Dragon

Drawing Reference: Original Artwork by J "NeonDragon" Peffer

This is my first dragon drawing. I relied on reference material for this one too, as you can see below. There are some differences between my drawing and the original, intentionally done. The mediums are of course also different, as I used only graphite pencils.

Drawing Reference Obtained
from DRAGONART by
J "NeonDragon" Peffer.

I found my drawing reference in the book: DRAGONART How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures by J "NeonDragon" Peffer. The author/artist also has a really cool website: http://neondragonart.com

I really enjoyed drawing this dragon. Credit for the original artwork (drawing reference) goes to J "NeonDragon" Peffer.

Arabian Horse

Reference Photo
Photographer: Bob Langrish
Source: Spirit of the Horse book

The photo I used for reference was taken by photographer Bob Langrish. If you like drawing horses I would recommend using his photos as references, because they are BEAUTIFUL! This particular photo I found in a book called Spirit of the Horse, photos by Bob Langrish and text by Nicola Jane Swinney.

Thestral

This is my drawing of what I imagined a Thestral would look like. You may recognize the name of this creature if you have read the Harry Potter books. I drew this before I ever saw the Thestrals that were designed for the Harry Potter movies (which I think looked amazing).
For this drawing I used a picture of a horse skeleton as a basic reference. I drew the skeleton first, then the outline of flesh/skin over top. For the wings I referred to pictures of bat wings. Although it doesn't look like the animated Thestrals made for the movies, I have to say that I am happy with how my drawing turned out:

Unicorn

Reference Photo
Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3371/3591407464_a7e30e3b99_b.jpg

Materials:
22.9 x 30.5 cm sketch paper

Blending stumps (1/4 and 1/2)

Q-tips
White erasers
Derwent graphic pencil set (Soft: 9B, 8B, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H).

Time: Estimated 4-6 hrs.

Comments/Tips:

I don't have an exact time stamp on this because I worked on it over several days, whenever I had spare time.

I did this freehand - a.k.a no grids. I almost never use grids, though it works well for some people. Instead, I take my time with my outline sketch in the beginning and eyeball it for proportional correctness.

I used all the pencil types in my set. For the mane, I started with the lightest shades (lighter shades are the hardest pencils, such as B, HB, F, H) and then worked in the darker shades (the pencils with softer graphite, the softest one being the 9B). I had to be careful with this though - you can't press too hard with the harder pencils because they will break your paper; also the soft graphite does not go on well over top.

For shading I used blending stumps, and I also like to use Q-tips for larger areas. Some people also like to use kneaded erasers or blunt white erasers for blending, but I prefer these tools.

I did the highlights last, using white erasers. I keep cutting my erasers down so that they have a nice sharp edge - particularly necessary for the hair of the mane. Luckily, because I used different pencil shades for light/dark areas, most of the highlighting was already done.

Below is a video showing this piece at different stages of development:

Gryphon

Here is a drawing I did back in August 2009. It is my version of a gryphon (or griffin, if you prefer). I used a few reference photos for this one to create my own image. Some of the pictures I used as references were of hawks and tigers. I know the traditional gryphon is supposed to be an eagle's head and a lion's body, but I wanted to do something a little different. I like the tiger stripes.

Bison