This wingless firedrake hails from German mythology. The tale comes from the same origin as Fafnir’s story—but in this rendition, Drachenstein was born a dragon. He was slain for hoarding a treasure, but it was his own, not ill-gotten gains.
Step One I start this drake by mapping out the form of the creature’s body. I use a harder pencil—a 2H—because I know most of this information is for me and will soon fall victim to the eraser.
Step Two After adding a boxlike snout and the back of the head, I block in the legs and feet using boxes and cylinders.
Step Three Following the form I laid out, I use an HB pencil to develop the head, which is similar to a horse’s skull. The nose resembles a llama’s. Next I modify the shape of the lower body by drawing a bony ridge near the tail.
Step Four I integrate the tail into the body and develop the legs, using my basic shapes as guides. I refine the feet, making the toes appear lumpy and oversized. Before erasing my construction lines, I modify the end of the tail by thinning it out a bit.
Step Five To give form to the neck, I add curved lines to represent the underside and top sections. I also draw a stripe that goes from the base of the neck to the middle of the tail to show the ridge of the back, and I refine the shoulder that is visible on the far side of the dragon’s body.
Step Six I want to give this dragon a fierce personality, so I use my 2B pencil to add the sharp, jagged teeth and the small, bony plates along the back of the neck. I also detail the eye and add a ridged texture to the nose. Then I add tone to the base of the horns, the nose, inside the mouth, and along the side of the neck. The darkest values are inside the mouth and at the top of the neck, where the jaw bone casts a shadow.
Step Seven I continue drawing bony plates along the ridge of the back, making them taller and sharper near the middle of the back. Then I add large scales on the under-side of the neck and belly. I apply dark tone where the head casts a shadow onto the neck. And I add tone to the legs, creating a darker value where the body parts overlap. I shade the feet, drawing long, dark claws with a highlight on each toe. I also begin to draw ridges on the horns.
Step Eight After I finish the ridges on the horns, I add irregular spots all over the dragon’s body. I shade the dragon’s tail and add a shadow beneath the feet, tail, and torso to “ground” the beast into the scene.