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Discover new ways
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Improve your lighting
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 Editor’s letter

to a different approach
This month we shine an Anglepoise lamp
over the exciting work of CG animation.
The industry has come a long way since a
group of artists decided to create a film
based on the adventures of plastic toys,
because their smoothness and shine
made them easier to render than hair and
fur – as with 1995’s excellent Toy Story.
Evidently, technology doesn’t always hold the key to innovation.
People do. Talent and creative enterprise makes a difference.
What I’ve also found interesting with this month’s workshop
artists is that although they still use core art principles, they also
adopt a different approach to working on an image. Lighting, for
one, seems to be a key factor early on when setting up a scene. See if
you can apply these principles, and whether this improves your art.
I also enjoyed Chris Oatley’s insights into getting a dream job in
animation (page 60). It’s not just about being the best artist you can
be, but also about fitting into a team and making the aims of your
boss or company your goal. We also met with Moonbot Studios
(page 40), an inspiring environment bursting with creativity.
Hopefully, you’ll find lots of inspiring thinking bursting out of
these pages, too. None more so than in our FXPosé section. Here’s
where you can see what your contemporaries are creating, and it’s
also where art directors go when they’re looking for the next artist
to commission. To be a part of this, simply send us your art – details
on page 19. It could be the best move you ever make.

Our special cover for

Claire Howlett, Editor subscribers this issue.
[email protected]

Contact us
Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1225 442244
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October 2014 3
 Receive great savings when you subscribe
to ImagineFX! See pages 29 and 30

Contents
Your art
8 Reader FXPosé
40
Readers share their art with the
world, from a post-apocalyptic
Little Red Riding Hood to a
studio profile
Lovecraftian game character.

News and events

20 Method in madness?
Perceived mental illness and
great art have a long history
together, but is the tortured
artist someone to admire?

26 Artist in residence
Weta Workshop’s Nick Keller
takes us around his digital and
traditional art studios.

Your questions See page 8 for the best new art

32 Artist Q&A
Capture family resemblance, 32
the right colours for metal, a
strong light source, a futuristic
gown, a great beard and more!

Features “We look through the eyes of

40 Studio Profile our younger selves, to keep
Meet Moonbot, the Oscar- and
Emmy-winning studio where our adult selves in check”
they don’t want employees to Brandon Oldenburg on Moonbot Studios
Q&A: Family traits
feel like their work is a job.

46 Sketchbook 46 34 37
DreamWorks Animation artists
who worked on How to Train
Your Dragon 2 reveal some of
the film sequel’s sketches.

Reviews
76 Software and
Hardware
79 Training Sketchbook: DreamWorks Q&A: Light Q&A: Beards
80 Books

Regulars 20 26 39
3 Editor’s letter
6 Resources
28 Letters
29 Digital editions
30 Print subscriptions
74 Next month
Troubled artists Artist in residence Q&A: The moon

4 October 2014
 Issue 113 October 2014
Download resources Turn over the page for
this issue’s art assets

Workshops 52
Advice and techniques
from pro artists…
52 How to render
characters
Pramin Phatiphong makes
2D designs look like 3D.

56 Design a set
for animation
Helen Chen designs a
distinctive environment.

60 Animation studio
survival guide
Chris Oatley’s insider
advice for turning pro.

67 How to use
SketchUp’s Scale tool
A helpful Mark Roosien
makes it look easy.

68 Dynamic lighting
in Photoshop
Nathan Fowkes brings
an environment to life.

60

Animation job advice Make a 2D character look 3D

88 98

Inspiration and advice from

the best traditional artists Creative Singapore
84 FXPosé Traditional
88 Creative Space 90 96
We visit Creative Singapore.
90 Painting armour
Michael C Hayes explains how.
96 Anatomy advice
Rendering form in colour.
98 First Impressions
Armoured art Imply form with colour Brian Froud talks art
We speak to Brian Froud.

October 2014 5
 Resources

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over
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dedicated web page at http://ifxm.ag/vis113dev of worksh
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workshop video learn from
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6 October 2014
 Issue 113 October 2014

Exclusive video tuition!

Watch our videos to gain a unique insight into how our artists create their stunning art

WORKSHOP videos

Nathan Fowkes Michael C Hayes

Use Photoshop to develop an intelligent Discover the traditional oil painting techniques that Michael uses to depict
lighting design for your environments. the intricate plate armour worn by a determined knight in the heat of battle.
Plus WIPs and final image Plus WIPS and final image

TRAINING Q&A videos

Aaron Limonick Sara Forlenza Tony Foti

Watch a clip from Concept Design Learn how to place a strong white light Concept and paint a futuristic gown for
Workflow Vol 1: Composition Sketching, source in your composition, and ensure your sci-fi female characters, that’s
on the importance of thumbnails. that it accurately affects all objects. appropriate for the world they inhabit.

Mark Molnar Mark Molnar Don Seegmiller

Give your fantasy characters a decent beard Elevate your character’s social class and Discover how to depict the wing of a flying
by treating it as a single shape rather than give them a sense of nobility, using fine creature, such as a bat, that has bright
trying to paint individual hairs. clothing and posture techniques. moonlight shining behind it.

7 CUSTOM BRUSHES, including…

med round 006oilpastel light_thick_paint
Pramin Phatiphong uses this to lay This is ideal for sketching out shapes, … and she uses this brush for
down colours and broad strokes. says Mingjue Helen Chen… creating a subtle wood grain texture.

October 2014 7
the place to share your fantasy art

Michal Kus 1
Location: England
Web: www.kus-art.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop, SketchUp, Maya,
Modo

Michal has two great

passions: drawing and
video games. So working
as a concept artist for EA
Games is as close to a
dream job as he’s ever likely to find.
His speciality is vehicle design,
depicting “hardware of future and
alternate worlds”. His advice for aspiring
concept artists is simple: put the time in.
“I focus on the presentation,” Michal
says. “I render in detail to make it feel
believable. I want my viewers to have
the urge to touch the metal on my
vehicles and feel the texture.”

1 Death Ray Trooper “This was

done for the game March of War by
ISOTX. I wanted to picture a character
wearing a suit that’s high-tech for its
time. I was keen to keep the visual hooks
of the WWII era, but give it an alternate,
exotic appearance.”

2 India Future “This is a personal

project in which I’m mixing the rich
culture of India with a lot of sci-fi
elements. This image features a factory
where mechs are being made for clients
all around the world. Because they’re
too busy fighting each other, India has
become the main supplier of high-tech
military equipment.”

3 Nod Scorpion Tank “As a huge

fan of the Command & Conquer
real-time strategy games, I always
wanted to make a redesign of the
original Scorpion tank from C&C 3,
which was designed by Feng Zhu.”

Artist of the month

Congratulations Michal – you’ve won
yourself a copy of Exposé 11 and
d’artiste: Character Design! To find out
© ISOTX

more about these two great books, go

to www.ballisticpublishing.com.

8 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

2

Concept artist Francesco Corvino praises

the energy of Michal’s futuristic imagery
“Michal develops interesting designs and
enriches them with details. The sci-fi
©EA games

elements are rendered in a realistic and

weathered style that make them believable.”

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 9

 Clark Huggins
Location: US
1
Web: www.clarkhuggins.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Clark has studied at such

esteemed institutes as
Syracuse University, Rhode
Island School of Design
and the ART Institute at
Harvard University. His credits as a
storyboard illustrator in TV and
advertising include Damages, True
Blood and American Horror Story.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Clark is
enrolled in the SmART School online
mentorship programme, whose
instructors include Rebecca Guay and
Greg Manchess. “I’m busy breaking into
card art,” Clark says, “often working for
Fantasy Flight Games.”

1 SPRIGGAN Moonrise “This is my

newest piece, created for an end-of-
semester assignment in my SmART
School mentorship with Rebecca Guay.
Skyrim fans should recognise it.”

2 EYE OF THE STORM “I wanted my

comic book hero to have a sleek,
modern look, but with some steampunk
influences. The initial sketches showed
her whole body, and she had these
fabulous big boots and thigh-high
stockings, and I was a little sorry to see
them go in the final composition.”

