- Sketching/Drawing
- Level: Intermediate
- Subject: Dragon Wings
Dragon Workshop: Head | Body | Scales | Wings | Limbs And Talons | Horns And Other Addons | More…
I briefly touched upon drawing wings earlier when explaining how to design dragon body. Let us take a closer look at how we can draw the wings in just about any position.
Anatomic Construction Lines
Here is a construction of an open wing from the inner side.
The joints are denoted by letters and the major bones indicated by numbers. ‘A’ denotes the shoulder joint, ‘B’ denotes the elbow joint, and ‘C’ denotes the wrist joint. This is drawn comparing the open wing to a stretched human arm.
Above is the construction of a closed or curled up wing. Note that line marked with ‘1′ is from shoulder to elbow, ‘2′ is the fore arm, and ‘3′ is the index finger.
Wrapping The Skin
All that is left to do is wrapping skin around these skeletal construction lines.
Sketch the skin of the wings, stretching between the fingers, from index to middle, to ring, to little finger. After that, just pull the webbing like skin to the pit under the ‘arm’.
Various Wing Positions
Study your own arm and examine how it bends or ask your friend to pose for you, so that you can do quick construction line sketches.
After that, practice wrap the skin around it. Let is sag a bit between the ‘fingers’. Once you clean up, you should have a lineart that looks appropriate on a dragon body. If you are doing any closeup artwork of a dragon, consider drawing scales on them - but it is usually on the outer or the back side of the wing.
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Tags: Intermediate, Tutorial
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42 comments
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January 21, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Roberta Seldon
Great tutorial! Thanks!
January 21, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Vyoma
You are welcome, Roberta
January 24, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Kittygurl521
Nice tutorial! This was just what I was looking for.
January 25, 2008 at 4:27 am
Vyoma
Thank you.
February 14, 2008 at 12:05 pm
james
thanks now i know jow to draw the wings on my dragons i can draw really good dragons but had a problems on drawing the wings
February 14, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Vyoma
Glad that you found this helpful, james.
Would love to see your dragon drawings.
March 5, 2008 at 9:02 pm
clarissa
Thanks I have a book report on ERAGON and i have to draw Saphira.I was looking on every wep how to draw dragon wings and thanks to you my book report wont be as bad as my others. :p
March 5, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Vyoma
That is great, Clarissa.
By the way, is this book report for any academic purpose? Do post a link if you have published it anywhere online.
March 5, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Clarissa
Wow! This is what i needed for my project.
Thank You Very Much!
March 5, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Vyoma
Possible double posting?
March 17, 2008 at 3:53 am
greyelk
can you show me how to draw A dragon
March 17, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Vyoma
Hey greyelk - I have put together this page - Dragon Workshop - that has all the posts published at KalaaLog.com on Dragons.
There is a series of drawing tutorials that should help you out.
March 28, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Andrew
i can now draw dragons again.I could draw super good dragons in the 2nd grade but i lost my talent.So good job on your site it really helps.
March 28, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Trevor Seines
Cool!!!!
March 29, 2008 at 6:42 am
Vyoma
I am glad, Andrew.
Do post a link to your artwork if you have uploaded them anywhere.
Thanks! Trevor.
June 9, 2008 at 8:45 pm
unknown
thnx
June 15, 2008 at 3:44 am
Ana
OMG thank you so much for simplifying it. A friend wanted me to draw dragon wings for him and this has been extremely helpful.
June 15, 2008 at 5:52 am
Vyoma
You are welcome, Ana.
July 28, 2008 at 11:00 am
Boogers
Pritty cool
August 20, 2008 at 4:27 pm
JUSTIN
Could you please tell me 12 types of lines? Like vertical, straight, curved, etc… I really need this for my project.
August 20, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Vyoma
I did not realize there were ‘12 types of lines’ - sorry, cannot help you on that one.
August 24, 2008 at 4:16 am
ellie
cool…now i can draw wings on my dragons much better….thanx
August 24, 2008 at 4:18 am
Vyoma
You are welcome, ellie!
September 7, 2008 at 5:51 am
buddy
Your guides really help me. I want to get your advice on my drawings but I don’t know how to send you one. Just email me when you get the chance. Thanks!!!
September 7, 2008 at 6:24 am
Vyoma
Glad that it helped you buddy.
As far as feed back on your artwork is concerned, you could use my contact form, or for a broader scope, register at CGPainting.com and post your works.
September 13, 2008 at 11:01 am
muhammad
oh thanxs i can draw sik, i had a poster to do on a mythalogical beasts and the only thing i needed left was the dragon wings so thank u very much on this wonderful tutorial
November 7, 2008 at 12:50 am
timbo
Thanks the it really helped amd i got a plus on my english assiment THX A LOT
November 9, 2008 at 3:27 am
Samara
Thank you!! I have been wanting to draw folded Dragon wings for a while now. I know how to now! If you want, you can look at my work. (Take notice that all wings are unfolded. =D) Here is the link: http://s527.photobucket.com/albums/cc354/mara204ever/Dragons/
November 9, 2008 at 5:16 am
Vyoma
I guess we can soon see some more dragon artwork with folded wings from you, Samara.
I would like to suggest deviantART to you. It is a great site to upload your artwork and build a profile. Check out my deviantART profile. We can keep track of what others upload and I guess you would like building your art profile there.
December 7, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Neopolitan
I would just like to say, you are the best!!! I was trying to draw a dragon for this little kid who, obviously, loves dragons, and I gotta hand it to ya, your stuff is easy to master, but still very effective, thanks a bunch!
December 7, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Vyoma
Thanks, Neopolitan!
Keep things simple in the beginning and build on it as you practice - it is quite effective.
December 16, 2008 at 1:57 pm
AEdwards
Not only is this really helpful for drawing but it I great for basic structure in sculpting! Thanks!!
December 16, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Vyoma
I did not think of applying this to sculpting medium, but I guess - basic principles may be applied across different mediums.
December 19, 2008 at 6:55 pm
James H. (Lee)
thank you for making these i need to be able to clean up the way i draw a bit.
i wish i could show you some of the art i have done on paint, but i am not sure i can to be honest
January 4, 2009 at 3:09 am
esme
wow. thx a lot! i could always draw dragons but the wings never looked right. now thx to u i can draw good ones!
January 19, 2009 at 6:26 pm
jarod
okay its super i am a artist but i couldnot draw dragon wings until i found this website
!
February 22, 2009 at 2:33 am
Chris
Thanks for this little tut. I love dragons and love to know how to draw dragon wings.
April 11, 2009 at 5:02 pm
sorena
I LOVE THE TUTORIAL!!!
i frequently draw dragons, and get stuck on the wings. these are great!
you really should write an art book.
thanks to you, i have concered the wings!
April 11, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Vyoma
You are welcome, sorena.
April 19, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Darnis
Thanks, Vyoma, i love these tutorials. You should start working on an art book soon
April 28, 2009 at 12:42 am
helen
this is rely good. i notcied that u used paintbrushes. thats nice XD.. but i prefer pencil. painting makes everything messy for me, so i use the pencil. this web. was very helpful. Thanks! i know how to draw wings really good now. thank you soooo soooo soooo sooo sooo soooo soooo sooo sooo mcuh!
May 17, 2009 at 8:52 am
Sarah
I am making a dragon puppet out of polyfoam rubber and the folded arm was just what I needed and could not find. Thank you so much for sharing - the simplicity was easily transferred into 3-D.