How to Draw A Dragon (from Kazdrea) (Part 7)

Establishing a Rough Background

Part of an encounter with Dreafar in the upcoming novel Kazdrea: Dawn of the Dragons' Secret:
"Each of her words seared the mind as though on fire. Leonar could have wept; he had so long been the subject of mental intrusions; and this one was as brazen, arrogant, and powerful as that of any god.

'You need think of other ways to do battle,' the voice assured him, 'for as the Empire turns and burns the world to ash and steel, so too is the way of War changed. Honour is dying. Chivalry is lost.'

The warrior furiously scanned his surroundings. The fiery light in the chamber seemed to originate from the occasional gaping cracks in the igneous stone walls; ancient portals to distant magma which still churned with the forging of the earth. The chamber itself seemed unfathomably large, with its furthest end hidden by a vast natural pillar some ninety feet across. Spilling out from either side of this pillar could barely be seen coins of copper and gold, and rubies and sunstones and star-sapphires which thrust the burning light against itself in a thousand directions.

'Show yourself!' Leonar demanded in his mind as he begun moving leftward. Then all at once he caught sight of the face Sonya had spoken of, though it was in silver rather than steel: a fifteen-foot-tall giant wearing the most perfect and full plate mail Leonar had ever seen and clutching a sword much like the one he had found on the corpse of the Frost Giant King was carved flawlessly into the catacomb's quarter-wall. There were no eye-openings in his dragon-shaped great helm, and his face was contorted in an endless scream.

Leonar's attention shot back to the pillar, however, when he spotted a great movement from the corner of his eye. A red dragon, larger than any living thing he had ever seen or imagined yet still mostly concealed behind the column, had emerged from its left side. In the scarlet light reflected about the chamber, the serpent's scales glittered like the gems in its collection; its chest and neck were dazzling as a blaze, while its head was dark as embers. The voice was hers, and it spoke again.

'I see you have discovered the greatest treasure of my hoard. He in silver...was Surtur, King of the Fire Giants, though his armour was bronze.' She looked directly at Leonar with eyes like burning suns, and held her gaze there as she continued.

'I, apparently, did not mobilize swiftly enough in the Final Battle for Sturmgladius' liking, and he had the audacity to give his greatest fiery champion...magic, to protect him almost entirely from my breath. So it was that he crept into my catacomb, and fired enchanted arrows which I deflected with my arms. He made to strike me down with his sword, cutting first my legs, but I clutched him in my hawk grip and smote him beneath the vein of silver. Then I used my breath, and melted for him his tomb! Thus I created a death-mask of silver worthy of the king, though we of the dragons call him General, for war was his only talent.'

Seeing Leonar and Sonya's shock and amazement, the dragon drove her message home. 'The enemies of those under my protection shall fall; all of them. All shall know the name Dreafar; for I am she, the Vision of Fire!'"

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• dragon
• art
• Dreafar
• Kazdrea
• mountains
• trees

[cryptichobo]

You're a good artist. I really love how much detail you put into your work, especially the scales. But you've got to remember anatomy. The base of the neck is too small to be able to support the head and the wing muscles are WAY too small to be able to support his massive girth while flying.

....just a few things to keep in mind.

Other than that, keep it up!!! <3

[TiaMichelle]

When endeavouring to create an intelligent-looking dragon, it was generally necessary to consult dinosaurs and pterosaurs of the Mesozoic rather than modern animals. Do a Google Image Search for Quetzalcoatlus and you shall see what I mean.

Of course, considering that Dreafar is the biggest of the big as far as dragons go, it is unlikely that she or any other dragon of that size could fly on Planet Earth anyway! ;)

[herpboy99]

sorry to be inpationt but when is the next instalment of your video going to be added?

[TiaMichelle]

I thank you for your patience; and to answer your question I'm going to add two videos quite soon: one on the 28th and the other on the 29th! These and the rest of the series are going to take place in the realm of colour, however, and thus the wait between updates shall sadly become longer than the two to three week norm for the previous installments. One needs a solid starting palette and a lot of minute detail to digitally create an oil painting equivalent...

[aimanisaiman]

cool drawing god gave your the power , god bless u!!!!

[TiaMichelle]

Thank you very much, and may the Lord bless you as well!

[brent1125]

good job with the hands - when drawing a pose like this, ive never been able to draw a dragon with hands (not on its wings) without just making it look weird

[GambleFamily]

THAT IS SO COOL!! i cant draw like that but i wish i could

[DiiRtYM0nTaGEzZ]

yawn

[borjan121]

Verry good i appriceate you work

[poojy15]

You sound really creepy....

[Eragon86micky]

sweet

[gemmabiner]

haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! major NERD!!!!

[pyradragon]

the dragon is good and all but the back leg are weird and the toes sorry i dont mean to nasty i draw dragons 2

[girlyangelcute]

it is so difficult, in the expert village its a lot easier