Chinese Dragon Dance

dragon dance - full scene with shading 500

I drew this as a sample for my art rep.  It’s supposed to be a class, led by a male teacher, performing the traditional Chinese dragon dance at a community Chinese New Year celebration.  The teacher is on drums, Steven (the narrator) is on cymbals, a girl holds the dragon’s head, and four other students hold the body of the dragon.  Genders should be balanced.  The class should be mostly Asian, but with two non-Asian characters.  The students live in a non-Asian country.  It’s for an international market, so the usual restrictions as to gestures and girl’s dress apply.  Showing children with glasses or disabilities is encouraged.

Chinese New Year is in February, so I figured it was a chilly day.  The sort of weather where some people wear their heavy coats and others stick it out with a jacket or heavy sweatshirt.

There were no specifics on Kevin.  So, I made him sit in a wheelchair.  It gave him a reason to be out in front and the seated position worked better for placing everything, I thought.

I know next to nothing about Chinese New Year traditions.  Or the dragon dance.  Everything here used references from a Google image search.   Does anyone reading this know anything about this subject?  Have I drawn anything that stands out as obviously wrong?

How do the colors look?  Anything too bright?  Does the background overwhelm the foreground?

3 thoughts on “Chinese Dragon Dance

  1. daynesislendesign says:

    Good job!
    I think it is amazing you were able to get so many characters in the illustration and they all are unique. Children will love all the detail. The people passing by, add to the story and depth without distracting because they are in more subdued colors. You even have a lady with a headscarf in a second story window. My only concern is the red awning is the same color red as the red lanterns. Going slightly darker would help the awning to recede. I can tell you really put a lot of thought into your illustrations.

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