How to Draw a Basic Dragon (With Pictures)

When you think of a dragon, our first thought is probably of a western dragon. Western—or European—dragons are known for being powerful, greedy, and often brutal. These reptilian beasts usually have four legs, two wings, and breathe fire (sound familiar yet?). Legends spoke of them battling heroes and lying on their hordes of treasure. They often made their homes in dark, mountainous caves conveniently located near towns for them to loot and plunder.

I like to start by blocking out the most basic parts of the dragon. I start with a long, curved line for the spine, then add the circles for the head, chest, and tail (in light blue). Then I add the legs and wings (in dark green). Notice how the back legs are similar to our legs, the front legs are similar to our arms, and the wings are like another set of arms. (I'll explain this more in another article)

Next I sketched the membranes of the wings in brown. Think of this as 'fabric' stretched between the 'fingers' of the wing. I also added a sort of 'fin' going down the dragon's tail. This would be to assist the dragon in steering while flying.

Next, draw the dragon's muscles and skin (dark blue) around the sketch.

Next, I finalized the sketch with black. If this was a digital drawing, I would have done the sketch in pencil and then drawn the final lines in pen.

Finally, erase the sketch lines and you're done! Congratulations on drawing your first dragon! (or 3rd, 4th, etc)

I have a few more articles about dragons that you might find interesting. You can access them through my profile or use one of these links.

• Origin of Dragons
• Western Dragons