DRAGON OFORCEC

Legendary D&D artist Larry Elmore explains the keys to crafting timeless fantasy art.

It's all in the name. Some of the most iconic artwork that has helped to bring the incredible, expansive world of Dungeons & Dragons to life over the last five decades has depicted the game's fearsome draconic beasts.

Among the many talented fantasy artists to craft dragons onto the pages of D&D's volumes and its boxed set covers is Larry Elmore. Perhaps his most recognisable pieces take pride of place on 1980s revisions of the Basic and Expert boxed sets, which feature epic dragons in the midst of battle.

Who better to share their knowledge of creating one of the fantasy genre's best-loved creatures. In this Q&A, Larry talks about the process behind his awe-inspiring dragons and how he builds a composition.

Could you break down how you start drawing a dragon?

Everything can be broken down into basic shapes: triangles, cubes, circles and tubes. Those basic shapes are the building blocks. In drawing, you lay the whole thing out roughly and then you come back and refine. I'll break it down into basic shapes, rough it in and redraw over it until I get exactly what I want at my comfortable size.

I've learned that dragon heads are broken down into two basic box shapes and I can rotate them. When I'm going to draw one, I want to draw the head in perspective. I'll find the centre line roughly on the box shape and swap from pencil to fine sharpie.

What about adding in the dragon's facial features?