OH I got so hyped when I saw an upload from you!



I saw this creature too, and I think the art team did a great job with the design. And that's coming from someone who doesn't play WoW.



And dang this is really great, especially for your first "proper" digital painting! One layer too, wow. Just know that you don't really have to stick to one layer if you don't want to, sometimes it can help to separate different elements of the painting to make it easier to adjust or color. Although the one-layer mentality can help you maintain a sort of loose "stream of consciousness" workflow. Smart move starting with values, it definitely makes it easier not having to worry about the color. Although I'm not too experienced in going from greyscale to color myself. I usually start in color and occasionally use a black "color" layer above everything to check the values. But you're definitely doing great with the values here, they're ultimately more important than color.



Probably the most important painting advice I can give you here is to remember to to hue shift when you're shading. The lack of which is probably most notable in the neck area. Basically, when you're lighting/shading, think about how the color temperature of the light, as well as the ambient light from the environment, and change the hue of the color accordingly. Since this character is in a blue, cool environment, it probably makes sense to have a warm lighting scheme to contrast. And your light does look warm by contrast, so that's good. However in the shadows, I would add some coolness to them by shifting towards blue and maybe saturating a bit. Think of the shadows as where the ambient light from the environment is hitting. Additionally, I think the highlights of the green might be a little too desaturated. And a quick tip, you can sometimes saturate the transitions between light and shadow, it can help you achieve a really natural and nice looking effect.



Secondly, you probably want the focal point to be the face/eye. The contrast of the head against the dark background is good for that. The purple of the eye also draws attention to it. But don't be afraid to really push the values around that eye. For example, you could really push the little specular highlight in the eye towards white if you want to. You can look at a photo of an eye to see how it's shaded, and how light reflects off of it. I also feel like the body is drawing attention away from the face, so you could make the lighting on the body weaker, giving it less contrast. And if you want to, you could use a hard light layer with a bit of blue and an airbrush to make those little glowy bits on the neck really glow.



I also might crop a little off the top so that the eye/face is closer to the upper third of the canvas, and maybe just crop it in closer in general. Additionally you could offset the character a little bit so it's not as centered. That's more excusable in a portrait, though.



The last bit of constructive criticism I can provide just involves the actual drawing. The anatomy seems a little stiff in that the body doesn't flow into the head/neck. The curve of the neck is very elegant so I would try to carry that line of action into the body. You could make it like an S-curve so that he's puffing his chest out more and his back arches inwards more (If that makes sense). But the main thing disrupting the flow of the body in this piece is the arms. The shoulders may be a little too wide for his stance. I would bring his left (our right) arm in more, and maybe lower the shoulders. The shading under the deltoid also looks a little harsh, but it could be okay if you're going for that sort of plated/layered look.



Wow that was a lot, but I only offer that amount of CC because you've shown time and time again how capable you are of improvement! Keep those concepts in mind and you're going to do great, you've really got a solid start here. And look at plenty of reference, it's the best thing ever. Copious amounts of reference, just so much reference. I look forward to seeing more from you, no matter what it is!