Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RMYPK3M2E2IZE First of all, let me say that this book brings back memories of me playing Magic The Gathering cards. A lot of the illustrations in the book are from Wizards of the Coast. Francis Tsai is a concept artist and you can find his work on teamgt.com.

This book is not really on art techniques, there are no step-by-step tutorials to follow along. It's one that gives ideas to think about when trying to come up with a character.

That being said, the writeup for the book is pretty good. It gives a lot of ideas on things that can be changed or added to enhance the characters. It can be on costume design, colour combination, using silhouettes, thinking like the character itself, etc. All come with nice illustrated paintings as examples.

This book is more of a resource book that's great when brainstorming for ideas.

If you're looking for techniques, check out ImagineFX's book called Fantasy Workshop: Mastering Digital Painting Techniques.

There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.

It's difficult to find a book that specifically addresses the actual techniques of illustration and one that gives a step-by-step tutorial on how to work with the paints and materials in fantasy work. This book doesn't provide that and glosses over technique. It concentrates more on material for you and your imagination to draw from when creating fantasy characters.
If you know technique and are looking for ideas, this book will work for you.
Still waiting for the book that gives practical info I can use regarding applied technqiue.

If you're interested in improving your artistic abilities from someone who really knows what they're doing, get this book.

The author does a fantastic job of explaining how drawing is not just a creative process, but also a thoughtful and deliberate one. He gives great expert tips and hints on how to convey the feeling and mood of the character you're developing. Some of the tricks include how to focus attention through detail or lighting; how to leverage other elements in the artwork such as secondary characters or scenes to build the story around the main character; how powerful something as simple as eye contact can be. They are all tricks that make intuitive sense once you're aware of them, but probably wouldn't have occurred to you before.

In sum, Tsai's book and tips can have a transformative effect on your artwork. Your art can go from being just a picture on a page to something that creates the maximum visual and emotional impact on the viewer that you intended. It's worth it!

I've read many fantasy drawing books, most of which only teach you archetypes in western fantasy. this book is very useful for helping you come up with your own concepts and applying visual techniques to better get your point across. highly recommended even if you aren't drawing elves or dwarves.

First off, there's two pieces of advice to any aspiring artist/illustrator:

1. "Wanna be a good artist!? Draw! Wishing won't make it happen!" - paraphrasing R. Crumb

-and-

2. Practice, practice, practice...


There, that's it. Anything else from art school to books like this are optional.


So why, especially during a tight financial time, did I eagerly plunk down US$20 for this?


Because it is well written, full of good illustrations by some artists I really like - and - full of good and creative and inspiring advice. I'm a hobby illustrator, although some of my political cartoons have been published (and I mean for $) but am always striving to improve my skills and my favorite subjects are of course in the fantasy/scifi areas.

I've skipped a lot of the recent books, considering them too juvenile, such as the MangaMania series, though those are nice. My other favs are the "Drawing and Painting Fantasy Figures", "Drawing and Painting Fantasy Worlds" and the classic "Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Sci-Fi art techniques".