Sunday, June 12, 2011

Mighty, Majestic Dragons

Dragons have always held a strange fascination for me. Of all the mighty, majestic, magical, mythological creatures, dragons are my favourite. If there's a book about dragons in our library, chances are that I have read it.

Recently, Charlotte borrowed a book on drawing dragons and other mythological creatures from the library. After eagerly reading it, she declared that I had to read it, it was just so good. So, I picked up the book and buried my head in it.

Although I am definitely not an artist, I like to read drawing books. This one reached out and grabbed me, filling my head with images of the dragons I could create, would create. I was hooked. By the time I reached the last page I knew that I had to at least attempt a picture.

I grabbed the book, a blank sheet of paper, and my pencil, and settled down for an evening of drawing. Carefully I sketched the simple shapes that made up the body. Then I rubbed them out and drew them again. They still weren't right. Several sheets of paper later, I had had enough.

"I told you I can't draw," I told Charlotte crossly. She was sitting nearby, blissfully creating a hairy dragon of her own. It was so infuriating to see her so easily drawing on her own what I couldn't even draw with a step by step instruction book.

I threw my failed pictures out and vowed never to try drawing dragons again. But I reckoned without Charlotte.
"You should really try drawing another dragon," she encouraged me. "You could design all the separate parts before you try drawing the whole dragon."

"Maybe I'll try," I said uncertainly. She fetched me a fresh, clean sheet of paper. I sat at my desk with a sharp pencil in my hand and tried to decide what I would draw. After much thought, and even more flicking through the book for inspiration, I finally decided to draw a dragon's head in 3/4 view. Five minutes later it was a profile shot.

All through the afternoon I worked on my dragon, and on into the evening. Finally, it was finished. The best dragon's head I had ever drawn (not to mention the only one) was sitting in front of me, coloured and all.

I know I will never be an artist. I'm not sure I really want to be. Writing is more my thing. But I do know that if I persevere, I can actually draw something that looks almost right, even if a trained artist might faint at the sight of my picture.

11 comments:

  1. Can't tell exactly what that dragon is thinking, but otherwise it looks great. About 100x better than anything I can do.

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  2. Thanks Autumn. I love the colouring myself. It took forever to do though. I was scared the whole time that I'd ruin it.

    I'm not sure what the dragon is thinking either JT. I just know that it's happy, not threatening. I've always liked dragons as heroes rather than mindless villains, though well done they make good bad guys too.

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  3. I can't believe you think you couldn't be an artist - you already ARE an artist, Immy! That dragon is impressive:)

    I think writing and drawing go hand-in-hand - you could write the stories and, then, illustrate them (if you enjoy it, of course). You found the key to it all when you decided to draw what you were interested in.

    I can't wait to see your next projects! xxx

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  4. I'd love to be able to illustrate my own books, but I'm sure I'm not that good at drawing. I'm not even sure I'm that good at writing! Next stop a dragon's body hopefully. I'll definitely post one of them if it goes well.

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  5. Hi Imogen.
    I like your drawing. Did you know that I waht to be a artist when I'm older.
    love from Melanie xo xo

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  6. I'm sure you'll be a great artist Melanie. Your mum will be able to teach you a lot. You'll have to post up your best drawings for me to see.

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  7. Hi Imogen

    I love dragons to, reading about them as well as drawing and writing them.

    Great picture :)

    Legolas

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  8. Hi Imogen:)

    I KNEW it was a friendly dragon.
    I'm no good at dragons or fur or scales so I have to stick with cartoon people haha!
    Just for the record, I'm pretty sure it's a she and she's thinking about baby dragons, am I right? :)

    Carrie xxx

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  9. Hi Dominic, Thanks for stopping back my blog. Dragons, in my opinion at least, are some of the most awesome creatures ever. I've always wanted to write a story about a dragon, but I'm too afraid to try!.

    Carrie, it's so nice to see that you're still reading my blog. And maybe the caravan park will be really nice and we might even see you! Here's hoping.

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  10. Oh, Carrie, I almost forgot. I'm pretty sure that the dragon's a she, but she's probably thinking about some great and noble deed, not baby dragons. I harbour a secret hope that she's the dragon that brings the dawn.

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