The sky's the limit!

I don't have anything particularly poignant to talk about today as it's the day after Christmas and my intense and undying hatred for the holiday, borne of working in a retail environment, has already begun to subside. Instead I will fill your screen with words about one of my favorite pieces so far, Contested Airspace.

Being a gamer, I've been drawing dragons for years. Being a classic RPG player means I've been largely predisposed to drawing western dragons. Massive beasts heavily armored by thick scales, sporting horns and claws and fangs, with expansive leathery wings that appear all the more impressive when illuminated by an intense blaze erupting from the great wyrm's maw. It's the iconic monster of the game that put RPGs on the map: Dungeons & Dragons.

But in all the time I've been playing, I have never once attempted an eastern dragon, which is strange because I've also been a fan of anime and manga for probably just as long. My first exposure to the dragons of the east was Falkor, the Fantasian luck dragon from the 1984's The Neverending Story. He looked and acted a bit like a dog and, frankly, the special effects of the time meant that the depiction of this dragon in flight could never be done the justice it deserved.

I honestly don't remember what it was that made me decide to create a picture that featured both western and eastern dragons. I think it just sort of evolved as I went. I started with a nice blue canvas that needed some clouds. For those, if you've watched the Syren time-lapse you probably saw the masses of geometrical shapes piled up, one on top of another, before I started painting in the clouds over them. That's my process. Ta daaaaa! It just helps me to visualize where I want them and what general shape they should have without spending a ton of time painting them only to decide I hate them and start over.

Part of what originally drove this piece was my desire to impart that sensation of cloud gazing; seeing shapes come to life in a Calvin-and-Hobbes-esque way. So in the beginning stages, the dragons were to be obscured by the clouds, shadows among the fluff given form by the imagined battle. The more I worked on it though, hiding the cloud layers to fill out the draconic figures, the more I realized they needed to be in the foreground. That decision ultimately changed the development of both dragons as well. The green fire breather originally resembled a feathered serpent, not unlike the Quetzalcoatl of Mesoamerican legends.

The brush I used to lay out most of the base shapes is called the Fat Pencil. Normally I would paint over or refine an image in a top layer, but once I drew out the knotty shape of the golden dragon, I knew it had to be done entirely with this tool. The jitter on the Fat Pencil's larger stroke size gave the dragon a sort of furred appearance which struck me as something that needed to remain a part of the image. When used for smaller strokes, it had a texture like a crayon which lended the childlike appeal I had in mind originally.

To get the picture right, I had to do some research. I had a pretty sold idea regarding European dragons, but I was woefully unaware of the legends surrounding Asian dragons and their artistic histories. I was a bit surprised to learn that dragons are seen as spiritual beings, bringers of luck and good fortune, as well as rain gods. The number of claws has meaning with five being reserved for the royal families. They often carry a pearl, a symbol of wisdom and of their connection to water. It was a lot good information that let me feel as though I would be able to properly honor the subject matter.

After making sure my golden dragon looked appropriate, the hardest part was layering the clouds and fire around it. I wanted to give it the appearance of passing through the flames, but I also wanted to take advantage of its connection to rain by creating a storm vortex centered on the pearl it carries. Getting the right balance of storm clouds and making it look like the pearl was pulling from the surrounding clouds was difficult, but completely worth the time that went in to it.

The only thing left was the name. I always struggle with names when the subject isn't as straight forward as Syren or "Mama?". A gamer friend of mine suggested a name that referenced Skyrim where dragon magic is cast by yelling. Something like Shouting Match, I think. Since I don't play Skyrim, the reference was lost on me, though I appreciated the effort.

I like showing this one to people because it's always interesting to hear which dragon they think will win. Given the tactics, I know which one would get my wager.