How to Draw Tattoo Designs of a Griffin and Eye of a Dragon
Griffin Tattoo Drawing Introduction: What Is a Griffin?
Griffin is a mythological beast with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. The lion used to be considered the king of the animals in the ancient times, while the eagle was the king of the sky for many of the ancient civilizations. As the combination of the two animals, griffin became an important mythical creature, both powerful and magical.
It is a common fallacy that the ancient Greeks invented this creature. They did make it very popular, for which there are hundreds of thousands of proofs. However, the Greeks didn’t come up with the concept of lion-eagle in the first place, but Scythians.
This nomadic people rode horses all over the world and once they come from Asia to Europe, they brought their culture and legends with them. The Greeks loved many of those, particularly the myth of the griffin, which later became one of the pillars of the Ancient Greek mythology.
The myth of Griffins was born in the areas of Assyria, Persia (present day Iran), and Phoenicia. The archaeological discoveries in the late 19th and early 20th century, led to the discovery of the majestic ancient cities in these areas: Uruk, Babylon, Nineveh, Nimrud and many others close to the Euphrates and Tigris River (Mesopotamia), the Persian Gulf, etc. All of these areas are now parts of Iran, Iraq and the surrounding countries.
The first findings were fascinating and simply pressured the archeologist Henry H. Layard and others to investigate further and further. The first statues of griffins that they saw were, unfortunately, simply disintegrated! Some of them lay under layers of sand, earth and diverse material for ages. Still, due to a high number of griffin sculptures, many of them were intact. Most of those can nowadays been in many history museums around the world.
Griffins have been the source of inspiration for many artists for dozens of centuries. The symbol was used for the coat of arms of royal families, emblems of armies, etc. These days, many sport teams use it for their mascot, like the ice hockey team, Grand Rapids Griffins or the football club Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
If you also find griffins fascinating, you should learn how to draw them. And the best way for that is to simply follow our instructions.
It is a common fallacy that the ancient Greeks invented this creature. They did make it very popular, for which there are hundreds of thousands of proofs. However, the Greeks didn’t come up with the concept of lion-eagle in the first place, but Scythians.
This nomadic people rode horses all over the world and once they come from Asia to Europe, they brought their culture and legends with them. The Greeks loved many of those, particularly the myth of the griffin, which later became one of the pillars of the Ancient Greek mythology.
The myth of Griffins was born in the areas of Assyria, Persia (present day Iran), and Phoenicia. The archaeological discoveries in the late 19th and early 20th century, led to the discovery of the majestic ancient cities in these areas: Uruk, Babylon, Nineveh, Nimrud and many others close to the Euphrates and Tigris River (Mesopotamia), the Persian Gulf, etc. All of these areas are now parts of Iran, Iraq and the surrounding countries.
The first findings were fascinating and simply pressured the archeologist Henry H. Layard and others to investigate further and further. The first statues of griffins that they saw were, unfortunately, simply disintegrated! Some of them lay under layers of sand, earth and diverse material for ages. Still, due to a high number of griffin sculptures, many of them were intact. Most of those can nowadays been in many history museums around the world.
Griffins have been the source of inspiration for many artists for dozens of centuries. The symbol was used for the coat of arms of royal families, emblems of armies, etc. These days, many sport teams use it for their mascot, like the ice hockey team, Grand Rapids Griffins or the football club Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
If you also find griffins fascinating, you should learn how to draw them. And the best way for that is to simply follow our instructions.
Step By Step Drawing a Simple Griffin Tattoo Design
The step one is to draw three circles, which would later become the griffin’s head front body and the back.
Draw griffin’s legs and head.
Bold the lines making the contour of the griffin’s legs, head, back and tail.
Finish the tail and start drawing feathers bellow the head of the griffin.
Now finish drawing the head of the griffin, which is actually the head of a bird. Also, draw the wings in this step, as well.
Add more details to the griffin’s body and face, like beak, feathers and the wings.
