Drawing in the Dragon's Lair

Learn tips for drawing foreshortening from my favorite Komodo dragons.

Jeff is the largest and oldest Komodo dragon living at Memphis Zoo.

This giant lizard has intrigued me since I first laid eyes on him. He reminds me a bit of our dog, Vigo, but more deadly.

He's just as adorable as our furry family member, and I'm not alone in this belief. I love crossing paths with a keeper who casually mentions that "Jeff looks extra cute today." Last week, a keeper gave me the scoop on why he's called "Hollywood" Jeff.

Isn't he adorable?

In 2001, he BIT Sharon Stone's husband, Phil Bronstein on the foot!

Zookeepers asked Bronstein to remove his shoes before entering the dragon's lair because the Komodo dragons could mistake the shoes for a rabbit or rodent. Bronstein did not comply. He left the exhibit with lacerated tendons that needed surgical reattachment.

So, don't wear white after Labor Day or when meeting a Komodo dragon.

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Observing these beautiful dragons behind a barrier suits me just fine. When they’re indoors, they enjoy lazing around on heated rocks, which usually puts them at a tricky angle to draw. This has helped me practice foreshortening in a fresh and fun way, because they can quickly move at any time.

If I get too comfortable, it can be a bit terrifying when Jeff pokes that forked tongue out! It’s a reminder to sketch quickly and just look at the glorious shapes before me, instead of getting distracted by those incredible textures and colors in his claws.

Drawing techniques to try:

• Ground your subject by finding something touching them that doesn't move. A chair, table, tree, blades of grass, etc. If you're using a photo, it could be something that intersects the bounding box, like the table in the image of Sean below, or his tail!

• Observe the part that’s closest to you. It’s that BIG thing that isn’t actually the biggest part. Either draw it, color block it, or just acknowledge that it's there. In the photo of my cat, notice how Sean’s head is closest to us and over twice the size of his body?

  

• Watch and draw with me in the video below! We’ll draw Jeff using these techniques and you’ll master foreshortening in no time!

• Bounded Boxes are helpful. You can draw a box to encapsulate your subject, imagine it, or make a viewfinder with your hands to envision your composition.

• Relate the parts to each other and observe the negative space between them. I found this concept in Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book. 

• Color blocking is awesome! Just put down the general shape of your subject, then add details.

If you have any questions about materials I used or need me to do a better job explaining these concepts, please let me know!