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Description
*Ghost-of-Ink asked me to make a tutorial for scales...so here it is. As she asked me after drawing a dragon I choose a dragon as an example for this.

I have never made a tutorial before so I don´t know if it is helpful... if you´ve got any suggestions to make this better feel free to tell me.

Here we go:
The first thing to consider when wanting to add textures is what properties the depicted materials have, like thickness, reflectivity, colour etc.

Just a few questions to help you get started:
Do the scales overlap or are they positioned next to each other?
Are they smooth and shiny or bumpy and dull?
Are they arranged evenly or does the size vary?
Are there different kinds of scales on different parts of the body?

For my example I choose the following:

head: small, smooth, rather shiny scales, next to each other

neck: two types of scales: the majority varies slightly in size, getting smaller near the neck armour, smooth, overlapping, next to those there are some rougher scales of a different colour

neck armour: rough thick, showing a pronounced relief

When creating a creature without a reference it often helps to make a sketch on a separate piece of paper designing the pose and taking notes on the answers to these questions.

Once you´ve decided on the pose and how you want the scales to look you´ve got to decide on the direction the light comes from, just like you have to do with any other picture. That´s the part where reflectivity becomes important. With coloured pencils one has to leave the brightest areas blank and it is pretty difficult to correct mistakes once an area is coloured.

In the example the light comes from the left and front.

Description
*Ghost-of-Ink asked me to make a tutorial for scales...so here it is. As she asked me after drawing a dragon I choose a dragon as an example for this.

I have never made a tutorial before so I don´t know if it is helpful... if you´ve got any suggestions to make this better feel free to tell me.

Here we go:
The first thing to consider when wanting to add textures is what properties the depicted materials have, like thickness, reflectivity, colour etc.

Just a few questions to help you get started:
Do the scales overlap or are they positioned next to each other?
Are they smooth and shiny or bumpy and dull?
Are they arranged evenly or does the size vary?
Are there different kinds of scales on different parts of the body?

For my example I choose the following:

head: small, smooth, rather shiny scales, next to each other

neck: two types of scales: the majority varies slightly in size, getting smaller near the neck armour, smooth, overlapping, next to those there are some rougher scales of a different colour

neck armour: rough thick, showing a pronounced relief

When creating a creature without a reference it often helps to make a sketch on a separate piece of paper designing the pose and taking notes on the answers to these questions.

Once you´ve decided on the pose and how you want the scales to look you´ve got to decide on the direction the light comes from, just like you have to do with any other picture. That´s the part where reflectivity becomes important. With coloured pencils one has to leave the brightest areas blank and it is pretty difficult to correct mistakes once an area is coloured.

In the example the light comes from the left and front.