How To Draw A Raven-Inspired Raptor Dinosaur

Paper, micron pens, and tea. Lots and lots of tea.

Arrr! Me arty hearties. Or maybe that's "Avast!" I don't know proper grammar for pirates. 

I do know that if you want to draw a cool piece of dromaeosaur art, you are welcome to try the sketching tools I used. 

• Mechanical pencil
• Micron pens, black, .005 and .01
• Prismacolor markers: Sky Blue, Cold Stone, Violet Blue, Black
• Paper = cheap stuff they were giving away at the office. 

Step 1: Sketch

Start with simple shapes. Shapes are your friends. Circles don't have to be perfect for drawing our dinosaur. This is a DIY dinosaur art tutorial and we're confident that you're not afraid to draw some shapes.

Step 2: Sketching Feathers

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Raptor dinosaurs can broadly be described as smallish, bipedal carnivores. But so are owls, and lots of owls are ridiculously cute. I'm going to make him poofy even though later we will be giving him the darker, raven-like colors. 

Step 3: Blocking Feathers

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There really is no reason to draw every single feather. In fact, if you don't, you'll save yourself a good deal to time. But who needs friends, family and sunlight? 

Since I'm laying down the feathers in layers, I start from the top, and work my way down. Feathers don't need to be tied with powered flight. Then again, they don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive either. Nature has come up with all sorts of insulating, mate-dazzling, gliding methods, so, I'll leave it up to you. 

Step 4: Drawing Feathers

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Arrr! Those are a crazy bunch of feathers. 

Step 5: Ink

Inking all those feathers on your dinosaur will make you question your sanity. It's rather dangerous and sexy at the same time. Almost like speaking pirate.

Step 6: Light Blue Markers

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I started with cautious hopes that I would be tidy when using the prismacolor markers to color this dinosaur. Rum can fix that I hear.

Step 7: Finish Light Markers

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I have added the Sky Blue and Cold Stone markers and gone over with a second layer of both markers in some areas once it was dry. If you don't want a hard edge from one color to another, a colorless blender is your friend. 

After finishing the poofy-muggins* tail, it's time to switch over to darker markers for our dinosaur.




*I have been informed that no pirate has ever said the words "Poofy-muggins." Their loss, I say.

Step 8: Dark Blue + Black

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This part actually goes faster than you might think. Violet Blue isn't actually the color I would have picked, but it'll do. (I really need to do some shopping.)

OK. Start out small, and work your way down, just like all the feathers before. You're probably getting good at it by now. 

In areas on your dinosaur where you want the most contrast, break out the black marker. I'd also suggest a white or light blue colored pencil for highlights. But all I can do is suggest, because like I said, I need to do some shopping.

​And do feel free to print this all out if you like step-by-step instructions in front of you. 


​Happy drawing!

Step 9: A Tiny Raptor Dinosaur

Fin.

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