John Howe: Forging Dragons

by John Howe

Medieval, Celtic, and Gothic dragons, along with sea dragons and fire dragons, are featured in an informative guide to the myths and legends of these powerful creatures with working sketches of the artist's creations, the techniques used to draw them, and more. Original.

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Drawing, Dragons, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2008

About the author

John Howe is a Canadian book illustrator, living in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. One year after graduating from high school, he studied in a college in Strasbourg, France, then at the École des arts décoratifs in the same town.

He is best known for his work based on J. R. R. Tolkien's worlds. Howe and Tolkien artist Alan Lee served as chief conceptual designers for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, and Howe also did the illustration for the Lord of the Rings board game created by Reiner Knizia. Howe also re-illustrated the maps of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion in 1996–2003. His work is not limited to this, and includes images of myths such as the Anglo Saxon legend of Beowulf (he also illustrated Knizia's board game Beowulf: The Legend). Howe illustrated many other books, amongst which many belong to the fantasy genre (Robin Hobb's books for instance.) He also contributed to the film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. In 2005 a limited edition of George R. R. Martin's novel A Clash of Kings was released by Meisha Merlin, complete with numerous illustrations by Howe.

Howe has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.

For The Hobbit films, original director Guillermo del Toro and replacement director Peter Jackson both consulted with Howe and fellow conceptual artist Alan Lee to ensure continuity of design.

Howe is a member of the living history group the Company of Saynt George, and has considerable expertise in ancient and medieval armour and armaments.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

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Reviews

[Mayu Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si te gustan los dragones este es tu libro!!! "Forging dragons" del ilustrador John Howe, a través de sus ilustraciones recorremos la historia de los dragones desde el imperio Persa, Egipto, los mitos griegos y nórdicos, en la época medieval y por supuesto los dragones más famosos de la literatura moderna. Este libro es una joya.🐉

[Angelo]

Test review

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book was misleadingly subtitled - a more accurate subtitle would be "Forging Dragons: Where Artist John Howe Finds Inspiration." If you're a fairly experienced artist looking for ideas on how to incorporate more dragons into your art, I think you'll find this helpful. If you're in any way expecting a "how to draw dragons" book, I don't think this has much to offer you. (And if you're a fan of Howe's work and want a collection of his dragon art with accompanying commentary, you absolutely need this!)

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable look at how John Howe, famed fantasy illustrator, approaches illustrating various dragons from myth and fantasy. Cool look at his sketching and art techniques with detailed explanations of where he got the ideas for the dragons.

Highly recommend to fans of fantasy illustration.
5 stars and best reads pile.

[Messala · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not a book with tutorials teaching how to draw dragons. It has some interesting insights on the process John Howe goes when he is creating. My only critic is regarding the diagramation which is not in the same level of the book content.

[Azear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Très intéressant, les illustrations sont magnifiques !

[Zen · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Howe's book is inspirational for even the most lowly dabbler in drawing. It's also divided into "types" of dragons and Howe discusses some of the different meanings that cultures assign to their dragons.

[Vader · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

[Theresia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things I shouldn't spend my money on: this book.
Things I spent my money on: this book.

Flipping page after page of this book like they're pancakes is basically just my going hnnnnnnnnnnggghh.

[JinkM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent! Everything about this is magnificent!