Drawing Dragon Forepaws from the Front

A Public Domain Tutorial by Dee Dreslough
Please feel free to copy and redistribute this tutorial in any form however you like!

First, let me discuss my theory on the various types of Dragon Forepaws. For this tutorial, I'll be working with a forepaw based mainly on a human hand (with thumb). You can base your dragon paws on any type of foot, really, but I prefer to imagine my dragons with fingers and thumbs so they can manipulate things and weild weapons. Some folks draw their dragon paws with bird like feet - I may do this in a future tutorial. Others prefer to use dog or cat paws for dragon paws. All of these are valid, physically plausible designs for dragon feet.

If you look at the picture below, you can see how much like a human hand this dragon paw is. The great thing is, you can use this to help you draw your dragon paws. Pose your hand how you need the dragon's paw to be posed, and sketch it. You can lengthen the fingers, add scales and claws, and voila : you have your paw. Hands make perfect models for lighting and shading -- remember, there is no substitute for drawing from real life.

Go on to the first step - Drawing the Bones

Cat Skelton Pic by Cheryl R. Dhein, Washington State University

You can see from this diagram that the dragon's forepaw has all the same elements as a human hand. It even has similar bone structure.   Next Page