Exclusive D&D Copper Dragon concept art unveils new look for playful tricksters

Dexerto can exclusively reveal concept art for Dungeons & Dragons’ redesigned Copper Dragon with insight from D&D Head of Art Josh Herman.

Dungeons & Dragons is gearing up to release a massive rules revision, with the first copies of the new Player’s Handbook being sold earlier this month at GenCon ahead of a full release in September.

Unsurprisingly, the game’s titular creatures are all getting glow-ups in the new books. That includes Copper Dragons, the game’s witty and sociable metallic wyrms.

Wizards of the Coast has given Dexerto an exclusive first look at concept art for the Copper Dragon’s update, which inspired the final artwork featured in the Dragons of D&D digital art book – available as a preorder bonus for those who purchase the new Core Rulebooks on D&D Beyond.

As the concept art by Alexander Ostrowski and artwork from Campbell White shows, Copper Dragons are majestic and playful, yet still a threat with their acidic breath.

Herman shared the importance of concept art, particularly for these epic creatures. D&D’s dragons, after all, are not simple palette swaps but distinct creatures with their own aesthetics, personalities, and lore, and it was essential to Herman that the rules revision came with “a broad cast of dragons.”

“For the [10 types of] dragons, we wanted to create new concept art that would set the vision for the new designs and provide a leaping-off point for our illustrators.”

Much of the Copper Dragon’s distinct appearance comes from its striking mix of orange coppery scales mixed with teal accents meant to replicate the chemical reaction between nitric acid and copper and how the metal patinas.

As Herman explained, that vibrant detailing and the creature’s personality helped solve an issue: trying to make the Copper Dragon stand out from the similarly colored Bronze and Brass ones.

He called making each one distinct in body and coloring “a visual challenge” that the designers were able to identify during the concept art stage, as it was “difficult for people to know which one was which in an illustration.”

“We were very intentional with choosing color ranges and gradients with those three,” Herman said

Herman also discusses how the Copper Dragon’s distinct personality and intelligence, compared to the other metallic dragons, inspired the artwork: “When you read the text about the copper dragon, a lot of it is about being a playful prankster or trickster.”

On top of that, “the Copper dragon is the most intelligent of the metallic dragons [in terms of stats], so we also wanted this to be someone who’s cultured. They’re around people and things that would be interesting to them intellectually, not just as a vain hoarding of things.”

That creative impulse and fun-loving nature led to the artwork showing the Copper Dragon enjoying a concert held in a giant amphitheater, jamming along on what looks like an air lute.

Beyond the Dragons & D&D digital art book, fans can expect plenty of new art from the upcoming revised Core Rulebooks. Herman previously told Dexerto that the Monster Manual (2025) alone includes 300+ works designed to “help communicate what the player experience is.”

The Player’s Handbook (2024) will be released on September 17, 2024. It will be available two weeks early on September 3, 2024, at local game stores and on D&D Beyond.