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The Art of Disney's Dragons
Throughout time and across cultures, dragons have existed as part of our collective imagination, breathing fire, guarding treasure, and embodying magic.
Some are evil, some are kind, and all are fascinating. The Walt Disney Company has had a long-standing fascination with dragons, and this book, conceived as a sketchbook handed down through generations of Disney artists, chronicles the impact that dragons have had on Disney films, parks, and resorts. Inside these pages are the bold storyboards of Sleeping Beauty' s Maleficent, color concepts of Epcot's Figment (who was green before he became purple!), and playful studies of Mulan' s Mushu.
The illustrators are a wide variety of animators, live-action studio artists, and Imagineers, including Tim Burton, Rolly Crump, Marc Davis, Eric Goldberg, Bill Justice, John Hench, Joe Rohde, Chuck Ballew, and more. Tom Bancroft, who has worked in animation for more than twenty-five years, offers memories and insights from his tenure as Mushu's lead animator, during which he character designed, and later refined, the look of Mulan's feisty little dragon.
Some are evil, some are kind, and all are fascinating. The Walt Disney Company has had a long-standing fascination with dragons, and this book, conceived as a sketchbook handed down through generations of Disney artists, chronicles the impact that dragons have had on Disney films, parks, and resorts. Inside these pages are the bold storyboards of Sleeping Beauty' s Maleficent, color concepts of Epcot's Figment (who was green before he became purple!), and playful studies of Mulan' s Mushu.
The illustrators are a wide variety of animators, live-action studio artists, and Imagineers, including Tim Burton, Rolly Crump, Marc Davis, Eric Goldberg, Bill Justice, John Hench, Joe Rohde, Chuck Ballew, and more. Tom Bancroft, who has worked in animation for more than twenty-five years, offers memories and insights from his tenure as Mushu's lead animator, during which he character designed, and later refined, the look of Mulan's feisty little dragon.
- GenresArtNonfictionDragons
128 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 2016
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105 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 16, 2023
I am once again asking for this art to be sold so I can hang it on my wall, please and thank you.
May 31, 2021
I benefited from Steph reading this before me so I knew all the actual info was hidden at the back of the book. It still didn't make for the greatest reading experience because I basically had to keep one hand in my page and the other in the notes. I appreciate the full layout of the art, but even just an introduction before each section or some side captions would have helped greatly.
That said, I enjoyed tracking the links between and evolution of dragons throughout projects and seeing work from projects that never ended up happening.
That said, I enjoyed tracking the links between and evolution of dragons throughout projects and seeing work from projects that never ended up happening.
July 26, 2019
A beautifully made compilation of Disney's dragons through the ages. Wish there was more text or explanation of the development drawings and the rationale for the changes as the characters were refined.
August 17, 2017
I really like this book. My only complaint is that it was tedious flipping to the back of the book for the description of each and every piece of art. (Which I did. For every. Single. Page.) I appreciate having the full-page artwork, but I also would have appreciated having captions of the pieces on the same page as the art. It could have gone into more detail too, though I would have been happy with just not having to flip back and forth.
June 15, 2016
A superb book all about Disney's dragons. It's presented like a sketchbook that's been handed down throughout the years. Various artists have left their mark with the evolution of the Disney dragon.
Art fans are going to love it.
Art fans are going to love it.
July 6, 2016
A beautifully presented sketchbook of drawings and illustrations showing the creative process of creating various dragons from Disney's film history. A fantastic addition to any Disney art history collection.
September 28, 2017
2.5 stars. Beautiful production quality, but the content felt thin to me. There's a great introduction by character designer Tom Bancroft who was the supervising animator for Mushu from Mulan about the process of developing a character artistically, but the rest of the content is just concept art of various Disney dragons from movies, shorts, and attractions, usually just a page or two per character. There are very brief endnotes, essentially credits stating character, movie/attraction, medium, artist and source, that you have to keep flipping back and forth to. As much as I appreciate the quality of the full page illustrations, interspersing some text that gave insight behind them would have made this book much stronger. Something akin to the introduction text, where it gives some insight into choices behind a character. A few years ago, Disney Press published an excellent book on Tinkerbell, through her telling the story of the early history of the company.
The foreword at the beginning by David Lowery, the director of the live action Pete's Dragon, and the last few pages that featured photos of Elliot from the movie, not to mention the sticker on the cover about the movie, makes me suspect that they created this book in a rush to capitalize on interest stirred by the movie. They wisely used a removable sticker on the cover about the movie, so the cover won't become dated or marred by what feels like an advertisement. But it's a shame they didn't hire a writer to do some research and interviews to accompany the art.
