Week 32 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I am finally feeling better! Three weeks of being sick is just too long. I'm ready to start doing things again - like finishing a couple of quilts that should have been done a month ago and working on a challenge quilt that should have been started last month (or it won't be finished on time)! Oh, well, you do what you can with you have - make lemonade when life gives you lemons!

I continued to work out of J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book,  DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon (see past posts). This week I worked on dragon expressions! Peffer demostrates six expressions - a neutral feeling, pleased, roaring, worried, growling, and being silly. The good thing about being sick is it allowed me to get more sketching done than I would normally have had time to finish! Instead of taking me 2-3 weeks to do all six, I was able to get them done in just one week! :) The same dragon is used to "model" all six expressions. 

Dragon with neutral feelings - Pencil on mixed-media paper.  She is not happy or sad, glad or angry, ....- she's just remaining neutral to what is happening around her.  She's looking straight ahead, ears are relaxed, and her mouth is straight. A neutral expression was similar to the type of dragon heads I've been drawing so far. However, I had trouble getting her nose right. I knew it was wrong, but didn't figure out why until I had taken a photo of it - then I could see it. I didn't fix it, though - I decided to just worked harder to get her nose correct on the following expressions, as she modeled for all of them.

Dragon with a pleased expression - Pencil on mixed-media paper.  In this one her ears are up, she's showing her teeth, but with a smile, and her eyes are a little more crinkled at the far corners.  Her eye and mouth were a bit harder to draw than in the neutral expression. 

Dragon roaring - Pencil on mixed media paper. She's got her mouth wide-open this time, letting out a huge roar at someone that needs to pay attention to her. Her head is lowered and forward to further show her impatience. Her ears are pinned back, as she glares at the object of her attention.

Dragon worried or upset - Pencil on mixed-media paper. She is worried about someone or something - her ears are laid back and drooping a bit, she's grinding her teeth together, with the back part of her lips open a bit as they quiver with tension. Even her horns and crest seem to be laid back in anxiety.

Dragon growling - Pencil on mixed-media paper. This one was somewhat similar to worrying, except her back lips aren't quivering, - her teeth are bared and her lips are thinned as she growls - her nose and eyes are wrinkled as she glares at the object of her anger. Her ears are up and turned back, as she's too angry to listen to what anyone is saying. 

Dragon being silly - Pencil on mixed-media paper. She is being silly and just goofing around in this shot. With a huge smile, she's laughing so hard, her tongue is hanging out.  Her ears are perked up and her eyes are slightly crossed, as she's making those around her laugh, too. She's cocked her head in a silly pose. This was a fun expression to sketch, but I had a hard time with the shading on this one. I also see that I have a front curl on her crest making it look like her nose has a circle at the top of it! Hahaha - guess that's to go with her goofy expression! 

This lesson on dragon expressions was entertaining and challenging. I've never tried drawing a variety of expressions when I've done portraits previously. Most portraits that I've done the person is either smiling or just has a neutral expression.  Trying to show different expressions was a stretch for me. I'm not sure I would've achieved it without Peffer's exercises.


Keep creating!!