Dragons of the Dragon Crate 1

As promised here's a closer look at the creation of the artwork that went into Dragon Crate.

For these three, I had specific natural environments in mind: caves, swamps and volcanoes. These are all natural and potentially very dangerous places. These are not environments for the faint of heart.

Cave Dragon

I was inspired by blind cave salamanders for this dragon. I loved the idea of cave creatures so utterly shaped by their environment. Not only did the darkness of the cave render eyes useless, it rendered pigmentation unnecessary as well. The giant claws and feelers on the dragon's nose came from star nosed mole, a burrowing mole that is also blind.

Swamp Dragon

Erik gave me a ton of freedom with this project, but was also clear that he wanted a swamp dragon. He didn't exactly have to twist my arm on that; I figured it would make for a cool design. I was really trying to get a rugged, Crocodile Dundee, bayou feel to this guy. Thick scales, a crocodile's face and a tail that could break an elephant's back, this guy's a monster!

Volcano Dragon

I believe this was my first dragon for the project. It was probably the easiest to start simply because I had the concept for him bouncing around my head long before I even got on board with Dragon Crate. The idea for this guy is that he's a living force of nature; lava, magma and fire that just happened to coalesce into a dragon. Dragons can make cool animal designs, but sometimes I like to think of them as more a force of nature, more godlike than mere flesh and bone.