Two Drunk Dragons
From the Rankin-Bass production of The Flight of Dragons, Gorbash (John Ritter) and Smrgol (James Gregory) indulge themselves in a wine cellar. They consume a hundred hams, 60 cheeses, and 30 barrels of mead, much to the consternation of the innkeeper. Always remember: friends don’t let dragons fly home drunk!
The Science of Dragons
Have you ever wondered how dragons can fly, despite their bulk? Or how they breathe fire? Or why they hoard gold? Author Peter Dickenson figured out an answer, and wrote about it in a book called The Flight of Dragons, which was later adapted into an animated movie by Rankin-Bass, made in 1982 and telecast […]
What’s His Name?
Slatebeard. He’s the wise ol’ dragon in Dragon Rider aka Firedrake The Silver Dragon. Alas, the only one who will listen to him is Firedrake, and that is, the Rim of Heaven is where their kind can go for refuge. Firedrake, our hero, decides to find it. Below are some character designs posted by Lumatic. […]
How Firedrake the Silver Dragon Sizes Up
In animation production, animators refer to size comparison charts to make sure the characters are in the proper size relationship when they interact. For example, this is the comp chart for the main cast of Dragon Rider, aka Firedrake The Silver Dragon, presented at Lumatic’s website. Click on the image to unsqueeze and enlarge it.
How to Finance Your Dragon
In early 2016, Constantin Film AG commissioned Lumatic GmbH & Co. KG made a finance teaser for AFM, the American Film Market, to attract investors to fund an animated feature, Dragon Rider, based on the New York Times bestselling novel by German author Cornelia Funke. This is fun. Watch: Dragon Rider AFM Teaser from LUMATIC […]
How to Draw Your Dragon
A highlight of the new DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms is the delightful drawings shown during the end credits. Could it be these hand-drawn poses have more personality than the CG versions?
How to Ride a Dragon — from Game of Thrones
Want to ride a dragon? Here’s how it’s done in Game of Thrones: P.S. This is not an endorsement of Game of Thrones.
A Dragon Flight Cycle from Den Beauvais
Designed and animated by Den Beauvais using Animation Master 2001. Enjoy: For a frame-at-a-time analysis:
The Return of Hissyoxyillammochogannatoss
On June 13, Universal Home Entertainment released the fourth installment of the Dragonheart series, Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire. It continues the adventures of a benevolent dragon named Hissyoxyillammochogannatoss—“Drago” for short, with Patrick Stewart taking over the role originally voiced by Ben Kingsley in the third film. Drago’s mission is to improve human-dragon relations and […]
Tom Bancroft, Animation Master
Photo © W.R. Miller. To help promote the soon-to-be-released live action Pete’s Dragon, Disney has released The Art of Disney’s Dragons, published on June 28. As one would expect, the book showcases designs, drawings, paintings and CG renderings of all of Disney’s dragons from The Reluctant Dragon to both hand-drawn and CG versions of Elliot. […]