Finally, make bold all of the lines of the griffin, while deleting those you don’t find to belong there. The final version of the griffon looks like something that could be used on coat of arms of medieval knights. But, if you wish, you can make the creature look more benign or just the opposite, scarier. The sky is the limit—feel free to unleash your imagination.
Dragon Eye Tattoo Drawing Introduction: What Is a Dragon?
Dragon is a mythical creature, reminiscent of a giant scary reptile. An interesting thing about this beast is that it has been featured as a part of many different ancient cultures, from all around the world. Dragons were part of ancient Chinese, Indian and Japanese culture, but also were inspiring ancient artists from Europe and North Africa.
In fact, all depictions of dragons can be separated into two distinctive groups, European and Chinese. The European dragon comes probably from the Ancient Greece, who transformed many different myths of Middle Eastern people into one. The name “dragon” literary translates from Greek as large water snake.
Actually, in the ancient times, dragons were almost exclusively depicted as big serpents. The idea about dragons being lizard-like creatures comes from the Middle Ages. The modern depiction of a dragon is a big scary reptile with a pair or two pair of legs, bet-like wings and ability to spit fire.
The inspiration for the later feature of the dragon most likely comes from cobras, which are able to spit poison, in the same manner the dragon spits fire. What made people think about dragons in the first place might be the evidence of dinosaurs or found skeletons of large crocodiles and whales. Actually, in 300 BC, a dinosaur skeleton was discovered in China, but people believed it to be a skeleton of a dragon.
Dragons have always been inspiration for artists. In the Middle Ages, dragons were symbol for strength and bravery. In fact, the real Count Dracula was a member of the Dragon society and had this symbol on his crest. Even his name comes from this creature—Dracul means dragon in Romanian.
If you’re looking to be one of the millions of people who have been drawing dragons, pay close attention to what comes next. We are going to shows you the easiest way to draw the eye of a dragon, or in fact, any other scary mythical beast.
In fact, all depictions of dragons can be separated into two distinctive groups, European and Chinese. The European dragon comes probably from the Ancient Greece, who transformed many different myths of Middle Eastern people into one. The name “dragon” literary translates from Greek as large water snake.
Actually, in the ancient times, dragons were almost exclusively depicted as big serpents. The idea about dragons being lizard-like creatures comes from the Middle Ages. The modern depiction of a dragon is a big scary reptile with a pair or two pair of legs, bet-like wings and ability to spit fire.
The inspiration for the later feature of the dragon most likely comes from cobras, which are able to spit poison, in the same manner the dragon spits fire. What made people think about dragons in the first place might be the evidence of dinosaurs or found skeletons of large crocodiles and whales. Actually, in 300 BC, a dinosaur skeleton was discovered in China, but people believed it to be a skeleton of a dragon.
Dragons have always been inspiration for artists. In the Middle Ages, dragons were symbol for strength and bravery. In fact, the real Count Dracula was a member of the Dragon society and had this symbol on his crest. Even his name comes from this creature—Dracul means dragon in Romanian.
If you’re looking to be one of the millions of people who have been drawing dragons, pay close attention to what comes next. We are going to shows you the easiest way to draw the eye of a dragon, or in fact, any other scary mythical beast.
Step By Step Drawing a Fairly Detailed Eye of a Dragon Tattoo Design
Start simply by drawing a rectangle shaped contour of the creature’s eye.
Follow the eye line, drawing two leaf-like objects, one above, the other below.
Draw the pupil of the eyes, as well as the eyelashes of the mythical creature.
Add more eyelashes, which should be drawn to look like sherds.
Finish both lower and upper eyelashes. Erase the lines you don’t find to look nice and make other lines bold, before finishing.
This is how the final version of the tattoo drawing should look like. It should appear vicious with the pupil of a reptile that’s looking to catch a prey. Of course, feel creative and add a personal touch to the drawing.