One of the sculptures that I carved for New Year’s was a Chinese dragon (but the sculpture above isn’t it 😜) and I thought it would be a good opportunity to share the design, especially since the Chinese New Year comes up in January (1/26/09 to be precise).
Asian dragon ice sculpture, my version
updated 4/7/23 a bit when added to the new site
The first Chinese-style dragon that I carved was based on a design by Japanese master sculptor Mitsuo Shimizu from his book “The New World of Ice Sculpture, Vol. II.” I learned a lot from this book and it was the first book I owned about ice sculpting. My Asian dragon ice sculpture design borrows somewhat from Shimizu’s design, although the dragon’s pose is quite different. In addition, Shimizu’s dragon is carved from two major pieces of ice and a few little ones, while mine is designed to come from a single block, with little or no welding required.
I feel like it’s one of the more elegant designs that I’ve ever come up with. Its popularity kind of affirms that, since I’ve seen numerous sculptors sculpt it or a variation. However, it’s not an easy sculpture because there’s little margin for error.
this dragon can have a lot of detail, or not
There is a lot of detail in my Asian dragon ice sculpture design. Don’t feel like you always have to get it all on there. In fact, when I’ve sculpted this in the past, I sometimes wasn’t able to get all the detail that I wanted because I just didn’t have enough time available. One time, I only had about an hour and a half to carve it start to finish. The most important aspects of the design are the overall silhouette and the dragon’s head, so I concentrated on those.
Certainly, if you have plenty of time, then take the extra time to add fine details. All of the detail on a sculpture like this is very possible (see my blue/magenta dragon below), but you have to decide whether or not it’s worth it for that particular carving.
I spent a long time on this dragon. Most ice sculptures don’t get the attention this one did, so don’t expect these results 99.9% of the time. But it does give you an idea how of far you can take an ice sculpture 🙂
way back when, Matt Cooper sent me his version of my Asian dragon ice sculpture. Nice job and thanks!
If you go with less detail, you can still get an effective sculpture. The silhouette is more important than the surface detail. Matt Cooper sent me a pic (shown above) and he does a nice job on the silhouette. He also nails the dragon’s eye, which is super important! (Which I actually screwed up in my pic at the top of the post. I screwed up more than just that when I made that sculpture, but that may be a story for another time 😬)
don't be surprised if you see more dragons here
I love dragons, always have. If you know much about me, you’ll know that I even stuck “dragon” into the name of my ice sculpting business. So this Asian dragon ice sculpture design should eventually be only one of several on the site. I’ve also posted a larger Asian dragon ice sculpture and another by Victor Dagatan, so check those out. Waiting in the wings, I have a dragon that I did for a charity event and a version of Viserion from Game of Thrones. Hopefully, I can get those posted too!
for more info and some guidelines
If you have any questions about this piece, email me or comment below. If you would like to use this ice sculpture design or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.
You might also find photos and info from this entry on the ice sculpting secrets facebook page and you can comment there as well as below. Thanks!
