'Magister Illyrio murmured a command, and four burly slaves hurried forward, bearing between them a great cedar chest bound in bronze. When she opened it, she found piles of the finest velvets and damasks the Free Cities could produce . . . and resting on top, nestled in the soft cloth, three huge eggs. Dany gasped. They were the most beautiful things she had ever seen, each different than the others, patterned in such rich colors that at first she thought they were crusted with jewels, and so large it took both of her hands to hold one. She lifted it delicately, expecting that it would be made of some fine porcelain or delicate enamel, or even blown glass, but it was much heavier than that, as if it were all of solid stone. The surface of the shell was covered with tiny scales, and as she turned the egg between her fingers, they shimmered like polished metal in the light of the setting sun. One egg was a deep green, with burnished bronze flecks that came and went depending on how Dany turned it. Another was pale cream streaked with gold. The last was black, as black as a midnight sea, yet alive with scarlet ripples and swirls.  "What are they?" she asked, her voice hushed and full of wonder. "Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. "The eons have turned them to stone, yet still they burn bright with beauty." 

A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II

It took me long enough, but I’ve finally got to grips with the creative cloud and get photoshop on my iPad. This is going to help SO MUCH with projects I’m behind on. I can use my stylus more accurately, the smaller screen means I can be more thoughtful with my paint strokes and I can work in even greater comfort. Even when I’m dog-sitting and nap-trapped by a sweet, clingy chihuaua.

💎💙Anima in her blue period. 💙💎

Birthday gift for @animathemutant. I didn’t want to upload this until she got to see it and all her other prezzies in person. She loved them!

‘Just got the most wonderful surprise today! A mutual friend and previous collaborator was in a local art shop and they got me this amazing set of coloured pencils! Three trays of colours for a good bargain! ‘Can’t wait to get stuck-in!

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! 🧧🐉 the year of the wood dragon. Sadly, I don’t have a finished piece for occasion, but I can safely say that great progress has been made with my parts for the #YearOfTheDragonElders challenge. ‘Finally over the trickiest parts of the posing and anatomy, but still in the pencils stage - The most labour intensive. However upcoming external and domestic matters have forced things to slow down. Despite all this, I’m working on them every day and feeling very optimistic. Whether or not I get each respective Elder done within each month, they will all be completed. Fittingly, I’ve had dreams about dragons/wyverns and their eggs earlier this week. ‘Friends say it’s a good sign.

Until then, here’s a sneak peak for the upcoming first entry. Featuring… a wooden dragon?

Update the YearOfTheDragonElders. I haven’t been able to draw Nestor before the first month’s end. Mostly ‘cos it was tricky to settle on a pose. Not to worry. It’ll be up when it’s up. Plus I’ve decided to start working on Useni alongside him. If I can’t have Useni done for Chinese New Year, then he’ll be up for Valentine’s Day. Hell, if I can do Nestor for Chinese New Year and Useni for Valentines, then it’ll still fit. Hopefully I’m not jinxing it.

ATTENTION SPYRO FAN-ARTISTS!

2024 officially marks a new ‘Year of the Dragon’, and with it comes many fitting releases: The dancing toothless meme, HotD season 2, and possible mutterings and hopes of a new Spyro game. Whether the latter is true or not, what better time could there be for fans to come together in a fun, year-long art challenge? 

A fun fan-art challenge thought-up by myself and @my-world-my-stories (Be sure check out her socials if you love Spyro fan-art, especially great OCs). Simply drawing each of the chosen dragon elders from the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy. Corresponding to each month, as if they were pin-ups for a calendar. 

They can be in whatever style, medium, tone you choose: Fun, sexy, action packed or simple - all up your creativity. Once uploaded, share with the hashtag #YearOfTheDragonElders so everyone can see it.  

ALSO, as an optional bonus; you can choose, any time of the year, to draw your own Dragon Elder in the Reignited style! Could be any of the others missing from this prompt list, an OC, yourself, or a dragon from another franchise. Whatever takes your fancy. 

There’s no pressure to finish this challenge to completion. Whether you do one, two, a dozen or a baker’s dozen; This isn’t a race nor a competition with a set deadline. The purpose of this is to have fun in celebration of these characters and their brilliant designs.

Feel free to ask us any questions you may have. Now go, fellow Artisans! Looks like you’ve got some things to do!

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#YearOfTheDragonElders Official 2024 prompt list

JANUARY - NESTOR FEBRUARY - USENI MARCH - CYRUS APRIL - DELBIN MAY - MAGNUS JUNE - BUBBA JULY - BORIS AUGUST - TRONDO SEPTEMBER - GAVIN OCTOBER - GUNNAR NOVEMBER - RAGNAR DECEMBER - LUCAS [Bonus - Draw your own dragon elder at any time]

Challenge created by @leomitchellart and @doodling_all_day_24hours 

I don’t know about you, but I recon mixing Spyro with Cas Van De Pol’s dancing Toothless meme is a great way to start the year of the Dragon. 

As I was catching-up with Sky Art’s ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’, I heard this great quote from David Shillinglaw, when asked why it’s important for children to get into the arts:

“I would say the arts, generally, are the spaces where it’s okay to fail. It’s a way to celebrate insecurity, fallibility - When I was in school, art was the place where I felt I could fail in and it wouldn’t ruin my day.”

A nice reminder to take the pressure off myself a bit more.

As I’ve been working away, I was hoping to have the first part of an ongoing project finished and uploaded by Tuesday. But soon realised that was impossible for the large piece I have in mind. Instead, I’ll be posting something a little more fun and silly on next week. Along with a big announcement for what I’ve got planned. Stay tuned… 🐉

My final picture of the year. A Christmas present for my sweet nephew. Depicting him with Hugo; a fleabitten grey gelding he took a shine to. His smile when he opened this was everything I hoped for. 

Last year, a friend sent me the link to this cute, stop-motion animated special called ‘Snowden’s Christmas’ (1999). Knowing it would cheer me up because one of my favourite actors, Peter MacNicol, was starring in it. Now, it’s a cozy Christmas tradition for me to watch.' 'Only felt right to draw the little snowman while I’m in a very festive mood. ☃️ 

I’VE FINALLY FOUND A ONE ON CRYSTAL ISLE! Meaning I can soon come back to this and draw where I found her…

Equus Magnus Unicornis 🦄

Last year, Easter was on the same day as “Bat Appreciation Day”, this year, it’s on “National Unicorn Day”. I knew straight away I was doing the unicorn version of the prehistoric Equus Magnus, from “Ark: Survival Evolved”. There is only one on the entire map, making it one of the rarest tames. I’ve been spending every session trying to find it. So it is like a really hard Easter Egg hunt.

As soon as I find it, I’ll come back and draw the background of where I found it. With fully rendered shading, lighting and detail.

☕️Buy me a Ko-Fi? 

If you didn’t work out what those inky squiggles and patterns were for, it’s this. I’m drawing some dragon eggs!

Instead of doing one egg to copy and recolour, I’m inking three versions of the same sketch. Making each shell look slightly different from each other, more organic. Giving me three choices of shells to pick for any future egg drawings.

Spengler’s Spirit. ~Happy birthday, Harold Ramis~

A sneak-peak at what I’m currently working on. This may look like random swirls and splotches, but they’ll all be part of something much bigger later. Here’s a hint… 🐲🥚

Inktober 2023 no.31 - “Fire”  🔥 

‘Started this year’s Inktober with a dragon. Only right to end with one too.  🎃🕷️🧡👻🖤HAPPY HALLOWEEN!🖤💀🧡🦇🎃