How To Improve My Dragon Drawings
How to draw a dragon: 16 expert tips
Learning how to describe a dragon can be tricky. While a staple in fantasy art for decades, designing i of these mythical creatures from scratch is a skill. Taking inspiration from real-life animals can be a swell starting betoken, still sticking a pair of wings on a lizard simply won't cut it.
Then how do y'all learn how to depict a dragon with graphic symbol and personality? Here, summit fantasy artists share their personal art techniques to help go you started. Read on for some expert communication on how to draw a dragon, and for more top tutorials to improve your artistic skills, explore our guide to how to draw animals.
01. Start with a silhouette of your dragon
Earlier yous jump into cartoon your dragon and get lost in the details, make sure you consider the bigger moving-picture show. "For every dragon, arrange the major elements in a fashion that creates a expert silhouette," says Alex Stone, a Brooklyn-based artist whose work has appeared in games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Smash Up.
"This helps ensure the painting volition exist instantly readable, even when viewed from a altitude. It also helps create designs that are more 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, accept inspiration from other animals. While dragons have a largely mythical dimension, they also exist in the real globe, and at that place are many other creatures that tin can provide fresh ideas.
"Crocodiles offer what is perhaps the best and well-nigh threatening example. Of all modern-day lizards they are some of the well-nigh fell and terrifying in advent," suggests Gerard.
Don't restrict yourself to reptiles, however. "I study the skull shape of an animal such as a bear, lion 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, also
It can be helpful to apply homo references to inform your dragon's facial expression. "Nosotros're searching for a visual residue betwixt a creature that captures our sense of reptilian evil and human intelligence," says Gerard.
"For humans, you could go along a binder of images from the news of sinister-looking political figures – in that location are some wonderfully sinister politicians out there!"
04. Create a backstory for your dragon
To add even more layers of involvement to your dragon drawing, consider working upwardly a backstory for your dragon. "Even in a unproblematic portrait, there are things you lot can add to give the viewer a improve thought of the underlying story," says Stone.
For example, scars hint at battles gone by, and could indicate a violent past. In the painting above, Stone drew inspiration from parade elephants, using flags and decorative dressing to bespeak some course of alliance with human masters.
All the neat literary dragons have a compelling backstory points out studio creative person Justin Gerard. "In Tolkien's dragon from The Hobbit, nosotros observe a beast that provides more than just the mere threat of physical violence."
"He as well offers a personification of greed – and a distinctly aloof greed at that (he refuses to share or redistribute his wealth, instead pointlessly hoarding it for centuries in his vast cave)," he says. "A wealth of personality can be poured into a dragon, all the while keeping its sinister features."
05. Give your dragon personality
Before you lot start your dragon cartoon, consider what kind of personality you desire your dragon to have. "Often I opt for proud, sarcastic, sick-tempered… or some combination of all three," says Stone.
"Keeping this in mind while I work enables me – often subconsciously – to include visual cues to convey this to the viewer. Perhaps through a wicked toothy grin, or a mischievous twinkle of the eye."
06. Employ references
Information technology tin can also help to depict inspiration from real-life creatures: if possible, visit a zoo and make some sketches from life; if non, sketch from photos. Gerard suggests making mental notes well-nigh your discipline as yous depict, to enhance your understanding.
"How far are the eyes from the mouth? How large is the upper jaw compared to the lower?" he says. "As you depict these details yous're adding them to a mental library you'll be able to pull from in future. It as well broadens your overall understanding of the construction of living things."
Then, when you starting time to depict your dragon, go along a drove of relevant photos next to you, to refer to every bit you piece of work.
When creating the above painting, Rock was inspired by dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and used a photo of the beast's skull to inform decisions about the dinosaur'south bone construction and anatomy. To supplement this, he referred to images of dappled light, forests and reptiles, for inspiration for color, texture and lighting.
07. Remember, dinosaurs aren't dragons
While dinosaurs are cool creatures in their own correct, they aren't the same as dragons. Yet, every bit a kid JRR Tolkein was told differently. In his essay On Fairy-stories, he makes an interesting case for respecting the unique traits of each.
"I was eager to study nature, actually more eager than I was to read nigh faerie stories," he writes. "But I did not desire to be quibbled into science and cheated out of faeries past people who seemed to presume that by some kind of original sin I should prefer fairy-tales."
