🦇Summoning a Vampire Dragon! Infusing Scales with Darkness

Last we met, I mentioned the spooky Drawtober challenge. The first prompt “Vampire” really got my creative gears going. What would a vampire dragon look like? The power and majesty of a dragon touched with devilish vampiric darkness has its possibilities.

And with that my friends, we go to the art table!

When I approach these challenges I start with a lot of questions. Curiosity is key for the finer details that make a piece stand out. To spark inspiration for a vampiric dragon, I started digging around into animals that might make up a neat dragon. 

Vampire bats! These small flying creatures are the first thing I associate with vampires. Most bats eat insects, while the larger, more fox-like species eat fruit. Fun Fact: out of 1300+ species, only three drink blood.

Believe it or not, there’s a bird called the Vampire Ground Finch that is known for drinking the blood of other birds, like that of the Blue-Footed Booby. Drinking blood helps them survive during the dryer seasons. Nasty. Not my cup of tea. 

With these animals and their spooky traits in mind, I went to the iPad to create some sketches. I didn’t do a full in depth studies of these animals since I feel confident in drawing bats and birds. 

I can’t stop thinking about this little bat portrait!

After that I dove into creating a mini sketch spread to brainstorm ideas. I played around with poses and overall design. I used a lot of sharp triangles in their mane to emphasize that this is a dangerous creature! The triangles work well complementing the giant ears and giving an edgy look.

My biggest challenge with this piece was making sure he looked like a dragon and not just an oversized bat! I added horns, a long tail, and tweaked the nose to give him more of a dragon feel. One area I really focused on was the eyes. Eyes are windows to the soul and I wanted him to peer into yours!

I added feathers to the back of the wings. I imagined this dragon being smaller than others. It’s feathers to help give him silent flight. Perfect for sneaking up on prey like sheep and cows to suck blood! * Insert Dracula noises here *

Next up: colors! This is where all the spookiness comes to life. Red has to be a feature color. After all what’s a vampire without blood-red vibes? This is a must.

Once the flat colors were set, I dove into finishing the piece! My main focus was to make the eyes really pop to crank the spooky to the max!

And here they are!

Overall I had a blast creating this piece! The sketching phases was a bit tricky. Giving it that true dragon feel turned out to be harder than I thought. What do you guys think? Did I successful in crafting a vampire bat dragon?

Let me know on the survey in this link!

Now I’m now off to enjoy some spooky game playthroughs.

Until next time!

Arielle +Ryan