Volcanic Dragon Step by Step

I've been a bit delayed with these recently! Have a few to upload, so will get back on it.

Finished piece -


1 - Simple sketch with values to make sure the image will read correctly once done. I'm really terrible in that I tend to set great values at the beginning but really drift away as I paint! The main focus for this piece was to really capture the perspective of the claw and just have rest of the dragon in the background.

2 - Setting colours. I used a gradient overlay with this initially to give me some ideas and then took it from there. I wanted the piece to be quite desaturated so really wanted to reduce those purples later on.

3 - The head was looking very flat and 2d-ish, so added in defined horns to help. Started texturing and detailing.

4 - Couldn't decide here whether to go for more reds or oranges when it came to the lava flow. Lots of experimentation with a rock-like texture for the dragon. Just kept building it up.

5 - Settled on red. Focusing on little details like the birds for scale reference and smoke from the volcanoes to really draw your eye to them.

6 - Final touches - sharpening the piece as whole, lots of highlights to really make things pop and was playing with contrast to make sure the distance is conveyed properly. Needed that claw to really stand out so it didn't merge.