Dragonworld by Pamela Wiseman and Sarah Laichas
From many cultures around the world you will find dragons in all shapes and sizes; Western, Chinese, Japanese, and Norse. Everyone is different and all have their own unique look and that is what makes Dragonworld such a great book for those who can't get enough dragons.
Forty-nine different artists have offered up a few pieces of their artwork and some interesting advice for those of us who want to become artists. There are one-hundred and twenty pieces and the artists are all from the popular website deviantART.com. This book is a heavy and sturdy hardback that would be an excellent addition to anyone's bookshelf. The pages are all made to look as if they have been burned to give it an old look, a parchment feel to it that gives us an idea that the book's art was from an age where the Lord of the Rings would have fitted in well with this theme. Each page shows an artist and his/her work, a series of questions on the left hand page, along with a profile of the artist, deviantART name, Location, Hometown, Website, Hobbies, Favourite dragon and Favourite quote. One the second page is the artwork that can go on for two or three more pages depending on the artist and is what they consider to be their best work.
Nicholas Alegandro Pena, Tiago da Silva, Bobby Chiu, Thanapan Dechboon, Alyssa T. Dawn, Kerem Bayit, Kendrick Lim, Jessica Peffer, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, Robb Mommaerts, and William O'Connor are the artists I picked as being my favourites, yet there are artists whose works are for everyone whether they like detailed art, painterly drawn pictures, simple pencil sketches or paintings and speed painted art.
Bobby Chiu's dragon art is well known to readers of ImagineFX magazine. His art Wish You Were Here and Carrot Run are instantly recognisable as some of the best in the book. Tiago da Silva's art looks like it has been painted and has detailed backgrounds making it seem larger and has more impact. The Dragon King Ao-Kuang and Dragon Tribes - The Calling is examples of this.
Thanapan Dechboon's art is manga in style and has a limited colour palette and depicts Lilith and Dragon as a slayer woman and her trustee steed dragon. The art is decorative and stylish and it's a pity we only get to see one piece of his work duplicated in colour from a pencil sketch.
Kerem Beyit uses Victorian progressive style influences in his dragon titled Steampunk as its manmade and intricate. His other works Egg Thief, Over The Clouds and First Lesson show some excellent dragons with realistic backgrounds that compliment them.
Kendrick Lim is another who also only has one piece of art, Dragon Lady which is a picture of a sultry woman from the top half and a dragon tailed lower half. The hues of black, purple and green make his a work of opposites.
Anyone who is into dragons in a big way would enjoy having this book in their collection as it shows what kind of artwork is done by the skilled artists over at deviantART.
This Dragonworld book review was written by Sandra Scholes
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