4DogArts
  • Home
  • FAQ
  • Photography
  • Blog
  • Gallery

4 Dog Blog

Sketches and ramblings of a legendary nerd

How to Draw a Feathered Raptor Dinosaur

3/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Drawing a feathered dinosaur requires little more than some paper and a pencil. I happen to be a fan of the mighty mechanical pencil, myself. If you're curious how all the dinosaurs suddenly turned into poofy turkeys, this post by djublonskopf is a readable, comprehensive guide to dinosaur feathers and scales.
​

Step 1: Shapes

Picture
Shapes are your friends when it comes to drawing dinosaurs or whatever you're drawing. And I have the habit of drawing dinosaurs without feathers first. (Naughty, naughty, I know.) This dromaeosaur will be a small raptorian sort of thing, but of course, you can decorate him any way you like.
​ 

Step 2: Some Feathers

Picture
Feathers are the first step. If you have ever had the chance to examine a bird, you'll find that when it comes to body mass, many of them are much smaller than you'd think. Feathers create a lot of "poof." Experiment with plumage. Some of my favorites to reference are vultures and eagles. 
​

Step 3: More Feathers

Picture
Feathers lay in layers, and you can play with shadows to make them appear to lift and twist. I've also decided to show a bit of teeth to add to the smirk, he he.
​

Step 4: Even More Feathers

Picture
If you look at the chin line difference between Step 3 above and this image, you'll see the little feathers added to give this dinosaur the look of a ruffled parrot. Could there have been a strong chin with no feathers? Sure! 
​

Step 5: Revenge of the Feathers!

Picture
That's enough feathers for now, I quite agree. 
​

Step 6: Shading

Picture
I know, shading, that's a scary word to some artists. Fear not! Light source is good for you. It, um, builds character or something. And this is all in pencil, so if you don't like something, no worries, you can always erase it.  For example, in Step 4, there was a strong shadow over the eye. Two seconds with an eraser, and you'll see that this "how to draw dinosaur tutorial" is improved!
​

Step 7: More Pencil Sketch

Picture
Even if the museum wants a white dinosaur, I rarely ever use a true white. Most things just aren't truly bright white. This feathered dinosaur I've decided is darker anyway, so I'm going to quickly colour in his plumage and darken some shadows.
​

Step 8: Finish

Picture
Check it out! In the time it took me to watch a BBC Top Gear rerun, we have a cute, feathered theropod that the museum director is going to fall in love with and insist everyone get a huge raise. OK, actually, that second part never happens, (not because our director isn't awesome, more because that's not how raises work,) the point is, its wicked fun drawing raptors. Cheers! 
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Find It

    All
    American Profits
    Bones
    Book Reviews
    Dinosaurs
    Feature Friday
    Museums + Zombies
    Rescue
    Sketches
    Tutorials
    Wildlife

    RSS Feed

    Links

    Weasyl
    How to Draw Horses
    Tumblr
    ​​

Home

Shop

Cattitude

Blog

HTDHorses.com

Copyright © 2017
  • Home
  • FAQ
  • Photography
  • Blog
  • Gallery