Work in Progress: The Dragon
(Disclaimer: I actually couldn't finish this piece, I felt I had rendered it the wrong way. Maybe I will pick it up again and fix it one day...)
My illustration The Dragon, from Peter Jackson’s movie; The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, was created using watercolours and ink pens. The watercolours form basic shapes, which make up the shadows inside the hall and the shadows cast on the dragon. The watercolours were used to make thick blotches of colour, and smaller thinner marks for some details on the hall’s structure and the the dragon. The highlights of the dragon, support beams, and gold, where the light is cast, are not painted. The details of the hall and dragon are made with ink pens, which form vertical and horizontal hatchings. These marks cover and darken the shadows and some mid tones on the dragon and support beams. There has been added watercolour over the ink pens, resulting in darker shapes and details. The covered marks look smooth and blurred while the marks on the dragon, which are untouched by water, are crisp. The colour palette is minimalistic; it contains Paynes Grey, yellow and indigo. The grey is used all over the illustration, while indigo has been released from the ink pens, and yellow where the gold reflects. The paper is very thick and very sturdy. The size of the illustration is 56.5cm (w) x 38cm (h).
The reasons for using these marks and colours are justified in the following points. For example, I have used the watercolours to show an approximate of the shapes in the real image. In contrast to the large spots of watercolour, I have used the hatching marks to bring structure to the hall and dragon. I kept the head of the dragon as a point of focus in the piece. Artists such as Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo Buonarroti used hatching marks in their figure studies (figure 3). Though they used these marks differently, I have applied similar techniques in my own work, The Dragon. I have found the vertical hatching marks to be best for illustrating shadows. As for the dragon, I have studied Alan Lee’s version of Smaug(figure 1), and tried to replicate the way he uses the whites of the paper as the reflecting scales. The colour palette I chose is minimalistic, because I wanted to focus on studying different hatching marks. It was also inspired by Alan Lee’s colour palette in his painting of Smaug. The grey is used all over the illustration to create some cohesion. I used Paynes Grey because I feel confident with the colour’s texture and control. I used the yellow for the gold and the reflection of the gold on the dragons body. I made sure all focus was on the dragon. I liked the indigo that came from the pen’s ink so I made sure there was more of it at the front of the image to create a deeper depth of field. The paper was cut this size, because I thought it would challenge myself and my techniques.
My illustration The Dragon, from Peter Jackson’s movie; The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, was created using watercolours and ink pens. The watercolours form basic shapes, which make up the shadows inside the hall and the shadows cast on the dragon. The watercolours were used to make thick blotches of colour, and smaller thinner marks for some details on the hall’s structure and the the dragon. The highlights of the dragon, support beams, and gold, where the light is cast, are not painted. The details of the hall and dragon are made with ink pens, which form vertical and horizontal hatchings. These marks cover and darken the shadows and some mid tones on the dragon and support beams. There has been added watercolour over the ink pens, resulting in darker shapes and details. The covered marks look smooth and blurred while the marks on the dragon, which are untouched by water, are crisp. The colour palette is minimalistic; it contains Paynes Grey, yellow and indigo. The grey is used all over the illustration, while indigo has been released from the ink pens, and yellow where the gold reflects. The paper is very thick and very sturdy. The size of the illustration is 56.5cm (w) x 38cm (h).
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| Figure 1, Smaug, Alan Lee, watercolours, http://tolkiengateway.net/ wiki/File:Alan_Lee_-_Smaug.jpg |
The reasons for using these marks and colours are justified in the following points. For example, I have used the watercolours to show an approximate of the shapes in the real image. In contrast to the large spots of watercolour, I have used the hatching marks to bring structure to the hall and dragon. I kept the head of the dragon as a point of focus in the piece. Artists such as Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo Buonarroti used hatching marks in their figure studies (figure 3). Though they used these marks differently, I have applied similar techniques in my own work, The Dragon. I have found the vertical hatching marks to be best for illustrating shadows. As for the dragon, I have studied Alan Lee’s version of Smaug(figure 1), and tried to replicate the way he uses the whites of the paper as the reflecting scales. The colour palette I chose is minimalistic, because I wanted to focus on studying different hatching marks. It was also inspired by Alan Lee’s colour palette in his painting of Smaug. The grey is used all over the illustration to create some cohesion. I used Paynes Grey because I feel confident with the colour’s texture and control. I used the yellow for the gold and the reflection of the gold on the dragons body. I made sure all focus was on the dragon. I liked the indigo that came from the pen’s ink so I made sure there was more of it at the front of the image to create a deeper depth of field. The paper was cut this size, because I thought it would challenge myself and my techniques.
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