DnD Dragon Art Book - Foreword - Special Thanks - Contents - Section 1 Process

Oct 5, 2026

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A dragon-art creative overview tied to the revised Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, explaining how iconic dragon designs were refreshed while honoring earlier editions. The foreword highlights the artistic challenge of updating familiar visuals, then describes how the team drew inspiration from Todd Lockwood and other edition dragons. It outlines a production journey starting with clay exploration and moving toward 3D modeling, emphasizing experimentation, personality-focused design, and consistent recognizability across dragon types.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryComic

FormatPDF

Pages63

Reading Time24 min

AccessFree to download

CONTENTS

SECTION 1: PROCESS

SECTION 2: EXPLORATION

SECTION 3: ANATOMY

JOHN GRELLO ™ F O R E W O R D W hen we first talked about refreshing dragons for the revised Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, I was incredibly excited and absolutely terrified. What an enormous challenge! ALEXANDER OSTROWSKI D&D art has evolved many times over the years, but changing dragons means something more. I mean, they’re literally in the name of the game. How do you refresh such an amazing set of designs that have inspired millions of tales told across countless tables and screens big and small? Some of these designs have lasted for multiple editionsand helped cement what a D&D dragon looks like. They’re what you see in your mind when you close your eyes. The designs in this book took particular inspiration from Todd Lockwood’s creations for the third edition of the game, as well as all of the dragons of other editions. We saw this as an opportunity to honor the artists who’ve contributed to these amazing creatures throughout the years, and we’ve tried to create new designs that combine the best parts of all of them. I hope you enjoy what you see here. We had a lot of fun exploring different things along the way. We tried new approaches, and we explored them from a place of genuine interest and curiosity. We care deeply about this game and its art, and I hope that shines through. This book would not be possible without the artists. Each of them brought something new not only in the incredible art they created but also with their thought process and ideas. SPECIAL THANKS Thanks to our artists: Alexander Ostrowski, Simon Lee, Bryan Wynia, Alex Konstad, Carlo Arellano, Jax Jocson, Matt Millard, Justin Sweet, Michael Broussard, John Grello, Andrew Baker, Aaron Riley, Katerina Ladon, April Prime, Terryl Witlatch, Antonio Manzanedo, Jason Rainville, Anna Podedworna, Campbell White, and Chase Stone. Josh Herman D&D Head ofArt 3 C O N T E N T S ALEX KONSTAD, ALEXANDER OSTROWSKI 1 SECTION 1: PROCESS 5–20 A peek into the artistic journey. 2 SECTION 2: EXPLORATION 21–30 A deep dive into our exploratory designs. 3 A study and the SECTION 3: ANATOMY 31–62 of dragons as living creatures final products of our endeavors. SECTION 1: From clay sculptures to 3D models to 2D sketches to illustrations, we explored several ways to look at the dragons. We’ll show you some of the unseen work that led up to the amazing illustrations that grace PROCESS both this book and D&D books to come. JOHN GRELLO In this first sculpture of a gold dragon, we explored a serpentine design without traditional wings. Simon Lee had the idea that instead of their wings getting bigger as they aged, gold dragons would grow more short wings along their sides. T his might sound strange, but the first person we began working with wasn’t an illustrator; it was a sculptor. We wanted to look at dragons from a different perspective. C L A Y Simon Lee is an amazing sculptor who has worked in movies for years, making monsters you’ve probably seen on the big screen. His work is stunning, and despite it often being the size of your hand, you’re able to see not just a character but the way a character would move or pose. He has the ability to create such a clear personality in his work that it almost feels alive. Working in clay also removed the distraction of color. We were forced to see the dragons as little clay creatures that would be on our tables. We were able to ask questions we wouldn’t normally ask—like “How would a green dragon move through the forest?”—and focus on just that element. The clay sculptures showed us that we should create unique body and wing shapes so different kinds of dragons could be easily recognized. In these small, and sometimes large, sculptures, we saw that there was a lot of room to experiment while still being authentic to what has come before. Now, we just needed to focus on how to express the dragons’ personalities and figure out what the best choic

FAQs

Why did the team want to refresh D&D dragon designs for the revised rulebooks?

They describe refreshing dragons as a significant challenge because dragons are central to the game’s identity, and the designs help define what a D&D dragon looks like.

What inspirations influenced the designs in this book?

The team took inspiration from Todd Lockwood’s third-edition creations and from dragons across other editions, aiming to honor contributing artists and combine strengths into new designs.

How did the creative process begin according to the text?

It began with sculpture—starting in clay to explore form and movement without color distractions—before moving into 3D modeling as digital sculpture.

Oct 5, 2026

Upload by awa