3 SYNDICATE AGENT “This was for

the Call Of Cthulhu game by Fantasy
Flight Games. Being from Providence,
originally, I’m a big HP Lovecraft fan, so
I loved working on this.”

© 2014 Fantasy Flight Games

10 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

 Sung Choi
Location: US
1
Web: www.sung-choi.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Sung is a Los Angeles-

based concept artist and
illustrator who specialises
in environments. Splitting
his time between studies in
digital media at Otis College of Art and
Design and freelance work at Santa
Monica concept art studio One Pixel
Brush, Sung also likes to get outside and
draw landscapes first-hand.
“Throughout my many struggles and
failures,” he says. “I kept going because
I’ve always wanted to be a great artist,
someone who has a great sense of how
to visualise ideas.”

1 A Crash-Landing “An astronaut

loses his signal during the mission
and crash-lands on an uncharted planet.
His feeling of isolation is heightened by
the look of the stormy sky.”

2 The Huntress “A huntress lives

deep in the snowy forest. Her
guardian is an ancient animal who’s
been keeping the forest safe from
strangers and people who want to
destroy this peaceful land. He was
attracted by her purity and decided to
be her companion.”

3 The Giant Worm “The worm was

eating the town’s crops, so the local
cowboys decided to set a trap for the
beast and kill it at all costs.”

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 11

 Filipe Pagliuso 1
Location: Brazil
Web: http://ifxm.ag/f-pagliuso
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Filipe is fascinated by oil

and watercolour paintings.
“I always try to absorb as
much as possible from
these techniques,” the
artist says, “and translate them into my
digital pieces.”
Filipe cites Karl Kopinski, Adrian
Smith and Cynthia Sheppard as
inspirations for his own fantasy-based
work. Yet the Brazilian, a graphic design
graduate from São Paulo State
University, says art shouldn’t just be
about materials or subject matter, but
rather something greater.
“You know,” Filipe concludes, “it
doesn’t matter what medium you use.
It’s about the information you are able
to translate in your own work.”

IMAGINEFX CRIT
“Wise words from
Filipe: pick whatever
medium best suits
the story you want to tell.
And the success of the
Brazilian’s art lies in his
skills as a storyteller. 2
Barbarian’s Beach, in
particular, is an arresting
image. Good work.”
Gary Evans,
Staff Writer

1 Druid “This was my first contribution

for Era, a trading card game
developed in Brazil. I spent a lot of time
on it. I proved to myself I could work
hard and produce good results.”

2 Running with Wolves “I created

this girl for Era. Her story is told on
five cards: she was a baby left for the
wolves, but she lived with them until she
became a powerful druid.”

3 Barbarian’s Beach “My goal in

this piece was to try and improve
the edges in paintings, as well as my use
of colour. It was a challenge because
I didn’t know how the final piece would
turn out. I can say now that the final
result made me very happy. It was done
for a Brazilian role-playing game project
called Arkladom.”

12 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

3

October 2014 13
 Eric Messinger
Location: US
1
Web: www.elmstreetart.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Eric’s childhood dreams

were simple enough. He
wanted to “drive big trucks
and draw crazy cool
pictures”. A love of
Dungeons & Dragons and an art teacher
who showed him the work of Frank
Frazetta steered him away from
18-wheelers and towards fantasy art.
Today Eric leads a graphic design team
by day and freelances by night.
“I love texture and colour,” says the
artist. “Even though it’s the thing I find
most challenging to master. But once I
discovered I could build better textures
with layering techniques and custom
brushes, painting became crazy-fun!”

1 Skull Clan Warrior “This

showed up in my sketchpad while
I was listening to an audio book of my
favourite fantasy series.”

2 Warrior Between the Hills

“Paintings can have humble
beginnings. This one started from a
helmet design sketch.”

3 Satyr and the Fairy Forest

“Sometimes the supporting
characters demand their own paintings
and this satyr is one of them.”

2 3

14 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

1

Jorge Ramos
Location: Spain
2
Web: www.joremdesign.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Jorge, aka Jorem, studied

illustration and graphic
design, before launching
into his freelance career.
He believes the best art is
built on solid line work.
“I find it really helpful,” he says, “to
develop good, clear line work. It’s
something to paint on, without
encountering problems such as missing
parts or confusion about the overall
direction of the piece, which would
make me undo and redo many times.”
Jorge recently began experimenting
with “a more three-dimensional point of
view” in his art, which he hopes to hone
in future pieces.

1 Ice and Scales “I wanted to convey

the immense size of the dragon to the
viewer. I achieved this by depicting tiny
figures in the snow, and also making the
dragon’s body too big to fit in the frame
of the image.”

2 Drow Sacrifice “I love the

Forgotten Realms books and I felt
compelled to paint this image because
I think a race of evil elves is unique in
fantasy stories. I was also challenging
myself. I placed an eerie light at the
bottom of the piece that gives the scene
a feeling of witchcraft – appropriate for
a sacrifice.”

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 15

 Olga Drebas
Location: Russia
1 Olga Drebas
Location: Russia
Web: www.griffinfly.com Web: http://griffinfly.com
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop MEDIA: Photoshop

Olga abandoned IT studies Olga abandoned IT studies to follow her

to follow her dream of dream of becoming an artist, and has
becoming an artist, and since worked as a freelancer for a range
has since freelanced for a of private clients – from tabletop games
host of private clients. and matte painting to 3D work as an
She’s worked on tabletop games and in-house employee for a video game
matte paintings to creating 3D imagery development company.
as an in-house employee for a video “I favour simplistic designs over
game development company. complicated ones,” Olga says. “Logic
“I favour simplistic designs over and functionality over style. I like the
complicated ones,” Olga says. “Logic older versions of Photoshop and the
and functionality over style. I like the colour green.”
older versions of Photoshop and the The Moscow-based artist is
colour green.” continuously honing her craft, paying
The Moscow-based artist is particular attention to oil painting and
continuously honing her craft, paying storytelling, while taking inspiration
particular attention to oil painting and from the works and memoirs of the old
storytelling, while taking inspiration Russian masters.
from the works and memoirs of the
old Russian masters.
© Difference Games LLC

1 Red Hood “This was turned into

promo art and a poster for a
freelance project I’ve been working on.
It’s a post-apocalyptic twist on Red
Riding Hood tale in form of a casual
hidden-object game.”

2 Edge Characters “A fellow

tabletop games fan commissioned
this piece, which is based on a rather
loose description of both the characters
and the scene. I learned a great deal
from the old masters’ figurative pieces
while working on this one.”

3 Descendant of Dragons
Character “This is art for a
© Milica Nedeljkovic

community activity I was participating

in at the time. The contest winner asked
© P. Villarreal

to portray their character, which I did.

Working for a specific cause motivates
me to create better art.”

16 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

1

2 3 Katrina Lin
Location: Canada
Web: www.katrina-lin.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

Katrina once doubted her

own ability: “Although
I always secretly dreamed
of being a professional
artist,” she says, “I never
fully committed to the idea, out of fear
I wouldn’t be good enough.”
But after graduating with a “practical,
parent-approved, computer science
degree” she’s returned to her art with
renewed focus. Self-taught, she picks up
techniques by studying her favourite
artists – everyone from old masters to
new game-developers. “I just love
colours,” Katrina says, “and I like to
imagine myself in the pictures I paint.”

1 Platforming required ahead

“I enjoy jumping puzzles in games,
and for this piece I mainly just wanted
to paint a place that looked like fun.”

2 A little lost “In Japan, the

Buddhist deity Jizo is revered as the
guardian of children, lost souls and
travellers. I was keen to show a
comforting respite for lost travellers
before they continued on their way.”

3 Abandoned car “I’m fascinated

by the theme of urban decay. It’s sad
but beautiful.”

4 Travel Bot “I always wondered

what it’d be like to travel in a giant
robot version of an RV.”

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 17

 Sina Pakzad Kasra
Location: Iran
1
Web: http://sinakasra.blogspot.com
Email: [email protected]
MEDIA: Photoshop

This year Sina earned a

place in Digital Art Masters:
Volume 9’s roll call of
50 featured artists. It’s
been a long road, taking in
a degree in graphic design and a
master’s in animation.
“Changing direction in my studies
meant learning the principals and
elegant details of filmmaking and
animation. This has given me a whole
new viewpoint when creating my art.”
The Iranian accepts commissions
from all quarters of the entertainment
industry, while working on personal
pieces he hopes to one day exhibit.

