The Great Book of Dragon Patterns
Lora S. Irish
Fox Chapel
Nonfiction, Art
Themes: Dragons
*****
Description
Dragons are one of the most popular fantastic creatures, but just how does an artist go about creating one? It isn't as easy as slapping a pair of wings on a lizard. Once you do create one, how do you accessorize such a creature without making it look ridiculous? Where do you even start, and how do you finish? This book offers answers to all of these questions, with chapters on everything from the dragon's historical origins to anatomy and preprinted patterns.
Review
This is an absolutely wonderful springboard for fantasy artists! Irish offers interesting, practical solutions for such trouble-spots as wing
placement, scale patterns and embellishment. Her patterns are great, ranging from friendly to ferocious, and her text explains how to modify each one to
create a nearly endless variety of different beasts. Though marketed through a publisher known for woodcrafting books, the information in this volume
works for any medium. This is ideal for artists with some basic drawing skills, though even utter beginners and highly advanced artists will find much
of value here. Irish's theories on dragon life and summarized dragon mythos are interesting, as well, offering more ideas for the creative mind to play
with. Not too technical, yet not simple-minded or condescending, this book is a must-have for dragon-loving artists of any medium!
Irish re-released this book with additional information, especially on Asian dragons, and more patterns; I recommend trying for the revised, updated
edition, if possible.