So that allergy/spring cold/leftover flu from a coworker was acting up today, and when I got home, I planned to crawl into bed. A Claritin and a cup of Golden seal later, and I was feeling well enough to at least try to do something without phoning it in.
I thought I’d do another eye, but that turned into more of a very engrossing study of a reference photo, to the point where I couldn’t even realistically say that it was a dragon’s eye. I mean, I could, but I would know in my heart of hearts that I had not actually drawn a dragon, or even part of one, but instead did a sketch of some kind of iguana:
Okay, so I got a little free with the artistic license around the iris. So sue me.
It was a really good Paying Attention exercise; and if I’d had a few more hours (I really need to get some sort of angled drawing board) I might have even finished it, but as it was, it began to get tedious after awhile, and I began to realize how little I really understand about the subject that I’ve been working on for so long. Part of it is “learning to see,” but part of it was noticing planes and angles in the shape of the head that unytil now, my brain just interpreted as “generic wedge” or “that works somehow.”
So I tried to apply what I’d learned, at least regarding the shape of the eye, to an actual dragon drawing, and did this:
It was another of those “if I had a few more hours of patience/stamina” situations- I wanted to do something fancy with the scales, but I was still kind of burnt out from the above sketch, and opted for a swirly “Elegant Asian Style” pattern that I found here. But at least I did something with different scale sizes, as well as plating the face, though I’m not entirely sure if that works with the Eastern dragon in general. I really like the fringe around the eye though; it’s a nice change from the usual Fu Manchu mustache and still seems appropriate.
