Baby Dragon: Creature portrait

Baby Dragon

When asked if I will paint a creature portrait my answer is usually “yespleasenow”… When it’s a portrait of a dragon, add an extra “whoop” at the end.

Suzanna J. Linton is an author who has a species of dragons in her books called Aerials. With bold coloured feathers and emerald scales I wanted to give the creature the life it needed without getting too garish. The author had told me this creature was taken in by one of the characters in her book and would snooze on his desk. So I wanted to add some nice candlelit ambiance which toned the overall saturation down a little.

I really enjoy doing a single focus portrait every now and then, it’s fun getting into all the detail. This time I made sure to get everything set up in black and white before, which is quickly becoming my sole way of working. For years I’d dive straight in with colour and the process was messy and often yielded unsatisfying results.

 

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