Game of Thrones VFX supervisor explains how to make a dragon

The dragons on Game of Thrones are basically the coolest part of the series. They’re terrifying beasts now, but fans got to watch them grow from itty-bitty babies. But have you ever wondered how to train a dragon? In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Pixomondo VFX supervisor Sven Martin dishes all the details on how these magnificent creatures come to life on screen.

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Pixomondo has been the true Mother of Dragons ever since season 2. According to Martin, the dragons as we know them today started with a desire to take a “darker, grittier approach” to the model we see at the end of season 1, when Drogon perches on Dany’s shoulder.

What does that mean, exactly? “We did a lot of redesign, made them more spiky, even in the baby state,” Martin said. “It was a little bit of a relaunch, but we still kept it believable for the audience. It should still feel like they were the same babies… but they are not.”

“They were meant to look cute, but in-a-dragon-way cute,” Martin continued. “It affected not just the color, but the shape.” And he’s right, they were pretty darn adorable for beings that could flash-fry a sorcerer dead. The team also messed around with color by making the dragons darker, which gave them a hint of shimmer.

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As time went on, the dragons had to get larger, which required more intricate work from Pixomondo. Their inspiration? Birds and bats.

"Everything was definitely from the animal world because we’re not just building mystical fantasy creatures. We wanted to keep them grounded in reality. So we built them from the inside out, starting with the skeleton, and then adding muscles and skin on top."

In season 3, a new element was added: gills that popped out when they went into guard dog mode. The inspiration for this came from fruit lizards — who would have imagined?

And eventually, the dragons learned to fly, which called for yet another layer of visual effects. We may not understand how it all comes together, but all I can say is that they certainly did not disappoint:

"Because we knew the dragons would have to fly later on we began to change the proportions. We made the wings a little larger. We changed the breastbone. We had seen that in bird skeletons. They have this larger chest to make enough space for the muscles, which drive the wings. Then we looked at lots of lizards for the texture. This was a constant reference for us because there are tons of different lizards out there. You can’t come up with cooler ideas than from nature. It’s all there. You just have to find the right references, which was quite fun to do."

As Dany and others began to ride the dragons, the spikes had to be redesigned to make space. Dany could hardly ride Drogon into war if sitting on him killed her. The attention to detail is intense.

The last element Pixomondo has to keep in mind is the emotional connection between Dany and her dragons, which can be tricky to balance with their animal-like behavior.

Honestly, this whole interview has me wanting to go back and watch all the Game of Thrones dragon scenes! Who else is excited to see what the dragons bring in season 8?

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