A dragon head with scales

Level

Advanced

Time

2 hours

Version

Shapeaway 4.0

You need

Tablet, 16 GB RAM

You’ll make

A painted, scaled dragon head with horns and teeth

Files

None, you start from a new sculpt

Forms in clay

1. Start from a Sphere at Ultra detail, X mirroring on.
2. Grab a long snout forward; pull the jaw down to open the mouth. Carve the inside of the mouth.
3. Build the brow ridge and cheek plates with Clay Strips, and Trim them into hard planes.
4. Horns and teeth are separate objects: Objects › New, then Snake Hook each horn out from a small ball, and Shape cones for teeth.
5. Add eyes with Objects › New eye.

Scales on a detail mesh

1. Select the head, Objects › Detail › Add detail, then Subdivide once or twice.
2. Pick the Inflate brush with a Drag stroke and the Scales stamp. Drag along the neck to place rows of scales, sized by the drag.
3. For pebbled skin over the snout, use Inflate with the Leather stamp and normal Freehand strokes at low strength.
4. Cut the big skin folds at the neck with a wide, soft Crease.
5. Use Noise very lightly on the softer skin.

Paint

1. Fill all with a base green.
2. Mask cavities with a small feature size, Invert the mask, and paint a darker green: only the creases take it.
3. Mask peaks, invert, and paint a lighter yellow-green on the tops of the scales.
4. Give the horns and teeth a Gloss or Clay finish in bone colours.

Tip

Wide, soft creases read as folds of skin. Thin, sharp creases with dark cavity paint read as black lines, so keep folds broad.

Next: A character bust with hair.