A dragon artist's guide to better drawing Magnificent and powerful creatures, these dragons be, with bone-crushing jaws and razor-sharp teeth, it's difficult to tell whether you're dealing with a hotheaded nature or a wise and benevolent beast. Therein lies the trouble with drawing them from life. Make your dragon portraits more authentic (while avoiding loss of life and limbs) with the help of this guide. A follow-up to the fiercely popular DragonArt, this book features ALL NEW dragons and EVEN MORE detailed dragon anatomy instruction. • 60+ step-by-step demonstrations cover a variety of dragons, including medieval, fairy and sea-dwelling varieties • In-depth advice for drawing every part of the beast—eyes, ears, horns, wings, scale patterns, limbs and more • Extra tips and tricks provided by your dragon guide, Dolosusa It's everything you need to draw a variety of dragons—from enormous, ancient beasts with broken scales and fractured horns, to sleek, sinuous creatures with leathery skin and fancy frills. So steel your heart, prepare your trusty inking pen, and venture forth, brave artist—unleash the ferocious, extraordinary, original beasts that dwell within your fiery imaginings!
An illustrated guide to the history and evolution of the beloved role-playing game told through the paintings, sketches, illustrations, and visual ephemera behind its creation, growth, and continued popularity. FINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE DIANA JONES AWARD From one of the most iconic game brands in the world, this official DUNGEONS & DRAGONS illustrated history provides an unprecedented look at the visual evolution of the brand, showing its continued influence on the worlds of pop culture and fantasy. Inside the book, you’ll find more than seven hundred pieces of artwork—from each edition of the core role-playing books, supplements, and adventures; as well as Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels; decades of Dragon and Dungeon magazines; and classic advertisements and merchandise; plus never-before-seen sketches, large-format canvases, rare photographs, one-of-a-kind drafts, and more from the now-famous designers and artists associated with DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. The superstar author team gained unparalleled access to the archives of Wizards of the Coast and the personal collections of top collectors, as well as the designers and illustrators who created the distinctive characters, concepts, and visuals that have defined fantasy art and gameplay for generations. This is the most comprehensive collection of D&D imagery ever assembled, making this the ultimate collectible for the game's millions of fans around the world.
Give life to the beings that roam your imagination! Dragons may terrorize fantasy worlds, but they need peasants to munch on... heroes to confront... elegant elves, shrewd sorcerers and dreaded demons to battle. Following on the wings of the ferociously popular DragonArt, this book shows you how to conjure up your own fantasy realms by drawing inspiration from fairy tales, legends and (if you dare) things that go bump in the night. • Breathe the life into your beings by basing them upon fundamental human anatomy—proportions, facial expressions and gender-specific characteristics. • Color-coded, step-by-step demonstrations (simple enough that even the dullest of dwarves could follow along!) show you how to create a sordid cast of creatures, including goblins, orcs, sprites, angels, mermaids, centaurs, vampires, werewolves, banshees and more. • Accessorize each being by tailoring them with tusks, wings, hooves, daggers, armor and various apparel, from the fine garb of nobles to peasant rags. Copy each being as-is. Or, better yet, follow your own twisted imaginings to conjure up creatures from fantastic lands.
It is commonly assumed that many of the elementary practices of civilization, such as the erection of rough stone buildings, whether houses, tombs, or temples, the crafts of the carpenter and the stonemason, the carving of statues, the customs of pouring out libations or burning incense, are such simple and obvious procedures that any people might adopt them without prompting or contact of any kind with other populations who do the same sort of things. But if such apparently commonplace acts be investigated they will be found to have a long and complex history. None of these things that seem so obvious to us was attempted until a multitude of diverse circumstances became focussed in some particular community, and constrained some individual to make the discovery. Nor did the quality of obviousness become apparent even when the enlightened discoverer had gathered up the threads of his predecessor's ideas and woven them into the fabric of a new invention. For he had then to begin the strenuous fight against the opposition of his fellows before he could induce them to accept his discovery. He had, in fact, to contend against their preconceived ideas and their lack of appreciation of the significance of the progress he had made before he could persuade them of its "obviousness". That is the history of most inventions since the world began. But it is begging the question to pretend that because tradition has made such inventions seem simple and obvious to us it is unnecessary to inquire into their history or to assume that any people or any individual simply did these things without any instruction when the spirit moved it or him so to do. The customs of burning incense and making libations in religious ceremonies are so widespread and capable of being explained in such plausible, though infinitely diverse, ways that it has seemed unnecessary to inquire more deeply into their real origin and significance. For example, Professor Toy disposes of these questions in relation to incense in a summary fashion. He claims that "when burnt before the deity" it is "to be regarded as food, though in course of time, when the recollection of this primitive character was lost, a conventional significance was attached to the act of burning. A more refined period demanded more refined food for the gods, such as ambrosia and nectar, but these also were finally given up." This, of course, is a purely gratuitous assumption, or series of assumptions, for which there is no real evidence. Moreover, even if there were any really early literature to justify such statements, they explain nothing. Incense-burning is just as mysterious if Prof. Toy's claim be granted as it was before. But a bewildering variety of other explanations, for all of which the merit of being "simple and obvious" is claimed, have been suggested. The reader who is curious about these things will find a luxurious crop of speculations by consulting a series of encyclopædias. I shall content myself by quoting only one more. "Frankincense and other spices were indispensable in temples where bloody sacrifices formed part of the religion. The atmosphere of Solomon's temple must have been that of a sickening slaughter-house, and the fumes of incense could alone enable the priests and worshippers to support it. This would apply to thousands of other temples through Asia, and doubtless the palaces of kings and nobles suffered from uncleanliness and insanitary arrangements and required an antidote to evil smells to make them endurable."
