Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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The third and final illustration in the series I was doing on Beowulf for college! This is the Dragon - the final foe that Beowulf slays and is also slain by. I interpret the Dragon to be a true primal force, the physical embodiment of Death and destruction. In the rest of the poem, Beowulf vanquished two other monsters, representative of Sin and humanity's inclination towards it, but even he cannot escape death itself. In killing the Dragon, however, his legacy remains immortal.
The Dragon is a grand creature, with impenetrable scales that I painted with a golden sheen like the ill-fated treasure he guards. I carried across the yellow-green color from the other two illustrations (Grendel and Grendel's Mother) and used it as the Dragon's fire, also symbolizing greed. The background I painted mostly in cool tones, the dominant being purple to symbolize pride (and also to contrast with the golden scales).

Programs: Paint Tool SAI 2.0, Clip Studio Paint, WMM
Music: Bear McCreary - God of War OST: "The Dragon", "Deliverance"
Character: The Dragon, from Beowulf

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