The Celtic Dragon Artwork Project

The information on the ‘tile’ or ‘card’ for this project tells us a bit about its origin, but we will start this presentation at the end of the story and show what it looks like in its current state. The image below shows us that. The way the original artwork is developed lends itself quite readily to 3D, in particularly Adobe’s Illustrator. It is quick and easy to generate a .obj file which will then import into Adobe Dimension for texture mapping and lighting.

Method and Process

I have always been fascinated with the complex intricacy that is the signature of Celtic designs. That said, I have many books on my shelves I can refer to. After finding and hand rendering the right knot, I used tracing paper to manipulate the knot into a circle, (I did not have the Adobe Illustrator skills to do this at the time I originally drew the dragon).

Using Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator has evolved profoundly since I first drew this artwork in 1999. I have evolved also. I am now teaching Illustrator professionally at corporate and college environments as other areas of my portfolio demonstrate. The images below indicate a more contemporary working method that we can see is quite effective especially compared to using traditional methods.

A Visual Progression

The images below provide an encapsulated look at the design milestones in developing the Celtic Dragon and Cross artwork. The Celtic Dragon and Cross started out as 'tattoo flash'. It has since evolved and grown into what can now be reinterpreted or re-purposed as jewelry designs and/or architectural applications. Each design iteration creates more opportunities for more creative designs, development and application[s].

Deconstruction

Showing the means by which it was made...