Repainting Dragon Portraits: See How I Improved
I first finished painting these dragon portraits in 2017, and honestly, I’ve always loved them. I liked the characters I created, their poses, and the series of paintings that go well together.
I had them in my portfolio for a few years, and then in 2020, I got some feedback from an art director who suggested some improvements, and they were good suggestions. I liked what he had to say and have since wanted to re-paint these dragons, considering what he said. It was never a high priority, though, and although I would open the files and work on them from time to time, I didn’t actually get serious about the changes until this month.
But then I did. I recently repainted all four portraits. And while I will always love the originals (they are hanging on my living room wall) I’m very happy with the changes too. The new paintings are now available as Prints. (Order them here.)
Miss Boughton is the first dragon I repainted. She also probably had the biggest changes. As you can see I reworked the background and I like how the new one gives a better sense of the world she lives in.
With Lady Delvina that art director gave me a really good critique, which was that the hightlights on her tail were draing too much attention. So with the new painting I toned those down. I also changed the background, but that was just for fun.
Lord Tyronne went through the least changes. The biggest differences were created just from my different handling of the paint. The new versions of the paintings are also a little bit larger, so I had to add a little more background on this one.
The largest change I wanted to make with Sir Bosco was to give the background a more sense of distance. I did this by softening the trees and making them cooler in color. I think it works but I also miss how the background trees in the older version have a little more character. (You win some you lose some I guess)
Creating art is a process with so much to think about. While I think I improved with the new versions, there will always be a few things about the old ones that I loved that I miss. What do you think? Do you have a favorite version?
Don’t forget to check out the print shop to get your own dragon portrait prints.
