dragons

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Art Design

Fire Erupts From a Gigantic Fantastical Dragon-Horse Designed and Operated by La Machine

The street theater group known as La Machine revived one of its legendary beasts for an ongoing show in Toulouse. “Long Ma,” an enormous dragon-horse hybrid weighing 45 tons and standing 11 meters tall, was originally unleashed in Beijing in 2014 and now joins a minotaur and gigantic spider for an ongoing exhibition at La Halle in the French city. Each day through May 8, a team of artists animates the mechanical creature, which can be seen trotting, galloping, and rearing upward through the streets while she greets her similarly massive companions.

Capable of spitting smoke and water, the fire-breathing “Long Ma” is made from a combination of steel, wood, leather, blown glass, golden leaves, horsehair, and textiles. She also cradles a Chinese temple inspired by the Forbidden City on her back, which is big enough for 35 people to join her on her daily adventures.

Tickets to encounter the explosive character are available on the exhibition site, and you can see more of La Machine’s puppet-like creations in action on Instagram.

 

Art Design

An Enormous Smoke-Spewing Dragon Roves the Streets of Calais, France

La Machine, the group of inventors, designers, artists, and builders responsible for 46 foot-tall minotaurs and massive tarantulas roving the streets of Europe, has most recently unleashed the Dragon of Calais. The moveable beast, complete with articulated limbs and a smoke-spewing snout, was paraded around Calais for 3 days at the beginning of November. It has now been installed as a stationary sculpture, on which visitors can climb up and walk around. Follow the latest projects from La Machine on Instagram. (via Laughing Squid)

 

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A post shared by Compagnie La Machine (@compagnie_la_machine) on Nov 3, 2019 at 11:10am PST

Design

A 17-Story Dragon Climbs Thailand’s Pink 80-Meter Buddhist Temple

The Samphran district of Thailand holds one of the most unique Buddhist temples found in the country. The bright pink temple, called Wat Samphran, stands 17-stories high and is wrapped in a scaly green dragon. The design of the structure came to the founder of the temple during a 7-day fasting meditation, and is built 80 meters tall to honor the number of years that Buddha lived.

Visitors can climb the great building and touch the dragon’s beard or large talons from an access point on the roof. You can get a 360 perspective on the gigantic temple in the Great Big Story video below.

Craft Food

Dragons and Floral Designs Carved from Soap and Melons

If you’re up for some impressive carving of soap, melons, and other objects, head on over to the Instagram account of @krasinthusith who transforms the simple materials into amazing winged dragons and floral-inspired sculptures. If you liked this, also check out the work of Gaku.

Art

Ornate Painted Dragons Based on a Single Giant Brush Stroke

One of the most common feelings I get when watching an artist working is “oh, that looks easy.” After all, the materials and method are all right in front of you: paint or ink, a paint brush or pen, and a hand that moves deftly across a canvas. What goes completely unseen of course are the years upon years of practice, the trials and failures, and the possession of innate talent. A great example of this are these Japanese dragon paintings that are rendered almost completely with a single stroke of paint.

According to Japanese culture blog Iromegane, the paintings are called Hitofude Ryuu (Dragon with one stroke), and the ones shown here originate from a small studio called Kousyuuya in Nikko, Japan. The studio has seen four generations of master painters who have been creating these stylized dragons for decades.

The process involves carefully painting an ornate dragon head with various flourishes, and then finishing the piece using a giant sumi brush in a carefully orchestrated stroke. The process has much in common with both ink wash painting and calligraphy, and similar to letterforms, the images are often repeated. From the videos you can see certain designs are reused in different colors or with added details. All the videos here start at the fun part where the torso is painted, but you can rewind them a bit to see the creation of the entire painting. (via Cineraria, Iromegane)