Drawing Dragons
Sunday May 13, 2007
There is no one 'right way' to draw dragons. You can be as creative as you like. Where do you start? Try beginning from the top down with a traditional dragon head, like this fire-breathing Dragon.To get a really reptilian, beady-eyed look, read these tips on drawing Dragon eyes. To get really jaw-dropping realism in your dragon drawing, you need to use a few tricks to convince your viewer's eyes that they are looking at something that might be real, even though they know it doesn't exist. Using realist drawing techniques and photographic or three-D reference sources, you can make it look as though you were drawing a dragon from life..
Related Articles:
Tips on Drawing from Imagination
Models from the Toybox
Comments
I have seen the problem of wings and forelegs addressed by extending the torso to allow a second set of shoulder blades and musculature. On angels, the wings are supposed to be supernatural so it’s not necessary, but I have also seen the shoulder area “thickened” to again add room for a second set of structures.
As an aside, you could break the scapula up like the bones of the hand. Then add the musculature to use the forelegs and wings like fingers. You could even run the “tendons” over the trapezius to provide a thicker neck.
Recently, on either cable TV’s “Discovery” or “History” channels, there was a discussion that seems to be proving the theory that the idea of dragons comes from ancient man finding the bones of the dinosaurs and spinning the tales of the dragons as birds and fish resemble the bones of the flying and swimming dinosaurs. For the ancients it would make sense that these creatures must have breathed fire as there may still have been evidence of the volcanoes or asteroidal fires that killed off the dinosaurs in a very quick. So, I have found with my young art students we start with dinosaur bone-shapes and go from there, works great. Also, “dragonizing” pictures of current lizards, spiders, etc. works GREAT!!! No need to worry too much about all the scapulae, trapezius muscles, etc. Coloring can be as crazy as possible with some of the new alcohol inks over gesso for texture (scales, etc.) or the new interference paints for airbrush work. Have FUN!!! Helen Scott New Bern, NC