Scaling and Fine Detail
Since I know most folks reading this tutorial are going to be wanting to
know how to draw traditional Earth dragons, I've added tightly meshed scales
to this subject. To make scales, I use the Photoshop smude tool (looks
like a little hand with the index finger out) at pressure 85% on the finest
brush setting. Working from a medium dark or dark area, I draw scales on
all the lighter parts of the form. In places where I feel the texture of
scales would be visible in the dark areas (like the lower part of the jaw
that's backlit in blue) I also draw in scales. I used the dark red color
we used at Stage
2 to create mottles on the scales. This helps them separate from the
form of the dragon a little, without obscuring his real shape. That's the
hard part about scales; I tend to get obsessed with the lighting and shadow
of each scale, which causes them to overwhelm the whole picture, to the
point where it can hardly look like anything anymore.
I draw scales flowing from the nose, down the spine to the end of the
tail. I used to own goldfish and I drew them often, and this is where I
learned about scaling, but you can probably find some photographs of fish,
snakes or other scaled animals to study.
For the belly, I've used a simple snake belly pattern. I could probably
detail it even more, but I'm happy with this piece the way it is.
I could fiddle with my drawings forever, but often I force myself to
call it quits and move on just so I don't ruin them. :-) I have 'fixed
paintings until they broke' many times in the past. If you have this tendency,
save backups and multiple versions of your pieces often!
I've used some more light purple to highlight the neck sheilds, and
to create a satiny texture to the mane, I've worked from black to the darkest
brown on the neck scales, to the next darkest, to the dark gold, to the
light gold. I wanted the mane to match the neck, so I selected the colors
from the neck with my eye dropper for the mane.
TADAAA! All done!
Did this tutorial help you? Email my
husband and let me know! Feel free to include any URLs to drawings
you've used this technique on, and I'll add a link to your page from mine.
