Dragons of the Elements - Spirit

 The Spirit Dragon was painted in December 2010 for my Portfolio Development II class at Kingswood Regional High School. It was my third in a series of elemental dragons. It was made using a combination of ink (and pen) and watercolor. To this day, I could not come up with better names for the series.

I planned out my paintings so that they would all be facing center. Fire on the East, Water on the West, Air from the North, and Earth from the South. In the center is Ether, or Spirit.

I first sketched my subject in pencil (lightly) then painted over it in water color. Once the watercolor was fully dried, I went over it in pen and ink.

I didn't paint the eyes because I thought it looked better (cooler) without pupils. It draws more attention and makes the dragon look more fierce. Later, I actually tried adding pupils. While it actually improved this one, the others did not turn out so well.

What I love about this painting is the character--I believe I made him look wise from his beard, wrinkles and large cranium. However, I am not overly fond of the background. There is not enough contrast between it and the subject.

(c) Maranda L. Scott