DRAWING DRAGONS Genevieve Pelton
Beginning • There is a huge range of dragons available to choose from. It is up to you to decide how your dragon should look! • • It is also fun to combine characteristics from multiple types of dragons to make your own. • • The materials I’ve used for this tutorial are: • mechanical pencil • eraser • prismacolor pencils • white gel pen • micron ink pen. • • Don’t forget to draw lightly at first! This way, if you mess up it will be easier to erase. 1
Drawing Dragons
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Step One • To start, you create the general placements of the dragon’s body parts. • • I’ve chosen a wyvernstyle dragon, so it has wings but no front legs. • • What I like to do first is establish where the ribcage, head, and spine will be. • • I try to give the spine a good flowing curve. • • Once these basic body parts are established, it is easier to see where your dragon’s limbs should be. 3
Drawing Dragons
• Remember! • • There should be a sense of gravity. Your dragon should look like it is able to actually stand or fly in the pose you’ve put it in (unless it is levitating). 4
Step Two • Now that you have the basic layout down, it is time to move on to the form of the body. • • This is still simple lines, but connecting the large oblects you’ve made should help you build the dragon. • • Think about what the bones and muscles might look like and how they would move. • • Consider the size of your dragon. How muscular is it? Are its limbs thick or slender?
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Drawing Dragons
• Now is also the time to begin deciding what extra details your dragon might have. • • How many spikes? Does it have extra wings? 6
Step Three • Once you have the framework of a dragon laid out, you can add detail. • • Go over your previous lines with more definition. • • If your dragon has scales, what shape are they? How will its skin wrinkle in the creases of its body? • • Consider how the wing membrane might fold if the wings aren’t spread. • • I took some inspiration from bat wings and standard dragon wings. 7
Drawing Dragons
• Remember at this point to keep your lines light so they are easier to erase. • • What face is your dragon making? Is it angry? Happy? Breathing fire? 8
Step Four • It’s time to solidify your dragon! • • Trace over the lines you’ve made with a pen. My preference for this are felt-tip ink pens as opposed to ball-point pens. • • At this step, once a line is made there is no going back. • • It is ok to make adjustments to your drawing while outlining it, but any major changes should be made beforehand. • • During this time you can also add smaller details like scales and the ridges on the horns. 9
Drawing Dragons
• Once the outline is complete, wait for the ink to dry or it will smear! • • Erase the pencil underneath to give you a clean line drawing of your dragon. 10
Step Five • It’s time to color your dragon! I like to use colored pencils for this, but other things work as well. • • First you need to decide what colors you want your dragon to be. • • Does it have any patterns? I like taking inspiration from real animals for the general placement of lighter and darker colors. • • Lay down a base layer of your chosen colors. One color is good, but two or three will help it look more real,. 11
Drawing Dragons
• At this point I decided to make my dragon breathing fire. • • I also chose to add a horizon line behind the dragon so it isn’t just in a white void. 12
Step Six • Your dragon is nearly complete! • • Continue layering your colors until the dragon looks vivid and alive! • • I’ve used the purple pencil to lightly add some shadows to my dragon. Good places to add these include: • under the chin • below limbs • on the underside of the tail • • As a final step, I went over my colors with a white gel pen. Using this, I added some scales and lines on the horns. 13
Drawing Dragons
• Congradulations! Your dragon is complete. • • Consider drawing it in a different pose, or give it a friend! • Perhaps your dragon is burning down a village. 14