Week 40 of 365 Days of Art Challenge

I had to work hard to finish my weekly sketch for Deb Prewitt's ( Blue Twig Studio) 365 Days of Art Challenge.  I had the sketch done in plenty of time, but decided to color it. That took me longer than it did to draw the sketch! Whew! But I'm very happy with this week's sketch.

I continued with the next exercise in J. "Neon Dragon" Peffer's book: DragonArt Evolution: How to Draw Everything Dragon. (see last week's post).  Last week I drew various types of lung dragon heads. This week, I drew a full-size lung dragon. Lung Dragons are benevolent, wise Oriental or Eastern dragons. They are a favorable sign to anyone lucky enough to see one. The lung dragon is a long, serpentine dragon with the eagle-like talons and the horns of a deer. They are able to soar through the heavens without the use of wings - definitely magical in nature!

This is my full-size lung dragon.

Full-size Lung Dragon. 7" x 10" with 0.005 and 0.03 black Sakura
micron pens and Derwent watercolor pencils on mixed-media paper. 

I am extremely pleased with this week's sketch. I've drawn many medieval or Western dragons before, but this was my first attempt at a Lung or Eastern dragon (full-size).  I decided to color him after getting the pencil drawing sketched in. There are so many details that I thought I might get lost in laying in the values in pencil or charcoal. It took me awhile to get the color in, but I think this is the best dragon sketch I've done so far. I feel I have the proportions correct (or at least close enough). I love the colors of the clouds in the background going from light and airy to dark and stormy.   I feel like I captured the cloth trailing from the jeweled pin on his chest. I found the folds a challenge, especially in the printed areas.

I hope you like my lung dragon.   Next week I move on to baby dragons! I'm excited about this exercise. Peffer gives studies of several types of baby dragons, so I may take 2 or 3 weeks to do all of them.

Thank you for taking time to look at my sketches. Keep creating!