The Form of the Dragon by Bobby

Good work on your dragon. A very complicated two-headed animal. You seem to be doing just great with the detail so far--the jagged spikes and the reptilian stomach decoration. Just keep going. If you want more variety, try some pale colored pencil. But it will be fascinating in just black pencil as well.

I want to point out some parts that particularly interest me. Notice how the dragon's body is fairly flat looking except where the legs are joined? On the other hand, the legs and toes and tail have much more form because of the excellent contour drawing and the overlapping (of toes and the spiraling overlap of the tail). Lines that follow contours and shapes that overlap are devices that create 3-dimension and therefore when used the subject seems more naturalistic. (Doesn't matter whether it's a living creature or a still life.)

In your drawing, the curved lines that follow the contours of the legs work perfectly to convey the form of these legs--they actually seem to indicate muscles. So you might want to think about inserting more contour line into the main body of the beast and its heads. By contrast, those areas seem flat right now.

If you wanted to create more contour lines and you were stumped, or if you wanted to invent more texture/detail, where would you look to get some ideas? Can you think of places that would have pictures to research? Would it help to look at real-life creatures?

It's wonderful to know that you enjoyed this project well enough to continue it out of school. Do you do a lot of sketching at home?

Let me know, Bobby, if you are going to continue on this picture.

Joan, Mentor

Hi Bobby,

Nice job on your unfinished dragon. Have you taken a look at the skin of a snake, lizard or fish? They have interesting textures which maybe you could try to capture something similar if you are trying to make your dragon look realistic.

I liked the comments Joan gave to you. When you do add to your drawing you might also want to think about making some areas dark and some areas leave light, and maybe add a shadow below the dragon. What time of day is it in your picture? Sometimes adding shading where the curves are, will make it look more real too. If you cannot find pictures of dragons, try looking at other animals, such as horses.

Look forward to seeing the next installment. Good for you to work at home too!

Candy, Mentor

Bobby,

You did such a good job with finishing up the dragon. (Have you given it a name yet?) I've noticed that it's difficult for student artists (or any artists) to make the leap from a delicate pencil work to finishing the piece in color because switching midstream to a different medium creates dramatic alterations which sometimes are not what the artist thought would happen. Was this a problem for you at first? Or did you just switch naturally? It looks to me a natural transition--in other words, you make it look easy.

The three-dimensional form seems well developed because you not only added muscles but when you inked in throat and stomach scales you followed the contour of the body.

The black is quite dark, but because you used equal values (i.e., lights/darks) of red and green which are a complementary pair of colors on the color wheel, you were able to achieve maximum bounce or spark with your colors. This vitality of color is a fine match for the heavy ink lines. That's how it comes across on my screen anyway. Is it equally good in real life? Are you getting good feedback from your colleagues about the picture?

One part that is not so clear on my screen is facial features--eyes and teeth. Do they show up well on the original? If they don't, you could think about inserting a shot of opaque white (or a pale pastel color that contrasts with all the other colors) on the whites of the eyes. Being able to see the features of the face usually adds personality to the creature.

This is a fine job. I will look forward to your next piece.

Joan, Mentor

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