IMAGINEFX CRIT 2
“I love how Sina has
skilfully added lots
of gorgeous loose
brushstrokes to build up
detail in his images.
There’s also a Frazetta-
esque quality in the
composition of the image
Nature that draws you
wholly into the scene.”
Claire Howlett,
Editor

1 Nature “I always wanted to paint a

giant tree, but the opportunity never
came up in a job. So one day I finally
decided to do it in my own time. And
once I start to paint something it often
transforms into a more complex
composition. I used the lighting to place
the focus on the main subject and
enhance the mood of the piece.”

2 EVE “In this image, I chose to hide

the character’s face because I
wanted to give her a mysterious
personality and pique the viewer’s
curiosity. My lighting and colour palette
add to the atmosphere.”

3 The Burning Ashes “This image

came into my head when I was on
the road, observing a nearby mountain
range. I supplied the narrative, and
chose a contrasting colour scheme.”

18 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

3
submit your
art to fxposé
Send up to five pieces of your
work, along with their titles, an
explanation of your techniques, a
photo of yourself and contact
details. Images should be sent as
300DPI JPEG files.

Email: [email protected]
(maximum 1MB per image)

Post: (CD or DVD):

FXPosé
ImagineFX
Quay House, The Ambury
Bath
BA1 1UA, England

All artwork is submitted on the

basis of a non-exclusive
worldwide licence to publish, both
in print and electronically.

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 19

 Artist news, software events

At the core of the fantasy art community

Weta Workshop’s Greg

Broadmore says he rides an
“emotional roller coaster.”

Method
in their
madness?
Mind frame Do demons kindle creativity? We invite
experts into the world of the tortured artist…
The Madness of Hugo Van Der Goes I don’t eat well and if I don’t stop painting for
depicts its subject wide-eyed, dishevelled, a few days. As a matter of fact, I’m again
with one hand clawing at the other. The pretty nearly reduced to the madness of
artist is sat in the monastery where he Hugo Van Der Goes in Wauters’ painting.”
sought refuge from his demons. It was not the only time the Dutch artist
Van Der Goes – at the time, dean of the compared himself to Van Der Goes. Art
painters’ guild in Ghent, Belgium – entered critic Jonathan Jones describes Van Gogh
Roode Kloster in 1475. Here he suffered a – who, missing much of an ear and after a
mental breakdown, attempted suicide and stint in an asylum, is believed to have shot
died seven years later. He continued to paint himself and died from his injuries in 1890 – as
throughout this time, but was said to be being “fascinated, and perhaps inspired by,
dissatisfied with his work – the story that’s the story of this medieval artist’s madness.”
Oedipus by Nykolai told in Emile Wauters’ 19th-century painting. The most famous of tortured artists, it
Aleksander, who is
very much against Vincent Van Gogh wrote in a July 1888 seems, was himself captivated by a tortured
the glamorisation of letter to brother Theo: “I am not ill, but artist. Should we be surprised if the rest of
the “tortured artist.”
without the slightest doubt I’d get that way if the art world has followed suit?

20 October 2014
 never too storm in a a haven for
old to learn petri dish heavy metal
Bobby Chiu’s happy Comedian Tim After a busy day
to enrol with the rest Minchin’s dinner-party working digitally at
of the students at argument with an Weta Workshop, Nick
Schoolism, the online alternative medicine fan Keller swaps a stylus
art resource that he became part of his for a paintbrush and
helped to set up. But show. Find out why it’s rocks out while creating
what else can he learn? now a graphic novel… heavy metal album art.
Page 23 Page 25 Page 26

James Gurney’s Sea Monster: Industry insight

Dr Ruth
the American sees little value
in notions of the tortured artist.

Richards
The expert says creativity leads to
improved not worsened health…

What was the thinking behind

the book of essays you edited,
Everyday Creativity?
I believe there are serious
misunderstandings about creativity
and mental health that can even be
dangerous to people. The real
message is about health, not illness
– even with a personal or family
history of a mood disorder.
What are you thoughts on the
condition of madness as an
elevated state, just as the
Romantics believed?
The message is about moderation,
balance, harmony, if you will,
between a creative source of
Greg Broadmore’s brooding inspiring thoughts and the
piece the Loop was “spurred executive functions to use these
by hitting a creative low.”
productively. That is, a balance of
divergent thinking and convergent
“There’s some romanticising that goes on
about the tortured artist,” says Weta  I’m frustrated or even thinking. We found at Harvard
Medical School a “creative
Workshop artist Greg Broadmore, “but
generally that idea doesn’t
depressed by my work. I just advantage” that peaks during better
functioning times. Yet some people
hold as much water in the want it to be better; it’s never think the sicker the better. Too
many people think that therapy
as good as I want it to be
world of art for entertainment.”
While sceptical of such might hurt their creativity or they
notions, he admits his job can may stop taking very important
be an “emotional rollercoaster.” how the idea of the tortured artist has grown medications. This is not the way to
“Your art is you, no matter what the into the intractable myth it is today. increase creativity.
subject, and so to put it out there can make Nykolai Aleksander – a self-confessed
Is the idea of a tortured artist,
you feel vulnerable. We put great pressures Leonardo da Vinci addict who knows her art
then, something of a self-
on ourselves. Often I’m frustrated or even history – says, in the past, the
fulfilling prophecy?
depressed by my work. I just want it to be artist was a craftsman who
The Madness of Hugo Creativity is seen as healing by
better; it’s never as good as I want it to be. Van Der Goes, by Emile didn’t enjoy the same social
Wauters, features the many art therapists, expressive
I don’t share that feeling externally very status as is afforded them
classic visage of the artists, humanistic psychologists
often, so it can weigh me down.” tortured artist. now. They laboured under
and multiple others. It might even
The idea of the tortured artist took root
be preventative for certain persons
with the Romantics in the early part of the
who are “at risk.” So this
19th century. Romanticism, which valued
misunderstanding about tortured
subjectivity and individualism above all else,
artists may not only put people at
saw madness as a kind of elevated state – a
risk, but also keep them from the
place to unlock hidden genius and uncover
treatments that may help them feel
profound truths. The madman was someone
immensely better and bring out
who adventured into the unknown, the
underlying talents and abilities to
insane artist held up as a hero.
contribute to our society.
But long before the Romantics, Plato
planted the seeds of this idea. The
philosopher suggested madness was a “gift Ruth leads creativity studies
of heaven,” something which “comes from
courses at Saybrook University,
CA. Everyday Creativity is
God, whereas sober sense is merely human.” available to buy now.
Join the dots between Plato, the Romantic
www.saybrook.edu
Movement and Van Gogh and you can see

October 2014 21
 ImagineNation News
“I sometimes use
the anger or
frustration at a piece
of art or writing,” says
Greg Broadmore.

Stellar Art Award-winner Nykolai

Aleksander is a firm believer in
creativity’s healing powers – as
used by art therapists.

