAs <- in UMA purgatory For example, [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/82949772][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/829498/82949772_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/91956491][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/919565/91956491_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86675596][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/866756/86675596_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/85055406][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/850555/85055406_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/84478465][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/844785/84478465_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/87719020][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/877191/87719020_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/80423692][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/804237/80423692_350.png[/img][/url] Your dragons are pretty btw! Sweetheart is super cute, love the combination of colors you did for her outfit

[center]My most generic advice is to try [i]EVERY[/i] gene when scrying! Sometimes genes that don't normally have accent colors do with certain colors. Fade/blend, flaunt/flair, basically any gene that brings additional colors into the mix will be your best friend when scrying or dealing with tricky color combos. If that doesn't work for you, then find a skin or accent that has complementary colors, and then pick apparel to bring that out. As others have said, it really just comes with time and experience, so don't get down on yourself :) Here are some "tricky" color combos I've managed to make work, at least I think lol [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/84065452][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/840655/84065452_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/80403390][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/804034/80403390_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65971433][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/659715/65971433_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/74603685][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/746037/74603685_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/77191434][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/771915/77191434_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/16996606][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/169967/16996606_350.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/84178823][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/841789/84178823_350.png[/img][/url] [/center]

Find 1 piece of apparel and/or 1 skin, then base the rest off of it: For example, [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86385338][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/863854/86385338_350.png[/img][/url] Started w/ Bloodshard Chains ^ [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86498906][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/864990/86498906_350.png[/img][/url] Started w/ Heartswirl ^ [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/89998970][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/899990/89998970_350.png[/img][/url] Started w/ the skin, added apparel as needed ^

This is how I personally do it since as others have mentioned, it's really subjective! Will divide this post up to make it an easier read. I hope this helps! ------------------------------------------- I prefer to design a dragon with genes, colors, skins and apparel all in mind and breed them from scratch (since the color combos nearly always end up being hard-to-find XYZs), unless I find an existing dragon that I like enough as it is! I also usually pick things to "base" the design on (that is, I adjust every other aspect to "fit" the base). Otherwise there's no "direction" or "theme", the results of which end up looking messy or chaotic for me. ---------------------------- [b]Using a skin/accent as a base[/b] Using [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86183647]Inari[/url] as an example, I used her skin as my design's "base". [skin=49658] Since the skin is my base, I go into the scrying room and dressing room to adjust the genes, colors and apparel to "fit" the skin. My thought process went like, [i]"Okay, I'll need a gene with the right shade of orange to make the fox-head part of the skin seamlessly blend into the dragon." "The wings of the skin use a lot of greens, so the wings' color should be orange, or something else, so the green bamboo and wind fumes pop."[/i] My first "draft" went like this: [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/scry?sdid=4360334&skin=49658&apparel=&xt=dressing.png[/img][/center] I deliberately chose Tangerine Tiger as it was the closest I could match the orange tone to the fox-head of the skin, and at the same time, the stripes added enough subtle patterns to make her torso look less empty, but not too cluttered. I also deliberately choose Orange Basic as it was the perfect "blank canvas" to make the bamboo and wind fumes on her wings pop. Using any other genes, or greens made them "disappear" into a clutter of patterns or color. Other shades of orange were too dark or saturated to me; orange had a nice "lighter" shade that provided enough contrast with the bamboo/wind fumes for them to pop. Then I thought: [i]"Nice, I got the fox-head to blend into the dragon, and the bamboo, wind fumes and garments to pop! However, the colors feel unbalanced with how much orange there is, there's barely any greens on her legs and tail."[/i] So I gave her Hondeydew Points as a tertiary gene, the Paradise Starsilk Tailwrap to add more color green and red to her tail, golden harvest sandals to make her hind legs look less empty. [item=Paradise Starsilk Tailwrap] [item=Golden Harvest Sandals] That's how I ended up with her final look: [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/86183647][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/861837/86183647_350.png[/img][/url][/center] Then I started my breeding project for a dragon with Tangerine/Orange/Honeydew colors! [b]A few other dragons I designed this way:[/b] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/80627700][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/806278/80627700.