Self-taught artist // Mostly doodles and sketches // Fumbling my way thru art // Forever learning and improving // Commissions will open soon-ish
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hiippok asked: Hey! Would you happen to have any good advices on how to draw reptile scales? I tried to find a good tutorial a while back and couldn't find any good tutos.
I think your best bet is looking up a bunch of reptiles and try to figure out the layout of their scales more specifically to what you need. But I can drop a few ques beneath to get you started.
First, however, I really recommend ( as with any other search for reference material ), that you are as specific as you possibly can when typing your topic into the search bar. Are you looking for a snake? A lizard? - nearly every reptile has a unique composition of scales, so the more you can help yourself when browsing for visual reference, the better.
First thumb rule ( and something I see a lot when people draw scales ), is the misunderstanding that reptile scales align in neat little rows.
It is rarely so. In order to maintain flexibility with most coverage, reptile scales usually sit in rows that are somewhat interlaced, or at least not “straight”.
Above is a spread of reptile scales. As we can see - the scales do sit in rows, but often, a neighbouring row will nudge into the space between the plates of the next. Let’s break it down. Now, some reptiles - including snakes, have scales that overlap, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll look at a critter whose scales do -not- overlap.
When I draw scales, I like to start by mapping out the ‘largest’ scales. On many snakes, these are the ones found on the belly.
The two following rows are exponentially smaller than the largest row. Usually sitting with their edges nested in-between the larger scales.
Depending on the complexity of the creature’s anatomy, you would want to add smaller and smaller scales. If a portion of a creature is supposed to be highly flexible, for an example, it is likely that that specific part calls for a greater amount of smaller scales.
When designing your reptile, it’s a good idea to lay it out to yourself how many “rows” of scales your reptile needs. And then map em out very crudely on your sketches. Keep in mind that scales should, figuratively speaking, look like something of a puzzle that is very neatly fitted together.
It’s always good to add a tiny bit of space between the edges of the scales, to indicate that they are not interlocked and that the creature can, in fact, move freely despite its body armour. For me, this often includes adding a denser outline to the points where the scales nudge up against one another. But there is a myriad of ways which you can retrofit that into your own style, so go on and experiment.
In the picture beneath there are two reptilian creatures present. You’ll recognize the snake from the example above. Its scales are much denser, larger and harder - and sits like a stony armour around the serpent. I’ve expressed this by adding a few highlights on the planes that communicate the depth of the monster’s scales ( see the 3rd-row scales at the compositions center ).
While the upright figure also has scales, these are much smaller and moreso akin to that of a lizard. Tiny scales woven tightly over large portions of its figure (with the exceptions of fleshier, more flexible parts ). These are merely indicated by small dots in the lineart.
This was just an addendum to my first point - scales are not particularly uniform in terms of how they look from species to species. So be vigilant and critical with the creature’s form and function when you look up scales. Study how they’re supposed to move in conjunction with the figure they sit on top of and design their shape, density and directions accordingly.