pressure – tight budgets, expensive

materials, tough working conditions – while Artists almost need to The study found that, overall, people in
creative professions were no more likely to
commissions and censorship dictated what
they could and couldn’t paint.
have certain qualities that suffer from a psychiatric disorder than
those in the matched group. In fact, people
“All in all this hasn’t changed that much,” verge on mental illness, such with creative jobs were significantly less

as obsession
Nykolai says. “Many artists continue to fight likely to be diagnosed with many forms of
making a living from their work, and many of mental illness.
the traditional mediums still pose a serious The study, while not without its flaws,
mental health risk.” But are artistic endeavours any more seems to dispel the myth of the tortured
The German Stellar Art Award-winner stressful than other professions? A recent artist. However, lead researcher Dr Simon
stresses there’s nothing romantic or study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Kyaga said the findings also suggested
glamorous about real mental illness, and Research used Swedish health records to certain disorders, which were no more likely
working artists today don’t have time to identify over a million people diagnosed to occur in creative people, may actually
pretend otherwise: “It’s hard to keep up with with various mental illnesses. Researchers have a positive effect on creativity.
workloads and deadlines – something as compared these “cases” to those from a “Artists almost need to have certain
simple as a cold or flu could upset schedules. matched group without psychiatric qualities that verge on mental illness,”
Field Combat by James
Clients expect you to do the work when they diagnoses. The study measured the amount Gurney, an artist who James Gurney says, “such as obsession,
says certain obsessive
need it to be done. If you can’t, they’ll simply of people within each group who had, or deeply felt emotion, social
traits should help, not
ask someone more reliable.” recently had, creative occupations. hinder the artist. alienation, and an odd mix of
egoism and self-doubt.”
Californian artist James is
best known for illustrated
book series Dinotopia and a string of best-
selling art theory books. He says playing up
to the role may have been beneficial for the
Romantics in separating what they did from
the carpenter, the blacksmith. But he prefers
to think of art as a cure for, rather than the
cause of, certain troubles.
“The idea of the struggling, tortured,
mad genius is a legacy of the Romantic
period, and it makes great copy for art
historians. But some of that is PR on the
part of the artists, and some of it comes
from the fanciful notions that grew up long
after the facts. But if the tortures of the soul
keep someone from producing work,
obviously, that’s not much help.
“Think Winsor McCay, Arthur Rackham
and Milt Kahl: all great artists with bizarre
imaginations, who were as reliable and
workmanlike as watchmakers.”

22 October 2014
 Artist news, software & events
Imaginism Studios’ Bobby Chiu,
who’s also worked at Disney and
Warner Bros., leads courses in digital
painting and creature design.

School of thought
Further education Bobby Chiu counts himself
as a student at his online art resource Schoolism
There was a time, Bobby Chiu Students choose to learn at their own pace
says, when the quality of art – with 100-day self-taught programmes – or
education depended on the with the additional help of personalised
standard of the school an video feedback from instructors.
artist could attend. He set up September sees Schoolism go on a world
Schoolism to help change that, though his tour, offering live workshops in nine
motives weren’t entirely altruistic. destinations across three continents. “The
“I created Schoolism to help further my benefit of the live workshops,” Bobby says,
own education,” the founder of Imaginism “is that you get to meet teachers and ask
Studios says. “I think that's what’s made it them questions. It's a whole other experience
great. I only invite teachers that I feel can to learn from the people at the top of their
teach not just students but professionals.” industries. Even for someone like myself,
Schoolism offers online courses led by who’s been going to these workshops for
Bobby and a roster of big-name artists from years, it's inspiring and motivating.”
the entertainment industry, such as Alex To find out more about the courses on
Woo, Sam Nielson and Nathan Fowkes. offer, visit www.schoolism.com.

Students can learn the

fundamentals of lighting or
lighting for story and concept
art from Sam Nielson. Andrew Hou presents a course entitled introduction to digital painting, in which
he takes students through Photohop’s core tools and painting techniques.

October 2014 23
 ImagineNation News
Hatboy
by Vaughn Pinpin

Your art news that’s

grabbed our attention
Justin Oaksford
@Justinoaksford
”Sargent study. Missed
some basic structural
info, but learned a lot
about stroke economy!”
http://ifxm.ag/fresh_justin

Alex Heath ‫‏‬

@AlexHeathDraws
”Recent Photoshop
painting of a human
embryo from London’s Fantasy talk Explaining the inexplicable
Hunterian Museum.” “One of my younger colleagues didn’t get the ‘not-removing-my-
http://ifxm.ag/fresh_alex
headphones’ message, so we had to have an awkward chat“
Chris Oately on the dos and don’ts of working in an animation studio… Page 60

Win a copy of Procreate!

Competition We’re giving
away 20 copies of the
excellent Procreate 2.1
Procreate is the must-have app for artists
with an iPad. We’ve teamed up with
Mike Jasnowski ‫‏‬ developer Savage Interactive to give you
@MikeJasnowski the chance to bag a free download of the
industry-leading tablet application.
”A quick study for We have 20 copies of latest version
Napkin Sketch group.” Procreate 2.1 to give away. For a chance to
http://ifxm.ag/fresh_mike win one, just answer the following question:

The name of the developer behind

Procreate is…
A) Savage Interactive
Procreate’s colour
B) Beastly Entertainment wheel is just one of the
C) Wicked Workshop many core painting
tools on offer.

Please submit your answer online at

www.futurecomps.co.uk/ifx-procreate. This
competition is open to entries worldwide.
Just finished something you want us to shout The closing date is Wednesday 1 October Patipat Asavasena
about? Send it our way on Twitter (www.asuka111art.com)
2014. For a full set of competition rules go to
(@imaginefx), or find us on Facebook! painted this sci-fi scene
www.imaginefx.com/comp_rules. in Procreate.

24 October 2014
 Artist news, software & events

Fair weather friend

Second coming A comic makeover for Tim Minchin’s
stormy atheist beat poem follows its animated video
Comedian Tim Minchin’s It struck a chord with artist
poem Storm started life in his Dan ‘DC’ Turner and producer
stand-up show. It was a Tracy King. Having caught his
10-minute tirade against 2009 show Ready For This?
‘evidence-free thinking’ of all they cornered Tim at a party
stripes, based loosely on a real life run-in and suggested animating the song. “Storm
with a vocal fan of homeopathy. is the best summary of the way I feel about
It’s a playful account of an evening meal the world, about science and rationalism,”
Tim’s epic poem has been adapted to the graphic novel format, with his words
that sees the wine-fuelled Minchin character says DC, “and it needed to be seen as well as either appearing within panels or, as in this case, over one large illustration.
singing the benefits of humanism to the heard.” Having created an animated film
astrology-loving Storm, although even Tim based on the poem for free, DC has just
initially had his doubts about it. “I always revisited the ode to humanism with a
wondered if it was funny,” he says, “it’s graphic novel, out this October.
barely comedy! It’s sort of its own genre.” “Dan talked about his animation style in
terms of it having a jazz, smokey feel,” says
Tim about the film, which can still be seen on
YouTube, “but what I didn’t realise is that the
book would be such a huge leap in detail
and texture.”
While Tim admits that Storm may be
preaching to the choir, he says that, “What
we think we can do, as science
communicators, or anyone that cares about
this stuff, is get the swing voters.”
Storm is on sale this October. Find out
A dinner party with a few of Tim’s friends provided Tim appears as himself in the novel, reacting to Storm’s ‘hippy’ diatribe against
the perfect platform for Storm and her views. more here: http://ifxm.ag/storm-ifx. science and medicine in the 21st century.

Tim questions Storm’s

stance of remaining
ignorant to facts that are
just a Google query away.

October 2014 25
 ImagineNation News
In my rented studio, this old CD collection battles for
space with oil paints, various liquids, laptop and my
Wacom. It’s probably not the ideal combination.

My portable painting
easel for field trips.

Every studio needs a square of synthetic turf as a My balanced wooden palette I brought back from

Nick Keller
carpet! I just wish mine covered the entire floor. Florence has served me well over the past few
Concrete can get a bit hard underfoot. years. I tend not to try and keep mixed oil paint
between sessions, because my erratic schedule
means it can be days before I get back to it.

Time share The Weta artist shows us around not one

but two studios, and previews forthcoming projects
My workspaces are a almost exclusively create digital art. My as a handy junk-accumulator. I can access
somewhat schizophrenic painting studio caters to my love of said junk while painting at my main easel.
scattering: there’s my PC traditional art. This means I can be working Unless I’m approaching a deadline, I’m not
workstation at Weta on a personal piece, or freelance projects particularly good at working from home.
Workshop, a similar but such as heavy metal album covers. I can be I find myself much more focused when I
more humble set-up at home, and a rented found here at all hours on weekends and late have a dedicated workspace, absent of
studio space at a local communal art on weekday evenings after finishing at Weta. distractions. Generally speaking, I’ll start an
centre in Wellington City. My setup is constantly evolving as I adapt oil painting project in sketch form, then
The day job as a concept designer – my workflow. At the moment, a repurposed mock up some Photoshop compositions,
mainly for film and TV – requires me to office desk with makeshift extension serves colour palettes and so on. Quite often

26 October 2014
 Artist news, software & events
Here are two recently finished album cover pieces I produced in tandem. Usually This is my Weta Workshop workstation. It’s a PC with dual monitor and Wacom tablet setup on the
I like to have multiple works on the go, so as to keep up momentum and avoid mezzanine floor above the design room. The rather large expanse of tabletop seems to encourage a lateral
any lull between projects, which seems to inevitably happen anyway. spread of my junk. Pictured on-screen is a digital mock-up for a personal oil painting I’m planning out.

