Drawing Scorpions - How to Draw Scorpions For the Beginner
If you are familiar with the basic parts of a scorpion, then you can easily draw one even without a model or picture to base upon. Just remember that aside from the color, size and few certain features, each kind of scorpions have certain differences in their body characteristics and that is how they are categorized.
The body of a scorpion has fairly limited bending capability and positions. Each of its parts has limited movements. The abdomen of a scorpion can hardly curve sideways, but it can easily bend upwards. The limbs are quite graceful, most especially the legs. The legs can almost overlap one another when the scorpion is crawling. The tail is the most flexible portion of the scorpion's body, it can arc sideways and forward in different manners and degrees.
To show you the process of drawing a scorpion, I will use a striped bark scorpion as an example.
- Convey the figure of the scorpion in its simplest form using basic shapes and lines. You could use a long oval, a cylinder with sloping ends or anything that could be used to depict its semi-cylindrical body shape.
- Construct the main outline. Once you define the size and length of the base/body and the parts (legs, arms and tail), modify the line of the base (the oval or cylinder) and establish the thickness of the limbs and the tail. The upper outline of the body has ridges due to the scorpion's abdominal segments. Draw 7 lines to establish the segments of the body, each line should curve with the dimensions of its semi-cylindrical contour shape.
- Apply some linear shading. Once the primary outline is established, begin portraying the figure's gradation/shades. The direction of the hatches should convey the planes of the figure.
Use straight lines for the areas that are somehow flat, and use curving hatches for the areas with slopes. Leave some highlights on the side edges of the body parts to convey its texture.
- Smear the shades. Smear the shades carefully. Do not randomly smudge the entire area with heavy hand strokes; smear each shading section by section. Take note of the highlights as you blur every linear shades you previously applied.
- Darken the back area of the scorpion. Apply another layer of a darker shade at the back of the scorpion where the stripe lies. The darker value of its back would make the other shades appear brighter.
Finalize the drawing. Regain the highlights by using a kneaded eraser. The stripe on it its back should have the brightest value, and the value of the gray tones should be adjusted according to the area it covers. Redefine the entire figure once the shading process is complete.
More easy to follow step-by-step instructions, including more examples and tips, are available in "Drawing Scorpions - How to Draw Scorpions For the Beginner"