Reef Dragon by Michelle Whitehead

Well, it’s the start of my third week back to work after our lovely two week vacation… and man, do I miss Florida! So I went and found this amazing Reef Dragon by Australian professional artist Michelle Whitehead, posting as mmishee. I want to be down on that beach right now!

This was a commission painting by Michelle, and she says she was “asked to ‘draw a dragon in a complex background.'” She continues:

Its design is based on a coral reef and the fish you’d find in it. I was inspired by the colourful patterns of reef fish, and gave it coral horns. Dont have a name for it, other than reef dragon. It’s face is slightly scaley, but the rest of its body is smooth like a dolphin. Also it went fishing. I think this is the first time I’ve ever drawn blood.

While in Florida, I picked up a postcard showing an aerial view of the small coastal community where we stayed, complete with a shot of our resort and the wide sandy beach, and I’ve got it taped to my desk so I can just stare at it and count down the days until next summer, when we return. It’s slighly masochistic, I think. *SIGH*

But all right. Michelle has some other really great artwork in her gallery, including this next dragon, whom you might recognize. Here is her Chibi Toothless, because of course I have to share Toothless. 🙂

Ah, so cute. And finally, Michelle has also drawn an entire series based on the Chinese Zodiac. Here is her Dragon, which is really neat, but I also liked the Ram (for me) and the Horse (for the husband), and you can find the links to your year and all the rest at those links.