Often, depictions of fantasy dragons are a huge disappointment. Words like “cheesy,” “trite,” “overdone,” and “disappointing” often come to mind when I look at dragon art (which is not all that uncommon). That day may be over soon. Enter: Eric Velhagen. I featured his work once before but I kept regretting not posting this cool picture of Glaurung and Nienor so I had to share this image as well. To be honest, I’ve never seen a flightless dragon picture that really impressed me before so this image caught my attention for that reason alone. But my appreciation of the image didn’t end there: check out his unique face, the cool spikes on his hunched back, and the lizard-like spread of his hind legs. You have to appreciate the painting solely on the basis that Eric has created a dragon that is really outside of the traditional-fantasy-dragon box. Add to that some great skill, a compelling first read, a great layout, and the whole image in context of the story and this has to be one of your favorite dragon images of all time. Unsolicited plug: this is the time when you should click on the image above and buy a print of this picture (only $20 + S&H as I recall) so this guy can get rich and famous and bring us many more images like this one. All hail Eric Velhagen!
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[…] Most mythological creatures have very interesting real life counterparts, whether they be cyclops, unicorns, giants, or anything else. I’ve seen a number of real “dragons” in my life: winged lizards from Borneo, 1,000 pound alligators, komodo dragons, uber cool and supposedly real spine backs, and photoshopped geckos passed off as something you’d want to take home for a pet. For some reason I cannot fathom, Smaug Gigantaeous has evaded the publicity it deserves. Found in Africa (along with countless other marvelous beasts we don’t have over here in the western hemisphere), this charmer has the perfect looks for a dragon from its classic dragon head to its cool spiky skin! Click on the image above to read more about it. Or, if you’re not impressed, have a look at Eric Velhagen’s matchless king of all king dragons: Glaurung: […]
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