Dragonz', "Perfect" Dragon Anatomy Tutorial!

Out of the work I've seen you guys do drawing dragons, I've noticed a lot of you were honestly, no offense, out-of proportion.

A dragon may be fantasy, but when you draw it... treat it as if it were real.

I'm going to have a dragon anatomy tutorial for you guys. I will point out details to be sure to educate you guys a bit on what to avoid on your next dragon (If you ever plan on it)

I'm using a digital pic, but the tut will be just as effect on a dragon drawn by hand.

Some of you may know that dragons are in a HUGE line of species, and there is just so many I can't cover all of them.

But the common dragon, or otherwise the standard western, seems to be the drawn dragon of choice.
As well as eastern.


I'll show how a western works. As most of you don't seem to ever draw easterns anyways.



I'm going to use my own dragon as our little tutorial friend.




PART I - The dragon's head:



You may notice the nine squares are numbered in figure number. That's how I'm going to label my tutorial. In figure numbers.

Fig. 1: How a well-porpotioned dragon head looks. All the basic details, and good sizing. You want to make your dragon's head kind of like a lizard, but don't make it an actual lizard. You want it to have a dragon-like touch of fierceness.

Fig. 2: The "brow". Dragons don't have just an eye in the middle of their head. Dragon's have an eye "brow" which comes from the snout to and ends in a horn, or simply ends. A very important detail. It could take your flat dragon drawing to something realistic.

Fig. 3: The dragon's mouth. You may have your dragon's jaw shut or open. If your dragon's jaw is shut, add some realism and fierceness by having 3 or 4 of the sharpest teeth protruding. If your dragon is in a rather sad expression, don't protrude the teeth. An angry one may have a snarling jaw, in which you have a few teeth showing in a closed clamp. If your dragon has an opened mouth like this one, then make sure to have the jaw connected by a small flap of skin, and the tongue sticking out some. It starts rounded and ends in a forked prong. And ALWAYS make sure to have your dragon's teeth blade sharp!

Fig. 4: The nostril. Dragon's breathe too. Always make sure to have a non-oversized nostril closer to the tip of the snout. It may leak smoke if your dragon breathes fire. Draw a tri-angular shaped hole, and add a ridge to in a direction and... ta-da, you have a nostril!

Fig. 5: Horns. Your dragon, may or may not have horns. Whatever you do just make sure to have horns or frills. Most dragons without horns or frills look alienated. But in some-cases they don't. Most dragons have no more than 2 or 3 large horns, or 2 sets of frills. Do not over-size your horns and don't add too much bend.

Fig. 6: Jaw-line. The dragon never has a flat jaw-line, always beef out the line in a box-like kind of formation. It simply doesn't look like a dragon without a jaw-life that's brought out. Whether you add frill horns or small frills is up to you. Just make sure to make them smaller than the regular frills or horns.

Fig. 7: The neck. NEVER, EVER, make the neck larger than the head. Make the neck width anywheres from 1/2(50%) to 7/8(87.5%) of the head section it connects to. Play around with the width till you find the right one. Never undersize it, never oversize it.

Fig. 8: The eye. The dragon's eye is expressive. It comes in many colors and sizes. Try to make the eye fit the size of the head, and the pupil the nature of the dragon. Slit pupils work well for "evil" and fierce dragons. Round ones work well for warm-expression dragons, such as happy and lovely ones. No pupil gives a sense of alienation, and obviously is not used much. The expressions you can use are pretty much in endless possiblilites. Toy around with the eye to get the right expression. Make sure to have the rest of the dragon following the desired expression, especially the mouth!

Fig. 9: Frills and Spikes. Your dragon may have boney plates, spikes, or frills along it's neck, body, and tail. Whatever you use, make sure to never oversize them, and their size diminishes as it slowly reaches the tail. Never put sharp size transitions.


That's how to do a well-proportioned head, now how about the rest.

PART II- Neck, chest, and forelegs (Arms):



Fig. 10: How the transition from the neck to the chest goes. The neck stays a steady width from it's connection to the head and widens out when it hits the chest and back (Not excessively widens). The underside can either simple be a soft belly, or have ridges like my dragon does.

Fig. 11: The dragon's underside goes from the neck all the way to a certain point of the tail. It can be ridged or simply a soft underside. It can be a color close to the dragon's main color on the color wheel, or simply a lighter shade of the main color.

Fig. 12: Dragons although myth, still have a skeletal anatomy. Give your dragon a rib cage, never just leave a flat transition from the neck to the belly. Add a rib cage, and it'll help your dragon feel (And look) more proud to show off it's chest. Make sure to have tightened skin around the rib cage, and not just flappy-ness. Adding pec muscles that show may be weird, but is entirely up to you.


Fig. 13: Forelegs (Arms). Dragons aren't puny. Never give your dragon stick arms. Beef them up, but don't over-pump them with steroids. A dragon with body-builder freak arms will look just as retarded as a stick leg dragon. Adding a few small lines to enhances the muscles can help a lot.

Fig. 14: Hands. Don't make them as freaky as mine. Most dragon forelegs have 4 digits (3 fingers and a thumb), but 3 or 5 is possible as well. Make them sort of skinny, but not too skinny. Don't have them short either, they're almost 1/4 to 1/2 of the size of the forearm.

Fig. 15: Claws. Never forget them. A dragon just isn't a dragon if it is de-clawed. Most claws are curved and an off-white in color.

EDIT: Also, for the neck, make sure to make the neck no smaller than 3 times the size of the head, and no larger than 5 times. Dragons have serpetine necks, but not that serpentine.

Now you can have a proud and strong dragon, but only in the front! Let's work on the rest.

