Museum Entry: Thunder Dragon Emperor Enraiga













 
Greetings. It's been a long time coming, but the photos of the Thunder Dragon are finally finished. This project is easily the largest and most complicated of the dragon heads and its concept evolved slightly since the early phases of development. Here are the pictures of the Thunder Dragon, Enraiga.
  
3/4 View
Close-up view
Here are two side views of the piece. Enraiga's color scheme is meant to reflect the bright intensity of thunder and lightning and I used a blending of bright yellows mixed with blues to reflect this. The jaws and throat are a more subdued gray color which is more neutral and contrasts with the teeth. The white inner teeth are made of glow-in-the-dark clay. As mentioned before, I wanted to try something different with this piece and made the jagged outer jaws in addition to the individual fangs. I think it adds a unique flair to the piece.


Top-down view
Close-up view
In the top-down shots here, you can see the darker blue color scheme of the upper part of the head and horns. I wanted this dragon to have a more regal appearance fitting of an elder dragon so I added long arched horns that sloped off the head and branched. It took a lot of reinforcing to hold their shape but they've since maintained their position. You can also see the gold glass stones decorating the head of the piece to match the yellow color scheme and provide contrast against the blue.

Front view
The frontal view taken from below shows the piece head-on. The jagged jaws are a bit harder to see here but the inner white teeth are more apparent. The piece overall has a more narrow shape than some of the others I've made. This is compensated by the head's overall length/height and including the horns it's at least six feet tall. I actually had to mount it up higher on the wall in order for it to display properly.

To offer a bit of background on Enraiga's concept, this dragon was intended to have a more regal design fitting of a title of 'Dragon Emperor' while reflecting a thunder/lightning elemental affinity. Finally, Enraiga's name in Japanese can be represented as [炎雷牙] which means 'blazing thunder fang'. I did start off with an initial base design in emblem for this one as shown below:

 
 
The basis shape of the head is consistent with the large horns and the color scheme reflected a combination of yellow and blue. I think the decision to blend the colors ultimately worked out.
 
That should be it for now. The pictures of the hydra are done and I'm in the process of sorting them out. I'll prepare a post for that one as well once I've created the emblem for it. Stay tuned.
 
~Zan