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.
-- Rachel Hyde * myshelf.com *
Fantastic Dragons and How to Draw Them has a magical feel throughout with detailed drawings of scales, teeth and talons which really make these fantasy creatures come to life.
The book is split into four parts, dragon anatomy, which covers head and face, eyes, skin, wings etc. in turn allowing you can gain an understanding of the component parts of a dragon so you can then go on to use your own inventive ideas to build your own dragon, your imagination being your only limitation.
You are then taken through the six different types of dragons. The reader is introduced to the vital statistics of each dragon including their habitats, personality, diet, size and special characteristics such as keeps a library and hoards gold and jewels.
The bringing your dragon to life chapter teaches you techniques and methods of really breathing life into your dragon drawings.
In the final chapter of the book you are provided with Dragon Templates, a collection of flat drawings of dragons which follow the six dragon types introduced earlier in the book. I thought this part of the book really gave you the opportunity to experiment with what you have learned.
This is a really encouraging book. The templates and journal pages throughout give you the space and instruction for you to have a go and put into practice what you have read.
-- Alex Scott * Customer Review *