My exceedingly comfy My progressively

reading/drawing chair. evolving collection of
My partner claims pewter skulls. Not quite
it’s hers and as a in evolutionary order.
consequence it’s made
the journey between
our two studios a
number of times.

My temporary abode of recently finished album art

projects that are looking for a more permanent home.

I accomplish this by staying after hours at

my Weta PC.
When I’m ready to move onto the canvas
I migrate to the studio. Until recently, it was a
bomb site of reference print outs, stuck all
over the place. A studio laptop has helped
cut down on unnecessary printing.
I’m still trying to find the sweet spot when
it comes to taking a digital mock-up far
enough to adequately inform my final piece,
without overworking it and merely recreating
it in paint. The thing that fascinates, satisfies
and infuriates me about the art form is the
evolutionary journey of a painting.
Nick is a senior concept artist at Weta
Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. Visit
www.nickkellerart.com to see more of his art.

October 2014 27
 ImagineNation

YOUR FEEDBACK & OPINIONS Our star letter writer wins a

dA Premium Membership!
Contact the editor, Claire Howlett, • Browse more content more quickly
on [email protected] or write • Customise your profile page • Receive
exclusive discounts & offers • And more!
to ImagineFX, Future Publishing,
Quay House, The Ambury, Even though our forum has closed, it won’t stop you from

Bath, BA1 1UA, UK

creating great fantasy and sci-fi art.
A chance to
Follow us on Twitter:
and helped shape my art. I’m not sure what
was behind the decision, but whatever it
paint the cover
www.twitter.com/imaginefx
was, it has created a void. I’m a freelance illustrator and for the
Tell us your thoughts on: I know that the forums have migrated past three years I’ve subscribed to
www.facebook.com/imaginefx elsewhere and with them the many ImagineFX magazine.
acquaintances I made over the past few The first issue I bought was the
Feel the energy! years. I’ll go there instead of ImagineFX’s Star Wars issue. I was on a beach in
I turned 60 last year and decided to website, but now we’re an isolated Morocco and after reading it I had to
go back to doing what I love, so I set community as opposed to being part of get back home and start painting
up a room for my art studio. My something bigger. ImagineFX remains a digitally. This magazine made me
seven-year-old grandson was beautiful, shiny car, but the decision to close take my art seriously and opened up
visiting and explained how I could the forums has put an ugly dent in its side. a whole new world of possibilities
paint on my iPad using ArtRage. Antonio Fernandez, via email through the digital medium.
After the first try I fell in love, and I’m writing to see if ImagineFX
I haven’t picked up a brush since. What I loved about ImagineFX was the would be interested in doing a cover
I’ve been a shaman practitioner focus on the art community. The forums art competition for a future issue. We
for over 30 years and use energy were the biggest reason I chose to subscribe see many talented established artist
patterns to connect to my students to ImagineFX magazine over other contributing each month. There’s so
and clients to find what blocks competing magazines. They gave hobbyist much undiscovered talent out there
them from moving forward. I’m sending Here’s an example of an artists such as myself the chance to be waiting for such an opportunity.
energy pattern that
you a few samples of individual energy Ravenwolfe has visualised featured in the magazine. I believe that the subject should
pattern paintings. Thank you for allowing using ArtRage. The community on the forums was like reflect what the magazine is about
me to share. no other forums I’d ever seen. All of the – fantasy and sci-fi – and combine
Ravenwolfe Teu, via email members on the forums were dedicated to the two. It should be something
their art and magazine. But now that the original, rather than fan art.
Claire replies Thank you for sending these forums are gone, there’s no longer anything Thanks for such a great magazine
in, Ravenwolfe. It’s not every day I get an that makes ImagineFX stand out from the and for taking the time to read this.
email from a shaman! These energy patterns rest of the magazines on the shelves. Randy Debono, via email
are a fascinating insight into how you use art ImagineFX needs to reconsider its
to communicate with your clients and readers. The forums were never advertised Claire replies Thanks for emailing
visually explain their issues and experiences. in the several years I was there as a member. in, Randy. I love the idea for a cover
The reason the forums failed to provide any competition, so I’ll keep it in mind
Mourning the forum profit to ImagineFX was at the fault of the for a later issue. However, if there are
ImagineFX is a fantastic magazine – it’s magazine, not users. Consider ImagineFX any artists out there who think their
hands down the best magazine for artists magazine one subscriber less. Bad move. art should grace the cover on
on the market. It was one of the factors that Madi, via email ImagineFX, don’t wait for a
got me back into art after a very long hiatus. competition – just email me!
The second, however, were your forums. Claire replies Hello Antonio and Madi. We
I’m very disappointed with the recent miss the forum too. It certainly was a great
decision to close down the forums section place for people to learn and share their art.
of ImagineFX.com. A casualty of this The decision to close the forum wasn’t ours
closure was the vibrant, helpful community to make. It was out of our hands. The
made up of professional and aspiring artists magazine is still going strong and my team
from every corner of the world that and I work very hard to bring you the best
contributed, critiqued and encouraged. And magazine that we can each month. I do
make no mistake about it: this was a heavy believe that what we offer is completely
casualty. There was a sense of community unlike any other digital art magazine.
that I associated with ImagineFX, which no The good news is that the great
longer exists. DID YOU MISS community you speak of still exists, just in
The reason I visited the magazine website
ISSUE 112? another place. The ImagineFX forum
Visit our shop at
so often was the forums; without them, I’m moderators have created their own forum,
http://ifxm.ag/
afraid I have no real reason to return. The ifxstore for so please go and join the community at
possibility of interaction is gone, the details on this http://cgartnexus.com, where you’ll be Our Star Wars issue from autumn 2011
inspired Randy to start painting digitally.
friendly banter is gone, as is the constructive edition and other looked after by Kaz, Volsupa and Banj.
advice that over the years has influenced me special offers, too. Please send them our regards.

28 October 2014
 essential art
resources
Videos, images, brushes
and more are available
with your digital
editions!

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Get a digital subscription to

ImagineFX and save money!

October 2014 29
 Back
issues

iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
Missed an issue of ImagineFX?
Don’t panic – many of our
previous editions are available
for you to download today!

Issue 112
September 2014
The Pre-Raphaelite art movement provides the inspiration for Corrado
Vanelli whose painting graces our cover, and Katarina Sokolova who
reimagines Ophelia to stunning effect. Elsewhere, Donglu Yu constructs
a city using textures, Mike Corriero concepts a menagerie of fantasy
beasts, and Wylie Beckert translates her digital skills to traditional media.

Issue 111 Issue 110 Issue 109 Issue 108

August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014
Jeff Simpson’s eerie cover image Find out why so many artists, On Batman’s 75th anniversary, we This issue we explore the art of
sets the tone for this issue, as we including John Howe, Lorland look at the dark art of Gotham’s the Seven Kingdoms with our
reveal the secrets to painting dark, Chen and Brom, are attracted to infamous vigilante, with imagery Game Of Thrones special. Mélanie
unsettling art with Anthony Scott illustrating stories that have from Jock, Frank Miller, Neal Delon paints Daenerys Targaryen
Waters, Xavier Collette, and the passed down the centuries. We Adams and more, while DC for our cover and we talk to the
man behind many iconic horror explore the comic art of Claire Comics’ Ken Lashley creates our key creatives on the show, and
posters, Graham Humphreys. Wendling, Cynthia Sheppard cover. We also explore Simone even chat with its creator George
We also talk to Les Edwards, brings a Greek goddess to life, and Bianchi’s sketchbook, draw a RR Martin about his vision for the
whose fantasy and horror work Tran Nguyen reinterprets the Wolverine fight scene and find out stories. All this, plus even more
is instantly recognisable. classic damsel in distress narrative. how a Fables cover is painted. great art, tips and workshops!

