Fantastic Dragons and How to Draw Them

If you have ever wanted to capture the power, grace and majesty of dragons after reading a fantasy book or watching a film, this workbook is for you. It goes a stage further than most art books as you draw in the book itself, generating a record of your work as you learn each stage of dragon anatomy.

This is a handsome volume with its gold printed cover, vintage appearance and marbled endpapers, akin to a magical tome. You feel that Harry Potter might have come across it in Hogwarts library and used it in art classes. Of course dragons don't exist, but parts of them do as we have reptiles, birds, dinosaurs and other creatures to inspire us when we imagine them. This book is organized in three sections and initially takes a look at body parts, types of dragon and how to bring your work to life. Start by looking at the heads, eyes, wings, skin, teeth etc of real animals and have a go at drawing them in the boxes provided. There are whole pages to sketch other animal parts from your own research, as well as exercises on how to capture expression, flight and movement. The second section deals with six dragon types which you can copy first before creating your own version, and finally you can put it all together to make your own drawing. Interestingly, this section opens with exercises involving drawing real objects and animals first by having them in front of you, and then drawing them from memory. More exercises follow this time with the dragons, getting them to fly and making their textures looking lifelike. Finally, draw the culmination of your work - your own dragon. At the back are some useful sketches of dragons to inspire together with captions about them for more ideas. I liked the workbook style and can imagine artists of any level enjoying working through the stages, particularly those with some drawing experience in other fields who want to try their hand at drawing dragons.

Tom Kidd is a fantasy artist who has worked for a number of publishers: Baen Books, Random House, DAW Books, Warner Books, Doubleday, Ballantine Books, Marvel Comics and Tor Books. He has illustrated two books and hundreds of book covers. He has also done concept design work for Walt Disney, Rhythm and Hues, and Universal Studios. Tom's art has won him a World Fantasy Award and seven Chelsey Awards, and has been displayed in a wide array of venues, including the Delaware Art Museum, The Society of Illustrators, and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.