Liquide
DEX: 4
Well we started a dragon thread a while back, it was mainly for malessa so she could get some help and inspiration in her own dragon sketches and drawings.
This time around I thought we can do a dragon workshop thingie, explain techniques and then post an image that uses those techniques.
I'm currently doing a dragon with HB hardness and using sketch paper that I'll scan as soon as I have defined all lines and detail a bit better
The pic is inspired by the red dragon bt Mr. Lockwood in the Monster Manual, so fellas come on in and post your dragons and tell us a bit about them
This below is my little "essay" from the original dragon thread.
__________________________________
Well I need some help with how to build a dragon so I'm typing down my thoughts on how a dragon's anatomy actually is built up.
In general a dragon is created from 4 different creatures (this assumes a 6 limbed dragon where the 2 additional limbs are the wings).
I also assume that we use the classical long necked stream-lined dragon in this example.
<ul>
<li> Head of the dragon The head is loosely based on that of an eagle, the front beak is directly taken from that of an eagle with the exceptions of the nostrils which is positioned in the front of the beak instead of longer up on the face. The dragon's also have a toothy maw which the eagle doesn't have which also means that inside the mouth you need to add some fleshy parts. A dragon doesn't usually have feathers so the texture of the skin is based and built with snake-like scales (just look at a boa constrictor on how this looks), eyes of the dragon is located within very deep eye sockets but is otherwise similar to the eye of a crocodile. In addition a dragon's head is usually built on a massive bone structure where some bones penetrates the skin and scales of the dragons in the shape of horns or just massive bony plates.
OK that is that for the head, just add anything below if I have forgotten something
The front of a dragon
<li> The Neck of the dragon The neck is base on that of a vulture combined with some snake/serpent anatomy for greater flexibility and power. The base of the head is connected to neck in the same manner that a vultures neck is connected to its head. It then shifts gradually over 1/4th of the necks total length to the anatomy of a snake, where massive muscles can be seen below the skin and scales of the neck. The scales we'll use on the dragon's neck is built in the exact same manner as those of a big snake such as a boa constrictor, python or anaconda. The neck is never thinner then the base of the dragon's neck and gradually widens to match the torsos width and half its height where it connects to the rest of the body.
<li> Front Torso and chest of the dragon Now we come to a tricky part of dragon anatomy where you really need to look at an anatomical map of the creatures involved to see how muscles flow beneath the skin. The front and upper parts where the neck connects to the torso and chest is the of an eagle, also connect the wings of the dragon like if you have drawn a eagle in this part but a dragon needs more massive muscles so have that in mind when you add them. While the torso starts to round and go backwards towards the abdomen gradually change the muscles and anatomical style to better match that of a lion (since we will use a lions anatomy a bit later). Connect the front legs just as if you have drawn an eagle then switch to the anatomy of an Allosurus front legs to get a more massive muscular view (an eagles front legs is not meant to rend it is built to hold its prey while an Allosaurus were built to rend and tear with its claws), just remember to makes the legs more massive then on the Allosaurus since the dragon also needs to be able to use the legs in order to walk on all fours . For scales, continue with the snake-like scales from the dragons neck down to the chest and the underbelly of the dragon, while you start to use the more massive and greater crocodile scales on the sides and top of the dragon. A dragon is of greater size then a snake so it sides and back needs greater protection and therefore we use the crocodile scales on the sides and back of the dragon. We use the snake scales on the belly, and remember to lets them go up a little bit on the side of he belly as well, for greater flexibility and mobility in the dragon's body.
</ul>
Wings and Hind-quarters of the dragon
<ul>
<li> The wings of a dragon The wings can be a bit tricky to pull of but I'll give you a few tips here. The base of the wings is connected just like if you where drawing an eagle (we do this so we can easier cheat with the anatomy of the dragon and make the drawing look more realistic), then we go over to draw them exactly as id we had drawn a bat's wing. Just remember two things;
<ul>
<li> dragon's have a greater more massive muscle structure so take this in account when adding muscles to the and around the wings.
<li> a dragons wing-span is around 1.5 times up to 3 times the dragon's total body length (including tail) in order to be able to fly and also to give the impression of a massive creature
</ul>
The scales used on the wings should be small and flexible to allow the motion of wings that is needed in order to fly. Base them on a small serpents or snakes scales for the best and more flexible effect.
<li> The dragon's hind-quarters Where we connect the hind-quarters to the front and the cheats of the dragon we start to redraw the muscles and bone structure to match that of a lion. The spine and back of the dragons is redrawn over about 3 rib sections of the rib-cage to gradually change from eagle to lion. The under-belly and you just add another set of torso muscles to make the switch from eagle to dragon less apparent. remember to make the hind-quarters a bit wider then that of a normal lion (this mainly due to the fact that we need to add a larger and more massive tail to the dragon then the tail a lion normally has). The hind legs you can draw exactly as if they are from a lion (but give them a three toed claw in the end instead of the lions paw). For scales just continue the serpent/snake pattern on the underbelly and the crocodile pattern on the back sides.
<li> The dragons tail Just draw the beginning of the tail where it connects to the dragons body as if it was a crocodile tail and gradually change the appearance over 1/5th of the tails total length to better match the appearance of a snakes or a serpents end-quarters. For scales use crocodile scales in the beginning of the upper tail (where it connects to the body) and gradually change them to snake/serpent scales, and on the below/bottom just continue the snake like pattern we have used from the neck over the torso/chest and over the tail
</ul>
[edit]
This time around I thought we can do a dragon workshop thingie, explain techniques and then post an image that uses those techniques.
