A Tale of Two Styles

Image one: five hours of work.  Warm brown on a warm gray paper.  Image two: an hour and a half.  Navy blue on a cool blue paper.  The dragon on the left was done in a half hour flat.

Okay, so there are a few anatomy problems with the right-hand dragon in the second image.  Those hind feet!  Those wings!  But I consider them a worthy trade for the more fluid lines and the sacred increase in speeeeed!

I discovered that, to a degree, I can erase my dark lines by scrubbing at them with a wet brush.  (For those wondering, the medium here is gouache, which is opaque watercolor.)

A non-artist of mine offered the best praise possible: she couldn't tell the difference between the styles of the two images.  My son, who is four, gave what for him would be considered a long and serious look, before commenting, soberly, that "it has too many heads."

My apologies for the poor image quality!  Given the choice between making art or properly documenting it, I must choose the former is I ever hope to get anything done.

I keep getting this giddy thought that I don't have a teacher standing over my shoulder poo-pooing my use of outlines.  I'm getting away with something, and it makes me want to cackle naughty laughter!