The following are some of my favorite dragons with ink pen that I have done so far. They are cleanest and have strongest features that define the dragons' character. Tomorrow I will share the other attempts and explain what I would do differently about them. Then there will be another post with even more dragons done with a regular old blue writing pen- my first dragons for this project. Let me know if you would just prefer just to see more drawings or if you would like to read more about the thoughts behind the drawings :)
A lot of these drawings were done in a tiny A6 sketchbook. I started with A5 because it's less daunting to get started than a big blank paper. Afterwards I photographed each drawing and digitally colored the background for much stronger contrast and added some shading.
I was always fascinated by dragons especially since I saw The Last Dragon when I was 11 on TV. However, over time most dragons started all looking similar, "How to Train Your Dragon" was a great deviation from the traditional lizard dragons. With this project I am trying to explore as many variations of designs and I will try to expand styles and mediums. I began this project last year and it is still ongoing.
This is Desdemon
It is a nocturnal dragon that has eyes that glow softly in the dark. It eats berries and sweeter leaves. I doesn't grow very tall, roughly 75 cm or 2,5 feet and favorite food is wild strawberries and has a great sense of smell.
This was my first ink pen dragon, which inspired many more. It was heavily inspired by Burtonesque style, but eventually I evolved it. Before that I was hesitant to use black ink pens, because the ink can easily penetrate the paper, and it's much harder to fix mistakes. (Used a 0.2 pigment ink pen)
Spyritoh
Pony sized dragon. Cute but mischievous. Loves tugging on hair and playing with its food.
Process: First I outlined the pencil sketch with an ink pen. Then I accentuated the important details, while
the rest were ignored. This way the dragon is more recognizable without having to draw every single strand of fur or each scale. Sometimes I draw more freely without doing the outline first.
Rubyfer
Loves red gems and sometimes red glass. Uses its sharp teeth to reshape the stones into new shapes. Those stones are then used to attract a companion. Also loves stealing medium necklace gems which are perfect size.
Gweeber
A chameleon cousin. Has sharp claws for climbing and communicates with the rest through colorful flames.
They can mate with ordinary chameleons resulting in either 100% gweebs or chameleons, never a hybrid.
Lebud
This is the original dragonfly. It is very small and fast. It generally lives on lotuses, occasionally in the reeds. They eat mosquitos and occasionally the insect dragonflies. (The design is a crossover of a dragonfly and a swan. )
Merdrake
A deep sea and ocean creature also known as the mythical sea monster. From a distance it may be confused for a snake and the fin might be dismissed as a trick of the light. It swims very fast. Also loves sand and prefers to sleep under it.
Minimakrila
These dragons live in high altitudes and use their wings for balance rather than flight. The eat tiny prey and sometimes plants. Extremely friendly with humans. Some are known to bond with nomads for many generations.
The original without retouching
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Also let me know in the comments what is your favorite dragon ^^