Book Report – The Art of How to Train Your Dragon
One of the most amazing movies I’ve seen in the 3D era of animated movies has got to be How to Train Your Dragon. A big part of that for me has to be the way the animators gave life to the dragons. This is why I love these types of art books. I love to see the process of how they bring these characters to life and this book doesn’t disappoint with more than 350 pieces of development art. From character designs, story sketches, and concept paintings this book has it all included. Even a few sketches from Cressida Cowell the author who wrote the books that this movie is based on.
Newmarket Press has designed a spectacular, full-color insider’s guide to how the world of Berk became a feature-length film. With Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois directing and Nicolas Marlet and Simon Otto as lead character designers their commentary accompanies all the wonderful concept art. Of course there is plenty of other quotes and artwork from the production team included. The book seems to be divided into five parts, “the Dragons”, “the Vikings”, two sections for environments “the Dragon’s world”, “the Viking’s world” and finally “Bringing the worlds together”. As you can imagine the first two sections are mostly character designs for the Vikings and dragons. The Dragon’s environment sections are mostly outdoor areas like caves and rocky mountain tops. Which is in contrast to the Vikings areas which are mostly made up of beautiful sceneries and architecture. Also included in the Viking section are weapons, boats and other props. The final section in this book is called Bringing the Worlds Together which is pretty self-explanatory, but this section focuses on the production side. This provides a look at the process involved in bringing mythical Dragon and Viking worlds to life.
Personally, I love this book. It has so much wonderful artwork from some very talented artists. It’s a fantastic book and I can’t recommended more. It always seems to end up on my art desk when I am designing characters. It might be a good one to throw on your holiday gift list.
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Norm
Growing up on the shores of Maui, Hawaii, Norm has always loved drawing. Since leaving the islands’ beautiful beaches and landing in Oregon, he went to college and received a degree in graphic design as well as an additional degree in digital prepress technology. After graduating, he worked for an interactive media firm in Corvallis, Oregon. While there, he was the company’s lead illustrator/designer and was responsible for creating illustrations, animations, and interactive products like video games. Now living in Beaverton, Oregon, Norm worked as an in-house illustrator for 10 years at a large education company in downtown Portland, Oregon. While at this position, he was the creative mind behind nationally marketed campaigns, numerous brand identities, toy and product designs, children’s books, as well as Web and interactive designs for the company’s design team. After leaving this position to raise his son, he now spends countless hours perfecting his craft as a freelance illustrator. He has worked with companies like Highlights Magazine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Reading A to Z, Kaiser Permanente, KinderCare, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). He has created projects such as marketing illustrations, children’s books, coloring and activity books, video games, and educational products for these companies and others. Norm’s ability to draw has given him the chance to do the thing he truly loves: Create.
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