The tradition of learning always amazes me. Sometimes I forget, and sometimes I am reminded. Like yesterday. Chris Seaman, one of the authors of Wreaking Havoc, forwarded to us at IMPACT a couple pieces of art created by budding artist, Jordan, age 12. (In case you haven’t heard, we LOVE getting art from readers.)

This morning, while emailing back and forth about how COOL these drawings are, I recalled an interview I did with John Howe when I first started with F+W Media (then F+W Publications), IMPACT Books’ parent company. The interview was for Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market.

(In the interest of full-disclosure, I’ll tell you I’ve referenced this interview several times recently, on different occasions, for different reasons. I love it when something gives me a lot of mileage…but I do worry about the horse. Ahem.)

Jordan’s first sketch is from Chris Seaman's Wreaking Havoc gnome.

In the interview, John said:

“The deeper you throw yourself into copying someone else’s work, the faster you get through it and identify the elements which may eventually become part of your own way of approaching things. It’s a tradition that’s been going on for millennia. You’re trying to understand another’s work and the only way to understand is to try to do it. I must’ve copied millions of things when I was in my teens.”

I love that Jordan did the gnome, then seemed to take the stuff she really wanted to use—like the armor decoration for example—and put it to use with her own creature. Perhaps that’s all learning is—whether it’s drawing or writing or whatever. We see or hear something we like. We emulate it. And we should emulate it, at least for a while.

Jordan’s second sketch is her own creation.

John explained it like this:

“You’re looking for yourself somewhere. You’ve identified something that you think you can use. You need to try it and you need to make it your own. Imagine a road. You see a section of it way up ahead—because someone else has been drawing for ages and they’re professionals with all these techniques and gimmicks an gadgets. You get a glimpse long before you could get there by cutting through the woods yourself. Now you can forge on.”

So forge on, Jordan. You drew the gnome, then discovered how to take elements from that drawing and incorporate them into your own. Who knows what you’ll discover tomorrow? 

To read the entire article, originally published in 2004 Artists’ & Graphic Designer’s Market, click here.

We’re itching to give away some San Diego Comic Con 2008 exclusive John Howe Forging Dragons posters, signed by the man himself. All you have to do is send your latest and greatest piece of art, and we’ll pick two winners to receive a signed poster and a copy of the book. Just send a JPEG of your latest piece at 72dpi to: impactbooks@fwpubs.com.

If we pick it to feature in the next IMPACT newsletter, you win! Winners will also be featured right here on the IMPACT blog.

Not subscribed to the newsletter? E-mail us and we’ll sign you up.

John Howe, concept artist for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and fantasy artist extraordinaire, has a released a new collection of dragon art. In Forging Dragons, Howe shares the ideas, mythological backgrounds and techniques behind the creation of each dragon, including a selection of his reknowned Tolkien dragons such has Smaug, Glaurung and the Fell Beasts.

httpv://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpk7Gfouoiw

I’ve been working on John Howe’s latest book Forging Dragons (which is awesome by the way!) and I came across something very interesting …

There’s a section in the book about ‘cosmic dragons’, dragons which are found in the world myths of ancient cultures – like Ouroboros, the world-circling serpent, or Apep, enemy of the Egyptian sun-god Re. One of the first paintings in this section is of a beautifully rendered, inky dragon flying through the stars. The combination of colours in this piece, along with the sinuous, shifting shape of the dragon, is simply breathtaking.

Imagine my surprise then when I discover that this is a painting of the famous dragon Tiamat, from the 70s kids cartoon Dungeons & Dragons!

In the cartoon Tiamat is portrayed as a fearsome dragon with a screeching voice and five heads. Her heads exhale fire, ice, bolts of lightning, acid, and streams of poisonous gas, respectively. She lives in the Dragon’s Graveyard and is, of course, evil. And very, very cool!

None of this is present in John’s painting, however – according to Forging Dragons Tiamat is a figure from Sumerian and Babylonian mythology. She existed before creation began and her body is the material from which the universe was made – a dragon of chaos!

Wow, that’s some interesting info. It certainly helps to add a depth of meaning to John’s painting. It’s amazing how fantasy art can sometimes give you a brand new perspective on something you thought you already knew… But the important question is, which is the coolest Tiamat?

Dungeons & Dragons was never beautiful but it was a pretty awesome show, especially when Tiamat showed up. But John’s painting is utterly exquisite, the way he’s used clouds of ink to make the dragon’s body … but his Tiamat doesn’t have FIVE heads!

Arggh! I’ll let you decide!

Which is better?