15 techniques for painting dragons

Illustrator and board game artist Alex Stone shares his ideas on designing and painting realistic-looking dragons with personality

Alex Stone shares his ideas on designing realistic-looking dragons with personality.

Dragons have been a staple of the fantasy genre for as long as anyone can remember. So with so many out there, how do you keep them interesting? This has been my self- assigned challenge of late. For the past few years, I’ve been working on an ongoing personal project in which I paint dragon portraits, trying to imbue each one with its own unique personality. Some are aloof, some arrogant, some downright ferocious – and they come in many colours, shapes and sizes.

Here, I’ll be sharing some of my favourites with you, as well as things I’ve learned over the course of my endeavours so that, hopefully, you can design some fun dragons, too!