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/87277273][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/872773/87277273.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/85477288][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/854773/85477288.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/89942896][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/899429/89942896.png[/img][/url][/center] -------------------------------- [b]Using colors, genes and a "theme" as a base[/b] Sometimes I have a dragon like a Gen 1, where I want to build a design around their colors and genes which will be directed by a theme. I'll use [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/66828205]Quetzali[/url] as my example this time. She started as a triple-basic G1 I only got for a breeding project. [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=0&body=58&bodygene=0&breed=11&element=11&eyetype=1&gender=1&tert=33&tertgene=0&winggene=0&wings=28&auth=6aec0c9752d4dcf7028b5f4b6e8b42a318b75650&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Then I thought, [i]"Man, I really want a tropical Mesoamerican-themed dragon! Let's see if I can make it work with her.[/i] So I got into the scrying workshop and played around with her colors and genes. In my mind, I already thought of using the following apparel item too: [item=Goldslab Wingspan] So my thought process in the scrying workshop went: "[i]Okay, the Tomato color has really nice green accents. I think I'll use genes with those as it has a more tropical vibe. However, I don't want genes with too many patterns again, since I'll likely use a lot of apparel on her body. A simple gene with subtle patterns with the accent color should be enough." [b]Result: Tomato with the Fade gene[/b] [i]"Her secondary is a nice blue color. I'll need to pick a gene that brings out its warmer tones with hints of green to better match the primary and tertiary. I think I don't want to cover the wings with too much apparel, and the Goldslab Wingspan doesn't cover the wings much anyway, so I can definitely use the more highly-patterned genes." [b]Result: Carribbean with Trail gene[/b] "Her tertiary is a deep, dark Emerald. How do I make this work with everything else? I think a tert that evenly spreads the color out on the dragon without overwhelming the other colors would look nice. Maybe the dark shades of Emerald can accent the brighter colors of Tomato."[/i] [b]Result: Emerald with the Okapi gene.[/b] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=58&bodygene=42&breed=13&element=11&eyetype=1&gender=1&tert=33&tertgene=9&winggene=22&wings=28&auth=89a55734ef71906b186e256c0744fbe20b81d2c1&dummyext=prev.png[/img][/i] Great, I have the dragon designed with the tropical-vibes I want, with color harmonies I like, and with how much I'll use apparel also in mind. So I then go into the dressing room and slap on the Goldslab Wingspan. [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=66828205&skin=0&apparel=807&xt=dressing.png[/img] My thought process went: [i]"Perfect, the Wingspan's shade of yellow works with her colors. Alright, since I want a tropical Mesoamerican-vibe, I think I'd like to use hmmm... I think feathers would work. And gold. When I think of tropical Mesoamerica, I think of people like the Aztecs, and I distinctly remember things like gold and feathers from the designs and story from the Age of Empires Aztec campaign. Let's go with that.[/i] [b]Result: I end up testing a lot of feather and gold-themed apparel.[/b] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=66828205&skin=0&apparel=807,290,292,41506,807,1094,1092,26552,26548,26549,23091&xt=dressing.png[/img] I chose River Royalist Cuffs and Tail rings as their shade of yellow conveniently matched the Goldslab Wingspan, making it look like they're from one apparel set. [item=river royalist cuffs][item=river royalist tail rings] I also chose the Mango Plumes to add more yellow and gold to the dragon while givng her more feathers. She was already starting to look "full" and "high contrast" with all the different colors, so I gave her the darker Red Birdskull arm and leg bands, which blend and "disappear" into the Tomato and Emerald more than the other apparel, so it doesn't overwhelm the design. I liked the tribal-vibes it gave as well. [item=Mango Plumed Headdress][item=Mango Plumed Tuft][item=Mango Plumed Cover] [item=red birdskull armband][item=red birdskull legband] Lastly, her "waist" started to look empty so I threw in the Autumn Harvest Goblet, which had shades of gold, orange and green. I liked how it "dangled downwards" like the little jewelry pieces of the plumes too, and the braided cord somewhat matches them too! Plus, it reminds me of treasure-loot you could find in a rainforest temple or something so it was the perfect final touch. [item=Autumn Harvest Goblet] [b]A few other dragons I designed this way:[/b] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/78031802][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/780319/78031802.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/91197325][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/911974/91197325.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/73334174][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/733342/73334174.png[/img][/url][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/42325518][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/423256/42325518.png[/img][/url][/center] -------------------------------------------------- That's more or less how I make my dragons pretty (at least, to me)! Nearly all the dragons in my main lair were designed through either way, and were made a reality with expensive breeding and gene projects. Hard on my wallet, but totally worth it!

