Stormy Skies

The Hungarian Horntail in its rightful home, the mountains of Hungary. Pretty soon, either this one or its mate will be carted away to Britain for some odd Wizarding Tournament that the dragons couldn't care less about. But in the meantime, it remains busy protecting its homeland and clutch of eggs from invaders.

I'm finally finished!

This is a Hungarian Horntail, from the Harry Potter books. Or at least it started out that way. Now I'm not so sure xD.

I loved doing this watercolor. On this, I really experimented. I told myself, "Okay, you've done about 8 or so watercolors now...let's see the best you can do based on what you've learned!" And I attempted my best. So much time went into this. I started it about a week ago and I just put on the finishing highlights today. It was a blast to paint, though. The scales almost killed me, but then I managed to triumph over them . Take that, scales! xD

This is my first realistic dragon, to me. When I began this painting, I realized how my dragon style was unrealistic and unacceptable for a painting, and therefore I began to research. I looked at T-rexes to see how they looked. I looked at the dragon used in the fabulous movie Dragonheart, Draco, and I also looked at a model of a Hungarian Horntail for the 4th Harry Potter movie. After plenty of sketches, I began the real thing. I'm quite pleased on how the dragon came out; he/she really looks like it is about to attack .

Now, the background. Okay, usually when I start a painting, I have a background in mind or it comes to me as I'm painting the subject. Not here. For some reason, I couldn't decide. So then I asked my watchers and you jumped up the task wonderfully! Thank you so much for all of your suggestions!! I thought over each one carefully and then went with stormy skies, mountains (which was suggested by many), and lightning . The only problem is that the lightsource on the dragon was more done as if it was daytime...but...eh...the light can be coming from an unseen source or, actually, from the lightning.

Of course the picture looks tons better in real life. xD Too bad for ya'll. ^^ It took a long time to compile the scane (there were six different scans xD), but I think I did a better job than usual, for once!

Comments are REALLY appreciated!

Time spent: Hours and hours...maybe 10-12? 1 for the sketch, 30 min for the inking, 5+ hours for the dragon, and 3+ for the bg
Real size: 11"x15"
Tools used: micron ink for lines, masking fluid for certain areas on background, watercolors, and arcylic for touch ups. (There's actually sparkly see-through gold paint on every spike and horn and claw...but obviously you can't see it on the scan. )

Hungarian Horntails are © to JKR (if in fact this dragon is a Hungarian Horntail...but just in case, for inspiration, this is where my credit's due )
Picture is © to me, "Kalico" Kat, 2005. Do not use or redistribute without my permission first.