Dragon Fun Facts

Dragons are beautiful, majestic and complex creatures. And yet, so many of us are so deeply in love with them!

Did you know that the word “dragon” comes from ancient Greek and means “to see strong” and from Latin dracon – huge serpent?

Also, the most well-known dragons come from two distinctly different traditions: European Dragon and Chinese Dragon.

• The European Dragon is typically depicted as a large, fire-breathing, scaly, horned, lizard-like creature. Their blood is a symbol of a long life, and sometimes has poisonous properties;
• And the Chinese Dragons are most commonly depicted as snake-like and with four legs; They symbolize powers (mostly control over water), strength and are a good luck charm for the worthy ones.

History aside, they are just so awesome to look at!

And so they have been featured in many of the top popular and loved films, such as: Game Of Thrones, Merlin, Harry Potter, Shrek, The Neverending Story, How To Train Your Dragon, Spirited Away, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings and many more!

No wonder artists throughout their careers draw dragons at least a couple of times!

That is why I decided to ask a couple of artists to share their process of drawing dragons with us 🙂 I asked them to go ahead and provide you with any helpful information on how they approach dragons in their art, as well as to answer some intriguing questions!

• And at the end of this post, you will see a list of Top 5 Books On How To Draw A Dragon!
• But I fou want a longer version, you can always check out our blog post “How To Draw A Dragon 7 Awesome Books”

Artists featuring today are: Sanjay Charlton,  Dennis Sabino, Yuriy Skorohod, Hana Kuro, and Milena Młynarska.

Go ahead and check out other pieces by them, but for now here is a list of tips we’ve all been waiting for:

Sanjay Charlton 

Sanjay Charlton is An Illustrator and a Concept Artist based in Jamaica.

“I call myself an illustrator first and foremost, if only to impress people, yet I have skills and passions in many areas of animation, ggraphicsand web design. Okay, I lied a little. I’m not that passionate about web design. But I seem to have a mind that’s tuned to that sort of thing. The bit about impressing people is true though. It happened once.

It is all about great ideas, not just layouts. The creative process must always help a Communication Strategy by magnifying the ideas and amplifying its overall impact. I believe it is my duty as an illustrator and graphic designer to expertly communicate my client’s message.”

( Resource: Sanjay Charlton Behance Page )

Anna: What inspired you to draw this dragon?

Sanjay: I really like anything fantasy and anything powerful and dragons seem to be the weapon of mass destruction of the genre. So how could I not?

A: Did you collect any reference material or do some research before you started?

S: Yes, I looked at a lot of reptiles, especially for textures. I looked at various interpretations of dinosaurs and most importantly I looked at how other artists interpreted various types of dragons in different styles.

A: When you just begin the process – what o you think about? Are you trying to understand the skeleton/muscles or how do you work?

S: Primarily I think about the pose and how everything else supports that. Form, skeletal makeup, muscles, skin texture and then lighting.

A: How do you make sure that this fantastical creature looks believable and true to life?

S: Outside of the structure, texture and lighting, imperfections go along way. Teeth that jagged and misaligned, textures that are not uninformed and so on.

A: What part was the hardest to draw and which part did you enjoy the most?

S: Simultaneously the head of the dragon was the most challenging and most rewarding to see completed. I really wanted to feel something when looking into the eyes of the creature.

A: Any other tips/tricks you want to mention to our readers?

S: Don’t expect to get it right the first time. Explore, find ways to make it better even after it’s “done”. So that you can keep getting better at it.

P.S. This art piece took Sanjay approximately 40-50 hours to complete! So as he said before, don’t get discouraged if it’s your first time drawing/painting a dragon! 🙂

Dennis Sabino

Dennis Sabino is an Illustrator and a Designer based in Brazil.

And here is a video process of him painting the dragon:

Yuriy Skorohod

Yuriy Skorohod is a Dotwork artist from Minsk.

“Asian Dragon”, details shots?? 100% d?twork Individual graphic for t-shirt design Format: A4, tools: Faber-Castell rapidographs 0.18-0.25mm, materials: 300g photographic paper, black ink, technique: dotwork (pointillism). ⏺ ⏺ ⏺ #dotwork #stippling #pointillism #татуарт #art #graphic #illustration #inklouvre #drawing #dotworkart #inkwork #tattooart #tattosketch #penart #inkart #instart #inkdrawing #dailyarts #artsgodz #arts_help #sharingart #illustrate #inkfeature #instafineliner #artsamazingz #artacademy #blackworkillustrations #dragon #asian_inkspiration #эскизытатуировок

A post shared by Yuriy Skorohod (@artsc0re) on Nov 21, 2017 at 3:54am PST

Hana Kuro 

H: Sure! For the dragon:

– in my opinion, dragons usually have a really wide eyesight with a small blind spot in it, so eyes are more sideways than forward-looking;

– they mostly have spikes thorns, horns, especially the one on the nose or at the top of the head somewhere, which could be for breaking the egg from the inside;

– 2 circles, 1 small and 1 big, with a gap between each other is a good base for building up a face of a dragon;

– usually, the older dragons should have more details e.g.: thorns (either broken or intact), a lot of projections on the skin, lots of wrinkles all over the body;

For the painting:

– try to work your whole piece out on 1 layer, except those parts which are hiding behind or coming forward;

– have breaks during the process;

– use pastel colors first – as a base;

– fool around with the full painting to get more inspiration;

– figure out the direction of light, either with some basic colors or arrows;

– use more natural than vivid colors;

– have fun and be creative!

Milena Młynarska

Milena Mlynarska is an artist and an illustrator from Poland.

” I create custom artwork, storyboards and illustrations for individual clients and large companies alike. I’ve completed numerous projects in game, advertising, multimedia, gallery and print publishing industries. My clients include: Techland, Juice, Ten Square Games, Foksal Group, Nasza Ksiegarnia, Zysk, Fabryka Slow. Usually I combine freehand drawing with digital tools (Photoshop + Wacom tablet) in my work. ”

( Resource: Milena Mlynarska website )

Anna: Please share with our readers your process of creating the two pieces 🙂

Milena: The “making of” of two of my covers for the Chronicles of a Torn World fantasy series:

After approval, I started to collect references to render the final images. For dragons, best references are all kind of reptiles and amphibia for sure! I was looking also for other dragon artworks as an inspiration.

My creative process was very organic, I can say.

Here are some W.I.P.s:

And Then Onto the final art! 🙂

Next Steps

Learning from the process of many people (and not just one) will help you to better understand the process of drawing and painting dragons, as well as discover many cool tips while staying within your own style!

Now, I encourage you to follow our artist’s tips and create some majestic creatures!

If you still find that it’s not enough information, I would suggest checking out these 5 Awesome Dragon Books for further exploration and learning!

And if you would like to learn more, I suggest you check out “How To Draw A Dragon 7 Awesome Books” 🙂

1. How to Draw and Paint Dragons: A Complete Course Built Around These Legendary Beasts

   

2. How to Draw Dragons: in simple steps

   

3. Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon

   

4. How to Draw Dragons

   

5. Dracopedia The Great Dragons: An Artist’s Field Guide and Drawing Journal

   

• These books go in no particular order, they are just pretty awesome to study from, get inspired by and overall to look at! 🙂

I hope you enjoyed the read!

In the comments below please let me know what else you would like to learn about? 😉

• Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe to our email list and follow us on social media if you would like to read our future posts!
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Good luck on Your Art Path,

– Anna, Your Art Bud ?

Blog Posts to check out next → ” 14 Best Figure Drawing Books For Beginners”

and → “How To Make Money Online As An Artist In 2018”