I had the pleasure of interviewing the talented artist Travis Demming of The Dragon Story. I’ve been following Travis for a few years now Instagram where he displays his beautiful artwork. And it’s all about dragons! (If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know I like dragon drawings.)
Therefore I thought it would be great to have him share with my students. He spoke with us about the world he’s building, Hallador–a society where dragons and people live together in harmony. In my interview with him, Travis shared with us, for example, how…
- he mixed common dragon lore with his own
- intelligent dragons change the game
- to make general rules for magic systems
- to think big when drawing maps
Check out my interview with him in the video below.
Additionally, what’s really cool is that Travis has created an immersive artbook that guides people through Hallador. As he says on his website…
“Welcome to Hallador” is an art book filled with my drawings of dragons and humans that are living together in one civilization as equal beings, designed to be a sketchbook journal from a fictional character in my world, Theodore Axel Bengtsson.
Theo is from a small community on a far remote island in the northern sea. He applies for a once in a lifetime talent scholarship and is awarded a semester at the Academy in the heart of the great city of Hallador. This book is his sketchbook, filled with the people he meets the dragons he sees; personal thoughts and journal notes about the great civilization created by dragons and humans.
Old Look, Modern Tech
In addition to being a talented artist, Travis is also a visionary in storytelling. Using modern technology, Travis is pushing the boundaries of what it means to tell stories digitally. In the following video, Travis explains how his interactive, digital artbook works.
You can check out more of Travis’ work at his website or on Instagram.