Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures [ペーパーバック]

As far as drawing can go, this has to be one of the most helpful books out there. I must admit that I am a dragon-obsessed freak, but you don't have to like dragons or fantasy art in order to like this book.

To start off, Neondragon's book is perfectly organized. It's divided into four sections, basics, how to draw dragons, how to draw various details, such as horns and frills, and last we've got the other fantasy creatures. Everything starts out simple and easy, progressively moving on to harder and harder subjects. For example, at the beginning we work on a basic dragon, then we learn how to draw paws, talons, heads, and wings, until you finish off with a western (the kind that has wings and breathes fire) and eastern (the Chinese and Japanese type) dragon. This shows that, instead of jumping all over the place and drawing like there's no tommorow, you get the hang of things before you tackle complicated poses and parts.

So what about the section about making the dragon look unique? Neondragon really includes a lot about making your dragon good, so that you don't have just another winged lizard on your hands. You can learn to draw differant types of horns, scales, tails, and frills. Sometimes it helps to give you a little more inspiratin, and create awesome dragons that no else could ever create. In addition, it even teaches you how to draw feathers and fur for your dragon, or any of the other types of creatures found in the book.

After you've finished drawing dragons, you get to look at the other fantasy critters. You use the skills you learn from drawing dragons to draw the various beasties at the end of the book. This includes kirins (Chinese and Japanese unicorns), sea serpents, and phoenixes. This adds variety to the book, so that you can learn to create things other than dragons.

And what about the instructions? Everything is broken down into simple and easy steps. The current step is in red, while stuff that's already done is in blue. This makes it easy to tell what you have to do next, instead of searching for that tiny line that you couldn't find in other drawing books. There are also tips and tricks along the way, making it a little bit easier to draw that dragon. The only thing that may be of trouble is that it's hard to see the red line occasionally, since there are so many blue lines in the way. But there are only a few places where this happens.

And somewhere in the book, you get a look at dragon anatomy. It helps make your dragon look believable and alive. Neon makes it easy to understand that a believable creature is a better creature. And it's simple to make it look believable. It tells you how you can make your dragon or fantasy creature to look real. Plus, it explains why a creature should look believable.

If you're looking for a helpful and useful way to draw fantasy creatures, you may want to consider picking this book up.

Dragons are certainly among the most quintessential elements of the fantasy genre and their likenesses comprise one of the cornerstones of the art associated with it. DragonArt: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures is both an enjoyable browse and a useful guide for anyone interested in creating their own dragons or other fantastic creatures with pencil and paper.

DragonArt is divided into three major parts, Fantastic Dragons, Unique Details, and Other Fantasy Creatures, along with an introduction, a section on how to use the book, and a brief guide to fantastic creatures.

Lessons in this book are progressive in nature, beginning with fundamentals and moving into increasingly advanced aspects of dragon design, all illustrated with step-by-step illustrations that are punctuated by helpful tips and tricks throughout. And author/artist Jessica "NeonDragon" Peffer has a clear, easy writing style that can be easily comprehended, absorbed, and acted upon, an example of which follows below.

"Okay, so we're going to discuss the anatomy of a creature that exists nowhere but in our minds. Sounds kind of silly to say that something made from pure imagination does not look correct, but that will happen if your creature doesn't look believable. To help make your dragon as real as possible, base its structure on real creatures," she writes at one point (page 44). "The ideal dragon is likely a mix of cat, bird, and reptile body types. The trick is choosing which parts to keep and which ones to throw out. You want it to feel like a single creature."

This advice, incidentally, is very reminiscent of that given by Leonardo Da Vinci in his notebooks for drawing creatures of this ilk, making Peffer well read or naturally very insightful, either of which speaks well for her. Under "How You Should Make an Imaginary Animal Look Natural," the increasingly famous Renaissance man writes, "You know that you cannot invent animals without limbs, each of which, in itself, must resemble those of some other animal. Hence if you wish to make an animal, imagined by you, appear natural -- let us say a Dragon, take for its head that of a mastiff or hound, with the eyes of a cat, the ears of a porcupine, the nose of a greyhound, the brow of a lion, the temples of an old cock, the neck of a water tortoise."

DragonArt also includes guidelines on drawing a number of other sorts of fantastic creatures, including basilisks, chimeras, gargoyles, and griffins.

For those interested in applying the guidelines presented in this book, a companion DragonArt Kit: How to Draw & Paint Fantastic Creatures that includes a compressed version of the book and some art supplies will also be available soon. Author Peffer is also the creator of the popular fantasy art Website NeonDragonArt.com, which can give anyone potentially interested in this book the opportunity to get a sense of the kinds of creatures they can learn to create themselves.

Jessica has an innate gift at teaching the tricks of her trade. She has studied her dragons well, even giving us bone structures, musculatures, and all those little hints about making our dragons look realistic. She provides different paradigms for driving the form of our dragons, and helps us to find our own creative approach.

This is one of those books every fantasy artist (or aspiring artist) and lover of dragons (and other fantasy creatures) should definitely have a copy of.

When it comes to how she writes tutorials, this is one of those rare books that flows and reads well. Just like her online tutorials, each step is surrounded by suggestions, and each step doesn't leave you hanging or asking questions. This is a good read in general.

Also, at the time of this writing, she is working on finishing her second book and has already spoken of her third! Also, between her first and second (and third) books, her artistic talent has jumped leaps and bounds. Looking at this book, you wouldn't expect it to get that much better (its beautiful, already) but her next two books are bound to amaze!

Jessica, we anxiously look forward to your next release!