The Art of How to Train Your Dragon

"The Art of How to Train Your Dragon" was released on the 26th February of 2010. It was written by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, who is also the author of "The Art of Kung Fu Panda" and "The Art and Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".

Plot
On 160 pages, the book contains over 250 images of concept sketches, preliminary drawings, architectural plans, watercolors, oil paintings and digital artwork, providing an in depth look at the process involved with bringing both the Dragon and Viking worlds to life with present-day cinematic energy.

The book is divided into roughly three parts, the dragons, the Vikings and the environment including the props like houses. Discarded art and characters are also included, like Hiccup's mother. Tracy Miller-Zarneke has collected interesting quotes and commentary from the production staff too, which makes the book an insider's guide to the creative process behind developing the story, the script and the characters. It also contains descriptions of the animating, rigging, surfacing and lighting process and the special challenges of working in the new Stereoscopic 3-D environment.

Nicolas Marlet and Simon Otto seem to be the lead character designers responsible for the concept art the dragons and Vikings, although a good amount of designs shown are actually from Nicolas Marlet. The character digital paintings are great and the colors are really beautiful, kudos to Zhaoping Wei.