THIS DRAGON IS FOR SALE ON MY ETSY STORE: [link]

Edit: OMG!!! I won first place O.O Thank you SO much for having this contest and for choosing me as the winner! I am so honored that you liked him! This is the first contest I've EVER won, so it really means a lot to me

Bigger version of the full-body shot -->
So! This adorable little dragon was made for Lions-nd-yellocake’s ‘How I inspire you’ contest.
Part of the requirements for the contest is that we tell her how she inspired us in the comment of our entry, so here goes!

I found Jennifer here on DA around a year ago, and the first time I saw her work, I have to admit, I pretty much wanted to stop sewing right there and then (I was looking at her lovely dresses). I wish I was better about things like this, but for some reason when I see something SO beautiful that someone else has made I often feel very discouraged.

However! About what? A month later, Jen posted a journal asking about who watches her actively or something, and I responded. Soon after she actually commented on one of my cruddy drawings… I started to realize that she was actually an awesome person AND an awesome artist. Somehow this made her even more inspiring to me than when I just saw her art. I got to know her (not very well lol) via commenting on her work and honestly, after a while I sort of began to consider her a weird internet/DA friend.

For some reason the fact that Jen is a genuinely nice and lovely person inspires me more than almost anything else about her. I just like knowing that there is someone out there who honestly cares about things, for example I know one of her raccoon pieces was sort of a little tribute to a raccoon family that had a terrible accident where the mother got run-over. It’s these are the things that inspire me – the things Jen says about her work, along with the actual work itself. I really enjoy the comment she has on her front page about herself, “I believe there's magic within everything we view as "normal" and "real" and my goal as an artist is to portray that.” I have read that sentence at least five times now and each time I feel the need to just go make something amazing and beautiful! So many of my pieces of work have been inspired by that sentence alone, it’s probably starting to get a bit sad. This little guy was inspired by that quote too.

Other than the fact that Jennifer is a wonderful person who says ridiculously cool things – did I mention her art is absolutely stunning? I don’t know why but I just love everything she does. I will admit, at first it was a bit like my favorite bands. Occasionally they will come out with a song that I don’t like that much, but as I listen to it, it starts to grow on me. That’s how Jen’s drawing style was with me initially. I wasn’t sure how I felt about certain aspects of it, but now it’s grown on me and I honestly think that the fact that it is purposefully not ‘Perfect’ or ‘In Proportion’ all the time is what I like about it now.

I appreciate the fact that Jennifer works with so many different mediums, and is basically self-taught. Because of her, I have tried a LOT of new things with sewing, including beading, trying new things with lace, etc. I love that she has a section of her gallery for practically everything, and each section is full of beautiful, well-done work. Because of this, I have decided one day my gallery will be the same. Even on this dragon I tried something new. I had made two other dragons before this one, for a costume, but they each had fully heavy fabric glue-stiffened wings. I had to go through a lot of trial and error to get this one’s wings right, without ruining the pretty shiny fabric I was using to make them.

Alright – so let’s move on to the actual dragon. As I stated earlier, he (or she?) is specifically inspired by the quote I posted above, as well as several other things. I found this piece of iridescent purple/pink awesome cloth a while back for like 25 cents at a yard sale. While I was thinking of what I wanted to do for this contest I began to look through Jen’s gallery; her paintings, clothing, accessories, etc. I noticed that a LOT of what she does (or at least a lot of my personal favorites of hers) have this awesome purple/lavender/raspberry/black color scheme going on. Even her hair is dyed that gorgeous dark/hot pink raspberry whatever-you-want-to-call-it color! It’s just a beautiful combination. I soon realized that the fabric I had would be amazing to try to recreate that color scheme. I’d also been making a few other dragons (less intricate ones) for a costume, and I had this nice black scaly fabric from that, so I decided a dragon would be perfect. Not only is he a cute little magical being, but I had the perfect fabric, and for some reason when I think of Jennifer I think of random little magical creatures running all around >.> HAHA! So this is the final product! I really hope you like it!
He/She is fully pose-able (wired) little guy, made with iridescent wings, sequins, several drop crystals, puff paint, tacky glue, acrylic paint, metallic powder, scaly fake-leather looking fabric that I don’t know the name of, and hours and hours of time that I really didn’t have to spend on this LOL. It’s okay though, it was totally worth it. I think he took… maybe… 15 hours? Possibly more. I didn’t time it.
As a final note, I wanted to thank you, Jennifer, for being such a nice person, a wonderful role-model, and for taking the time to bother talking to me and looking at my art. More than winning, or prizes, or whatever else, my biggest hope for entering this contest is that for once *I* can inspire *you.* Keep on being awesome!
Much love,
Emy
P.S. Fun fact - For the entire time that I was making him, I've been calling him 'Mr. Fabulous dragon' and I just now had to come up with a real title... although I realize there are "Twilight" dragons in other things, such as world of warcraft, he has nothing to do with that!!! Lol