Dungeons & Dragons' Art Director Explains Controversial Blue Dragon Redesign

Dungeons & Dragons' art director Josh Herman explained why the blue dragon got a controversial redesign.

By Christian Hoffer

Dungeons & Dragons' art director knew that the changes to the blue dragon in the upcoming 2024 Core Rulebooks would be polarizing. Over the past few months, Wizards of the Coast has rolled out a series of redesigns for both the chromatic and metallic dragons that appear in Dungeons & Dragons. For the most part, these changes have been well-received by the D&D fanbase, but the blue dragon's redesign was distinctly polarizing, with the new dragon's sleek look and scythe-like horn a contrast to the spiky, chunky kaiju-like version that has appeared since 3rd edition. 

Sitting down with ComicBook at GenCon, D&D's art director Josh Herman spoke about the reaction to the new blue dragon. "I think whenever you make a big change, that's bound to happen," Herman said of the polarizing reaction to the redesign. " Redesigning 10 dragons, I didn't expect all 10 of all of them to be beloved by everybody, just to be honest. And we changed that one specifically to give it a different vibe. I knew that people would miss the ears. I knew that people would miss the spikiness. I think that it's one of those things where there's a new depiction, but there's also an older depiction. So, if you want to use the older one, there's 10 years of art that you still have, that you can use of that version of the dragon."

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Herman noted that the dragon's redesign was made to make it fit into its desert biome and make it match with its abilities in the wild. "If I had to give a critique on the previous one, meaning how does the odl design function, it felt more like it was inspired by desert creatures, like horned toads and things like that, which I think is super appropriate for the biome that it lives in," Herman said. "But it didn't have a connection to the lightning, and to being what you would need to be in that biome as a creature of that size."

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Herman noted that there are few flying creatures that live in the desert, limited to only small insects and creatures like vultures. The redesign for the blue dragon was specifically inspired by birds of prey who could stay in the air for a long time. "The Blue Dragon is something that's almost like... a specialist in that way," Herman said. "That's where it lives, essentially in two domains."

You can get a better look at the new blue dragon over on CBR's website. All the new dragon redesigns will be revealed in the Monster Manual, which will be released in early 2025. 

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