THE DRAGON

CHAPTER 1: Inspiration
To create fantasy creatures, we need to research on real creatures first. Say if we want to draw a unicorn, we should
go study a horse. If we want to draw a gryphon, then study the lion and the eagle. Get the idea? So if I want to draw
a dragon...
Let's look at a couple of professionally drawn dragons first, to get us thinking.

[1] From what I can figure, this dragon has:

• a head like an alligator's with fish fins
• horns like a deer's
• body like a snake's
• wings like a bat's+bird's
• forelegs like a lizard's

[2] This is another dragon, and I

think it has:
• a head like an alligator with the
mouth tip like an eagle's beak
• horns like a buffalo's
• body like a lizard's
• wings like a bird's but covered in
leather
• hindlegs like ...something out of
Jurassic Park :)
Illustration by Geoff Taylor.
So now I have some idea of the sort
of parts and things dragons are made
of.

CHAPTER 2: Let's Assemble

This is where the fun and creativity begins. Flip through your picture books (animals, mythical creatures, whatever
that'll inspire you), and choose creatures you'd like to study. For my dragon, after some sketching around, I'm going
to use:
The above sketch was just everything slopped together, and you'll agree that our little dragon looks pretty pathetic
right now. Daijoobu, DAIJOOBU! All we have to do is keep experimenting. I think I'm gonna make the head a little
more ferocious by using a mix of snake and agamid (a kind of lizard). I'll replace the wee little legs with something
more powerful like an ostrich's. Also, instead of 2 thick horns, let's make it 4 thin ones; and I better make the frills
look less like a raincoat. This is what I have so far:

Getting better... I think I've done enough research for now, so let's
move on.

CHAPTER 3: Fantastic Creature

This is the part where you throw away your research stuff (not literally, of course) and
just look at your drawing and let your creativity burst forth! Let's take a better look at
what we have so far:
Hm, I think I'll make the head less
rounded and not so lizard-like. I'll
elongate the body, so the dragon
looks more fearsome. And I better
draw the wings properly. Let's add
some alligator teeth (ouch!), bend
the horns a bit, thicken the legs,
add more claws and adjust things
here and there to make the dragon
look grander and more ferocious...
and perhaps more believable.

What I'm doing is what MY

creativity tells me to do. Of course,
YOU will have your own unique
creativity, which will likely tell you
something different. Just listen to
that and you'll be right.

CHAPTER 4: Come Alive

Let's test our design by drawing the dragon in action—nothing complicated, we just want to see if it looks cool
generally. So I'm simply gonna draw the dragon front-on displaying its glorious power. First I sketch in basic
geometric outlines, then add more detailed outlines, and finally go over everything carefully with nice clean lines.
It happens that I'm satisfied with the design, so I'll go on to the next chapter. However, if I'm not yet satisfied
(which is usually the case), I'd go back to Chapter 3 and experiment with the design some more. I'd try to fix up the
parts which I think have problems until I'm finally happy with the design. With perseverance comes success!

CHAPTER 5: Dragon Fury

By now we should have a good idea of what the dragon looks like in 3-D. Well, ideally I should also test out the
design in side view, back view, and any other views that might be helpful, but for this little lesson I'll have to be
content with knowing just the front view. Besides, the composition I'll be doing is in front view (what a
coincidence!).
So let's make the dragon do something interesting... how 'bout breathing fire at some poor soul? As in Ch.4, I first
do a basic outline, then do more detailed outline, then go over the outlines carefully, and in addition, I'll render the
picture so it'll look more complete.
The last image shows how I cheated in rendering the scales. First I do cross-hatches, then squiggle in the curves.
The result is an imitation of the scale pattern shown on the far right.
Well, I think this looks pretty...

COMPLETE! ^o^