Oct 07
Dragons are the most popular fantasy characters and they're fun to paint with their firey breath, scaled bodies and massive wings. This book shows you how to paint a dragon in watercolour. It's well-presented in hardback with a gold embossing. Unfortunately, it's short at only 47 pages and it seems to be aimed mainly at younger artists.
* Imagine FX *
Nov 06
OK, this is a niche market I don't even pretend to understand. I know that fantasy art is big and that there's a branch of it that prefers fairies to Amazons, but it leaves me cold, frozen in fact.
However, if dragons float your particular boat and you fancy having a go at painting them, this is as good a place to start as anywhere - probably better than most, in fact. Paul packs a lot into 48 pages including several different types of dragons, backgrounds, some cutesy kids and a fair amount of step-by-step demonstrations. The colours he uses are about as garish as the cover illustration but, hey, dragons are fictional beasts (oh yes they are), so I guess they can be whatever colour they like.
You'll have guessed by now that this isn't my sort of book and I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone's sensibilities, but I'm having to judge it from something of a disadvantage. Nevertheless, it's well done and presented and if friendly, rather that threatening, dragons are what you want, I'm confident this is the book for you. It's even got gold endpapers, so what more can I say? Oh, and it's a hardback, so it's pretty seriously good value for money.
* Artbookreview.net *
Dec 06
Get those drawing pencils sharpened and blow the dust off those watercolors! If, like this reviewer, you find that bowls of fruit and harbors filled with bobbing boats aren't to your taste, how about sketching some dragons instead? Nobody has ever seen one, so you only have to worry about making it look realistic and here's how.
This handsome book (it will also look great on that coffee table) first shows you what you need to buy, and fortunately this artist thinks that you might have a budget. That is practically a first for an art book, and a great start. I always wonder why a beginner would want to jump in and buy artists' grade paints, when they sell student grade paints just for beginners? I like the way Mr Davies shows the various watercolour techniques with a minimum of fuss and some clear staged pictures. As to drawing the beasties, why not look at real animals and see how they sleep or sit or jump, and use some of their features for your dragon too. Add some scales, or perhaps a hide and what about a background? Before long I had a picture almost ready and without having to spend too much time sat chewing my pencil, showing that this is a good primer to get the creative juices flowing. There are even two studies to work through which is always a help with this type of book. In short, the artist has packed a lot into a few pages.
* Myshelf.com *
April 08
So far I have reviewed Painting Fairies in Watercolour and Painting Unicorns in Watercolour and I'm pleased to say that this book lives up to my expectations as much as the last books did.
Picking up this book I was immediately enchanted by the vivid expression on the dragon's face on the front cover. Having previously read Paul Bryn Davies' book on fairies I was sure that this book would enable me to create similar works of art. Upon opening the first gold-coloured page I felt as if I was opening an enchanted book and in a way I was. I certainly felt like it when I finished reading and trying out the projects from this book anyway.
Paul Bryn Davies has worked as a professional artist and illustrator all his life so it is little wonder that he has a goldmine of tips and information to share with us all. He has even produced illustrations for over a hundred and fifty book jackets for authors such as Christopher Pike and Stephen King. But I didn't need that information to be impressed by his work - I had already entered the magical world of his paintings and could almost feel the hot breath of the dragon.
Throughout the book there are many of his paintings and this was a pleasurable experience in itself as there was so much to learn from each and every one. Even if there were not full instructions for every painting there was snough information to put you on the right track.
After reading the introduction you will understand how you can spark your imagination to create new versions of dragons. Paul Bryn Davies has many ideas such as studying photos of reptiles or similar creatures. He emphasises the fact that dragons can be created in any medium but in this book he aims to show you the relative simplicity of using watercolours to obtain fantastic results. It's fair to say that after reading the introduction I was inspired to get started and could see where Paul obtained such fantastic painting results from - his inspirational imagination.
Standard Search Press pages are included in the book - listing materials needed and explaining watercolour techniques - which is very useful for anyone getting started with this hobby. After using many of Search Press' books over the years I'm now familiar with these techniques and almost feel as if I have completed a training course.
The next few pages in the book concentrate on how to draw dragons successfully in various positions: sleeping, perching, standing and flying. The book then proceeds to cover the topics of drawing the faces, wings, legs and feet and the tail.
The topic of backgrounds is covered in detail with step-by-step demonstrations, which can provide you with some really excellent ideas. How do you fancy a green, eerie sky, a mountain backdrop, a forest or maybe rocky outcrops? It's all covered in depth here.
Towards the centre of the book is a painting called Dragon's Tale and it's a painting of a mother dragon with her son lying on her head avidly listening to a little boy reading a bedtime story to them. It's such an emotive picture because it characterises everything enchanting about the fantasy world. The only criticism I have of this book is that there are no instructions for this amazing painting. Paul Bryn Davies does explain that this is because the techniques for this painting are beyond the scope of the book - so I'm really hoping that he brings out a follow-up book with more advanced techniques and in particular specific instructions for this painting.
But I was soon pacified when I discovered the two step-by-step demonstrations entitled Caring Wing and Sky Battle. These projects take up the remainder of the book as they are around eight pages long each and as you can imagine are very detailed to ensure that you get perfect results.
After completing these projects I am now an avid Paul Bryn Davies fan and hope that he does plan another book soon. Until then I will just have to keep my fingers crossed or keep them busy by creating wondrous dragons of my own.
* www.thebookbag.co.uk *
