08 | Designing fantasy creatures

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08 | Designing fantasy creatures

Step-by-Step Thinking

We can't draw just about anything and call it a dragon. If you draw a rubber duck, your audience might feel a bit uneasy.

So first we have to define the rules for a dragon - let's say a reptile with wings.

The next question becomes "how much do we want to break those rules?"

Sticking to the definition completely makes the result conservative, perhaps even boring.
Not sticking to it at all leads back to our rubber duck problem.
Somewhere in between is your sweet spot, and it's up to you to find it!

That is the essence of design.

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Try not to reference pre-existing dragons for this exercise.
While there's nothing wrong with seeking inspiration, copying other people's solution to a problem won't teach you how to use your own imagination to solve one.

Step-by-Step Drawing

  1. Draw a series of small compositions to figure out the pose.
    Here I was tempted to settle on the toad-looking dragon (center), but ended up going for a more sleek pose (right), inspired by a photo of a crawling bat we studied earlier.
  1. Draw (or photocopy) a larger version of your composition to use as a basis for your sketch.

    Figure out the main forms. Note how similar the structure is to a lizard (chapter 5), just with a longer, snake-like neck (chapter 4). The tail is a ribbon (chapter 2).
  1. Draw overlapped lines to construct the wings, just like on a bat.
  1. Fill in your dragon on top.
    This might seem like a big jump, but a well constructed sketch from the previous step does all the hard work for us.
  1. Draw bolder lines and some texture around the focal point.

Challenge - research

Study one more animal the same way we've studied snakes, lizards, toads or bats. Then incorporate its features into your dragon design.

For example I decided to add some feathers (secretary bird) and whiskers (catfish) to the demo dragon.
Trust the process. A solid foundation can support any fancy details you wish to add later.

Some dragon-looking animals to get you inspired:

  • Crowned crane, Secretary bird, Cockatoo (birds)
  • Snapping turtle, Armadillo Girdled Lizard (reptiles)
  • Goliath, Hercules (beetles)
  • Goblin shark, Blue glaucus (deep sea creatures)

Summary

  • The first steps of a design is figuring out the rules, then deviating from them just the right amount.
  • Every imagination drawing is a collage drawn from the artist's visual library.

Assignment

  • Draw 4 dragon sketches to figure out the posing. (4 x 5 minutes).
  • Use your best sketch to draw one larger dragon piece, finished with texture and a focal point. (90 minutes)
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Post your final assignment in our Discord community - we'll be thrilled to see it!
Still have the original dragon drawing from the very first chapter? Even better, post both and share your level-up!