I'm currently doing a dragon with HB hardness and using sketch paper that I'll scan as soon as I have defined all lines and detail a bit better
The pic is inspired by the red dragon bt Mr. Lockwood in the Monster Manual, so fellas come on in and post your dragons and tell us a bit about them
This below is my little "essay" from the original dragon thread.
__________________________________
Well I need some help with how to build a dragon so I'm typing down my thoughts on how a dragon's anatomy actually is built up.
In general a dragon is created from 4 different creatures (this assumes a 6 limbed dragon where the 2 additional limbs are the wings).
I also assume that we use the classical long necked stream-lined dragon in this example.
<ul>
<li> Head of the dragon The head is loosely based on that of an eagle, the front beak is directly taken from that of an eagle with the exceptions of the nostrils which is positioned in the front of the beak instead of longer up on the face. The dragon's also have a toothy maw which the eagle doesn't have which also means that inside the mouth you need to add some fleshy parts. A dragon doesn't usually have feathers so the texture of the skin is based and built with snake-like scales (just look at a boa constrictor on how this looks), eyes of the dragon is located within very deep eye sockets but is otherwise similar to the eye of a crocodile. In addition a dragon's head is usually built on a massive bone structure where some bones penetrates the skin and scales of the dragons in the shape of horns or just massive bony plates.
OK that is that for the head, just add anything below if I have forgotten something
The front of a dragon
<li> The Neck of the dragon The neck is base on that of a vulture combined with some snake/serpent anatomy for greater flexibility and power. The base of the head is connected to neck in the same manner that a vultures neck is connected to its head. It then shifts gradually over 1/4th of the necks total length to the anatomy of a snake, where massive muscles can be seen below the skin and scales of the neck. The scales we'll use on the dragon's neck is built in the exact same manner as those of a big snake such as a boa constrictor, python or anaconda. The neck is never thinner then the base of the dragon's neck and gradually widens to match the torsos width and half its height where it connects to the rest of the body.
<li> Front Torso and chest of the dragon Now we come to a tricky part of dragon anatomy where you really need to look at an anatomical map of the creatures involved to see how muscles flow beneath the skin. The front and upper parts where the neck connects to the torso and chest is the of an eagle, also connect the wings of the dragon like if you have drawn a eagle in this part but a dragon needs more massive muscles so have that in mind when you add them. While the torso starts to round and go backwards towards the abdomen gradually change the muscles and anatomical style to better match that of a lion (since we will use a lions anatomy a bit later). Connect the front legs just as if you have drawn an eagle then switch to the anatomy of an Allosurus front legs to get a more massive muscular view (an eagles front legs is not meant to rend it is built to hold its prey while an Allosaurus were built to rend and tear with its claws), just remember to makes the legs more massive then on the Allosaurus since the dragon also needs to be able to use the legs in order to walk on all fours
. For scales, continue with the snake-like scales from the dragons neck down to the chest and the underbelly of the dragon, while you start to use the more massive and greater crocodile scales on the sides and top of the dragon. A dragon is of greater size then a snake so it sides and back needs greater protection and therefore we use the crocodile scales on the sides and back of the dragon. We use the snake scales on the belly, and remember to lets them go up a little bit on the side of he belly as well, for greater flexibility and mobility in the dragon's body.</ul>
Wings and Hind-quarters of the dragon
<ul>
<li> The wings of a dragon The wings can be a bit tricky to pull of but I'll give you a few tips here. The base of the wings is connected just like if you where drawing an eagle (we do this so we can easier cheat with the anatomy of the dragon and make the drawing look more realistic), then we go over to draw them exactly as id we had drawn a bat's wing. Just remember two things;
<ul>
<li> dragon's have a greater more massive muscle structure so take this in account when adding muscles to the and around the wings.
<li> a dragons wing-span is around 1.5 times up to 3 times the dragon's total body length (including tail) in order to be able to fly and also to give the impression of a massive creature
</ul>
The scales used on the wings should be small and flexible to allow the motion of wings that is needed in order to fly. Base them on a small serpents or snakes scales for the best and more flexible effect.
<li> The dragon's hind-quarters Where we connect the hind-quarters to the front and the cheats of the dragon we start to redraw the muscles and bone structure to match that of a lion. The spine and back of the dragons is redrawn over about 3 rib sections of the rib-cage to gradually change from eagle to lion. The under-belly and you just add another set of torso muscles to make the switch from eagle to dragon less apparent. remember to make the hind-quarters a bit wider then that of a normal lion (this mainly due to the fact that we need to add a larger and more massive tail to the dragon then the tail a lion normally has). The hind legs you can draw exactly as if they are from a lion (but give them a three toed claw in the end
instead of the lions paw). For scales just continue the serpent/snake pattern on the underbelly and the crocodile pattern on the back sides.<li> The dragons tail Just draw the beginning of the tail where it connects to the dragons body as if it was a crocodile tail and gradually change the appearance over 1/5th of the tails total length to better match the appearance of a snakes or a serpents end-quarters. For scales use crocodile scales in the beginning of the upper tail (where it connects to the body) and gradually change them to snake/serpent scales, and on the below/bottom just continue the snake like pattern we have used from the neck over the torso/chest and over the tail
</ul>
[edit]
- Inserted my old description of a dragon into this post.
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