dragon » By Sidney Eileen

New Art – Woven Celestial Dragon

Mar 172012

6″x6″ ink and watercolor on Aquabord

2 sittings
7 layers

This artwork is a celebration of the Year of the Dragon, and has equal inspiration from Celtic knot work and oriental celestial dragon artwork. The violet dragon with metallic accents swims effortlessly through the night sky.

The base drawing is black acrylic ink applied with a dip pen. I used acrylic ink so it would not dissolve when adding the color.

I used masking fluid to protect the body of the dragon when creating the background, which is very heavily water saturated blue, dark blue, and black watercolor, with a spattering of metallic white ink. I rubbed out the spatters slightly, creating a slightly glittery sheen on the background.

The body of the dragon is several shades of violet watercolor paint. The scales and accents are violet metallic acrylic ink, and a small amount of blue metallic ink was used for the claws, accent on the hair, and dust falling away from the hands and feet. The metallic effect is impossible to fully capture with a scan or a photo, but in person it’s very shiny.This piece is for sale.

Project: Woven Celestial Dragon

Woven Celestial Dragon – WIP

Fine Art, Painting, Work in Progress No Responses »

Mar 172012

Tonight I’ve mostly been working on the Woven Celestial Dragon 6″x6″ Aquabord. These are all the WIP images so far.

Click for larger image

2 Sittings
3 Layers

Between the line art and this image there were a few steps I did not scan.

First I used masking fluid to cover the dragon. This is only the second time I’ve ever used masking fluid, so I didn’t do a perfect job.

Second I saturated the surface with two shades of blue watercolor and a touch of black. I let that dry, creating the mottled, cloudy background. Since I’m doing this on Aquabord I didn’t have to worry about warping paper from oversaturation. Yay!

Third I wanted to sprinkle the background with silver acrylic ink, but I found I did not actually have any silver acrylic ink. Instead, I made a mixture of white ink and some Deviant Silver Stardust I have leftover from a fairy costume some ten years ago. I spattered it onto the piece using a cheap toothbrush and let it dry.

Fourth, I removed the masking fluid, revealing all my goof-ups. I retouched the background where the fluid went over the lines, and lifted the paint where I did not have enough coverage.

Click for larger image

2 Sittings
4 Layers

Oh, watercolors dry so much faster than oils! And they look completely different so I don’t get frustrated like with acrylics!

I added some soft lavender to the hair, horns, and whiskers. After laying down a mostly solid shade I went back and added some more paint in sort-of-random places to give the hair some depth. Full realistic depth is not important to me for this piece.

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2 Sittings
5 Layers

Soft slightly more blueish lavender to the underbelly scales.

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2 Sittings
6 Layers

I added another layer of fairly flat lavender to the body.

Click for larger image

2 Sittings
6 Layers

I experimented with color lifting to give the body more shape and texture. Overall I liked the way it worked, but I think next time it will work better if I lay down more color first.

Project: Woven Celestial Dragon

When I should have been doing other things…

Drawing, Fine Art No Responses »

Feb 132012

… I was drawing a knotwork style celestial dragon on Aquabord. It’s 6″x6″, with the ink drawn using a dip pen. This is the line art, and later I will be finishing it with watercolor.