Drawing Dragons

This is my absolute favorite artist. Canadian dragon (Sandra Staple) has captured my imagination in her drawings. My favorite is Elsheria. With that said I wanted to really read into this book to give it a good review. I did not want to do her a misguided favor of saying this is a great book just because I loved her art from high-school. I have graduated in 2009 if that gives you a really good point of reference. . I think the best part of this book is that it is not done in an advanced drawing program from scratch. This (in my opinion) is very hard to find in an art book these days. Especially for Fantasy and fictional characters. MLP for example does not have a book in existence that is done in this manor. Although there may have been minor photo editing for correcting issues with light and resizing. It is very easy to tell that it is done with pencil and paper when you look at the examples and references. Now I do not have anything against photo-shop or otherwise computer aided drawing. its just not my cup of tea. I have learned a lot from art tutorials that were done on the computer that you find on the net. Thats not the point. The point is that it makes this book to be of great valuable due to the time it must have took to do it by hand. (In a matter of speaking) . Pros . >Very detailed reference drawings. >A lot of detailed written explanations for each step. >An over abundance of opinions on the drawing process itself (A plus for me a big fan) >Details on how to move the figure around in your mind. (This is big for those of you who have trouble picturing it before you draw it) . Cons . >Its primarily done in shades of gray (Black and white) Except for the completed art pieces in the middle >Not a lot of detail on blending colors or how to manipulate them to create an atmosphere. (The affect of color on the object with its surroundings) >Although there are examples and descriptions on shading; there is not a whole lot of how to shade with a light source. (In my opinion you should master this first before you do organic shapes and curved objects with depth) . Over all I would love if she does another book on how to do dragons with a medium in color. (Pastels, colored pencils, color washes, and water color) I Dragonmissioner now known as MatalicPebble from DA makes the friendly request.

So in my college basic art class I learned some things but never gained any confidence because I felt I didn’t understand much. I could do the basics following the directions given but couldn’t pull it together. I am at page 18 just reading through and have more understanding of drawing, tools and techniques than I got from that semester in school. She is so easy to follow. It isn’t like you are being taught as much as you and a friend are setting down having a conversation. For me, that is a lot! I tend to scan or skip ahead when I am reading over technical stuff. Not because I am not capable of understanding it but because it bores me. Reading this is easy and relaxing. Her little humerus comments are stress relieving. I have wanted to draw all of my life but fear held me back. She eliminates much of that by reassuring you as she goes. She makes it fun to learn about the things that seemed to keep me from putting the pencil to the paper. I am so looking forward to continuing this book and journey. I already have the book “Drawing Fantastic Dragons” that I purchased with this one. I can’t wait! I ordered these because dragons seem to have always amazed me and recently I moved in with my housemates. The property here is called “Dragon's Rest” and I want to incorporate more than my puzzles and figurines into it. I want to create art that can create even more of a Dragon Sanctuary than the Life-size Dragon that protects it with glowing red eyes that greet you after you pass through the gate and down the drive. As you come around the last curve you see her lit up and looking right at you. With this and other great dragon features, I want to add my own touch to theirs. These books, I have no doubt, will help me do just that!!! Thanks for your awesome work in writing these books!!!!

The author does a great job in explaining how to draw a dragon. It's an easy to follow, book that goes into detail about how to draw the different parts of the dragon at different angles.. She also explains the different types of dragons too. I am actually learning how to draw dragons!

nice drawing book on how to draw dragons good amount of design.

I bought 6 "how to draw dragons" books off Amazon for my daughter for Christmas 2025. After receiving them, I looked through them all to check the contents and print quality; Some of them were great, and some not so great. This book was one of the ones with good print quality and illustrations! In particular, I loved how the author spends time focusing on how to draw specific parts of a dragon such as the wings, legs, and claws. Of the six books I bought, this one might be the best overall.

Super helpful and made it easy to draw dragons!

This book was recommended to me by one of my coworkers as a gift for my sister. Her dragon drawings were very cartoon, inspired by Wings of Fire comics, which is good for her age, but I was interested in whether she’d choose a more realistic style if given the resources. Since giving her this, she still draws in the Wings of Fire comics style, but there are some new elements that you can tell she got from this book. From what I can tell, it’s a great learning resource.

My daughter (11 at the time) is obsessed with the Wings of Fire series, and dragons in general, and is an excellent artist. She loves this book (much more than the one on how to draw people that I bought her at the same time). She now draws amazing dragons from scratch that get constant compliments from both adults and other kids, plus requests from other kids to “draw one for me, draw one for me!!”

Excellent bin really helped my granddaughter with her drawing

I wanted to learn how to draw dragons, but from a Canadian perspective as I am from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Sure enough, links lead to this book. It was written for children (will not give spoilers), but I would be much further along artistically had this book been available when I took art in high school 35 years ago. The book is jam-packed with techniques and illustrations, and her style allows the reader match her work. Granted, I knew something about shading before starting the book, but Sandra provides side-by-side examples of sketches before and after shading. Actually, I doubted being able to reproduce drawings of equal quality, but I was surprised at how my first attempt turned out. In fact, next step involves a trip to the local Wallack's for a few pencils, a fine blending stump, and good quality pastels for the colour work later on in the book. This book would inspire any aspiring artist to continue with the craft.

Le encanto a la persona que se lo regale, buena guia.

Cadeau à ma petite fille de 10 ans, passionnée de dessins, art, et de Dragons. Quand j'ai reçu le livre, je le trouvais un peu trop "adulte" dans sa conception et sa précision. Ma petite fille, quand à elle, semble le trouver parfait et n'arrête pas de s'en inspirer pour tous ses projets...

I love this book, the dragons are elegant and magical, the tips on how to draw them are excellent, this book was perfect for my art project.