HOME | DD
JasonEngle β Sovereign Dragon
Published: 2013-12-06 15:55:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 50170; Favourites: 1717; Downloads: 1021
Redirect to original
Description
The final and my personal favorite of the illustrations produced for Dragons Unleashed, this is a rather unusual dragon type, and was fun to break out of the norm. Just wish I had more time on the deadline to really render this one a little tighter.Related content
Comments: 42
π: 0 β©: 0
π: 0 β©: 0
Wah, so amazing.
Can I use it for a photo manipulation? I'll girve you the credits <3
π: 0 β©: 1
its copyright is owned by Paizo Publishing, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't give that kind of permissions.
π: 0 β©: 0
super cool! just wanted to tell you though, i looked up 'dragon in gold armor' on google to find an image, and this one popped up on like a million pinterest pages plus the path finder wiki... i had to do a reverse google search to find the source. just thought you'd want to know
π: 0 β©: 0
This is honestly some of my favorite dragon art. You did a fantastic job! Really digging the horns too.
π: 0 β©: 0
hey I love this one! is there a trick to getting the proportions on the layers right when doing plated scales like this? other than practice of course 
π: 0 β©: 1
if you're sketching digitally, proportions can be easily maintained by just duplicating a section of scale over and over. And you can then use transform or liquefy to shape it for depth, pretty easy once you get the hang of it. But if your real issue is simply knowing how to approach shading in a way that accents and adds depth, my best advice there is find some photo reference of a personal in a similar pose to what your trying to draw, or a creature with similar scales, or as close as you can find, and use it to get an idea of how the light wraps and creates shapes that add depth and believability.
That said, I didn't really do any of that for this image, but it's the best advice to handle the issues you have mentioned.
My approach for this piece wasΒ first and foremostΒ that it needed to have a less realistic style to match the "Pathfinder" brand. So I actually just drew it in pencil rather than digitally sketching, as I've found pencil and paper are the best tools for maintaining a nice organic flow to an image and its shapes.
So I worried more about the design of the creature and armor instead of believability, and added lighting that would create an overall glow and shine like a matte metal would do, but without much reflecting of light or hard shadows. I basically made it look unrealistic but with realistic principals to create an artificial kind of depth.
I also knew that the image would be used over a white or nearly white background in a book interior, which is why I gave it slightly diffuse lighting, so it wouldn't look tooΒ stark on the page background, and slightly lightened the shading as it moved to its tale and hindquarters to make it look like it was fading into the lighter colored background a little, creating a little depth.
I wanted the dragon to look powerful and majestic and used motion S curves and intricate design to make the whole creature seem ornate and expensive looking. If that makes any sense. Sometimes when you go all stylized it isn't about perfect realism anymore, and it becomes about using certain principles to support good old character design and line work.
So yeah, basically, my advice is practice
π: 0 β©: 1
thank you so much! all of the advice is above and beyond what i expected you to write! you are awesome and very inspiring! thank you thank you thank you!!!! 
π: 0 β©: 0
wow! such great detail in the armor! amazing!
π: 0 β©: 0
Wow, that's incredible! Amazing detail on the scales and plates!
π: 0 β©: 0
All fo these dragons are just awesome! Great job man
π: 0 β©: 0
awesome work and detail!! love the "touch this and die" look
π: 0 β©: 0
Incredible dragon. You don't see too many armored dragons, and this one was done very well.
π: 0 β©: 0
so beautiful omfg I'm sorry I have no words to express how much I admire this
π: 0 β©: 0
Your drawing is really awesome and well-made!
π: 0 β©: 0
You can definitely see why he's called that! Very regal - I like the armour design, and that sort of 'haughty' look on his face. You don't see so many Eastern dragons in fantasy...
π: 0 β©: 0
very nice one! Β
love the detail and style in this oneΒ
π: 0 β©: 0
yes, Yes, YES!!! I really like how looking at this I can see eastern and western styled dragons merged with armor barding and if I may, an almost ki-rin like style of coloration and hair. Very nice!
π: 0 β©: 0
As a lover of everything Dragon... This is amazing...Β
π: 0 β©: 0
I am not used to like "oriental" Dragons. But this is amazing.
π: 0 β©: 0
I can see why he is called "Sovereign".
π: 0 β©: 0