@starrrycattt In general I think having an understanding of colour theory and the basic elements of design doesn’t hurt (but of course don’t feel that you need to know that to be able to make gorgeous dergs!). Everyones’ taste in what constitutes a pretty dragon is unique, so I’ll just share the techniques I’ve come up with for my clan to give you some ideas. Personally, I tend to play with [url= https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/2646722 ]texture[/url] and [url= https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/49655016 ]form[/url] when designing my dragons, and keep their colour palettes fairly constrained. For apparel, I usually pick a colour from the dragon and try to match/compliment that to emphasise it. I always start with a concept that I want to explore, this helps me decide what aspect of the genes I want to highlight and helps build lore. I also have a rule- I can’t buy a dragon unless I have a scry + outfit planned for it, which helps prevent me from impulse buying and keep my lair cohesive xD. More specifically, I use one of two methods when designing a derg- dragon first, or customisable first (customisable referring to skins/apparel/genes). I use “Dragon first” when I’m working on a g1 or old dragon that I want to save from becoming fodder. This means set colours, no scattering, and a bit of a challenge! I usually just stick the derg in predict morphology and go through all the of genes to see what my options are, and if any of them grab me. The main thing I’m looking for is to see if one of their colours has an accent shade that matches with any of their other colours. I look for this because I find it helps build a cohesive look, which I can then flesh this out with a skin or apparel. If there aren’t any accents that match, I look for complimentary colours or genes whose patterns interact in a nice way, and rely on the apparel or skin to create cohesion. I’ll give a step by step breakdown of what I do: Magnolia here is the perfect example of this technique. This is how she started: [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=72&bodygene=0&breed=1&element=8&eyetype=3&gender=1&tert=24&tertgene=13&winggene=0&wings=142&auth=f9ff2e6a8ac96aaf18ef23ac3d15f918261e4831&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Her colours are wine/murk/stonewash, which looks pretty manky in most scenarios. I decide to embrace the mankiness and use “swamp faerie” as my concept for her. With this in mind, I start going through all the gene options for the colour I think I will have the most trouble getting to look good. In this case, it’s her secondary, murk. After going through most of the modern secondaries, I land on noxtide. It just so happens that murk noxtide has an accent colour that is a near perfect match to her wine primary! Because the secondary matches so well, I don’t want to pick a primary gene that introduces another accent colour, so after a few different scries I go with ground. I can’t really integrate stonewashed well, so I pick firefly for her tert since it is subtle and kind of fits her concept - the little fireflies are like will o’ the wisps leading travelers through a foggy marsh. Here’s what she looks like at this point: [img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=72&bodygene=88&breed=1&element=8&eyetype=3&gender=1&tert=24&tertgene=22&winggene=24&wings=142&auth=5ad74faf5d3171c5adc38d946ed73b6b8267da47&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Now it’s time to head to the dressing room. I begin my outfit construction by searching for all wine coloured apparel, as that’s her predominant colour. I choose apparel from that category based off what I think enhances her swamp faerie concept. There is still a bit of murk green showing, so I decide to throw a swamp kelpie mane on her (bonus points for the name being on theme!) so that the murk green doesn’t feel out of place. I’m not keen on how the mane frames her face though, so I give her a contestant’s skull to change that and make her a bit more spooky. For the finishing touch I add the Autumn breeze apparel to help integrate the mustard stripes that noxtide introduced with the overall design as well as the candles for some contrast and to help the guide the eye through her design. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/48429470][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/484295/48429470_350.png[/img][/url] And now she’s done! She’s not exactly a pretty dragon, but I hope she was still a good example for my process. [center]~~~[/center] Now for the “customisable first” method. I use this when I find a gene, apparel piece or skin that I think looks cool. I design the dragon’s genes and outfit around that one aspect to compliment and emphasise it. An example of this process- [img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=2&bodygene=0&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=6&tertgene=82&winggene=0&wings=2&auth=52646fd900b81245e24eb94c46cf61eed6d0bb9f&dummyext=prev.png[/img] I really like the gene polypore, and wanted to make a dragon featuring it, so of course for this project I chose the theme mushroom dragon. Since polypore is the core aspect of design, I want it to be the focal point. This means it either needs to be the lightest or darkest point of the