Elephant Dragon

I was visiting the Blue Temple in Chiang Rai when I walked past many dragons at the entrance to the temple.

There are a pair of dragons careening down the staircases to the right and left of the main entrance, and the heads were so full of detail, I decided to give myself another challenge.

Using this sculpture as inspiration was a real challenge.

Yet this time, I noticed that I was much more comfortable with getting into all the little nuances, and taking my time to depict the details.

I was even more methodical with the stippling, and the dots became much more organized while I was shading as a result.

Whether this is a dragon, an elephant, or something in between, the sculpture used as inspiration was a prime example of Thai artistry, and I hoped to give the work justice by adding depth in two dimensions instead of three.