Avid Disney fans will enjoy it, but I'll probably just keep it long enough to practice my drawing by trying to copy a few of the sketches.
The foreword at the beginning by David Lowery, the director of the live action Pete's Dragon, and the last few pages that featured photos of Elliot from the movie, not to mention the sticker on the cover about the movie, makes me suspect that they created this book in a rush to capitalize on interest stirred by the movie. They wisely used a removable sticker on the cover about the movie, so the cover won't become dated or marred by what feels like an advertisement. But it's a shame they didn't hire a writer to do some research and interviews to accompany the art.
Avid Disney fans will enjoy it, but I'll probably just keep it long enough to practice my drawing by trying to copy a few of the sketches.
July 9, 2018
A must have for fans of Disney's dragons. This collection of art features Disney dragons, both good and bad, through the years. It's a collection of sketches, and illustrations, making it a must have for Disney fans of all ages, as well as Disney art fans. Plus, dragons! I loved getting a look through the years at all of the various dragons Disney has used for both their movies, and their stories.
Some illustrations featured in the book may be a little scary for younger kids.
https://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2018/...
Some illustrations featured in the book may be a little scary for younger kids.
https://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2018/...
August 3, 2019
It's a short book consisting mostly of artwork of the variety of dragons created by Disney. There are concept sketches and final scenes. Besides the intro, there is no text. It doesn't explain the process of creating each dragon or why certain features were cut. It's great for browsing ideas for different ways to create dragons and to see a glimpse into the Disney creation process.
June 12, 2019
4 stars for the beautiful art. Disney's character design is almost always top notch.
Could have been a size bigger to accommodate some of the pictures, as well I would have liked more write ups on the art.
Could have been a size bigger to accommodate some of the pictures, as well I would have liked more write ups on the art.
January 7, 2021
Beautiful imagery-I just wish that the dragons were labeled throughout instead of at the back. Or, had I realized that, I could have at least flipped back and forth to see where all these dragons fit in.
November 26, 2017
Pretty Dragons
February 6, 2018
Great visual resource and fun history of Disney's dragon art history. Gorgeous full color illustrations and rarely seen sketches.
February 5, 2019
Highly recommend it. Great short book to get inspired.
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September 30, 2023Very beautiful, but I really wish there had been more text, perhaps elaborating a bit on the background and design journey of each character.
September 14, 2016
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
The Art of Disney's Dragons is one of the most beautiful compilations of artwork I've ever seen. Disney nerd that I am I was most excited to review this one! Of course it presents its own challenge since it's basically a collection of artwork.
David Lowery, the director of the new live-action, Pete's Dragon, gives a nice foreword about dragons in general and the evolution of them in Disney. Followed by Tom Bancroft's introduction which goes into the process of creating sketches prior to the actual animating for new characters. Being dragon focused, naturally, Mushu is his star pupil in describing how he came to be the lovable, loud mouth dragon that he is. Tome was actually the supervising animator for Mushu in Mulan. He is also the one who composed this book by compiling different sketches from the plethora of Disney archives.
Next came the artwork itself and that was truly a magical sight. We see early sketches, as well as final images of Maleficent, Pete's Dragon, Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone, Mushu, Queen Narissa from Enchanted, and even deleted sketches of a dragon that appeared in a daydream of Charlotte's, from The Princess and the Frog. There are a few other dragons from deleted movie scenes as well. Also included are sketches from Disney Parks featuring dragons, both real and never created ideas.
I found the index in the back helpful as well. There were some early pictures that I could not place in my overfilled Disney head and upon discovering the index that briefly details what the image is, I was better able to understand what I was seeing. I would recommend just enjoying the artwork for the first go around and then using the index as an added guide to understanding what you're seeing because it will involve the back and forth flipping indexes are known for. LOL!
Overall this was a truly magical book to enjoy! I really liked seeing early concept sketches of some of the dragons I met over the years. One in particular sketch reminded me of a very familiar Disney dog. This is truly a book no Disney or dragon lover should be without! All the artwork was simply stunning. It's definitely one to keep on the coffee table! Though said table can't be used to set coffee on to prevent spillage accidents of course! LOL!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
The Art of Disney's Dragons is one of the most beautiful compilations of artwork I've ever seen. Disney nerd that I am I was most excited to review this one! Of course it presents its own challenge since it's basically a collection of artwork.
