My favorite medium is watercolor, it's at the same time a free and poetic technique, and it requires a certain rigor. I like seeing the difference of styles very much, which watercolor can represent, and the way it's used by artists.
But in fact, I love all the mediums ! I would love to practice them all ! And I love discovering other artists, who use different mediums.
When and why did you start drawing dragons?
What a difficult question! I don't really remember when I began to draw dragons, but it started in my childhood. Tales, legends and then this admiration for these creatures, which are at the same time monstruous and worshipped.
The dragon is a learned mixture of cultures and symbols, demonized and divine at the same time. It's a king of Evil as often as a king of Good. A creature, which we find in all cultures, under varied forms, which is also what attracts me. Drawing dragons allows to release imagination, to have our own visions of this creature.
They evolve with artists, and they live inside us. They are the fear and hope of artists, a chimera full of symbolism, and I really hope to continue drawing them all my life!
Thank you for the awesome answers!
Now, let's head for more dragon pictures and some interesting text bits...
Dragon's larvae
For centuries, the Balkans used to be considered as a land prefered by dragons, especially when it comes to breeding. Having many subterranean rivers, the Balkan Pensisula was especially attractive for dragon mothers. The larvae was fully described by medieval wise men - it was supposed to be white, pale, almost blind and it should have a couple of red spikes around the head.
In the 17th century, J. W. Valvasor followed the weird tales and ended up in Slovenia, where he gathered information about a dragon living in a subterranean river, having many, many dragon larvae around. Valvasor didn't find the dragon itself, but he found the larvae and came up with a name Proteus Anguineus.
The larvae were completely real. They survived through the later centuries and are known as olms. They're not even reptiles, though.
More about olms...
Eastern Dragons and Western Dragons
Dragons themselves can be a category of magical creatures on their own. They're one of the beings that are mentioned in almost every culture around the world, under diffrent names, of course, but having a lot in common.
The most easily recognisable are the European and Asian dragons, but there are also craetures like the East Slavic viy or Mesoamerican Quetzalcoatl and many more. Looking at the myths and legends about dragons from all over the world, you can notice the way of thinking of people living when the stories about dragons were the most popular.
In Europe, dragons are evil, mean, greedy and definitely they're not your best choice when getting a new friend. They're fought by knights and warriors (see Saint George or Sigurd from Volsunga Saga) and usually defeated, which always causes general joy and happiness.
Asian dragons have a completely diffrent attitude, and people have a diffrent attitude towards them. They're rather friendly and helpful (e.g. a legend about a dragon showing the secrets of writting to humans), live in places with water nearby. They also don't roar like European dragons, but they make sounds similiar to ringing bells.
Monitor Lizard, Komodo Dragon
They can reach 350 cm and weight 180 kg. First recorded by Western scientists in 1910, it became a very popular as zoo exhibits, which is one of the causes for them being currently listed as vulnerable.
It is widely known that when the first bones of dinosaurs were found, everyone considered them as a clear evidence that dragons definitely existed. There was a very similiar situation when the Komodo Dragon was recorded - many people stated that the giant lizard must be a close cousin to the fire-breathing monsters.
As far as we know, the Komodo Dragon isn't a relative to any dragons. However, it's been already discovered that it really has a fearsome ancestor, that indeed can resemble of a dragon. The ancestor lived in Australia, dissappeared about 40,000 years ago and was called Megalania. The scientists argue about its possible size, some says that it wasn't much bigger than Komodo Dragon, but some says that Megalania could reach even 8 meters and weight of over 1,900 kg.
More about
Komodo Dragon and about
Megalania...
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`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
This little feature is almost in the double digits of editions. This wasn't something I that had I planned on doing. Originally this was just a one off article because I was bored one day, and started typing in random search words. It is still fun to do though, so I think it will keep going until it no longer is.
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. This wasn't something I that had I planned on doing. Originally this was just a one off article because I was bored one day, and started typing in random search words. It is still fun to do though, so I think it will keep going until it no longer is.