30 October 2014
 catch up on what you’ve missed!

Issue 107 Issue 106 Issue 105 Issue 104

April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014
By adding in beautifully detailed Celebrating the power of book We talk to the artists behind some This month’s artists will help
Taiwanese aboriginal costumes, illustration, we speak to Cory of the most beautiful female you push your painting skills into
cover artist Han-Yuan Yu has Godbey about his ethereal art and paintings in the universe in our untapped areas, with advice on
given his manga art a distinct to Tony DiTerlizzi about his motion pin-up special – from a sassy creating art from smoke brushes,
look. Christopher Moeller paints picture-inspiring art. Cory and roller-girl covergirl to amazing art developing your artistic voice,
comics in a traditional way, Serge Tony give us tutorials, too, on from Adam Hughes, Serge Birault plus our traditional art workshop
Kolesov depicts a mermaid from a creature design and book covers, and Sorayama. Elsewhere, we on painting a frog princess! Simon
new perspective, and Wayne respectively. There’s a studio delve into the world of tattoo art, Dominic revives an old concept,
Reynolds tells us how he turned a profile on Tor Books, and a look at and give advice on artist’s block and we reveal the winners of this
boring art job into something fun! Brian Froud’s latest work. and softening your painting style. year’s Rising Stars contest.

Issue 103 Issue 102 Issue 101 Issue 100

Christmas 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013
Discover the art skills you’ll need Traditional skills meet digital We boldly go into a galaxy of Come join the party and celebrate
to break into the competitive methods in Jean-Sébastien space art, highlighting the artists 100 issues of ImagineFX! Jason
video games industry, as we Rossbach’s cover art, which also who made their name in the genre Chan, Raymond Swanland, Marta
speak to the people behind The heralds a new section in the and talking to the digital painters Dahlig, Dan LuVisi and Genzoman
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Star Wars: magazine that’s devoted to who were inspired by them. Our head up our workshop section, we
The Force Unleashed, Remember bringing you the best in traditional workshops section reveals how to reveal which cover you liked the
Me and Mass Effect. Traditional fantasy art. We talk to Daren paint an epic environment, alien best, look back over the history of
fantasy artist Tom Kidd paints a Bader and Keith Thompson about figures and use references, while the magazine, and present the
book cover, and Dave Kendall their inspirations, while Jim Pavlec our Q&A section covers horror, results of your 100 favourite artists
puts Manga Studio 5 to the test. brings a gothic creation to life. skin and futuristic hair styles! as voted for by you, dear reader!

October 2014 31
 ImagineNation Artist Q&A

Got a question for our experts? let us get your

ease your art-ACHE at [email protected] resources
See page 6 now!

Pick a feature, or features

with character that you
can have on all three.
Note the big ears, chisel
nose and small mouth.

Nick Harris
English artist Nick moved
across to a digital canvas in
2000 after 18 years working
with traditional methods. He
works mainly on children’s
illustrations for books.
www.nickillus.com

Tony Foti
Tony is a full-time freelance
illustrator based in California
who contributes to D&D and
Fantasy Flight Games’ Star
Wars and The Lord of the
Rings lines.
www.tonyfotiart.com

Sara Forlenza
Sara’s a freelance illustrator
living in northern Italy, where
she works on book covers,
digital card products and
role-playing games. She’s also
a keen PC gamer.
www.saraforlenza.deviantart.com

John Silva Question

Originally from Portugal, John
is a self-taught freelance artist How can I draw three girls who look like sisters,
who’s living in Ireland. He’s
worked for companies such as and avoid them from looking the same?
Kabam, Gameloft, Applibot Anthony Dufraine, US
and Microsoft Xbox Live.
www.johnsilva.deviantart.com
Answer
Mark Molnar Nick replies
Freelancer Mark works as a All we’re talking about here is versus tall sister for example (which may be
concept and visual attributed to the builds of two parents). I
family resemblance. I need to
development artist for the
entertainment industry and convey the similarity of features have a tendency towards caricature, but that
freelances for film, game and – enough to show that certain should help here.
animation companies. individuals have come from the same gene Assuming these are the first characters
www.markmolnar.com
pool. Let’s take three sisters as requested, I’m creating (in other words, there are no
and naturally avoid identical triplets parents or other relatives to refer to), then
Don Seegmiller because that dodges the question. an easy way to begin is to decide on a
An artist and instructor who’s Distinctive facial
based at Utah Valley
I’m looking to deliver similarities, not prominent feature or face shape. Do they
features such as a high
University, Don is the author perfectly matching features. So I need to be forehead can be have a large or small nose, prominent ears
or co-author of five digital aware that general build and physique plays applied to all three or a lantern jaw? What shape are their eyes?
painting books, including characters, reinforcing
a significant part, unless I need to the family connection. A character’s eyes are always important
Advanced Painter Techniques.
www.seegmillerart.com deliberately contrast the individuals for because they’re one of the first things that a
some reason. A fat versus thin, or short viewer will look at.

32 October 2014
 Your questions answered...
Step-by-step: Question
Capture a family Can you give me some tips for creating a set
resemblance of cool brushes for painting vegetation?
Michael Jackson, Wales

I’m painting two sisters of similar age

1 and one several years younger, and
need to incorporate developmental
differences. Features tend to become
more pronounced with age. I can give the
two similarly aged sisters similar features,
but then afford them different
personalities through body language.

In this example I take a 100 per cent opaque

brush with an identifiable shape and then erasing
into it, to give it some intricacy and energy.

Answer
John replies
Working in ArtRage, I block in colour When creating custom brushes in to 100 per cent black against 100 per cent white.
2 behind some sketchy drawing of the Photoshop your main aim is for each If you can’t do this, at least try to reduce the levels
trio using the Chalk tool. Skin pallor and brush to leave an easily identifiable of grey. The next step is to introduce some details,
hair colour represent two more ‘likeness shape or mark. If you’re able to such as dents, nicks, scratches, holes, or another
tools’ I can use. Hair type is another. I opt generate a crisp silhouette, then your viewer will shape within the brush shape.
for wavy hair, but being sisters they’ll want be able to identify what you’ve painted from a Finally, you should try to be creative with the
their own styles. It’s about trying to imbue distance. They’ll also be able to distinguish setting in the Brush dialog (the shortcut is F5).
individual personalities. between similar shapes, such as tree leaves and I love adjusting the Scattering and Shape
petals on a flower. Dynamics: have fun tweaking the minimum
Always use a canvas size of 1,000x1,000 pixels diameter value. Then, under Angle Jitter in
when creating a custom brush. This will enable Control, set the brush to Direction. If you then
you to scale down your brushes while retaining click Brush Tip Shape you can change its shape,
their crispness. Scaling up a small brush shape which can produce pleasing results, as can
will result in a pixelated mess. adjusting the Spacing setting, which is key to
If you’re using an established brush stroke or control the repetition of your brush’s shape
photo texture to create your brush, always turn it when you use it.

I consolidate things, working up

3 details and checking I’m not erring Artist’s secret es
towards individuality at the expense of the textur
Add q uick and easy sha
family likeness. I strive for a balance. For pe – let’s say a
this example the sisters are all in the same
If you make one big simple t in details,
piece with the same lighting. If I were
triangle – but don’t want to pain Double
the
showing them in separate scenes, I’d make Here are the settings I use to quickly create visually then go to the Brush panel, tick sh.
bru
the resemblance more obvious.
interesting vegetation. Notice how the shape is still
readable, even when it’s duplicated and grouped.
Brush tab and select a texture

October 2014 33
 ImagineNation Artist Q&A
Question
What do I need to bear in mind when
painting a porous object that’s wet?
Eric Hands, Germany

Answer
Nick replies
Textiles and other porous
materials tend to look more
obviously different when they
become wet compared to hard
surfaces, whereas waterproof surfaces may
either become dotted with water droplets.
Fabrics and other absorbent surfaces often
show their wetness by a change in tone. A
lot of fabrics tend to look darker where they
have been made wet, but like every rule
there will be exceptions. Let’s take biscuits
as an example (always a pleasure, especially
if you’re a self-confessed dunker like me
when you have a cup of coffee in the other
hand). Ginger nuts are a great example. If
you dip an edge into the drink long
enough, you should see a darkening in tone
(but don’t leave it too long or you lose
portions into the drink). It may also glint
where the light catches it if very wet.
When it comes to fabrics, the best advice
I can give is to is always to look at real
material to see what happens. That’s not an
invitation to throw water over people
without asking, of course! Thick fabrics
become very heavy when soaked and their
form shows that. Patterned fabrics may
display different levels of reaction to the
liquid dependent on an area’s particular
The ‘wet’ effects may
be a bit too subtle, but
Artist’s secret
qualities. This fabric may become I’ve darkened some Merging moves to become bogged down
If you stack up the layers, it’s easy h them all. Merge layers
biscuit edges and the
translucent (partially see-through). The character’s jeans, as
oug
effects aren’t always glaringly obvious, so well as making his because you have to navigate thr more decisive and proactive.
T-shirt partially
whenever you can . It’l l make you
try not to overdo it. see-through in places.

