Sawyer Lee

At their largest, dragons can hold a small ecosystem of their own via specialized parasites. From scale-mimics & intestinal cleavers to hide-scrapers & bloodsuckers, even the greatest of beasts become a feast for the small.

Not immediately recognizable as descended from Tenrec ancestors thanks to its heavily patterned face, the Sudanott coils through the rivers of Suddenside, wheee it lives alongside the fiery Maidstoker. These animals can be seen lounging along the riverbanks.

The Wingrunners really seem to have it all: dragon mounts, green pastures, the ability to live free above ground. They enjoy wealth & comfort, & are the envy of many around them. That’s why they push it.

Wanted to take another shot at Toothless/ night furies for a while and how I’d reimagine it. Nothing much changes, based him heavily on Swifts and rays

One of the strangest of humanity’s relatives, the Karstmen’s feet have elongated into ungulate-like hooves for use in speed & scaling terrain. Remarkably intelligent, they have relationships with humans both endearing & traumatic. Their lives are always lived on the edge.

How to traineth ye dragon

Manuscript style illustration of the imposing Fumehorn dragon species. What stands out to the in-world artists are undoubtedly the good-like talons, which they depict as horse feet. The flat face & large horns are imagined as near humanoid, influenced by the fearsome reputation of this dragon

This wickedly intelligent wyrm has turned its rear limbs into dexterous hands, picking apart its favorite prey: young dragons. From its tongue it administers a venom which paralyzes & targets the victim’s motor skills, making resistance futile.

In this world, the over-ground is seen as something just as treacherous and untamable as the seven seas of earth’s naval history. There are few who brave it regularly, and in a similar fashion to the sailors of old they mark their bodies in honor of their various milestones.

Don’t inspect that strange noise in the dark!
For their great size, Strangler Giants are quiet & stealthy. While they may approach the town to catch a tamed, unaware dragon, they won’t turn down a curious human, who they pop like a soda can.

One would assume that in a world dominated by the fear & reality of predatory dragons, a culture that rides one would be enlightened heroes. In truth, they have become a bloated & spoiled society, whose previous struggle now manifests as icy contempt for anyone but themselves. Oh, what power does!

DAMN talk about a day one!

Even at the farthest reaches of the desert, a soft wind pulls powdery sand towards one central point, before being taken by the storm & flung far back into the desert, starting the cycle again. Every sand grain has seen the secrets hidden at the center, something humanity cannot claim.

Detritus from a lush aerial ecosystem of dragons has to settle somewhere, & one such place is Sorrowood. The mud absorbs & churns aeroplankton & waste, becoming fertilizer for the massive Heaving Palm, which dominates this ecosystem.

I’ve been busy! As my backers know, I’ve spent all week delivering huge shipments of books! This week’s count: 560 books shipped. MASSIVE haul that filled two cars twice over.
I’ve sent out 355 classic edition and 205 gold special edition copies, for domestic US customers. Onward to the next batch!

The Skrill from how to train your dragon , reimagined in my style. As fast and ferocious lightning dragons, what’s not to love. I leaned into a sharp silhouette and low-slung, sharklike personality when drawing it, pulling from several lizards, crocs, & raptors ofc.

The Wilderblue: a sprawling expanse of bones, made by the largest dragon. This graveyard is anything but barren, hosting a lush biome atop it. The Wodewarden dragon *is* this ecosystem, as it creates roads with its slithering body, living mountains as it slumbers, and builds the landscape in death.

A relative to the Clatterjaw, the Bloodbelly may be a beast just as fierce. In their knotted masses they descend on the largest of beasts, gulping blood from wounds of their making. Thankfully, they must go lethargic after a blood meal, sleeping the day away before hunger calls once more.

The crux of battle- our hero lands the killing blow on the soft underside of a large Havwyrm, both falling to the earth. The hero is victorious, but how will he escape either the impact, or the deadly plague that seeps from the dragon’s skin?
- Watercolor & colored pencil on illustration board.

Watercolor illustration of a couple of Chameleons done while mentoring under the legendary Teryll Whitlatch. Studies like this are vital to sharpening an understanding of real world animals to then translate into fantastical designs!

Oh I really quite like this

A favorite from “how to train your dragon”, wanted to draw a Typhoomerang! Gave it some heavier musculature and a thicker neck to support a horned head. These guys are really cool- in no small part because they’re huge!

YouTube video by Sawyer Lee How Sheep Evolved to Survive Dragons | Dragonslayer Codex |

New vid!

How Sheep Evolved to Survive Dragons | Dragonslayer Codex |
youtu.be/bsfrbw5cHFg

PDF Ebook Dragonslayer Codex has been distributed to backers of the Kickstarter! It also is available for purchase over on Patreon, and offered for free for my highest tier patrons.

Day one book packaging! Over 400 in, getting labels and postage bought and printed, organizing it all by count and type of book bought. No sleep, all work all weekend! WOO!

Artist/Author/Friend Simon Roy brings us back to his universe of peculiarities in his newest compendium of short stories, “A STAR CALLED THE SUN”. I was stoked to be among the artists asked to do an illustration for the book! It’s currently live on Kickstarter btw.
@simonroy.bsky.social

Looming over mountains & forming valleys with its very body, the Wodewarden is a dragon that will count for an ecosystem of its own to be explored in the Dragonslayer Codex: Volume Two. This species is numerous as an adolescent, where it forms the bulk of its environment’s biomass.

The Garden-Wurm. Wanted to do a sort of redraw to add a little polish to a delightful little dragon. This species is bred to be palatable to humans, as dragon flesh, typically, possesses toxic levels of metal, rendering them inedible. Garden-Wurms can be found anywhere lush.

YouTube video by Sawyer Lee Encounter with a Sun Dragon | Dragonslayer Codex |

New vid!

Encounter with a Sun Dragon | Dragonslayer Codex |
youtu.be/9ruT6LYfPrk

In the land of Suddenside, lookouts are posted on towers, adorned in shining cloaks to throw off the sniping gaze of the Spectacled Dreadeye. This guard is too focused to realize that the dragon slipped right under his nose, keen to eat.