Puppeteer - Detail

She moved through the dark streets of city, almost silent despite the weighty metal framework of the dragon that she carried. Its shining, jointed body swayed and shifted in rhythm with her steps, as if it breathed with a life of its own. The wind picked up suddenly with a soft rustling through the trees, the sound turning into a low, distant roaring. She hesitated, gathering her courage as her eyes scanned the sky for the silhouetted forms of the real dragons that she knew would soon be arriving...

I started this piece a year or two ago and got stalled on the pencil sketch stage. I didn't know what to do with it once I'd drawn the girl and half of her dragon puppet. I finally finished it after I realized I didn't need to draw the other half of the puppet, it was meant to be a vertically composed piece.

(This is a cropped detail version of the piece - please check out the full version to see the entire piece: [link])

I'm working on making my style more painterly, and I like how the look turned out in this piece.

India ink drawing on Bristol, scanned and painted in Photoshop.