08. Consider the setting of your dragon
Think about what your dragon's surround will await similar. This is another element that can exist used to assist imply story and add layers of realism and interest. In the painting above, Rock settled on a tropical setting, which led to a colourful pattern for the dragon itself, taking inspiration from tropical birds and reptiles.
09. Explore different peel textures
Think of what kind of texture you'd like your dragon to have. Is it covered in leathery scales, or hard plates, like armour? "I imagine that a very old dragon would have thick, gnarly scales, like an old crocodile, while a younger one might have a smoother, more even pattern," says Rock.
"If you'd like to be a footling unconventional, consider painting a dragon with feathers or fur instead of scales. You can even wait to materials like bark and rocks for inspiration. Try dissimilar things!"
10. Convey calibration
One important affair to remember when learning how to draw a dragon is that in that location are visual cues you tin can use within your prototype to show its size. One mutual trick is to include some birds for scale, but you lot could likewise use surrounding architecture or other props to the same event.
"Some other concept that can hands be applied here is eye size," points out Stone. "Larger creatures (recollect whales or elephants) generally accept pocket-size optics relative to their size, and vice versa."
xi. Consider your dragon'southward weight
You as well desire to retrieve almost how much mass y'all want your dragon to have. "When painting a specially old or powerful dragon, I similar to brand information technology wait heavy," says Rock.
"I have inspiration here from one-time crocodiles or turtles, with thick scales and flesh that hangs down, peculiarly around the neck. If I want a dragon to expect more svelte then I'll make information technology lithe and use smoothen, flowing forms when designing information technology."
12. Heighten the dragon with dramatic lighting
Lighting is a powerful tool, and can transform a painting of a dragon. "Placing a spotlight on the dragon's face will draw the viewer's attending, especially if y'all obscure elements closer to the edge of the painting in shadow," explains Rock.
"Lighting can too be used to build mood. Lit from below, with its eyes obscured in shadow, a dragon volition look much more intimidating, whereas rim light tin brand a dragon look epic and beautiful."
13. Experiment with atmospheric perspective
The dominion of atmospheric perspective dictates that objects at a distance will appear hazier than those in the foreground, and pick up the colours of the surrounding atmosphere. This can be used to emphasise the size of your dragon – adding a fly or tail receding into the groundwork, for example, will help brand your dragon await even bigger.
"An environment with more fume, dust or moisture, such every bit fog, will have more than pronounced atmospheric perspective, which also makes information technology a useful tool to build mood," adds Stone.
14. Utilise contrasting colours
When thinking near colour and value, decide what color you desire your dragon to be, then work out a colour scheme for the environment that ensures the brute stands out.
"As a general rule, I choose a value and colour for the background that contrasts with the dragon," explains Stone. "For instance, if the dragon is dark with a lot of cool blues and purples, I'll choose a low-cal background with warmer reds and oranges."
xv. Vary the edges in your dragon drawing
Stone advises using a variety of soft and difficult edges to help straight the viewer's focus and emphasise the feeling of 3D space in the prototype. "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 get; sometimes they'll be lost entirely," he advises.
"Edges tin can also be used to imply motion. A blurry edge on a wing looks like the dragon has but landed or is near to fly off, and helps to bring the epitome to life."
16. Take time over the dragon'south eyes
The optics are often called the window to the soul. When we look at a character in a painting, nosotros will generally wait at the optics outset – information technology's a difficult-wired instinct for humans. What'due south more, a lot of information about a dragon's personality tin be conveyed through its optics. And then it'due south important to capture your dragon'southward eyes correctly.
"Take some time and make studies of reptile eyes and human optics," says Gerard. "Find which ones are the well-nigh expressive. Which ones communicate what you're after the best? Try combining them to reach something new."
Play with different types of optics until y'all find 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 brand them look more than 'human' and intelligent," adds Stone.
"Beady and glowing, with no educatee, 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 wait very menacing and wicked."
These tips originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world'south best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe here .
Related articles:
- The best iPad art apps for painting and sketching
- The best pencils for colouring, drawing and sketching
- How to depict a wolf
Related articles
Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/8-pro-tips-drawing-dragons-71515935
Posted by: welcomebusequithe.blogspot.com
0 Response to "How To Improve My Dragon Drawings"
Post a Comment