A "compendium filled with in-depth behind-the-scenes content, ... quotes from top illustrators in the industry, anecdotes from the game developers, and [an] ... assortment of ... concept art, some of which has never been seen by the public"--Publisher marketing.
See the art that helped create the Grammy Award-nominated music video Do the Evolution by legendary band Pearl Jam, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2017 inductee. Drawing inspiration from the Grammy Award-nominated music video of the same name, Do the Evolution takes fans inside this unforgettable work of art. Directed by visionary comics legend Todd McFarlane (Spawn) and veteran animator Kevin Altieri (Batman: The Animated Series), this achievement in animation told a graphic and dark history of the world in four gripping minutes and is widely considered one of the best music videos of all time. Now, the full story of the making of this historic video will be told. Lushly illustrated by the video's striking animation cells with never before seen storyboards and designs from the video, the video's co-producer, Joe Pearson, will guide readers through the fascinating process of bringing the band’s vision to life in this one-of-a-kind art book.
Make your fantasy world a reality. Conjure up the mythical heroes and fantastical beasts that roam your imagination. With just a pencil, some paper - and perhaps a broadsword - you can unleash the mighty monsters of your mind, including deadly dragons and brutish orcs, or ethereal inhabitants such as elegant elves and mermaids. Artist and dragon expert J "NeonDragon" Peffer (along with Dolosus, her fire-breathing dragon familiar) will give you tips and tricks to help you create your own unique fantasy world full of legends, fairy tales and things that go bump in the night. Surpass the drawing skills of mere mortals with this master collection of easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction. • Learn to build even the most elaborate characters through simple color-coded diagrams demonstrating how to use basic shapes, three-dimensional shading and a variety of color schemes. • Create complete scenes, and enhance your creations by learning how to draw believable backgrounds. • Discover how to relay facial expression and personality. • Accessorize your mythical minions with a variety of unique details such as beards, wings, fins, hooves, fangs and tusks. • Dress your Victorian vampires and noble centaurs in fantasy fashions to make them warriors, rangers, clerics, peasants, or any role you can imagine. In fantasy, there are no rules, and anything is possible. The more you draw, the better you'll get. It's your world: Now go create it.
Captain Gaerbith is heir to a secret: the location of a lost sword he cannot touch. In a village far from the battlefield, Kieran the blacksmith remembers nothing before the day when he was found as a young boy, dagger in hand, standing beside a dead man. Maggie is a healer's apprentice, and earns her way as a laundress. Her shadowed past and crippled hand make her an object of suspicion and ridicule. Far to the north, Lady Yanamari plots to escape the royal city and her father's iron control. King Morfran seeks a smith who can recreate Azrin, the lost sword, as false proof of Morfran's right to the throne. However, the true sword is made of etherium, the only metal capable of harming Dragons. Forces are aligning, old prophecies are fulfilling, and in the east a fire glows in Dragon's Rook."
Take a journey through the history of Japanese role-playing games—from the creators who built it, the games that defined it, and the stories that transformed pop culture and continue to capture the imaginations of millions of fans to this day. The Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) genre is one that is known for bold, unforgettable characters; rich stories, and some of the most iconic and beloved games in the industry. Inspired by early western RPGs and introducing technology and artistic styles that pushed the boundaries of what video games could be, this genre is responsible for creating some of the most complex, bold, and beloved games in history—and it has the fanbase to prove it. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides readers through the fascinating history of JRPGs, exploring the technical challenges, distinct narrative and artistic visions, and creative rivalries that fueled the creation of countless iconic games and their quest to become the best, not only in Japan, but in North America, too. Moher starts with the origin stories of two classic Nintendo titles, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and immerses readers in the world of JRPGs, following the interconnected history from through the lens of their creators and their stories full of hope, risk, and pixels, from the tiny teams and almost impossible schedules that built the foundations of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises; Reiko Kodama pushing the narrative and genre boundaries with Phantasy Star; the unexpected team up between Horii and Sakaguchi to create Chrono Trigger; or the unique mashup of classic Disney with Final Fantasy coolness in Kingdom Hearts. Filled with firsthand interviews and behind-the-scenes looks into the development, reception, and influence of JRPGs, Fight, Magic, Items captures the evolution of the genre and why it continues to grab us, decades after those first iconic pixelated games released.
Throughout time and across cultures, dragons have existed as part of our collective imagination, breathing fire, guarding treasure, and embodying magic. Some are evil, some are kind, and all are fascinating. The Walt Disney Company has had a long-standing fascination with dragons, and this book, conceived as a sketchbook handed down through generations of Disney artists, chronicles the impact that dragons have had on Disney films, parks, and resorts. Inside these pages are the bold storyboards of Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent, color concepts of Epcot's Figment (who was green before he became purple!), and playful studies of Mulan's Mushu. The illustrators are a wide variety of animators, live-action studio artists, and Imagineers, including Tim Burton, Rolly Crump, Marc Davis, Eric Goldberg, Bill Justice, John Hench, Joe Rohde, Chuck Ballew, and more. Tom Bancroft, who has worked in animation for more than twenty-five years, offers memories and insights from his tenure as Mushu's lead animator, during which he character designed, and later refined, the look of Mulan's feisty little dragon.
