Drawing dragons has always felt like a very creative and fun process to me. They're creatures that can be depicted in a wide variety of types and forms, which gives you a lot of creative freedom while challenging the imagination to create something different that hasn't been done before.
For this personal piece, I wanted to portray a dragon in a powerful and menacing pose, as if it were a great threat about to unfold. Just like human hands, wings on animals are very expressive. In this case, its wings take up almost the entire canvas, giving it a strong presence in the scene. The background reinforces its posture and adds narrative to depict an incoming calamity.
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01. Testing colours
To start, I made some initial sketches of what the dragon would look like. Its posture and body movement are the main focus. Once I had a clear vision, I did some colour tests.
Since it’s a cold scene, I used a colour scheme consisting mainly of blues and greens.
02. Guiding the gaze
For the background, I used broad brushstrokes to blend the mountains and sky. It’s crucial to pay attention to the negative space and use the directional lines of the image elements to guide the viewer’s gaze.
The light in the background frames the silhouette of the wings.
03. Adding details
I added detail to the scales, cleaned up the shapes to define the planes of depth, and added the meteorites and blizzard. You can always add more detail, but the key to finishing an illustration is ensuring the planes of depth are clearly defined in relation to one another.
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.
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