How To Draw A Humanoid Dragon
How to depict a dragon: 16 skillful tips
Learning how to draw a dragon can be tricky. While a staple in fantasy art for decades, designing ane of these mythical creatures from scratch is a skill. Taking inspiration from real-life animals tin can be a bully starting point, even so sticking a pair of wings on a lizard simply won't cut it.
Then how practice you acquire how to draw a dragon with character and personality? Hither, pinnacle fantasy artists share their personal art techniques to help get you started. Read on for some expert advice on how to draw a dragon, and for more tiptop tutorials to improve your artistic skills, explore our guide to how to draw animals.
01. Starting time with a silhouette of your dragon
Earlier you jump into drawing your dragon and become lost in the details, make sure yous consider the bigger picture. "For every dragon, arrange the major elements in a way that creates a good silhouette," says Alex Stone, a Brooklyn-based artist whose work has appeared in games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Nail Upwardly.
"This helps ensure the painting volition be instantly readable, even when viewed from a distance. It also helps create designs that are more than pleasing to look at from an abstruse 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 world, and there are many other creatures that can provide fresh ideas.
"Crocodiles offer what is perhaps the best and most threatening instance. Of all modernistic-twenty-four hour period lizards they are some of the most 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, lion or eel, and combine that with the teeth of an alligator or the beak of a snapping turtle," says Stone. "Annihilation in nature that looks interesting and inspires me is fair game. Many of my dragons are a scattering of existent-life animals combined to create something new."
03. Expect at humans, besides
It can exist helpful to use human references to inform your dragon'due south 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 there!"
04. Create a backstory for your dragon
To add fifty-fifty more layers of interest to your dragon drawing, consider working up a backstory for your dragon. "Fifty-fifty in a simple portrait, there are things you can add to give the viewer a better thought of the underlying story," says Rock.
For example, scars hint at battles gone by, and could bespeak a tearing past. In the painting above, Stone drew inspiration from parade elephants, using flags and decorative dressing to indicate some grade of alliance with human masters.
All the great literary dragons have a compelling backstory points out studio artist Justin Gerard. "In Tolkien's dragon from The Hobbit, we notice a creature that provides more than just the mere threat of physical violence."
"He also 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 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
Earlier you start your dragon drawing, consider what kind of personality yous desire your dragon to have. "Oft I opt for proud, sarcastic, sick-tempered… or some combination of all three," says Stone.
"Keeping this in listen while I piece of work enables me – often subconsciously – to include visual cues to convey this to the viewer. Mayhap through a wicked toothy grin, or a mischievous twinkle of the eye."
06. Use references
It can also help to draw inspiration from existent-life creatures: if possible, visit a zoo and brand some sketches from life; if not, sketch from photos. Gerard suggests making mental notes well-nigh your subject as you describe, to enhance your understanding.
"How far are the eyes from the mouth? How large is the upper jaw compared to the lower?" he says. "Equally yous draw 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 structure of living things."
And then, when you start to draw your dragon, keep a collection of relevant photos side by side to you, to refer to every bit yous piece of work.
When creating the above painting, Stone was inspired by dinosaurs such every bit the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and used a photo of the creature's skull to inform decisions almost the dinosaur'south bone structure and anatomy. To supplement this, he referred to images of dappled light, forests and reptiles, for inspiration for color, texture and lighting.
07. Call back, dinosaurs aren't dragons
While dinosaurs are absurd creatures in their ain right, they aren't the same as dragons. However, every bit a child 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 written report nature, actually more eager than I was to read about faerie stories," he writes. "But I did non want to be quibbled into science and cheated out of faeries by people who seemed to assume that past some kind of original sin I should adopt fairy-tales."
08. Consider the setting of your dragon
Think about what your dragon'south surroundings will look similar. This is another element that can be used to aid imply story and add layers of realism and interest. In the painting above, 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 different pare textures
Retrieve of what kind of texture you lot'd like your dragon to have. Is information technology covered in leathery scales, or difficult plates, similar armour? "I imagine that a very old dragon would have thick, gnarly scales, similar an old crocodile, while a younger one might have a smoother, more fifty-fifty pattern," says Stone.
"If you'd like to be a petty unconventional, consider painting a dragon with feathers or fur instead of scales. You lot tin can fifty-fifty look to materials like bawl and rocks for inspiration. Try different things!"
10. Convey scale
1 of import affair to call back when learning how to draw a dragon is that there are visual cues you can use within your image to prove its size. I mutual fox is to include some birds for scale, simply you could also utilize surrounding compages or other props to the same effect.
"Another concept that can hands be applied here is eye size," points out Stone. "Larger creatures (think whales or elephants) generally have small optics relative to their size, and vice versa."
eleven. Consider your dragon'southward weight
You also desire to think about how much mass you desire your dragon to have. "When painting a particularly onetime or powerful dragon, I like to brand it look heavy," says Stone.
"I take inspiration here from old crocodiles or turtles, with thick scales and mankind that hangs down, particularly around the neck. If I want a dragon to await more svelte so I'll go far lithe and use smooth, flowing forms when designing it."
12. Raise 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 depict the viewer'southward attention, particularly 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 beneath, with its optics obscured in shadow, a dragon will look much more intimidating, whereas rim lite tin make a dragon look epic and beautiful."
xiii. Experiment with atmospheric perspective
The rule of atmospheric perspective dictates that objects at a distance will announced hazier than those in the foreground, and pick upwardly the colours of the surrounding temper. This can be used to emphasise the size of your dragon – adding a fly or tail receding into the background, for example, will help make your dragon look even bigger.
"An environment with more smoke, dust or wet, such as fog, will take more pronounced atmospheric perspective, which too makes it a useful tool to build mood," adds Stone.
fourteen. Use contrasting colours
When thinking virtually colour and value, determine what color y'all want your dragon to be, so work out a colour scheme for the environment that ensures the creature stands out.
"As a full general dominion, I choose a value and colour for the groundwork that contrasts with the dragon," explains Rock. "For example, if the dragon is dark with a lot of cool dejection 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 help direct the viewer's focus and emphasise the feeling of 3D space in the epitome. "I keep the hardest, nigh well-baked edges around the face and eyes. The closer to the ends of the painting, or further dorsum in infinite the object is, the softer the edges become; sometimes they'll exist lost entirely," he advises.
"Edges can likewise be used to imply motility. A blurry edge on a fly looks like the dragon has just landed or is most to fly off, and helps to bring the image to life."
16. Take time over the dragon'due south optics
The eyes are often called the window to the soul. When we look at a character in a painting, we volition generally look at the eyes first – it'southward a hard-wired instinct for humans. What'due south more, a lot of information about a dragon's personality can be conveyed through its optics. And then it's of import to capture your dragon'southward optics correctly.
"Accept some time and make studies of reptile eyes and human eyes," says Gerard. "Find which ones are the nigh expressive. Which ones communicate what you're after the all-time? Try combining them to achieve something new."
Play with dissimilar types of eyes until you observe the ane that captured the personality of your dragon, and the mood you're trying to create. "I notice 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 1 half-closed might convey arrogance and nonchalance. Placing the optics in shadow can brand a dragon look very menacing and wicked."
These tips originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world's all-time-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe hither .
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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/8-pro-tips-drawing-dragons-71515935
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