Fire-breathing Beast

This dragon was inspired by the poem Beowulf. This specific scene is when Beowulf sets off to fight the dragon.

                                   As usual, I start off with a sketch.

 Dragons have lots of texture, so the next thing I did was work on the belly, the head, and the tail.

 I like to start with the head of the dragon first and then work on the rest of the body. I also add the "lights" as I go.

Finishing the body of the dragon and Beowulf. Next step is to add the fire. 

I created the fire by making light swirls with the Staedtler Lumograph Graphite Drawing pencil- 2B, and I keep adding layers with a 4B and 6B graphite pencil. Then I used my eraser to create the "lights" and make the form of fire. For the background, I used pencil shavings to create a smoky night.