Claire's Colouring: Mythomorphia Dragons

Here's the first post in a new series I'm starting whereby I show you what I've been colouring lately and explain how I did it! I usually just post the picture on Facebook to show you but I always get lots of questions about what I used so I thought- why not blog about it?!

This is two singular images (from Mythomorphia by Kerby Rosanes) that sort of make a double spread as they're both dragons obviously. Often when there are opposing pictures with the same theme I like to make them yin & yang with each other rather than match. For the water dragon I kept all my tones cool with blues and aquas, blending out into white to give the look of frothing waves. With the fire dragon I of course used lots of hot reds and oranges.

I decided to use Spectrum Noir Aquablend Pencils on this project, mainly because I wanted to create a blended look without having to do too much work, but also because I haven't had the chance to put them to the test yet. As you can tell they are no disappointment when it comes to vibrancy! I was actually shocked by the sheer intensity of the colours, something I've only seen in Derwent Inktense, which are of course made from ink not watercolour pigment. Certainly no other watercolour pencils I've used come close to the vividness of the colour and how soft & easy it they are to lay onto the paper. You can keep going in with water and reactivating the colour you've put down as well as layering more on top to boost the colour in certain areas. The colours I used were:
Water Dragon - Julep, Lagoon, Indigo, Glacier Blue.
Fire Dragon- Red Berry, Carmine, Carrot, Tangerine.

I'm still not sure whether to give the dragons a background- and if so, what? Let me know what you guys think! I hope you've enjoyed reading about my colouring process and if this is something you would like me to do with all my finished pieces, let me know that too!