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Scale Tutorial
Published: 2011-05-19 21:52:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 77189; Favourites: 3534; Downloads: 1109
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Description
When I was in my woolgathering stage for my dinosaur stuff, I was completely stymied by the scale tutorials offered here on DA. Almost all of them used the same technique, and almost all of them were for dragons. So I had to do my own research and look at how folks like Gary S. Paul and Luis Rey did their stuff. (And James Gurney, for that matter.) Looking into the wide, wide variety of scales and how they work made a lot of the tutorials kind of insulting, since they broke things down into a icon instead of examining how one would draw a whole frickin' dragon without drawing every single forsaken scale.So here's what I've learned, and I thought I'd share it. Wanting to draw things with scales should not ever mean that you have to draw EVERY single scale it grows. You don't draw every hair on a horse, or every bit of fur on a dog. The rule of implication can apply to dragons, too.
EDIT: Wow, a DD? Seriously? That is so awesome! Thanks to everyone who faved or commented; I'm really glad this has helped so many folks.
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Comments: 161
I think that was one of the biggest leaps I made in my artistic journey, was when I realized not every detail is the same.
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Don't amazing things happen when you're fed up with other peoples' inferiority? Glad you shared this. I noticed the same stupid thing... No pointers on how to cover a beast in scales, no tips on different kinds of scales, just... Scales. Not even scales good enough for making 3D textures.
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HAHA!
... Yes.
I was yelling at the screen when I found out all the tutorials were exactly the same.
Now, I AM the lizard queen!
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THis is very very useful, thanks so very much for sharing!
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It's nub of a hand makes me curious of the Allasaurus' life story...
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This is a very informative tutorial. The fact that you also included real-life images to use as reference is also very helpful. Thank you!
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Congrats on the DD and this is a very nice tutorial! Very detailed and instructing! 8D This will make it way easier to draw scales for some dragons that I wanted to draw! ^^ Mind if I pass this along to one of my friends who want to draw dragons? :3
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Not at all. Rock and roll. We need less flat-scaled garden hose dragons out there!
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[link] Hooray! One of my favorite kinds!
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Wow, this was actually amazingly informative without being a mile long!
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You have NO Idea how long I've waited to find something like this.
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THANK-YOU SO MUCH! I am a dragon artist that HATES drawing scales! Whenever I try to draw them, they come out horrible and unrealistic. This tutorial breaks down the structure and position of scales so wonderfully, I believe I'm going to start drawing scales! This tutorial, it accomplishes so much in a fraction of the words that most tutorials take. Great job!
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I've never, ever, ever seen a tutorial here on DA that refer to use reference...
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Any artist that says "Never use reference" is an idiot. I know DA screams ART THEFT!!! every five seconds, but seriously, the masters use it.
Reference is good.
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The thought of using reference is to help the artist so that he can create better art. It's like for a journalist when he looks for information when he writes an article so that it can be more accurate.
As you say, I think people have gotten the words "reference" and "theft" mixed up. When an artist use an reference he does not copy it, he rather improve it so that it'll suit to his and the drawings purpus.
And while we talk about masters, just for the sake of common knowledge, most of those guys would have his whole studio filled with people to pose for the painting. ; ) I think people nowdays are trying to be too much of having a creative mind. That's for me making drawing even harder than it really is. I usually say "There's nothing I can't draw, there's just things I am less good at".
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Wow, really? That's surprising. Referencing is a great tool to help you. I personally use it almost everyday. Ask any artist and they (or, at least they should) will tell you how important using reference can be when learning.
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Yes I know. The surpising thing is just that, there are a lot of talented artists here on DA, but no one who had made a tut (Or atleast those which I've read) they never metion reference. But I think it's more about that those artists might be good at drawing and painting but aren't any good teachers.
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Actually, that's not true. I've read a couple. `alexds1 mentioned it in her pose tutorial. Search "reference tutorial" and you might even find a few.
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Yeah, well. I didn't say that I did join DA just to read tuts all day... So I'll just say thank you for the tip and leave it at that
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Hahahaha. When I first joined DA, I had the mentality that the only way I was going to improve was if I read lots of tuts on drawing. So I'm pretty well-read, though that may not be the best thing.
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Then you are like me - Know a lot of stuff in the head, but can't seem to but 'em to practice xD
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This tutorial is absolutely perfect. I'm really going to take this in to account when drawing dragons etc later on! Fantastic job, and well earned DD!!!
[ On another, tiny note. (Completely minor) Teeth evolved from scales, instead of the other way around. If it was the other way, we'd have loads of animals running around covered in teeth before they got their scales on 
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I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but his other hand/claw/etc. is missing.. Or I'm just missing the perspective
But this is great, because I do like to draw the occasional dragon <3
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I have laughed about this comment for the past 24 hours. "Hey, your dinosaur's missing an arm! I know you drew it and spent like 2 hours prep work and 4 hours drafting, but you TOTALLY MISSED SOMETHING AND DIDN'T REALIZE IT! Thought I'd point it out!"
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I'm sorry if it seemed mean, I didn't mean it that way XD; I noticed it and I just stared at it trying to see a different perspective
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Not mean, just ... misinformed, I guess. Hilariously so. I mean, all I could think of was "OMFG! If you hadn't said something, I'd've never known I forget that other hand!"
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//probably misreading
Did you not notice it? xD'
Sorry, I'm having an off day
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isn't that a picture from Fire Emblem in the right top corner? shouldn't you at least put in the logo to avoid copyright issues?
dunno, either way, you should have gotten that DD last week, I could have used this in my last drawing.
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Outstanding tutorial. Being an Art teacher, I completely agree with what you said...pretty much everything that you said. This is so very well done that it takes much of the anxiety out of thinking about creating scales in just about any medium!
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This is great! I've always hated those scale tutorials that basically tell you how to put scales on a flat plane with nothing said about perspective or form. Thank you so much for creating this tutorial!
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What does it say on the fire dragon on the top left? Good tutorial by the way, very useful.
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This is wonderful! Thank you for putting it together.
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This is really accurate and definitely worth the DD! <3 Thank you for sharing!
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Wow, you had some really fantastic points! Thank you for taking the time to do this research.
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