Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World
William O'Connor
Impact
Nonfiction, Art
***** (Excellent)
DESCRIPTION: Since ancient times, the world has been filled with a mulitiude of dragons. Great serpentine sea orcs, multiheaded hydras, diminutive feydragons, eight-legged basilisks, traditional winged dragons... all these and more continue to inhabit the wildest and most hidden realms. The author describes many dragon species and offers step-by-step instructions for painting them.
REVIEW: O'Connor's art appears in titles from Wizards of the Coast, Lucasfilms, and other prominent names in the fantasy entertainment industry. Here, he offers a look into his work process. By presupposing dragons to be real, he fleshes out each species with exploratory sketches, giving them each peculiar markings, habitats, and other traits. The "step by step" part isn't so much about how the image is drawn as it is about how to render it in color; he jumps from thumbnail to finished sketch in one step, then scans it in for color work in Photoshop. This can get a bit repetitive, image after image, though each one has a slightly different focus. His images are so diverse and lively, and the dragons he invents so imaginative, that I readily forgave this flaw. This one may not walk you through drawing dragons in baby steps, but the inspiration factor alone makes it a winner for any aspiring fantasy artist or dragon fan!
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