Week 39 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

Wow! The 39th week of the 365 Days of Art Challenge. The year is 3/4's over! How has the year been going by so fast?? I've been accomplishing one thing that I didn't accomplish last year! I've been sketching weekly!! This has been a great challenge for helping me do the drawing I've been wanting to do, especially doing the exercises in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book, Dragonart Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. I still have several exercises yet to do, but I'm getting them done due to this weekly sketch challenge and posting it! For me, posting the weekly sketch is almost more of a challenge than doing the sketch. That means I have to let the world see what I'm working on. That can be scary! Thanks for the push, Deb!

I moved on from the medieval dragons to Lung Dragons (see previous posts here).  From Peffer's description, lung dragons are Oriental or Eastern dragons - they are more sinuous then medieval dragons and are also more benevolent and wiser. These first few exercises are dragon heads from the front, side and 3/4 views. I added black ink to the sketches this week to try something a bit new. This was also scary, as ink is not erasable if I made any mistakes!

Ancient Lung Dragon head, front view. 3" x 6", 0.005 black Sakura

micron pen and pencil on mixed-media paper.  Peffer said the front view 

is the hardest, as everything has to be symmetrical. My symmetry may not

be perfect, but I think the front view and side views are the easiest to create. 

Bearded Lung Dragon head. side view. 4" x 5". 0.005 Sakura micron pen and

pencil on mixed-media paper. The side view is probably the easiest view to draw,

as you don't have to make two eyes look the same, get the foreshortening of the

nose correct, make the mouth, nose, ears, and horns symmetrical, etc. I'm not sure

which view I enjoy more - the front or side view. I like both.  

     Lung Dragon Head, 3/4 view. 4" x 3".  0.005 Sakura micron pen and pencil on mixed-media
     paper. I find the 3/4 view the hardest to sketch. Getting the nose and eye correct is difficult,
     whether drawing dragons, animals, or people. I find it a challenge to get the perspective correct. 

I'm very happy with my dragon heads this week, especially the front and side views. The 3/4 view is my challenge - I have not found any book or had a teacher really explain capturing this view in such a way that makes it easier for me to sketch. I will keep on practicing!!

Next week, I move on to a full lung dragon.

Keep creating!