I’m just Winging this Post Full of Incredible Eastern Style Origami Dragons

This is an update to an older post that was kind of popular but didn’t really have that many images in it.

I’ve decided to go back and add in a few more because there are a lot of really great Eastern-style origami dragons out there.

The original post is below with a bunch of extra dragons added in throughout so check it out!

I also totally now realize that none of these dragons have wings… Oh well, I’m not coming up with another dragon pun right now…

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We’re back after somewhat of a break with a brand new website design! I was trying to get the old design to do some things which I couldn’t figure out how to do and in the end I just gave up and redid the site again. I’m loosing track of how many times I’ve redesigned this site but this time I’m really pleased with the results.

To celebrate the new design this post will be all about origami dragons, specifically eastern Chinese or Japanese style dragons.

Dragons might just be my favourite type of origami and there are more incredible origami dragons out there than I can count.

First up is this great little dragon design by Jun Maekawa.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Jun Maekawa and Folded by Magali

Diagrams available in Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, From Simple to Complex

This next dragon looks incredibly life-like. I absolutely love the pose it’s in and you can tell Eiyo Hikari put a ton of work into folding it. It apparently took 1 week to finish and is folded from multiple sheets of paper. The head was from a set of diagrams with an unknown Japanese designer and the rest of the body was improvised by Eiyo Hikari.

Eastern Dragon, Designed and Folded by Eiyo Hikari

Instructions not available

Here’s a really cool skinny dragon design. I feel like this dragon needs to eat a bit more and it looks really great with that blue paper.

Dragon, Designed by Brian Chan and Folded by Pere Olivella

Diagrams available in Origami Bogota 2013

Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryujin model is probably the most famous eastern style origami dragon. Here’s version 3.5 of the Ryujin expertly folded by Sergey Yartsev. The entire model is folded from one giant sheet of paper and that includes all the scales.

Ryujin 3.5, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Sergey Yartsev

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

Dragon number 4 comes to us from Riccardo Foschi who designed and folded this very unique river dragon.

River Dragon, Designed and Folded by Riccardo Foschi

Crease Pattern available from Riccardo Foschi’s Flickr Here

Here’s a different and very unique dragon design by Rodolfo Rizzo. It almost reminds me of a Goa’uld symbiote from Stargate SG-1 which is one of the best TV shows ever…

Eastern Dragon, Designed and Folded by Rodolfo Rizzo

Instructions not available

Here’s Jun Maekawa’s dragon again folded by a different artist. I really like the pose here. It looks like it’s eagerly expecting something.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Jun Maekawa and Folded by Luc Marnat

Diagrams available in Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, From Simple to Complex

This is an absolutely gorgeous design. It’s not too complex but it looks great, has tons of character and is the perfect sort of thing to fold for Chinese New Year. It looks especially great with that gold paper and red background.

Chinese Dragon, Designed by Joseph Wu and Folded by Andrea Borsa

Diagrams available from Joseph Wu’s website

Here we have another rendition of the Ryujin 3.5 expertly folded by Nguyen Quang Anh.

Ryujin 3.5, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Nguyen Quang Anh

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

I absolutely love this little dragon. It’s not super complex (I think I could probably fold this) but it’s full of character and looks really great.

Asian Dragon, Designed and Folded by Mindaugas Cesnavicius

Instructions not available

Dragon number 7 is this great snake-like dragon designed by Sebastien Limet.

Dragon v1, Designed and Folded by Sebastien Limet

Instructions not available

This next origami dragon isn’t one sheet, it’s instead a modular design with the head, body, leg and tail folded separately. Nevertheless it’s still an incredible design.

Modular Chinese Dragon 4.0, Designed by mikiller觅晨 and folded by Pan Hang

Instructions not available

This is an earlier version of Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryujin. Version 3.1 is still folded from just one sheet of paper.

Ryujin 3.1, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Daniel Brown

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

This next cute little dragon is a simpler design but it still looks great. Folding one this small couldn’t have been easy.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Joseph Wu and Folded by Gonzalo

Diagrams available from Joseph Wu’s website

This is easily one of the most amazing looking models I’ve ever seen period! The paint and colours on this model look amazing as well and take the whole thing to another level (it was already super amazing).

Chinese Dragon 4.5, Designed by MiKiller and Folded by Jaran Darra

Instructions not available

Here’s another fantastic Chinese style dragon design. It’s kind of similar to Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryujin but it’s a unique design and this particular dragon was folded from one sheet of paper 30cm x 300cm.

Chinese Dragon, Designed and Folded by Xudong Guan

Instructions not available

Here’s another fantastically folded Ryujin model.

Ryujin 3.5, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Paper in Dream

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

Dragon number 13 is another different Chinese dragon design that’s also kind of similar to the Ryujin.

Chinese Dragon, Designed and Folded by Leo Lai

Instructions not available

This is Jun Maekawa’s dragon again folded by a different artist and again with a completely different look. It almost feels like a different model.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Jun Maekawa and Folded by Andrea Borsa

Diagrams available in Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, From Simple to Complex

Here’s mikiller觅晨’s awesome modular origami dragon again, this time folded by Nguyen Nam Son.

Modular Chinese Dragon 4.0, Designed by mikiller觅晨 and folded by Nguyen Nam Son

Instructions not available

Also by Nguyen Nam Son are these two incredible Ryujins. Each one took a full week to fold from a sheet of paper that was 1m x 1m.

Ryujin 3.5, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

Here’s Jun Maekawa’s excellent dragon design again, this time folded by Ekaterina Lukasheva.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Jun Maekawa and Folded by Ekaterina Lukasheva

Diagrams available in Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, From Simple to Complex

This is another design that’s really simple when compared to some of the other crazy designs in this post. In this case though less is definitely more. It looks great and is full of personality.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Akira Yoshizawa and Folded by Andrea Borsa

Diagrams available in Origami Museum I: Animals

Here’s another different style design of a water dragon that’s folded from one sheet of paper.

Water Dragon, Designed by Brian Chan and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi

Diagrams available in Origami Bogota 2013

Here’s MiKiller’s dragon again folded by Alex Mironenko who pointed out that it’s folded using 15 square of paper which is very interesting to know. There are 2 pieces for the head, 8 for the body, 1 for the tail and 4 pieces for the legs.

Chinese Dragon 4.5, Designed by MiKiller and Folded by Alex Mironenko

Instructions not available

Here’s Joseph Wu’s fantastic design again but this time it’s been painted so it looks like it’s been folded out of metal. It looks absolutely fantastic with that colouring.

Eastern Dragon, Designed by Joseph Wu and Folded by Arnolds Kuciks

Diagrams available from Joseph Wu’s website

Our final model is this incredible Ryujin folded by Nguyen Nam Son. This dragon was folded from one single sheet of paper that was 96cm x 96cm and the final model is 45cm in length.

Ryujin 3.5, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son

Diagrams available in World of Super Complex Origami

That’s it for this post but there are tons of awesome origami dragons that will be featured in posts in the future!

If you really like origami dragons then I highly recommend you check out the book Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac Origami which has instructions for a few great dragon models and they aren’t too difficult to fold.

If you enjoyed this post please share it on your social media and be sure to check out these amazing origami artists on their own personal Flickr pages as well!