How to Draw Really Cool Dragons
How to depict a dragon: 16 proficient tips
Learning how to draw a dragon tin exist tricky. While a staple in fantasy art for decades, designing one of these mythical creatures from scratch is a skill. Taking inspiration from existent-life animals tin can be a great starting point, however sticking a pair of wings on a lizard merely won't cut information technology.
So how exercise you learn how to draw a dragon with grapheme and personality? Here, top fantasy artists share their personal fine art techniques (opens in new tab) to assistance become yous started. Read on for some proficient advice on how to draw a dragon, and for more top tutorials to improve your artistic skills, explore our guide to how to draw animals (opens in new tab).
01. Start with a silhouette of your dragon
Before you spring into drawing your dragon and get lost in the details, make certain you lot consider the bigger picture. "For every dragon, arrange the major elements in a manner that creates a good silhouette," says Alex Stone, a Brooklyn-based artist whose work has appeared in games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Boom Up.
"This helps ensure the painting will be instantly readable, even when viewed from a altitude. Information technology also helps create designs that are more than pleasing to look at from an abstract perspective, even if you're aiming for a realistic-looking dragon."
02. Borrow from nature
When considering how to draw a dragon, take inspiration from other animals. While dragons have a largely mythical dimension, they also exist in the real globe, and there are many other creatures that tin provide fresh ideas.
"Crocodiles offer what is perhaps the best and most threatening example. Of all mod-mean solar day lizards they are some of the well-nigh brutal and terrifying in appearance," suggests Gerard.
Don't restrict yourself to reptiles, however. "I study the skull shape of an animal such as a bear, panthera leo or eel, and combine that with the teeth of an alligator or the beak of a snapping turtle," says Stone. "Anything in nature that looks interesting and inspires me is off-white game. Many of my dragons are a handful of real-life animals combined to create something new."
03. Look at humans, too
It tin can be helpful to use human references to inform your dragon'southward facial expression. "We're searching for a visual balance between a creature that captures our sense of reptilian evil and man intelligence," says Gerard.
"For humans, y'all could keep a folder of images from the news of sinister-looking political figures – at that place are some wonderfully sinister politicians out at that place!"
04. Create a backstory for your dragon
To add even more layers of interest to your dragon drawing, consider working upwardly a backstory for your dragon. "Even in a elementary portrait, there are things you can add to requite the viewer a better idea of the underlying story," says Stone.
For example, scars hint at battles gone past, and could bespeak a violent past. In the painting above, Stone drew inspiration from parade elephants, using flags and decorative dressing to indicate some class of brotherhood with man masters.
All the great literary dragons take a compelling backstory points out studio artist Justin Gerard (opens in new tab). "In Tolkien'south dragon from The Hobbit, we notice a creature that provides more than than just the mere threat of concrete violence."
"He too offers a personification of greed – and a distinctly aristocratic greed at that (he refuses to share or redistribute his wealth, instead pointlessly hoarding it for centuries in his vast cavern)," he says. "A wealth of personality tin can be poured into a dragon, all the while keeping its sinister features."
05. Give your dragon personality
Before you start your dragon drawing, consider what kind of personality you want your dragon to have. "Frequently I opt for proud, sarcastic, sick-tempered… or some combination of all 3," says Stone.
"Keeping this in heed while I work enables me – often subconsciously – to include visual cues to convey this to the viewer. Possibly through a wicked toothy grin, or a mischievous twinkle of the center."
06. Utilise references
It can likewise help to draw inspiration from real-life creatures: if possible, visit a zoo and make some sketches from life; if not, sketch from photos. Gerard suggests making mental notes virtually your subject equally yous draw, to raise your agreement.
"How far are the eyes from the oral fissure? How large is the upper jaw compared to the lower?" he says. "As you describe these details you're adding them to a mental library you'll be able to pull from in future. It also broadens your overall understanding of the construction of living things."
Then, when you starting time to depict your dragon, continue a collection of relevant photos next to you, to refer to equally you work.
When creating the above painting, Rock was inspired by dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus King, and used a photograph of the fauna'southward skull to inform decisions nigh the dinosaur's bone structure and anatomy. To supplement this, he referred to images of dappled light, forests and reptiles, for inspiration for colour, texture and lighting.
07. Call back, dinosaurs aren't dragons
While dinosaurs are cool creatures in their own correct, they aren't the same as dragons. However, equally a child JRR Tolkein was told differently. In his essay On Fairy-stories (opens in new tab), he makes an interesting case for respecting the unique traits of each.
"I was eager to written report nature, actually more eager than I was to read near faerie stories," he writes. "But I did non want to be quibbled into science and cheated out of faeries past people who seemed to assume that by some kind of original sin I should prefer fairy-tales."
