Drawing & Painting Fantasy Beasts: Bring to Life the Creatures And Monsters of Other Realms

Art students with special interest in comic strips, graphic novels, and computer games graphics will find a wealth of instruction and inspiration in this new volume. A widely recognized artist in these media shows how to draw and paint fantastic beasts from literature and legend, double-headed sea monsters and serpents, satyrs, centaurs, dragons, and demons. The first step in illustrating such beasts comes with understanding basic anatomical forms of animals in nature, and then learning how to distort these shapes. Author Kev Walker also instructs on rendering reptilian skin, scales, and fur. Equally important, he offers grounding in the principles of perspective and scale, enabling students to create believable beasts that are as huge as skyscrapers or small enough to hide under a bed. Students will also find detailed information and advice on drawing techniques, watercolor and acrylic coloring techniques, and composing illustrations on their computers. This book features an extensive glossary and more than 200 color illustrations.

[Back Cover]
Discover how to draw and paint the fantastical beasts of folklore and legend, plus others straight from the imaginations of the artists. From dragons and demons to serpents, sea monsters, trolls, and centaurs, this book contains all the inspiration and instruction you’ll need to create beasts that occupy the darker reaches of your own imagination.

You’ll discover how to render similar creatures using basic art techniques in a range of media, and gain an insight into the thought processes that go into creating these monsters. You will understand the principles of perspective and scale and you will learn how to distort basic anatomical forms, and discover the techniques for rendering reptilian skin, scales, and fur.

From six environments, ranging from the desert to the snow, each beast is shown in an illustration of the finished creature with step-by-step instructions on how to recreate it.

Kev Walker has spent several years writing and illustrating comic strips, graphic novels, computer games, and collectible cards in a wide variety of media, from black-and-white, color, pencil, and paint to computer graphics for 2000AD, DC Comics, Dark Horse, and Marvel. He is currently working on his first novel.

Also Available from Barron’s:
Anatomy for Fantasy Artists
Drawing and Painting Fantasy Figures