Dragon Drawing

Dragons are usually a big hit with my little ones and with good reason. They can be embellished to suit the artist's mood and ideas.

Supplies are simple: white paper, pencil, eraser, black marker and coloring tools (I used Crayola Markers but you could use watercolor paint or even crayons).

I displayed a few dragon pictures on my whiteboard and passed around a few animated dragon pictures photocopied from books. Then, I drew a dragon for the kids.

Here's a teacher tip: Whenever you are teaching children how to draw, I find it's helpful to find a simple image of that item, in this case, a dragon, and draw the image using the cleanest lines possible. Ask yourself if you could make the steps easier and less complex. Should you add all the legs now or wait until the next step?While you practice drawing, you are embedding the easiest method in your head. This will translate well to the students.

In the case of this dragon, starting with a pencil is best. Draw the eye, the mouth, then the lower jaw extending all the way down and around the belly and up to the tip of the tail. This big, curvy line doesn't look like much now, but it will. Go back to the mouth and draw the top of the nose, the forehead, the neck and then the back and all the way to the tip of the tail, the line growing narrow.

Now it's time to add the back leg (just one for now). Make a big number "2" going right over the belly line. Add a backwards "C" for the rest of the leg and make a foot. Now add one small arm up along the neck. Draw right over the neck line. The pencil lines will eventually be rubbed away.

Next, add super-duper dragon wings, and some spikes or horns or things like that.

Using a black marker, draw over all the lines you want. By this I mean, jump over the area where the belly and back leg meet. Some kids get this immediatley, others don't. Add a back leg and another arm.

A good tip to share with the children is to use the black marker for details like scales, etc. instead of a pencil because all the pencil lines will eventually go away.

Second Grade Results!