Professional illustrator Steve Beaumont takes readers through a masterclass to discover secrets of how to draw Dragons and Other Cold-Blooded Creatures and to put finishing touches to extraordinary creations.

Reviews

Gr 4-6-After brief overviews of the kinds of paper, pencils, markers, and paint to buy, these books include a "Master Class" spread that will help when creating some of the other drawings in the book. Dragons, for example, demonstrates how to draw scales and snakes. The meat of the books consists of instructions for drawing three types of figures; the directions begin with stick figures and progress to full-color pictures over the course of six pages. Each book concludes with the construction of a scene featuring the title monster, such as drawing the Minotaur in a labyrinth. Although the finished drawings will appeal to those who want their comic-book monsters to look appropriately dangerous and menacing, the process for getting there assumes artistic experience. For example, in Werewolves, the "Master Class" shows the basic construction of a human hand made up of overlapping shapes and cylinders-rather fine details for young artists to manage. Those who get easily frustrated when their steps do not match the books may just wind up tracing. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.