Dragon Art by Wayne Anderson

Wayne Anderson is a British illustrator of fantasy and children's books, born in 1946. He first gained wide notice with his pictures for Christopher Logue's Ratsmagic in 1976.

For dragon fans, his most important book is The Flight of Dragons (1979), written by Peter Dickinson. The book makes a playful, straight-faced case that dragons really existed, explaining how they might have flown, breathed fire, and hoarded gold, and Anderson's color and black-and-white illustrations bring that natural history to life. The book inspired the 1982 Rankin/Bass animated film The Flight of Dragons, on which Anderson is credited for design.

Anderson returned to dragons in later decades. He was one of the three illustrators, along with Helen Ward and Douglas Carrel, of Dragonology (2003), the richly decorated "complete book of dragons" that launched the popular Ology series. He also illustrated Dragons by David Passes. With Helen Ward he has made several picture books, including The Tin Forest.

His style mixes realism with a gentle, slightly whimsical touch. His dragons are carefully observed, almost like animals in a field guide, yet they keep a sense of wonder and humor that suits books meant to be pored over by readers young and old.