How does one design a creature and make it look probable, when cosmic intelligence and millions of years of evolution fail to achieve ?
That is the task I was given. The answer is impossible of course ! the only possible way of achieving some kind of success was to create an illusion of probability, to cheat, to present to the viewer a picture of a beast so well designed and executed that the illusion of reality is achieved.

This was the fist time I was asked to illustrate a Dragon. It was back in 1979 and I can still remember how excited I was. One of my most influential School of Art in my early years was the Pre-Raphaelites and it was mainly their romantic works which showed realistic renditions of magical beast such as Dragons. My style of painting has been some what influenced by them and coupled with my overwhelming Greek classical nature, left me with the task of painting a dragon in a similar realistic way.
I solved most of the problem by perching the dragon on a rack. After working out a dynamic pose and an overall pleasing design, I concentrated on the imposing task of the anatomy. The beast had to accommodate six limbs and a space for a saddle and rider.

As you can see from the result, the saddle had to be place in front of the wings and just behind the shoulders. This allowed space for the huge wings to beat and for the rider to be close to the head. Constructed from wicker to make it as light as possible and covered in a sheepskin rag. A safety belt on the riders waist belt is showed amongst other harnesses and even a strong hand rest or handle. After all we don't want the rider spilling out when flying high above the clouds.

My usual size when painting a picture was quite small at the time, say up to 20"x30". For this subject, I had to go bigger, it had to be the biggest painting that I have ever done for a client. I chose the largest artboard that I could buy which was 28"x42"
By placing the dragon high up on a rock and destroying the horizon, I was able to create the "look" of flight of being high up amongst the clouds. On the original painting, the rider had to be a male character as the job demanded at the time, but now that I have a choice, the rider has changed to a beautiful amazon. I hope you will not mind the change too much !
Since "The Sentinel", I have painted the dragons below. Maybe it is time I paint another one ?