How to Draw Spyro

Razz · Mar 13, 2008 12:23 PM

I work at a science museum. It's a fun job, but I have to get up at 6:30am every morning and I'm not a morning person. big_smile I don't get spring break, so I'll be working.

flame1996 · Mar 17, 2008 5:03 PM

Im just saying, can you draw Cynder too?

MM_12 · Mar 17, 2008 5:34 PM

Razz wrote:

I work at a science museum. It's a fun job, but I have to get up at 6:30am every morning and I'm not a morning person. I don't get spring break, so I'll be working.

That's nice. How long do ya work at the science museum?
And bummer... but if you don't get spring break, what do you get? :-|

Razz · Mar 18, 2008 1:28 AM

Flame1996: Who? Me? I draw Cynder all the time. smile Just take a look at my gallery. If you mean a Cynder tutorial...I'm trying to remember to draw that one in between work, the art pile of death, and the excruciating arm pain. big_smile

MM_12: A pay check. big_smile

I only work part time, but I work five days a week.

MM_12 · Mar 18, 2008 3:45 AM

Razz wrote:

Flame1996: Who? Me? I draw Cynder all the time. Just take a look at my gallery. If you mean a Cynder tutorial...I'm trying to remember to draw that one in between work, the art pile of death, and the excruciating arm pain.
MM_12: A pay check.
I only work part time, but I work five days a week.

XD Oh. XD
Part time huh? That's nice.
So how've ya been? and hope your excruciating arm pain heals (or something) O_O

Razz · Mar 19, 2008 12:30 PM

We are so OT right now. XD I will attempt to do a Cynder tutorial or something to bring it back on topic soon. big_smile

Went to the ER last night out of desperation. The doc there thinks Dr. Probably-Knew-What-He-Was-Doing-But-Is-Something-of-a-Jerk actually had the right idea and much of the problem is in my neck. I'll be taking some meds in hopes that it will bring down some of the swelling that's stabbing me in the spinal column and seeking a neurosurgeon to see if I have to get surgery or not. D: The arm pain itself is better now that I've learned I'm not supposed to be sleeping with a pillow.

Spyrowinged12345 · Mar 19, 2008 3:58 PM

Razzek my art is in my signature. ^-^''' you like?

Spyrowinged12345 · Mar 19, 2008 4:14 PM

Razz wrote:

We are so OT right now. XD I will attempt to do a Cynder tutorial or something to bring it back on topic soon.
Went to the ER last night out of desperation. The doc there thinks Dr. Probably-Knew-What-He-Was-Doing-But-Is-Something-of-a-Jerk actually had the right idea and much of the problem is in my neck. I'll be taking some meds in hopes that it will bring down some of the swelling that's stabbing me in the spinal column and seeking a neurosurgeon to see if I have to get surgery or not. D: The arm pain itself is better now that I've learned I'm not supposed to be sleeping with a pillow.

Whew! Thank god. I can not even draw cynder....this is my best attempt at drawing her!aahahha i have better experience in paint though....:rolleyes:

flame1996 · Mar 19, 2008 5:01 PM

Cynder would be great to draw. Razz, do you draw bad and good cynder too? smile

Razz · Mar 19, 2008 11:58 PM

Oh goodness, yes. Dark Cynder is why I picked up the LoS games in the first place and little Cynder is so dang cute. ^_^

MM_12 · Mar 20, 2008 12:10 AM

Razz wrote:

We are so OT right now. XD I will attempt to do a Cynder tutorial or something to bring it back on topic soon.
Went to the ER last night out of desperation. The doc there thinks Dr. Probably-Knew-What-He-Was-Doing-But-Is-Something-of-a-Jerk actually had the right idea and much of the problem is in my neck. I'll be taking some meds in hopes that it will bring down some of the swelling that's stabbing me in the spinal column and seeking a neurosurgeon to see if I have to get surgery or not. D: The arm pain itself is better now that I've learned I'm not supposed to be sleeping with a pillow.

Whoa... O_O

And ok! I'm looking forward to that Cynder tutorial. ^_^ (I suck at Cynder, both evil and good Cynder.... roll neutral )

Razz · Mar 22, 2008 12:00 AM

Okay, it's not much, but here is the start of the Cynder tutorial.

