watercolor on paper
A2 / 42 x 59,4 cm / 16.5" x 23.4"
October 2015
I've made this illustration of Smaug the dragon as a custom order for a great fan of Tolkien from the United Kingdom. He wanted a vertical illustration made in watercolor. We both agreed that this size of paper (A2) would allow me to achieve some great details while not being too big (or too expensive :P).
I started working on this fantasy illustration by creating quick concept sketches you see below. None of them was inspired by the movie version of Smaug - the second Hobbit movie wasn't out yet back then. Even if it was out, I prefer to create works that come strictly from my imagination. I checked out dozens of other dragons on the Internet and started sketching my own. The purpose of those rough sketches was to show different possible compositions, not yet a very precise shape of the dragon.
My client liked sketches number 1 and 3 the most, so in the next stage, I've made them a bit more precise. I sketched each one on the sheet of A4 paper.
He decided he wanted me to proceed with the concept number 1.
I was hoping it would be number 2... so there's a strong possibility that I'd be painting Smaug once again in a couple of years - just to see how concept number two would look as a finished watercolor and maybe to see how much progress I've made through those years.
Here's how my illustration looked before I started painting. I've made Smaug's face more mean and scary (not an easy thing to do, since he was sleeping). I also perfected foreground and the pile of treasure and got rid of the "hands" that his wings had on the previous sketch :P
Now you are ready to see some photos of the work in progress!
I've put masking fluid on almost the entire dragon and started painting the background (a lot of splashing!). Then I've spent a couple of days painting the pile of treasures.
Finished watercolor painting of the "Sleeping Smaug" and some close-ups.
You might want to check out how it looks on a variety of products (like T-shirts, coffee mugs, pillows, tote bags, notebooks, phone cases and more) from my RedBubble shop.
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