Forging Dragons by John Howe

To me, drawings are exciting. I prefer Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings to his paintings and I’m pleased when I spot an outline beneath any artist’s finished painting. That’s one of the reasons why I was thrilled to find John Howe’s book on the shelf of a nearby book store, it has his extremely detailed preliminary drawings for nearly every painting contained in the book. The artist has done numerous illustrations for fantasy books, as well as pre-production on movies.
The book is a great overview of dragons in general, as well as an art book. The author traces the history of dragons from all over the world, from Medieval Europe, the Vikings to the Far East. For instance, Chinese dragons are ranked by how many claws on each foot. They are often shown holding a ball of fire or a single pearl, which symbolizes thunder and is the explanation for how rain is created.
There are several volumes of Howe’s art, often labeled as workshops in book form. This one outlines his working methods in an accessible way; explaining not only how he puts together those meticulous drawings, but also the mediums used, including colored pencils and airbrush, all while standing at a small drafting table in a book lined room. His references range from Ancient Egypt to NASA photos of outer space. He bases some elements of dragon anatomy on real creatures, such as crocodiles, lampreys(eels) and toads.
Howe paints dragons in the usual ways, battling warriors. But also encircling the globe or archaic alphabets, in fire and fog and death. Their settings are often extreme climate conditions, storm-tossed seas and erupting volcanoes. All of them are vividly believable and atmospheric.
So far, I’ve not yet done a painting of a dragon, though I’ve toyed with sketches, the subject still intimidates me. They seem like kin to dinosaurs, though more elusive. But even if I never paint one, this book is still very inspirational, an invitation to let my imagination soar on giant bat wings to worlds I seldom think about, but surely lurks within ancestral memory.

A David & Charles Book 2008 128 pp. ISBN-13:987-1-60061-139-1

Jackie  hasn’t yet painted a dragon, but has done other wildlife, some of which you can see here