As with any fan art, I start by drawing a reference sheet. It's not pretty and it's quickly drawn. Alas, the only references I had available were the cruddy screen shots in the TEN strategy guide (one of which was of a very early model of TEN Cynder o.O; poorly made guide? I'd say so). I'd like to do another ref sheet using screens of her from the in-game cut scenes, since that is what I consider to be her official model, but this works for now and it gets the basics across.

Cynder is very pudgy and she has a distinct slope to her shoulders in the FMV official art. I made sure to draw out the pattern of her head markings and horns, the way her wing and tail blades face, and the number toes and wing fingers she has.

flame1996 · Mar 22, 2008 10:51 AM

That is a great drawing of Cynder. I don't draw good stuff like that, yours is really good!

Razz · Mar 31, 2008 3:00 AM

So, we finally got the digicam working and that means...the Cynder tutorial (part one) has been done! This isn't so much a tutorial, really, as it is pictures of every single step I take on the path to making a finished drawing. This first part is more introductory information about my work space, my drawing supplies, and all that jazz.

Tutorial also comes with bonus creator commentary and secrets. big_smile

First, this is where I draw. big_smile I have a blanket in my chair because I am always cold and I usually have the tv on for fun noise. Preferred drawing tv shows are: Mythbusters, The Universe, any halfway decent documentary, some cartoons, and The Colbert Report (which you can see is on right here; hi, Mr. Colbert! ).

Here is my pile of drawing supplies. For a start, everything is sitting on a cheap clip board I bought at Wal*Mart. The paper is 8.5"x11" copy/printer/computer paper, nothing fancy. The thing in the plastic baggie is one of very few professional tools I use, and it is my kneaded eraser (I can tell you how to care for and work with one of those if you want to know). Below that is: a Sakura Micron .01 inking pen, a Sharpie ultra fine tip marker, a Sharpie fine tip marker, a cheap mechanical pencil, and my prescription reading glasses. This is the stuff I use to do almost all of my work.

Oh, jeeze, the crazy lady's here! RUN! But if you run away, I can't finish telling you how I draw, because that's me. big_smile Hai Spir0 Forumz! *waves*

One more bit of artsy advice: it is helpful to have your work area organized. I don't use very many supplies, but this is how I arrange them when I'm working (well, when I'm inking, actually, since I can do a sketch without needing to wear my glasses). Once the glasses are on my face, I use their case to hold the pens I'm going to be using. When not drawing, all of my art supplies go in their pencil bag (the green thing to the right) and the papers and clip board go into my art bag which I didn't take a picture of.

This is not a Photoshopped image, I repeat, NOT a Photoshopped image! That is how strong the magnification in my reading glasses is. big_smile They hang crooked on my face because they're several years old and, since I don't use the right lens at all, I tended to twist them so I could use the left lens better.

Razz · Mar 31, 2008 3:35 AM

Okay, now on to the tutorial part.

As previously mentioned, I didn't like the reference drawing I did of little Cynder before, so I found my favorite screen shots and drew another one. As you can see, I take a lot of notes to clarify my sketchy reference pictures.

In order to make this tutorial, I literally took a picture of almost every line I drew, so the rest of this is going to be behind a spoiler tag because there are a lot of these. This drawing is more complicated and less generic than my last tutorial, just to warn you.

▼Hidden text

Phew... Okay, that's all I can post for now (arms...hurting.... D:). You have just seen where most of my drawings start and the detailed process I use to draw a character's basic head and face. Next...the body!

Razz · Apr 04, 2008 1:31 AM

Okay, on to the next batch of artistic revelations! big_smile Once again, these are going to be behind the spoiler cut because there are a bunch of them.

▼Hidden text

The next phase of the drawing is, of course, the body.

As with the face, I use guide lines for the body. The first guide line I drew is one to represent Cynder's spine. This line gives me a good idea of her overall posture.

Here is another guide line of sorts representing her belly and neck. Cynder is very chubby-cute and her tummy almost drags the ground.

I don't always start drawing the legs with the back legs, but this time the position of her hind legs will determine what her front legs are doing, so I started by drawing her upper hind leg.

Here's her lower leg and the start of her ankle and foot. For those who are unaware, like dogs, the dragons of LoS stand on their tip-toes. Cynder's hind leg does not have a backwards knee, that is her ankle. Like a dog, she has a very long foot. You might also have noticed that the angle of her spine has changed. Now that I've drawn her back leg and know where that hind foot will be placed, I can adjust her spine to better fit the pose I'm trying to draw.

And here is her other hind leg, drawn the same way I did the leg we see more of.