Question
I’d like some help placing a strong
white light source in my art
Freckle Johnson, Spain

Answer
Sara replies
You’ll need to keep a few things I choose a very pale blue for the light’s
in mind, if your composition is actual colour. This will enhance the shiny
going to feature a correctly appearance of the elements in my
depicted bright light source. composition, such as the silk dress, the
First, the colour of the light will affect the sword hilt and the character’s hair.
colours throughout the scene – even, Next, I consider that a strong light casts
perhaps surprisingly, the shadows. very dark shadows. I subsequently take
The introduction of a white source of care over the placement of the light source,
light means that the hue values will be pure so that the cast shadows will help me to
and saturated, just as they would be in better define the shapes in my scene.
bright sunlight. It’s for this reason that neon Indeed, painting these shadows correctly
A strong light needs to affect all lights are regularly used in art schools: they means that even the most outlandish of
elements in the composition, if have a minimal effect on colours, compared fantasy characters will have an air of
it’s to look realistic.
to other sources of artificial lights. credibility about them.

34 October 2014
 Your questions answered...
Question
Can you help me choose the right
colours to paint metal please?
Jose Castillo, Canada

Answer
John replies
The environment that Here are four common
environmental settings
surrounds the metal object is that would affect metal.
almost as important as the Placing another
material alongside a
depiction of the object itself. metallic object would
It’s actually that simple. If a metal ball is reinforce the effect.
in a field of grass with a blue sky then it
would be green at the bottom and blue
on top. If a metal ball is in a room that’s
lit by both an artificial light and natural Notice how the rusting
metal has a vibrant
light through a window, and the room is appearance. The top
beige, then it would be light brown at the one is from another
planet and the bottom
bottom, yellow on top and a desaturated one from the ocean.
blue on the side from the window. If a
metal ball is depicted as if it were in an
80s sci-fi movie, then it would probably
have a cold blue spotlight on top and
neon light on the side.
I could go on all day, but I think you
have plenty examples there! The
environment has a significant effect on
metal, even if it’s painted metal. Now,
the second thing that’s crucial to
painting a metal object is to desaturate
whatever colours from the environment
are affecting it. This means that most
colours will become quite cold; our eyes
see the colours going towards a blue-ish
tone, even though that’s not what’s
really happening. I then apply a few
dabs of blue tints with a texture brush.
Finally, don’t forget about rust, if
appropriate. Whatever the
surroundings, rust will always have a
brown, red or yellow appearance.

Step-by-step: Fill your scene with light

Once I finish the sketch of the image Because I’ve chosen to place my Once the rendering and the details are
1 I start laying down the flat colours. I 2 light source at the top of the picture, 3 completed, I add small touches of
save myself a bit of time by ensuring that my objects will cast long and dark green light, reflected from the wall, on to
they’re slightly saturated. During this part shadows. Furthermore, because the light the dress of the character. Finally, I
of the painting process I decide on the that I’ve chosen is very pale, cold and emphasise the light source’s strength by
location of my light source. Then I’m ready strong, my shadows will be warm and dark adding a bright halo around the surfaces
to begin rendering the composition. and very definite. already affected by it.

October 2014 35
 ImagineNation Artist Q&A
Question
Have you got any advice for designing a futuristic gown?
Baz Furlong, England

Answer
Tony replies
One of the most important technology augmented reality to the point
aspects of any science fiction or where everything is automated, or has
fantasy painting is how society crumbled upon itself and now the
everything has been designed. plasma dome is all that stands between
People love those genres because they offer us and a pulsing, radioactive sky? These
a glimpse into other worlds, and when you are the sort of things you need to know
take the time to design things such as before exploring how the citizens of
clothing and architecture it enriches the Futuretown 20XX ought to dress.
whole experience. It just so happens that For something as specific as a single
designing clothing is one of my favourite gown, though, we need to understand the
parts of the artistic process, so these are person we’re tailoring for, as well as the
steps I go through fairly often. world in general. The key is to try out a lot
Before drawing anything, of course, you of different thumbnails, getting out as
need to know the world you’re working in. many ideas as you can and continually
Is it a grim future? An idealistic one? Has checking them against the overall theme.

Artist’s secret
Familiarit y Breeds
Cont empt uristic
When designing something fut you
The final illustration is in
and avant- gar de, the last thi ng
three-quarter view so
the shapes can be want is for the outfit to look like Get
et.
something you’d see on the stre
understood. Anything
that’s perfectly
side of you r com fort zon e to create
straight-on or profile out
will leave out necessary
stra nge and une xpected.
information. shapes that feel

Step-by-step: Start simple and build up

Is your character rich, I start with a base
1 2
Powerful Mature middle class, poor? silhouette and draw on top
Artistic? Reserved? Overtly of it, only focusing on the
Regal Elegant sexual? Just like in the real outline. By keeping things
Opulent Futuristic world, how a person dresses simple, I can quickly
Avante Garde can tell you a lot about their experiment with a lot of
Beautiful Exotic story. Create a list of adjectives different ideas. Often I’ll use
Other Worldly you would like to see conveyed the edge to indicate something
in your final design, and keep specific such as a frilly skirt,
Sharp Clean them in mind as you draw. but other times I’m just
Pristine Synthetic/ Doing this will help you find drawing in triangles to see
Organic your way when you come to what my brain creates from the
forks in the road. abstract shapes.

Once you have enough With the major shapes in

3 thumbnails that work,
4 the thumbnails defined,
separate them from the rest choose the one that best
and start adding in a second exemplifies the feeling you’re
value. My usual approach is to looking for. Separate and
create a new layer over the enlarge it, turn down the
silhouettes and lock it so the Opacity of the layer, create a
outside edges remain true to new layer on top of it, then
the base. Let your mind fill in start sketching over the two-
the details, always checking tone study. You can then try
back in with your adjectives to out different colours beneath
make sure the concept is the line work, although for this
moving in the right direction. example the dress is black.

36 October 2014
 Your questions answered...
Question Question
Can you give me advice on scanning a Please help me
pencil sketch into Photoshop? paint a beard
Flossy, Bulgaria Jen Bethany, US

I use the Levels tool to get rid

of the black lines in the
sketch. The sketch should be
mid-tone greys and whites.

Maintain the direction of the beard hair with your brushstrokes, and build up
from the bigger shapes towards the single hairs and highlights.

Answer
Mark replies
Answer There’s an easy approach that you can take to
Don replies painting a beard, or any type of facial hair. Instead
Colourising a scanned pencil of trying to depict individual hairs, squint and
sketch to get rid of the black simplify it to its overall shape. Approach it like any
lines can save an artist lots of other solid object first. Once you’ve painted in the main
work and aggravation. Dark, shadows and lights, slowly break it up into smaller sections.
black lines are hard to paint over while Keep your edges soft where the hairs end or start, and create
maintaining the sketch. There’s an easy way harder edges where the edges align with the direction of the hair
to colour and soften those black lines. section you’re painting, such as below the moustache. You don’t
I open a sketch in Photoshop and use Here you can see the coloured sketch after
have to detail everything: reduce the definition in your shadows
the Image>Adjustments>Levels menu merging down the colour layer, indicating the and handle them like visual noise. Then focus on applying fine
colours of the lizard and flower.
commands to maximise the white and detailing within highlighted areas, where you can also
minimise the black. I move the white introduce much sharper lines. One nice touch is to add extra
adjustment marker to the left so the lightest green, which will be the eventual colour of highlights and glow to the edges of the facial hair, especially if
grey areas become white. I then move the the lizard. I use a brush to paint pink over you have strong back- or ambient light around your character.
mid-value adjustment marker to the left so the small flower. After producing a quick line-work sketch, I move straight
the black lines become light grey. I Merge Down the colour layer and save into colours and block in the main shapes with a bigger brush.
To add colour to the lines of the sketch the image. The sketch has lighter values and I lay down the main values first and then slowly build up the
I create a new layer and set the blending the colours are closer to those that will be details. This helps me to focus on the main features of the face:
mode to Color. I fill this layer with an olive used in the painting. the eye-nose-mouth triangle and the prominent beard.

