HOME | DD
gyrfalconthegray — Basalt Dragon
Published: 2004-08-21 16:49:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 13878; Favourites: 295; Downloads: 449
Redirect to original
Description
*Full View to see all the details!*Rawr! K... here is the dragon I've been working on for ... gah... at least a month (off and on). Anatomy gave me FITS... but I think it turned out all right. This one I used gobs of references: horse anatomy, lion anatomy, human anatomy, dinosaur/bird anatomy and dragon anatomy (Todd Lockwood's Draconomicon). Note to self: two hands per critter should be sufficiently challenging for any future drawing excersize...
For the geologically challenged basalt is a volcanic rock created from slow-cooling typically underground lava flows under pressure. It has a very fine grain and appears very smooth and nearly uniform dark gray or black. It has high concentrations of iron and manganese (thus giving it the black color) in a matrix with silicate strands. Because of this matrix structure, as it cools under the right conditions it can fracture into long columns of 4-7 sides (mostly hexagons). The Devil's Postpile in California is an example of this columnar basalt. I have drawn a columnar basaltic intrusion into granite. (And I'm sure Elysia will correct me on any of this if I got it wrong!)
Related content
Comments: 60
OMG!!! this drawing is "WOW"...it's simply...gorgeous!!! i wish i could draw like you!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
your dragons are outstanding an excellent!!!! and very original, and your gallery is amazing i want to fave it alll!!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
four wings! ohmy god! that's a great idea! the translucent wings too...and I like the muscles...very awesome work
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Experiment successful. 
Three thumbs up!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
amazing anatomy! astounding! excellent work (with both the drawing and the rock knowladge) !
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
the anatomy is just incredible! astounding! i love his pose as well. incredible work (with both the drawing and the rock acknowledge) !
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Just to let you know, this piece of artwork is being featured in Devious Dragons Issue 6
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
georgous muscle work and shading, love the rocks 2
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow... thats really amazing. The wings are fantastic!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
beautiful picture! I had a dream that had a dragon that looked a lot like that one. Love this. Instant fav!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow!! This is amazing. It's the first dragon i've looked at on dA but, it's still amazing. The detail is astounding. Actually putting in the detail of the leg through the thin membran of the dragon's wing! Wonderful! The four wings are new to me, but it's creative, and definately different. This is perfect.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow, all the muscles are amazing 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Holyshitanatomyspazattack.
This is incredible, 
Wow.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
this is astonishing... exspecially the work and the study on the muscles... and those transparencies are... well.. can't remember the expression in english
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You could tell me in Italian and I could probably figure it out.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
"la ciliegina sulla torta" that is more or less like, literally, "the cherry on top of the cake"
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
Hee hee! In English the expression would be "the icing on the cake"!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
eheh, that's what i meant! thank you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hee hee! In English the expression would be "the icing on the cake"!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Jesus. And you did this with pencils?!
GREAT job on the anatomy, i can see why it was difficult for you 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much for all the comments and faves and the watch!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Youre welcome
Pencils, whoo.. a coloured version'd be great 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very cool. Wings and muscles very well done. Love the pose!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! It took a long time to do, but I sure learned a lot about anatomy doing it! *loves drawing wingses!*
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
that is FREAKY man
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
ummmmm 
the pose and the muscular structure and the details are simply amazing
*not to self - start looking at other animals muscles when drawing a dragon*
*worships you*
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
thanks so much for the comment. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
no problem
and thanks to you too
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Holy sh....you've done it again. Your dragons...they just put everyone else to shame! 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow... process.. well, I tend not to do skeletons too much, except to check to make sure my porportions are looking correct, though I do often start things like wings that way, when I just want to figure out how I want the movement to work in the piece. However, I don't do outlines either, though that is tempting. The problem with outlines is that if you start with them, it is very easy to get completely off in terms of your porportions and balance of the figure. The best way to draw is to use volume shapes: spheres, cylinders, boxes, etc. All the good figure drawing books emphasize thinking about figures in terms of volumes, and there is a really good reason for it. Thinking in volumetric shapes allows you to keep both your porportions and your balance within the figure as well as helping you with foreshortening. It's sort of the difference between trying to memorize how the outline of an arm looks in 50K different positions, vs just understanding that an arm is composed of roughly two cylinders/truncated cones. Surface details always fall from that. You can probably see this most easily in my "Kitty Boy" picture. I left a lot of the rough lines in that sketch. Once you have the volumetric shapes--which will determine the position and foreshortening on all your body parts... then you go in and start applying the musculature, figuring out what is where, is it flexed or twisted or stretched, etc. Typically, if I'm not familiar with how the muscles should go, I use an anatomy reference (diagram) combined with either a photo reference or an example drawing (if I can find either), or I try to pose myself in front of the mirror (this doesn't work well for back views...)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
There is no word to describe such a wonderfull work! (not even in portuguese.. 
I will try my hard to be as good as you are!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much for the comments and the watch!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Beautiful! I absolutely adore this picture! Wonderful detail. Noicely done!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much for the comment and watch.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you so much for the comment and fav and wishlist additions. You have a lovely gallery (what a cute kitten!). I like your featured deviation also... really nice use of light and color.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
lol, yea kittens are adorable! thanks, epilogue didnt think so , but they are a bunch of jerks.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Woah! My favorite part is must definatly the leg to the left.... Talk about power!
Two pairs of wings must have been hard to manage!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! You know, that leg defied me drawing it about three or four times before it finally settled down and behaved. Once I had the outline though, the shading fell into place. The other leg gave me much more trouble though... first in position and then in rendering the foot correctly--and of course, I am obsessive compulsive enough to want to make sure I know how everything goes even if I'm going to mostly erase it because it's behind the wing.... lol... oh well. Yes... two pairs of wings was kinda crazy... not sure what possessed me to do it. You mentioned in your note that it looked like three wings on one side and one on the other... I think that is something of an optical illusion... or perhaps I didn't shade the far shoulder darkly enough... the rearward wings are much higher on the back than the forward wings so you can see both shoulders there... meh... probably should shade that darker and I probably didn't get the muscles quite right on the upper arm (I think I couldn't quite decide what angle it was at an fudged it because by then I was sick of drawing muscles!) Anyway, overall I'm happy with it. It was a good excersize in anatomy, and I am also pretty pleased with the different textures I got, especially on the rocks. (Yay I did something resembling a background and it didn't suck!)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
awesome!
I think I'm in love with that back foot! so awesomely done!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! and thanks for stopping by... i did have fun with that foot... always liked that three-toed dinosaur design for back legs.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
| Next =>