evolution of a dragon

this month i've been participating in the #30DaySketchChallenge over on instagram and i'm still trying to get in the groove of sketching a little bit of something each day (unexpected renos mean having my bed in the middle of my studio space which has added a bit of challenge to the work schedule as i'm constantly tempted to lie down for a nap and build pillow forts!) i was quite surprised at how unnatural it seems. i can doodle all day long in illustrator but taking it back to the traditional pencil and paper i keep drawing a blank (quite literally). so it is definitely a challenge, but one i'm up for.

one of my first sketches was the start of a dragon i wanted to do for one of my new love cards. since i'm so much more of a digital sketcher i never finish these pencil or pen drawings so i thought it would be fun to show how it evolved from that original drawing.

the top left is the original challenge sketch and then, since i love everything to have some patterns on them i traced the original multiple times on tracing paper (because if i'm going to draw it's definitely tracing paper and ink for me) and doodle out patterns and then finally take the final concept into illustrator, colour him up and then voila… there he is on a super sweet new card (seriously this pick up line would totally work on me ;)

i'm loving him! he's definitely going to show up on more stuff soon

first one who uncovers the hidden symbols will win of these cards - leave your answers in the comments

check out the love dragon and the other fun new love cards now in the online shop here and popping up in our stockists soon!

anyone else taking on any challenges this month?