Saturday, March 27, 2010



One of the nice things about doing work on animated movies is that once every 7 years when the movie comes out you get to put a drawing on your blog. Believe it or not, I was asked briefly, ever so briefly, to do a couple of designs very early on for the "How to Train Your Dragon" Movie that Dreamworks just released. Imagine my surprise when they called me, imagine their surprise when I came in with these drawings, imagine how quickly the phone stopped ringing. Oh well... back to TV Land. The dragons are supposed to look like the kids who own them.




I also had some ideas for dragons...
as my final service for them I offered the paradigm that anything you put
fangs and wings on becomes a Dragon, see examples below.

I haven't seen the film yet but I assume they took full advantage of my theories. 

23 comments:

damon said...

cool stuff!

Sally Lloyd-Jones said...

Dan I ADORE your drawings, your dragons and your dragon owners--and you crack me up
one of your biggest fans--
Sally

Leo said...

Love the drawings :) They may not have made it to the screen but they still have heaps of personality!

A.M.Bush said...

oh those are great. I love the goober kid/dragon and snail dragon.

Erik Benson said...

Wow! I love these.

Ryan Green said...

I haven't seen the movie yet, either, but if that dragon-cow is not in there, I'm asking for my money back.

The great thing about your art is that you go places that most people don't go. Only in those deep, dark crevices of the mind live things like dragon-snails. Many may be thrown away, but the ones that are kept are golden.

MAUMONT said...

Hahaha!!

i love it!!

steeevNlizzy said...

You're so awesome, dan. So original and fresh. i love your work, these are incredible.

Robertryan Cory said...

I would see your version but I won't see theirs... I'm just going to take mushrooms and watch clash of the titans instead.

jriggity said...

these are great dood!

jriggity

Justin K. Thompson said...

SO glad you posted these. I love them.

Pete Oswald said...

Keep it coming. I love it.

Unknown said...

This stuff is great! I love the goober kid.

Huck said...

Dan, your stuff always make me smile just a bit. I'm usually inspired to draw after coming here. Thanks for sharing your awesome work with the world. Please keep it up!!

michaelamos said...

Hey Dan,

These are cool! I have seen the film and really enjoyed it. The designs of the dragons in the movie did not make me laugh, yours did (which is a very good thing!)
Great work and great blog!
Michael

Israel S said...

Wowowow!!

Matt Jones said...

I would pay good money to see a movie with these designs-cheque's in the post!

ANDY BIALK said...

...'Big Dumb Belly'...I'm dyin...love it!!! and his dragon looks a lot like the "Grunkle" dragon in the film! So good!!!

Mad Max Winston said...

This is damn amazing.

OV! said...

HAHAHA.

THESE ARE AWESOME.

yes i think you are right about your "fangs and wings" theory..

Ridd Sorensen said...

Greatness. Loved these in the book. Nice work man.

Paul Harmon said...

great searle feel to these, very cool.

Martha Crow said...

Hi Dan, I was looking for blogs on art when I came across one called A Journey Around My Skull that has stuff on children's books that might interest you. Here's a quote from one of them!

"My mother says: spare the rod and spoil the child. And every morning she gives me a beating; if she doesn't have time in the morning, she'll save it until the afternoon, hardly ever later than four o'clock."

Also, all kinds of illustrations, including vintage examples.

Martha