David Lowery, the director of the new live-action, Pete's Dragon, gives a nice foreword about dragons in general and the evolution of them in Disney. Followed by Tom Bancroft's introduction which goes into the process of creating sketches prior to the actual animating for new characters. Being dragon focused, naturally, Mushu is his star pupil in describing how he came to be the lovable, loud mouth dragon that he is. Tome was actually the supervising animator for Mushu in Mulan. He is also the one who composed this book by compiling different sketches from the plethora of Disney archives.
Next came the artwork itself and that was truly a magical sight. We see early sketches, as well as final images of Maleficent, Pete's Dragon, Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone, Mushu, Queen Narissa from Enchanted, and even deleted sketches of a dragon that appeared in a daydream of Charlotte's, from The Princess and the Frog. There are a few other dragons from deleted movie scenes as well. Also included are sketches from Disney Parks featuring dragons, both real and never created ideas.
I found the index in the back helpful as well. There were some early pictures that I could not place in my overfilled Disney head and upon discovering the index that briefly details what the image is, I was better able to understand what I was seeing. I would recommend just enjoying the artwork for the first go around and then using the index as an added guide to understanding what you're seeing because it will involve the back and forth flipping indexes are known for. LOL!
Overall this was a truly magical book to enjoy! I really liked seeing early concept sketches of some of the dragons I met over the years. One in particular sketch reminded me of a very familiar Disney dog. This is truly a book no Disney or dragon lover should be without! All the artwork was simply stunning. It's definitely one to keep on the coffee table! Though said table can't be used to set coffee on to prevent spillage accidents of course! LOL!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
February 8, 2017
Who is your favorite Disney dragon? For me, Maleficent comes to mind immediately. She is probably one of the fiercest dragons to be sure, but Disney has a long history with the reptile-like creatures with wings. Disney dragons come in all sizes and shapes, not to mention personalities as varied as the day is long. There are funny ones, fierce ones, animated ones, CGI ones, black ones, red ones, and even purple ones (if you count Figment)!
But before they get to the screen or into a theme park, these dragons go through a variety of iterations. Different designs and different color schemes all play into the development of each character. One of Disney’s newest books explores all of these images and even ones that never came to be. The Art of Disney Dragons is a beautiful and informative book that details the secret and not-so-secret history of your favorite fantasy characters.
To read my complete review of this amazing book, go to the Disney Nerds blog
But before they get to the screen or into a theme park, these dragons go through a variety of iterations. Different designs and different color schemes all play into the development of each character. One of Disney’s newest books explores all of these images and even ones that never came to be. The Art of Disney Dragons is a beautiful and informative book that details the secret and not-so-secret history of your favorite fantasy characters.
To read my complete review of this amazing book, go to the Disney Nerds blog
July 30, 2016
Ever wonder where Disney's dragons start and end in their design process? This shows how these mythical creatures go through beginning concepts to more refined character expression sheets. Also it shows an array of mediums in both 2D and 3D art. I won't lie The Black Cauldron's dragon/wyvern minions would have been even scarier had they gone with those earlier sketches. A pity they didn't stick to the book trilogy closer as that is often a forgotten Disney movie. It could have been superbly epic in a hay day time of space operas and fantasy film genres. Mainly the end showed off the future dragons and the look of Pete's new dragon. I wish there had been more commentary on how they came up with some ideas. Still overall, a nicely collected coffee table book to view these animated wyrms in all their fiery nature.
October 27, 2016
Some more inspiring and imaginative artwork has made its way out of the Disney Vault! This is mainly a book filled with pictures. There is a forward and an introduction as well as notes on the pictures in the back, but a little more commentary would have been welcome. A good read for anyone who wants to flip through (and hopefully be inspired by) the pages of a book filled with pictures of (Disneyfied) Dragons.
December 26, 2016
he book is basically a sketch book for readers to browse through with a forward and an introduction by Disney artists. The illustrations range from full color double page spreads, to concept art and preliminary sketches. Films referenced include Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, and Pete’s Dragon among other Disney films. This would be useful to anyone interested in film animation.
December 31, 2021
The art was amazing! My only complaint is that I wish the text was featured in the pages alongside the images, not at the end of the book, as flipping back and forth from the front to the back was annoying. Aside from that, really nice!
April 5, 2017
Bancroft has such an inspiring introduction that it's unfortunate how short this collection is. It would fit well alongside other stories of mythical Disney creature types and how they were crafted.
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