08. Consider the setting of your dragon
Recall about what your dragon's surround will look like. This is some other element that can exist used to assistance imply story and add layers of realism and interest. In the painting to a higher place, Stone settled on a tropical setting, which led to a colourful design for the dragon itself, taking inspiration from tropical birds and reptiles.
09. Explore unlike pare textures
Think of what kind of texture y'all'd like your dragon to take. Is information technology covered in leathery scales, or difficult plates, like armour? "I imagine that a very old dragon would have thick, gnarly scales, like an erstwhile crocodile, while a younger one might have a smoother, more even design," says Rock.
"If you'd similar to be a little unconventional, consider painting a dragon with feathers or fur instead of scales. Y'all can even look to materials like bark and rocks for inspiration. Try different things!"
ten. Convey scale
1 important matter to remember when learning how to draw a dragon is that at that place are visual cues you can use inside your image to prove its size. One common trick is to include some birds for scale, but y'all could also utilize surrounding architecture or other props to the same effect.
"Another concept that tin easily be applied here is heart size," points out Stone. "Larger creatures (call back whales or elephants) mostly have pocket-sized optics relative to their size, and vice versa."
eleven. Consider your dragon's weight
Y'all also desire to think virtually how much mass yous want your dragon to have. "When painting a particularly former or powerful dragon, I similar to go far look heavy," says Stone.
"I take inspiration hither from quondam crocodiles or turtles, with thick scales and flesh that hangs downwardly, specially around the neck. If I want a dragon to look more graceful then I'll brand it lithe and use smoothen, flowing forms when designing it."
12. Enhance the dragon with dramatic lighting
Lighting is a powerful tool, and can transform a painting of a dragon. "Placing a spotlight on the dragon'due south face will describe the viewer'southward attention, especially if you lot obscure elements closer to the edge of the painting in shadow," explains Rock.
"Lighting can also be used to build mood. Lit from below, with its eyes obscured in shadow, a dragon will look much more intimidating, whereas rim light can brand a dragon wait epic and beautiful."
13. Experiment with atmospheric perspective
The dominion of atmospheric perspective dictates that objects at a altitude volition appear hazier than those in the foreground, and choice upward the colours of the surrounding atmosphere. This tin can be used to emphasise the size of your dragon – adding a wing or tail receding into the background, for example, will help make your dragon look even bigger.
"An environment with more smoke, dust or moisture, such equally fog, volition have more pronounced atmospheric perspective, which also makes it a useful tool to build mood," adds Stone.
14. Use contrasting colours
When thinking nearly colour and value, decide what colour you want your dragon to be, so work out a colour scheme for the environment that ensures the fauna stands out.
"As a general rule, I cull a value and colour for the groundwork that contrasts with the dragon," explains Stone. "For instance, if the dragon is dark with a lot of absurd blues and purples, I'll choose a light background with warmer reds and oranges."
15. Vary the edges in your dragon drawing
Stone advises using a variety of soft and hard edges to aid direct the viewer'south focus and emphasise the feeling of 3D space in the image. "I go along the hardest, most crisp edges around the face and eyes. The closer to the ends of the painting, or further dorsum in space the object is, the softer the edges become; sometimes they'll be lost entirely," he advises.
"Edges tin also exist used to imply movement. A blurry edge on a wing looks like the dragon has just landed or is about to fly off, and helps to bring the image to life."
sixteen. Take time over the dragon's eyes
The eyes are often called the window to the soul. When nosotros await at a character in a painting, nosotros will generally look at the eyes first – it's a hard-wired instinct for humans. What'south more, a lot of information about a dragon'due south personality tin can be conveyed through its eyes. Then it's of import to capture your dragon'southward eyes correctly.
"Take some time and make studies of reptile optics and human being eyes," says Gerard. "Find which ones are the most expressive. Which ones communicate what you're subsequently the best? Try combining them to achieve something new."
Play with different types of eyes until you discover the one that captured the personality of your dragon, and the mood you're trying to create. "I find that including the pupil tends to make them look more 'human' and intelligent," adds Stone.
"Beady and glowing, with no pupil, and they'll look more feral, animalistic and threatening. A wide-open eye might indicate inquisitiveness and curiosity, while i half-airtight might convey arrogance and nonchalance. Placing the eyes in shadow can make a dragon await very menacing and wicked."
These tips originally appeared in ImagineFX (opens in new tab) magazine, the globe's acknowledged magazine for digital artists. Subscribe hither (opens in new tab) .
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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/8-pro-tips-drawing-dragons-71515935
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