26 Non-Traditional but Still Awesome Origami Dragons
We’ve already covered a bunch of Eastern-style and Western-style origami dragons but there are a ton of other really awesome dragons out there.
This post covers origami dragons that are a bit less traditional in their design. What do we mean by that? The best way to understand what we mean is by looking at these dragons starting with this ferocious 3-headed one.
3-Headed Dragon, Designed by J. Aníbal Voyer and Folded by Eiyo Hikari
Diagrams available in Dragons, Witches, and Other Fantasy Creatures in Origami
Here’s another 3 headed dragon except this time there’s a knight riding on its back. Incredibly this entire model is made from one square sheet of paper!
Dragon Knight, Designed by Obelisk and Folded by Alex Mironenko
Crease pattern available here, photo diagrams available here
This is a very different sort of origami dragon that lives underwater and has an underwater plant sort of feel to its design. This model is also folded from one square sheet of paper.
Leafy Sea Dragon, Designed by Kakami Hitoshi and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son
Diagrams available in Origami Tanteidan Magazine #125
Here’s a different 3-headed dragon design that was photographed at an origami convention.
3-Headed Dragon, Designed and Folded by Jason Ku (Photo by Evan Zodl)
Instructions not available
Here’s a bit of a different view of that incredible dragon knight model folded by a different artist.
Dragon Knight, Designed by Obelisk and Folded by 簡單的度過-2
Crease pattern available here, photo diagrams available here
This is another very different looking dragon design. It’s modular which means it’s made up of several different pieces of paper folded separately and then assembled together.
Tsuru Dragon, Designed and Folded by Rodolfo Rizzo
Instructions not available
Here we have another incredible and different dragon design that’s half a skeleton. One half of the model is a normal dragon and the other half is a dragon skeleton. And to make things even more impressive the entire model is folded from one square sheet of paper with no cuts!
Half Skeleton Dragon, Designed and Folded by Yoshimasa Tsuruta
Instructions not available
Next is another great leafy sea dragon design this time by Petr Stuchlý.
Leafy Sea Dragon, Designed by Petr Stuchlý and Folded by Matthew LaBoone
Crease pattern available from Petr Stuchlý’s Flickr
Here is another person riding on a dragon although this time the dragon only has one head. It’s folded very small which is quite impressive, especially the details on the head, feet and armour.
Dragon Rider, Designed by Obelisk and Folded by Xu Daniel
Instructions not available
This is a great friendly and sort of playful looking origami dragon.
Serpentine Dragon, Designed by Joseph Wu and Folded by João Charrua
Instructions not available
Here’s another incredible version of the 3-headed dragon knight.
Dragon Knight, Designed by Obelisk and Folded by Bong Gu Han (Photo by Shuki Kato)
Crease pattern available here, photo diagrams available here
This is another very different and sort of humanoid looking dragon design.
Wyvernoid 2.0, Designed and Folded by Tran Trung Hieu
Instructions not available
Follow Tran Trung Hieu on Flickr or Facebook
Here we have something that’s not a 3-headed dragon but is instead an incredible looking 3-headed wyvern which as I learned previously is a dragon with two big hind legs and two smaller front arms.
3-Headed Wyvern, Designed and Folded by Philipp-Marius Kost
Crease pattern available from Philipp-Marius Kost’s Flickr
This is an entire dragon skeleton this time and it looks pretty awesome.
Dragon Skeleton, Designed and Folded by Alex Satsukawa
Instructions not available
Here’s another great folder’s excellent interpretation of the 3-headed dragon knight.
Dragon Knight, Designed by Obelisk and Folded by Ji Woo Han
Crease pattern available here, photo diagrams available here
This is another fantastic vaguely humanoid shaped dragon.
Dragonoid, Designed and Folded by Tran Trung Hieu
Instructions not available
Follow Tran Trung Hieu on Flickr or Facebook
Here’s a very cute (and a little bit fat) serpentine dragon.
Serpentine Dragon, Designed by Joseph Wu and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi
Instructions not available
This is another great origami wyvern with a more ferocious and bird like design.
Wyvern, Designed and Folded by Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ
Instructions not available
And here’s another wyvern design that’s very complex and looks like it’s climbing up a wall. This whole model is one sheet of paper.
Wyvern, Designed and Folded by Tran Trung Hieu
Instructions not available
Follow Tran Trung Hieu on Flickr or Facebook
Satoshi Kamiya’s origami Bahamut is still one of my all time favourite models. Bahamut is a dragon from the Final Fantasy videogame series that your characters can summon to help you in battle.
For this Bahamut Nguyen Nam Son tweaked the design a bit so there are 4 horns on the head instead of 2 as well as some extra spikes on the tail.
Divine Dragon Bahamut, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son
Diagrams available in Works of Satoshi Kamiya 1995-2003
Here’s an awesome little dragon with an especially great design on the head.
Dragon, Designed and Folded by Wasun N.
Instructions not available
We’ve seen a lot of different 3-headed dragon models in this post and now here’s a fantastic 2-headed dragon designed by Nham Van Son.
2-Headed Dragon, Designed by Nham Van Son and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son
Diagrams available in #7 VOG 2: Origami.vn
I really love the head of this luminous dragon by paper in dream. It’s got a lot of character. This is folded from one sheet of paper that’s 90cm x 90cm.
Luminous Dragon, Designed and Folded by paper in dream
Instructions not available
Here’s the amazing 3-headed dragon knight again this time folded by its creator himself.
Dragon Knight, Designed and Folded by 晓 陈 (Obelisk)
Crease pattern available here, photo diagrams available here
Here’s Hitoshi Kakami’s leafy sea dragon again and P. Colman did a fantastic job folding it and assembling this whole scene.
Leafy Sea Dragon, Designed by Kakami Hitoshi and Folded by P. Colman
Diagrams available in Origami Tanteidan Magazine #125
Our final model for this post is this absolutely incredible 3-Headed dragon designed by Nham Van Son.
3-Headed Dragon, Designed by Nham Van Son and Folded by Nguyen Nam Son
Crease pattern available in #7 VOG 2: Origami.vn
That’s it for this post but if you’re as big a fan of origami dragons as I am don’t worry because there’s still going to be a lot of great origami dragon posts in the future.
Be sure to check out all of these artists on Flicker to see more of their incredible origami!
