Another take on quick scales. I think this one worked out a bit better, although it doesn’t follow the curves of the form as the earlier try did, and I want to fix that. But later. These little studies aren’t about driving myself crazy trying to get it perfect, and I’m finding I like how much that frees me up to experiment and learn.

Funny enough, that’s exactly what nine-dozen art teachers have been trying to get me to do for years. But I never could really do it in a class setting. (Strange thought: this is the first extended period since third grade or so that I haven’t been under some sort of standardized art instruction.) The constraints of experimenting now, on the clock and using the materials/references provided just made it so artificial that it was hard to actually be excited about learning. Worst for me though was the core concept: if you’re getting it right, you’re doing it wrong.

In my mind, the platonic version of this drawing is powerful and impressive and just this side of discomfortingly alien. Unfortunately the execution is just sort of… awkward. I mean, awkward works too, but it wasn’t my intention.

I do like how the head joints to the neck, and the neck to the body. It’s just the body itself that seems to be the problem.

A bit more of a mammal than the others, but who said dragons have to be reptiles, anyway? Besides, if I’m going to be absurd (I think the earwings count as absurd, don’t you?) than I’ve offically renounced any friendship logic and I have previously enjoyed.

I blame the whole thing on the cold medicine I’m taking. Wheeeee.

First attempt at scales. Well, I should amend that: First attempt at scales in which I did not individually draw every scale by hand. Clearly I don’t have a total grip on this technique yet, but I think it has potential to reduce cramping in my facia over adductor pollicis.

I think of this body type as a ‘regular’ dragon. Nothing fancy, but with all the necessary boxes checked: membranous wings, the previously mentioned scales, and it’s green. Very few animals in the world are quite that green, (the color reference for this was a green tree python) and none of them are quite that large. Therefore, large+green+scales+bat wings = dragon.

Everyone’s brain does math that way, right?

Bulls lower their heads and stamp the ground. Elephants fan their ears and trumpet. This guy? I bet he wags his tail and flaps his little wings eagerly before running you over like a freight train.

I like the color job in general, but I’m having second thoughts about the purple. I’m not sure what would be better though. Any suggestions?

I shamelessly stole the color and stipe concept for this dragon from Zedonks. Yes, that is exactly what you’d expect it to be.

The color job on this makes me happy. It’s just brown, really. But it’s a very pretty, visually interesting brown. It’s nice to see that my coloring skills have developed to the point where I can make a regular old brown animal look exotic. Of course, being a dragon probably helps with that.

This one ended up sort of… geko-y.

I’d been trying for a fishy, mermaid companion animal sort of creature, and I think I mostly succeeded. However, when I take this guy for a walk in my mind (I do this for most of my imaginary animals, to make sure all the bits work. ) I hear a loud *squickaPOP*! *squickaPOP*! from the sucker pads on the undersides of his feet.

Damn you CuteOverload. My active vocabulary now has things like ‘shnozzle’ and ‘stubbular’ in it.

To my relief, a quick google search informs me that the well known grinning nimrod has a green belly, and therefore I did not accidentally draw a little winged Barney.

Forgive me for my Barney directed bile. There are certainly far worse children’s shows out there, it’s just that Barney was the first childrens show I ever watched as an adolescent (while babysitting, I missed watching Barney myself by a few years) and I was mildly revolted by the experience.

Perhaps it’s just my memory, but the shows I remember watching as a kid had charm, plot, and dialogue that was deliberately a bit over the kids’ heads.  I’m a particular fan of that last one. It gave the kid’s brains something to work on (as in real overheard conversation) and it let the adults watch as well without sucumming to brainrot.

In my fantasy of how I will parent (I realize that I cannot really have any concept of what’s involved in being a parent, having never had any kids, but that doesn’t prevent me from planning for the possibility) I’ll have stacks of DVDs of Fraggle Rock, vintage Sesame Street, and the Muppets. There will be a monitor and a DVD player, but- and this is hard for some Americans to concieve of- no cable connection.

That’s right. No TV.

My usual dragon tendency is to draw elegant, flowing forms that are clearly physically coordinated and adept, more cat than alligator. For this one I wanted something a little more like an 70′s style dinosaur reconstruction. A bit more lizard-y, a bit less pretty.

I really like things that are cute for reasons other than Cardinal Cuteness. (Cardinal Cuteness is defined by large eyes, small ineffectual limbs, a large head to body ratio, smallness in general, ect. Basically everything that is hard-wired into humans so that we’ll find our own babies cute enough to want to keep them.) I can just imagine this guy very deliberately stomping his way across a sandy basin, with dignified solemnity and a serious frown. Of course he wouldn’t notice that his butt waggles as he walks and his tail drags from side to side behind him, leaving an amusing wavy groove in his wake.