TheHow To Train Your Dragon trilogy is ane of the about well-received animated serial in recent memory. Non a single moving picture in the serial has been gotten less than glowing reviews, with critics and fans akin falling in love with this fantasy story.

In developing the film, artists and character designers worked tirelessly to imagine the world of Hiccup and Toothless, creating designs and pieces of art to inspire the animators and storytellers. Looking over their work, here are ten fascinating examples of their concept art.

10 An Early on Concept Of Berk

Setting is incredibly important, especially for fantasy stories. Then much of the thematic notes and mood relies on a strong sense of identify.How To Train Your Dragon is no different, with its dwelling location of Berk remaining a constant through all three films.

This place had to embody a lot of things: a feeling of habitation for the characters and a fantastical otherworldy place, but one that aligns with the tradition of Viking seafaring history. This concept nails that to a tee, combining whimsical blueprint with emotional characterization.

9 Red Expiry

The dragon pattern in these films is one of the best parts. Each dragon has a specific look to them, but all feel like they belong in the aforementioned globe. While a majority are non larger than, say, a big car, others dwarf near buildings.

The concluding foe that Hiccup and his friends had to face in the start picture show was the Red Decease, a gargantuan dragon that stood as Alpha. This early on concept really embraced the monstrous look of the beast as well equally the sheer scale in comparison to the Viking ships.

8 Citizens Of Berk

Graphic symbol design is such a fun aspect of animation. How a character looks and acts vary in every animated feature, but all need to have some sort of unique design aspect. The movies are no different, with a majority of the styles sharing certain elements.

You can see this direct in the design of many of the Viking townsfolk. This slice of graphic symbol sketch work shows a shared aesthetic but utilized through a few dissimilar designs. Each Viking above has similar facial notes and helmet design, but their body types offer fun variance.

7 First Meeting

At the middle of all three of these films is the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless. This "boy and his dog" story is exactly what keeps fans and families returning to the series time and time again.

This beautiful piece of concept art details the showtime meeting between the boy Viking and the rare dragon. The use of light in the work is astonishing, especially with the hiding optics of other dragons lurking behind Toothless.

6 Early on Hiccup Designs

Hiccup'due south look was one of the most important ones when designing the film. As the lead hero of the story, he had to be both unique and identifiable for audiences. We all know how Hiccup turned out in the end, with his brown mop elevation, but it wasn't always the look Dreamworks planned.

Early on, as seen in the sketches higher up, Hiccup was imagined not merely as a reddish-caput with freckles only possibly far younger than he appears in the beginning film. When fans commencement met him, Hiccup was a young teenager, perhaps 13 or so. The ideas to a higher place had him much younger.

5 Gobber Versus A Mini Dragon

These 2d renderings of lead character designs are a lot of fun, letting fans glimpse into a world where the films might have been animated differently. This piece, in particular, is a cool expect at a scene that never appeared in whatsoever of the films.

Here fans can see Gobber, the eccentric blacksmith of Berk, facing off confronting what appears to be a baby dragon. Gobber's rough assembled look is and then cool and just different plenty from his concluding design to feel unique.

4 Possible Early Stoick

Stoick was the father of Hiccup and Viking Chief of Berk. His strong leadership and feared fighting style made him a perfect master for the village. Later Dragons become accepted in the island hamlet, Stoick himself got a pet dragon to ride into boxing with.

This early concept of a disguised Viking on top of a winged dragon feels reminiscent of Stoick. The body type and beard color paired with the Dragon species feels like a direct link to the last character.

3 Dragon's Den

The communal nature of Dragons is one that is explored further in the sequels, but this early piece really explores a whole different look to a dragon den. In the afterward films, the dragons take individual nesting places in caves and such.

Here though, the dragon den is made up of dogpiles of resting lizards. This is a fun interpretation that makes the dragons not only look massive in size but come across as more just beasts to be feared. They look far more lovable than they always have before in this slice.

2 Dragons As Pets

This is a bang-up case of the variance in character pattern. The early images had shown some great ideas in terms of the male members of the Viking village, just this lineup shows a multitude of genders and body types.

Berk is home to a ton of people, none of which look the aforementioned. So the concept artists thought up some fantastic ideas in terms of differentiating what each Viking could look like. Plus, information technology shows the fun idea of keeping dragons every bit pets similar to dogs, with leashes and all.

one Village Elder

Almost of the ideas in terms of the story seemed to have been well thought out and planned. Merely this piece of concept art shows a whole new aspect of the story rarely explored. It shows what appears to be a young Hiccup visiting some sort of elder.

The home assembled out of sacred stones is a fun bear on, not to mention the pet dragon (with wrinkles and all). There is an elderberry character in the films, merely this vision showed that character holding a far bigger presence.

Adjacent: Avatar: 10 Official Concept Fine art Pictures Of The Legend Of Korra You Have To See

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Nearly The Author

Matt Berger (214 Articles Published)

Matt Berger is a writer, comedian, role player, Paddington enthusiast, and Corgi dad. He currently writes for Screen Rant, has written for Bloody Disgusting, hosts the Film School Sucked podcast, and co-hosts the Macabre podcast. Matt is an alumni of Portland State University with a degree in English and Film Studies.

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