The body of this Sea Dragon has a tube shape just like a garden hose. The highlight area of the body flows along the center line where his scales are closest to you. This makes the center row of scales the palest tones for this element in the design.
As the sides of the body move away from you his body becomes shadowed. The outer edge rows need to be darker than the center row to roll the body into the tube shape.
I am working on birch plywood and am using a standard writing tip throughout this project.
I have worked this mapping stage using fine lines and a low setting of 5. Where the outer row scales tuck under the center row I have added a little extra shadowing.