Graphics Multimedia: Draw a surreal dragon

In this tutorial I will show you how you can draw a surreal dragon. I will guide you step by step on how to draw a nice looking dragon. For this drawing one of our staff members “Andreea” worked a few days until she realized this effect. For this surreal drawing we have used a Wacom Cintiq tablet. Such designs you can realize only with a Wacom Tablet and a lot of patience

Preview full size image

I will start with a new document with the following size:

Then I will add a dark color over the document and with Brush Tool i will add some highlights. In that area i will create the sky.

I will create a new layer (press CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+N) and I will draw the sketch of the dragon. This step took me a few hours. First of all I have tried different combination on paper. I have scanned the image, and with my Graphic Tablet, I draw the dragon on my original document

I will create new layers and I will start drawing the scaly of this dragon

I will draw also some horns

Then I will add some scaly on the face of this dragon

I will create a new layer, and I will start drawing the background color of this dragon. On this layer I will change the opacity to 75 %, because I want to see the sketch

I will duplicate the layer (press CTRL+J) and I will add some light and some shadow with Burn Tool and Dodge Tool

I will find an image with some rocks and I will add the rocks under my dragon

I will use one more time the Burn Tool, and Dodge Tool to create some lights and shadows

I will create another layer and I will add with Brush Tool a background. I will use a dark blue color.

I want to create some flames. I will start with drawing on a new layer with Brush Tool. I will use a thin white brush

Then with 2 different orange colors I will make another drawing. Do not forget to make it on a new layer

I will create another layer and with a big smooth brush I will add more details to the flames

On the dragon I will add the reflection of the fire

Now I will try to accentuate the sketch of the dragon. This time I will use the Burn Tool, and Dodge Tool to create some shadows and lights

This is my result so far

With Dodge Tool and Burn Tool I will add some details over the scaly of this dragon

Now I will work on the dragon’s wings

I will add some thin lines with Burn Tool

The same thin lines I will add for the other wings

Behind the dragon I will draw some mountains

You can see my result so far

I will accentuate the eyes. With a small brush I will add some red colors in the dragon’s eyes

Behind the dragon I will add a big moon. I will not add more details behind the dragon. If you want to play with layers please apply for a VIP subscription and you can add as many details as you want

Now I will add a filter because I want to accentuate the image a little. It is very good if you will select all the layers, and make a copy of all of layers. You can merge these layers into a single one by pressing on CTRL+E
I will select this layer, and I will go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen

This is the image before applying the filter