Year of the Dragon with Baoxing Zhang - January 13th, 2024
Did you know that the dragon is the only mythical animal in the Chinese zodiac? Perhaps that explains the many paintings of different dragons.
Begin a detailed dragon by using a fine brush to make the head. The dragon can be thought of as a collection of animals: The head is like a camel, the fangs like a tiger, the whiskers of a catfish, eyes like a rabbit, ears like a cow.
The body is like a snake or lizard and the legs have claws like an eagle.
The body is covered in scales. Baoxing Zhang also wrote the calligraphy for dragon.
Spikes are on the back. Then Baoxing Zhang used a large brush to fill the body with paint.
Remember to load the larger brush with more ink on the tip. With more ink on the tip, the result is a body that appears more rounded as the top is darker and the underside lighter.
Fangs, whiskers and spikes were highlighted with white paint.
Use a spray to wet the paper. Dragons are often shown in a mist and are associated with typhoons and storms.
Use a large brush to create the background of mist and a distant landscape.
Baoxing Zhang also demonstrated creating the dragon from the body first. Using a large brush, the body is created in a single, sweeping brush stroke.
Then the details are added with a small, pointed brush.
The details for the head like the eyes, fangs, whiskers are created.
A second dragon was added to this painting.
Colour can be added to a dragon particularly on the body.
The finished painting included other brush strokes as background or for more dragons.
Then it was the artists turn to create their dragons.
Baoxing Zhang brought a scroll with nine dragons for artists to study.
Baoxing Zhang has also created a book of dragons.
Help was provided by Baoxing Zhang.
This dragon has the lizard-like quality of a dragon.
A basic structure of a dragon helps prepare for the final art.
Your dragon can be anything you imagine, even a fun-filled dragon.
This artist created the roundness of the body by putting darker ink on the back of the dragon.
When adding the scales, follow the direction of the body and legs.
The menacing look of the dragon appeared in this art.
You can learn more about Baoxing Zhang in the links section.