This would be, obviously, one of her front legs, which I have lifted off the ground. Can anyone guess what inspired this drawing yet? big_smile

I do a lot of jumping around when I draw, in case you haven't noticed. big_smile And that's perfectly okay. There aren't very many rules in drawing and you should put your lines down in the way that makes you the most comfortable. Here I have put down my first guide lines for Cynder's wings.

Yay, little dragon feets! Well, okay, foot. I sketched in her toes on that raised front leg.

The guide line for her tail and now her most visible back leg has a foot on it.

See how easy that guide line turns into most of her tail? smile She's also got a foot on her other back leg and, with that back foot in place, I can finally draw her other front leg, which is supporting all of the weight from her head and chest. Something to always remember about tails: a tail is connected to the spine, so where ever the spine ends at the hips, the tail will start from there. With dragons and most reptiles the tail base is very thick; the rest of the tail gets narrower from there. I have also added in the three neck spikes behind Cynder's head.

Now her wings have fingers. Something useful to note about dragon wings: they are basically bat wings and bat wings are just very specialized hands with webbing between the fingers. I also drew in the thumb and dew claws that are visible on her hind leg as well as her other front foot.

The only thing added to this photo are the lines for her wing membranes, connecting finger to finger and wing hand to wing arm.

Her visible wing blade is a little hard to see thanks to the blurry photo, but there it is.

One last touch to make the wings complete. Cynder, and all of the LoS dragons, have thick wing fingers. I put in lines below the first lines on her wings to make the fingers thick.

Here are Cynder's neck and belly scales. Pay attention to these because they do have a specific pattern on her chest (noted in my reference drawings).

There's her tail blade, woo! And a tiny line on her supporting front foot to give her proper claws.

Near the end, I add the final details to my sketch, mainly her head markings. A couple of quick lines for a background so she isn't floating on the page and my sketch is done. The next step is to ink it, which I will show you in the post after this.

Razz · Apr 04, 2008 1:44 AM

And now for the final stage for most of my work. Because there aren't very many of these, I'm not going to put them behind a cut.

As stated before, my main inking tools are two Sharpie markers (a fine tip and an ultra fine tip) and a Micron .01 pen. Keep in mind that this is just the way I ink. It took me many years to figure all of this out. Many artists use different tools and a different process from my own. This is just the one I've found that works best for me after many years of experimenting.

The first thing I do is outline the focus of my sketch with the fine tip Sharpie.

Next, I use the ultra fine tip Sharpie to fill in all of Cynder's basic details.

Again with the ultra fine tip Sharpie a sketch out the basic details for the background.

Now I've broken out the Micron .01 to ink her markings and draw the irises of her eyes.

Here's my good friend the kneaded eraser, taking a break after erasing all those sketch lines that I don't need now that all of the basics have been inked.

There's that crazy person again... big_smile That's what I look like when inking, for the curious. I am now using the Micron .01 to clean up my lines and add in any extra details...

...like wood grain and the interior lines of Cynder's head markings.

And here is the final, finished product of all that work!

Doppelgangergang · Apr 04, 2008 1:51 AM

It is AWESOME!

Well, my draggies are basic but I'll get there!

Ayumi_the_Dark_Wolf · Apr 04, 2008 2:06 AM

!!! yikes yikes AWSOME and very detailed! im glad.

Spyrowinged12345 · Apr 19, 2008 10:42 PM

lookie here some spyro arts i did on paint. Some i did on paper in real life will be up soon big_smile

PYRUUUS.

Kissy face.

animated spyro!

Razz · Apr 21, 2008 1:07 AM

D'aww, those are great, Spyrowinged12345! (Eee, Pyrus! XD Thank you! ^_^) Hee, the kissy face one is adorable. smile

EternalNight · Apr 21, 2008 5:19 AM

YAY! ms cuteness SW!!

Spyrowinged12345 · Apr 22, 2008 12:02 AM

^^ Yay now i think Razz EN and everybody on here loves meh big_smile smile taaaahhh yaaaaaayyyy im drawing some pics for shade105s fanficcie! smile

Spyrowinged12345 · Apr 22, 2008 1:00 AM

i suck at cynder but my spyro is now awesome see look at him compared to her this is for shades fanficcie.

RiKoRi95 · Apr 30, 2008 1:04 PM

Wow I try to draw Cynder some day thak you

#76 Mar 13, 2008 12:23 PM

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