John Howe Forging Dragons by John
Howe
Enter The Dragon's Lair...
From conceptual artist for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and author In
this amazing collection of dragon art, created over his 30-year career,
iconic fantasy artist John Howe explores the inspirations and techniques
he uses to render these amazing beasts of myth and legend. Each dragon
is gloriously presented on a double page spread followed by Johns
working sketches, explorations of his creation process, and the mythology
behind each dragon. From fire dragons erupting from molten depths, to
sea dragons churning stormy waters, every medieval, celtic, gothic and
sci-fi icon is represented in this celebration of these legendary beasts by a
true master.
Personal Review: John Howe Forging Dragons by John Howe
This is the book I had been waiting for, during the past 25 years or more. I
wish I could have read a book like this when I started to notice this urge to
draw dragons as a 15 year old student, scribbling on her school books.
This may sound biaised since I am a long time fan of John Howe's art, but
on the other hand it is exactly what drew me to his work. When discovering
the black dragon sitting on the cathedral of Strasbourg in a book I was
leafing through in 1994, I immediately recognised a fellow dracologist, one
who knows exactly how a dragon ticks...
So, how does it tick? Is there such a thing as the anatomy of a myth? Not
as such according to John Howe, who rather sees his dragons as the
results of the wanderings of his pencil on paper. Nevertheless it requires a

good deal of knowledge in animal anatomy. To make an imaginary
creature believable you need to understand how bones and tendons and
muscles interact. Only then can you come up with a diversity of dragons.
But this book is much more than an artbook. It gives us a summary of
dragonlore through the ages and cultures, such as has been rarely seen
before. Having read many publications on the subject, I was very pleased
to see some themes introduced here that had never or seldom been
tackled in previous works.
Allegorical or mystical, mythical or legendary, metaphorical or
fantasmagorical, modern and ancient lore, every aspect of this vast subject
is exposed in short but informative sections, accompanied by old and new
art and seasoned with some insights into the creation of each piece of art.
If you have never read a book about dragons, this may be a bit too much
information in one go. But don't let it deter you, you will have lots of pieces
of information that you can go back to and that may give you new ideas on
what to read next. And slowly get to be familiar with these creatures that
none of us have ever seen but that we all know somehow.
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