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These instructions are intended
for anyone with some patience and the desire to learn how to draw
a dragon’s head
in my style. The visual aids cover the process step by step so pay
close attention to them. And remember, practice is key, so don’t
be discouraged if your first try does not appear how you intended!
Before you draw anything you must first gather the appropriate materials. Here
is what you will need:
- patience, patience, and more patience
- a sharp graphite pencil, preferably a 4B
drawing pencil but anything
under an HB will do
- drawing paper: 70lb sketching paper is ideal
- an eraser, the Magic Rub vinyl eraser is the best one for the job
- a flat surface and somewhere you can work undisturbed
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- Start with the eye of your dragon. It is the eyes that
set its emotion – happy or angry, sleepy, sly etc. The
eye is usually seed shaped. To draw it, start with the top
lid in one stroke and completing with a second stroke for
the bottom lid.
Figure 1.
- Flesh out the eye area with wrinkles and draw in
the brow above the eye. The brow is just an arch
above the eye that generally follows the contours
of the top lid. Add wrinkles over and under the eye
to show folds of flesh.
Figure 2.
- Draw the nostrils in. This sets the position
of the dragon’s head.
Figure 2.
- Next use circles and ovals to build
the top of the dragon’s head.
Use a small circle at the snout with
a larger circle for the forehead.
Connect the circles with an oval
and draw a centerline down the middle
of them.
Figure 3.
- Roughly following the shapes,
draw the profile of the dragon’s
head from snout-tip to the
base of the skull.
Figure 3.
- With this in place
you can now draw
the mouth and lower
jaw. The mouth line
moves up from the
tip of the snout
then runs roughly
parallel to the lower
jaw. Show some teeth
over the lip for
a bit of attitude.
The lower jaw begins
behind the eye and
narrows sharply between
the eye and the nostril.
Figure 4.
- Draw the
arch of the
cheekbone
below the
eye. The
shape of
the cheekbone
is similar
to that of
a human’s. Figure
5.
- Add
a
pair
of
horns
to
the
top
of
its
head.
Start
just
behind
the
highest
point
of
the
brow.
The
horns
can
be
as
elaborate
or
simple
as
you
wish,
choose
a
shape
that
compliments
the
head.
Figure 5.
Presto! Now you have
the basic shape for your dragon’s head. Next elaborate on
it and add shading.
- With the horns in place you can now add the ear frills.
Begin by drawing a series of lines radiating from a point
just behind the cheek.
Figure 5.
- Connect the outer points of the spines with a sweeping
line to make it look like stretched skin – similar
to the webbed feet of a frog. Add a second line to
each spine, thick at the base and tapering to a point
at the end. Shade one side of each section of the
frill, darkest next to the spine.
Figure 6.
- Emphasize the features of the face and
shade where necessary. Shading is used to
cause objects to recede in space so shade
where ever you want to add a ridge, an indentation,
show something is overlapping, etc.
Figure 6 - 7.
- Finishing touches include hinting
at scales, a line of spines down
the centerline of the head, adjusting
the eye and so on. To create interesting
spines, vary their size and shape.
Remember to add the pupil to the
eye. The pupil is usually slitted
like a cat’s eye. The placement
of the pupil determines the direction
the dragon is looking.
Figure 6-7.
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- Don’t become discouraged if your
dragon is not coming out as you expected; keep working on
it and
experiment freely.
A dragon is an imaginary creature so it can look like
anything you want.
- If you become frustrated don’t
wad up your drawing, snap your pencil in half and swear never
to draw again;
just set it aside and take a short break.
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