Welcome to "Dragon's Cave Studio" the official FB page of the School of Fantasy Artist Ed Beard Jr. As a self taught artist I discovered and perfected methods to achieve my work more efficiently and with less limitations than traditional tangible medium techniques. Thrown out of public school art class in 9th grade, because I dared to draw images of the fantastic, Medieval, comic and mythology rat
her than the abstract and unidentifiable splatter of paint in the middle of the white canvas, I learned all of my skill sets through years of trial and error, working around the traditional methods to develop my own unique and highly achievable techniques and methods. Once you experience these techniques you will see how empowering and EASY it actually is
These techniques have allowed me to produce highly detailed works much more efficiently and less dependent on reference thus freer to create as the imagination allows. This methods are not found in traditional educational institution. For the past 25 years I have been a guest teacher and speaker at many Art colleges and Institutes to present these techniques to graduate classes and conducted private group classes demonstrating these methods. This self taught method allowed me to develop the unique approach and methods that both streamlined the use of the mediums and allowed for a more expansive use and end result that otherwise would have been limiting with use of conventional methods. With an emphasis on both memorization skills and photographic memory techniques I also developed a unique approached to conceptual character development through finished rendering that allowed for a far more unlimited range of diversity without being dependent exclusively on reference materials, multitude of sketches or unnecessary or mechanical transfer methods. AGAIN: Once you experience these techniques you will see how empowering and EASY it actually is
Nearly ALL of my woks are created from my mind with little or no reference unless specifically required for portrait likenesses or specific client content. This method allowed me to have the advantage in my field as I could work from a blank sheet of paper and envision anything in my minds eye from a few simple steps. Much like building a puzzle each stoke of the brush or pencil would lead to the other without dependency on reference as the previous would dictate the next. I have taught these and other medium based processes for nearly 25 years at various conventions
After a nearly 4 decade long freelance art career as an illustrator for Magazines, Games like D&D, Magic the Gathering, novelties, collectibles, auto Airbrush industry and just about every surface medium and subject one can think of for over 35 years, I have returned to teaching private classes. Classes are small, one on one with an extremely limited number of slots per class. Potential candidates are selected on a per person basis based on passion, drive, and desire to embrace the best one can be in producing fantastic works of "Original Art"