design. [img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=2&bodygene=0&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=9&tertgene=82&winggene=0&wings=2&auth=bb5a84fa239403da73a4af18fa006b5600a65d54&dummyext=prev.png[/img][img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=10&bodygene=0&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=2&tertgene=82&winggene=0&wings=9&auth=d548ed2c27a58f548d975068972f37af2574a716&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Compare the above two scries to this: [img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=131&bodygene=0&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=5&tertgene=82&winggene=0&wings=8&auth=28bb9d84cfb6fad68d5fbce88706e6d421fe2198&dummyext=prev.png[/img] After some scries, I decide that I prefer polypore in brighter colours, which means the primary and secondary will need to be darker. After a bit more playing around, I find that using robin for polypore creates the illusion that it’s glowing, which I think that looks really cool, especially since bioluminescent mushrooms are a thing. [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=10&bodygene=0&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=99&tertgene=82&winggene=0&wings=10&auth=5dc6d74a5474a5f3c90cfb7b0b0f15c7defc9d2d&dummyext=prev.png[/img] With the tert colour and gene decided, I move on to the primary and secondary. I decide against using a black or dark grey for them, as despite both creating strong contrast, it doesn’t feel visually interesting, and all of the colours in that range add in accent colours that I don’t like when combined with robin polypore. Instead, I find with the darkest blue in the game (abyss), and pick genes that bring out the richness of that colour (wasp and bee). [img] https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=96&bodygene=108&breed=20&element=5&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=99&tertgene=82&winggene=108&wings=96&auth=6e67887f07543450a02208a15df5aebf10629ffe&dummyext=prev.png[/img] The abyss/bee combo for the secondary looks a bit too heavy for my liking, so I go through the blues one by one until I find one that synergies well (azure). Finally, I add in glowing eyes for extra bioluminescent ethereal effect, and she is done. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/62691092][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/626911/62691092_350.png[/img][/url] If I’m working around a skin or piece of apparel as my central point instead of a gene, I’ll create my first scry as triple basic using three key colours from the skin/apparel, and work out from there, considering the shape and texture of the genes. [center]~~~[/center] Some general tips: - Stained can be a lifesaver, it can completely change the vibe of a derg (see the scry in [url= https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/84980427 ]this boy’s bio![/url]) - Don’t forget to swap to ancient breeds and check out the gene options they have, sometimes that can save a derg. See [url= https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/18918252 ]Shemtosah here’s bio[/url] for how they looked originally. - Some genes can look quite different between breeds, so if you’re having trouble, swapping the breed can help. Flaunt/flair on tundras is a good example of this. - Apparel layering is super fun to experiment with! If there is one part of an apparel piece you don’t like you can strategically cover it up with another. For semi-transparent apparel like the silks, you can create custom colours through layering! Feel free to look though my dragons for more examples and ask me any questions :) My way is just one way out of many many different approaches, so don’t feel like anything I’ve said here is a hard and fast rule, just take what works for you! (Also apologies if this this post isn’t very coherent, it’s very late where I am ><)

Short answer: though taste has A LOT to do with it, if you apply fundamentals of visual art, you'll wind up with something that looks good. :) Line, shape, color, and so on, but also things like limitation. If you have a clear and simple direction you're going with, it'll show up as something pretty. I'll give a quick example of the theory in practice with this lady, whom I designed in the scrying workshop before actually obtaining the dragon. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/37141503][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/371416/37141503_350.png[/img][/url] See those blotchy oval shapes in Toxin? They're really similar to the ones in Bar, to the point where if you took away the colors, it would look like it was all part of the same pattern. That's consistency in shape. Now, color. Sure, she's a XXY Orca/Radioactive, but the point here is that the basic colors are a cool-tone pale purple, a smoky grey, and a bright green. These colors repeat throughout the dragon's appearance, with slight variations added in (such as black (which is close to grey), white (which is close to the pale purple), and bright purple (which is another "relative" of the pale purple's.)) Most of these are "neutrals" with the strong colors being green and purple (both of which are secondary colors adjacent to blue.) By limiting the color palette, picking complimentary colors, and repeating shapes within the image, you wind up with something that's well-composed. That may seem like a lot of complicated stuff, but it's actually just applying some really basic concepts from the science side of visual art. :) I hope you find it to be a good starting point and that you have fun as you learn and develop your skills!