Omg Dragons
So, I used to draw dragons A LOT. Like, too much. Like… I went to art school and I really struggled with figure drawing and perspective and drawing from life because I was super obsessed with drawing dragons and nothing else.
One of my instructors told me to stop drawing dragons, so I did. I was pissed off for a while (probably still am) but I’m glad I did – AT THE TIME – because it forced me to get better at the essentials of drawing.
This morning I decided to draw a dragon in my older style (pre-second year art school) and then I promptly hated it. All of those feelings of not being good enough decided to rear their ugly heads but of course, I had none of it. I reworked the “tropical dragon” into a cute, plump “rainbow dragon”. Here are the process pics!
- Top row, Img 1: Tropical Dragon, morning warm up sketch
- Top row, Img 2: Blocked out silhouette to visualize body design
- Top row, Img 3: Left: Body design silhouette; Right: Lion ref drawing
- Middle row, Img 1: Initial sketch based on lion ref
- Middle row, Img 2: Color block in screenshot
- Middle row, Img 3: Process screenshot
- Last row, Img 1: Head Crop Detail
- Last row, Img 2: Feets Crop Detail
- Last row, Img 3: Full Image, “Rainbow Dragon”
What’s next? More Dragons!
What did I learn from this dragon re-drawing exercise? Well, it makes me want to draw more, draw different things, and draw from reference – especially when I am designing creatures.
Ljubica Todorovic
Calgary, AB
March 2, 2020
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