PART III- The Dragon's Wings:



Fig. 16: How a dragon wing looks. Depending on your dragon you may choose a feathery wing like a bird, or a bat-like wing for something more serpitine and lizard like. The wing has webbing inbetween the bones, making the wing. For the larger section of the wing, it usually has anywhere from 2-3 bones inbetween the two larger structral bones. In the smaller section, there is but 1 for extra support.

Fig. 17: The wing is connected to the body in a ball and socket joint, allowing a good nearly 360-rotation movement. But most wings are "linear" in movement. The muscles for the wing must be well pumped up to make it look like the drago ncan actually use it's wings. (Dragons are heavy)

Fig. 18: The section connecting the two large structral bones and the smaller webbing bones look very much like a hand of some sort. The "finger" like protrusion, or the horn, is completely option, but can help add a bit to your dragon.

Fig. 19: Where you meet the wing back down with the body is up to you, just give something realistic. And it must connect, otherwise, nothing can catch the wind, and your dragon is flightless. Connecting it closer to the foreleg gives a sense of style. Connecting it closer to the hindquaters gives a sense of realism as flying tools.

Fig. 20: The extra bone inbetween the long distance from the "hand" and the socket is to help keep the wing steady and supported, and less flabby and paper-like.

Fig. 21: If you choose a bat-wing, the wing in-between the bones will always have a curve going from tip-to-tip.

Now you may have mastered the wing and the front, but nothing is holding up the back. Let's get to those.

PART IV- The Dragon's Belly:



Fig. 22: No matter what, most dragons aren't overly fat. If you purposely are drawing an "inflated" style then they are, but otherwise, dragons are pretty lean and buff. Never stuff your dragon full of donuts. If you want a little weight behind your dragon, go no further than the kneecap of the hindleg.

Fig. 23: The transition from the end of the rib cage to the stomach may be the sharpest transition you use in the whole drawing. But if you choose to make a fit and lean dragon and not one with a little fat-ness, the sharp transition shifts from the end of the rib cage to the transition underneath the section in the hindlegs which conencts to the tail.

Fig. 24: The transition to the tail is usually a smooth one, no matter if you choose a little bit of flab or super lean. The leaner the dragon, the sharp this transition will be.

Fig. 25: If you choose to make a lean dragon, the red line shows where to have the belly, which would be tucked in some. You can add abdominal muscles, but they may look strange. And oh, don't shift the underside upward just because you leaned the dragon up a little. It stays the same, no matter the fat-ness.

Ok, your dragon has something to hold its food, but does it have something to hold it up? Let's finish this off!


PART V- The Hindquaters:



Fig. 26: The dragon's hindleg. The structure reminds you much of the back-leg of a cat or dog right? (More of a cat) A good reference is a cat when it comes to dragons. The backlegs support a good weight of the body, so they may have the strongest muscles in the whole body. Make sure to never under-pump them, but once again, don't over pump them. The top section serves as the dragon's hip.

Fig. 27: The kneecap. Dragons have a knee-cap like object which is where their joints that help them bend their hind leg is. It may help to bring this out to the viewer.

Fig. 28: The lower section of the hindleg is smaller than the top section to give more of a "stalking" sense, but don't make them too small. Occasionally they may also be longer than the top section. Whatever you do, this section needs to be tight on the skin, but low on the muscle.

Fig. 29: The dragon's hindleg has a paw with a normal 3 digits. An eastern will usually have 5, but a western (The dragon I'm instructing you about) has a typical 3. Make sure the claws are larger than those on the forelegs. The same color however, and still curved, but not nearly AS curved.

Fig. 30: This little "toe" like object that protrudes in a horn, serves both as decoration and better stability. You don't have to have it, but it's recommended you do.

Fig. 31: The hip section to the lower leg goes in a curve like the red line shows, this is kind of important, so don't forget it.

Now your dragon has most of the features. Let's finish it off.



PART VI- The Tail:



Fig. 32: The tail serves as a rudder when it comes to flying, and a weapon when it comes to fighting. Your tail generally doesn't show signs of muscles, but it's still pretty powerful. The size it starts it's diminishing point is the same size as the neck is. It gradually diminishes to either a point, spade, diamond, or decoration of choice.

Fig. 33: The underside ends somewhere mid-point in the tail. Never make it extend to the very tip.

Bonus: The tail can, or can't have the same frills or ridges as the neck does. Generally it's cooler looking to extend the plated ridges or frills down the back, but end it the same point as the underside ends.




Well there you go, you now know how to draw a well-proportioned dragon. Hope you can appreciated this guide and take it seriously. It took me a bit of my free time.

neat

Real good, i think i'm going to go sprite a dragon now.

Eh_Steve wrote:Suggestion, dragonz.... A dragon may have horns or frills, but they are also known (from mythology and pictures) to have huge manes of hair. It is more common on eastern dragons, but it works for western and other varieties too.

I know that but it's so uncommon to a western and so common to an eastern I didn't bother with that.


And thanks for enjoying it guys! I hope more of you can comment and get good use out of this!

Damn I put that much work into it and it's already bumped out.

That is true about the eastern maine thing, but i prefer western wyverns.

Me too. Oh, and editing something in the neck section I forgot to do.

Eh_Steve wrote:I don't like western dragons as much as eastern ones... I find them amazing.

How's about you do the anatomy tutorial of an Eastern dragon then?

really neat man!!, nice work!

~hcreations~ wrote:really neat man!!, nice work!

Thanks!

Like I said, this is really to help everyone else out to create that "perfect" dragon.

Or damn near close.

Cool. And is anyone actually using this?