Artist’s secret Start with bigger

brushstrokes to
BLEND ON! ding Modes
build up the beard’s
There are several additional Blen at different volume (1); enhance

that work as well but wit h som ewh the shadows, light
and extra forms
ured sketch
results. Color Burn will give a colo a more subtle with more textured

that’s darker. Soft Ligh t will give brushes (2); then

paint directional
additional
effect with a bit more grey. Try highlights with
ferent look s. a simple Round
Blending Modes for dif brush (3).

October 2014 37
 ImagineNation Artist Q&A
Question Question
Can you help me paint a How can I paint something
noble-looking character? that’s moving fast?
Kurt McCready, Canada Jessica Stevens, England

Answer
Mark replies
Painting a noble character detailed illustration, but rather simply
depends on the context. Your capture the key elements of the character.
chosen setting may feature a lot After quickly blocking in the silhouette of
of cultural differences, but also the character, I move straight into colours
a lot of similarities that have their roots in using highly saturated red, purple and
history. In essence, richer people can afford yellow/orange for the golden parts. I want

© Alderac Entertainment Group

to buy more high-quality clothing and to build on the feel of stability that I create
accessories – which are obvious status with the triangle shape of his cape, so I
symbols – and you could choose to reflect divide my main values into an even mid-
this in your art. There was a time when range (the cape) and a darker range (upper
patterned fabrics were created by hand, and body and legs) to create even more balance.
certain clothing dyes were expensive to After finishing the rough painting stage
produce, so only noble figures were able to I add some photo textures to bring a bit The blurred background and movement of the character’s dress, hair and
afford such clothing. more realistic detail to the character. It’s arms is balanced by the stillness of her face, which becomes the focal point.
In this character sketch I’m depicting a during this final stage that I add historically
medieval duke who travels to the Middle accurate patterns to most of the surfaces Answer
East to trade. I’m not going to paint a fully and clothing materials. Tony replies
Something special happens when a still, two-
Historically, saturated dimensional image can create a sense of motion in
colours were always
associated with higher the viewer’s mind. It can be a tricky feeling to
social status. reproduce, but I’ll use this Legend of the Five Rings
piece to illustrate some ways to go about it.
If this is a figurative piece, you’ll want the pose to be
dynamic. If there’s a lot of movement throughout your
composition, I suggest creating a still section that will act as
your focal point. When only one area is in motion, such as a
rocket punch or roundhouse kick towards the camera, that
section will become a strong focal point. On the other hand, an
illustration full of moving objects will draw the audience into
whatever parts of the piece are inert.
Fast movement looks blurry to the naked eye, so keep the
edges softer in areas of high speed. Take short-exposure camera
images: the faster the shutter, the sharper the edges are on
moving objects. With a fast-enough camera, even pouring water
can look frozen with crisp shapes. Softness implies motion.

The circular design

of the character’s
pose takes the
viewer’s eye around
the image.

Artist’s secret
st
Create edge contraimp in your
lied speed of whatever’s moving
If you want to reinforce the . Seeing
The posture of a character can tell a lot about tively still near the motion blur
their social status. Using a triangle as the main image, have things that are rela ention to the difference in velocity.
att
shape suggests stability, while a head that’s
pointing upward suggests an air of superiority. the contrast in edges will draw

38 October 2014
 Need our help?
If you have a question for
our experts, email us at
[email protected]
Question
How can I paint a glowing moon
behind the wing of a flying monster?
Sue Age, England

Answer The painting shows a

simple method of painting
Don replies a glowing moon. The key
to success is using
For this question, I imagine the multiple Screen layers of
wing of a bat. The bat’s arm and varying opacity and blur.

elongated fingers run along the

length of the wing, and these
are solid areas that light won’t penetrate. In
contrast, any strong light source behind the
wing’s thin membrane will be noticeable.
To help me achieve a realistic effect, I’ll
make use of Photoshop’s layer styles and
Opacity settings. I start by painting a bright
circular moon, and then create a realistic-
looking glow effect using Gaussian Blur,
before adjusting the Opacity. Using
multiple layers enables me to recreate the
fading effect of the glow in the night sky.
Next it’s just a matter of showing
moonlight through the bat’s wings. This is
achieved by the logical use of layers –
bearing in mind the bat’s arm and fingers,
which will block the moon’s glow. As a
finishing touch, I take into account how the
membrane affects the light’s quality.

Artist’s secret
To add more realism to Add natural colourwill change colour, just like when
Light shining through tissue
gers creates orange skin. For a
the image, paint rim
lighting on the edges of
shining a flashlight through fin shining through tissue, use
the creature closest to
whe n
the glowing moon. more natural-appearing light tion sliders to add colour
ents>H ue/Satura
the Image> Adjustm
into the bat ’s wing membrane.

Step-by-step: Depict realistic moonlight

Create a new layer for the moon and Scale each glow layer so it's larger Group all the moon and glow layers.
1 with the Elliptical Marquee tool, hold 2 than the moon layer. Make the glow 3 Merge the group into one layer. Load
the Shift key so that your selection is a layers progressively larger than the one a selection of the bat layer. Cut away the
perfect circle. Using the Paint Bucket Tool, underneath. Add Gaussian Blur to slightly moon and glow layer overlapping the bat.
fill the circle with a dark yellow/orange soften the moon layer. Use larger amounts Paste the cut portion of the moon layer
colour. Change the of Gaussian blur on into a new layer.
Blending Mode of the glow layers. The Lower the Opacity of
this moon layer to top layer should the new layer so it
Screen. Name the have the most blur. appears behind the
layer Moon. Vary the Opacity of bat wing. Erase the
Duplicate the layer the glow layers so bat's arm so the
two or three times they fade into the glow shows only
for the glow. night sky. through the wing.

next month: drawing hands | depict skin burns | paint a rotting animal cadaver
design flying beasts | concept a stone figure | create a magnifying effect and more!

October 2014 39
 studio profile

Moonbot
An Oscar heralded the studio’s arrival
on the animation scene in 2012, but
there’s more to Moonbot than movies…
ome businesses thrive on

S structure, others thrive on joy.

It’s all about balance, according
to Moonbot Studio’s co-founder
and creative partner, Brandon Oldenburg.
“When you have the right balance, respect
for both sides of the skill sets business and
art, you’re able to do great things.”
Great things are what defines Moonbot,
which has just added two Emmys to its
growing list of awards. Yet, with the studio’s
lobby resembling a paediatrician’s waiting
room, and monthly drink and draw
gatherings at the local microbrewery, you
can’t question that the balance is working.
With an approximate ratio of 20 per cent
admin and the rest “incredibly talented,
gifted, disciplined and (tongue in cheek)
mature artists”, there’s an obvious
emphasis on childlike joy. As Brandon
explains: “We look through the eyes
of our younger selves, to keep

Christina Ellis sketches with Beavan

Blocker. “I get really fired up about
the culture of the art team, and
want to foster relationships
between artists, ” she says.

40 October 2014
 studio profile

Moonbot
Location: Louisiana, US
projects: A Bean, A Stalk
and a Boy Named Jack
Other projects:
The Mischievians, Morris
Lessmore, Diggs Nightcrawler
Web: http://ifxm.ag/m-bot

October 2014 41
studio profile
Kenny Callicutt’s Beanstalk project
allowed more freedom than his
freelance projects where “all the
art was dictated and I was just
executing the image.”

our adult selves in check. We just want

to tell stories everybody likes, from six-
to 96-year-olds, but we have to enjoy it first.”

Teach your children well

Balance isn’t just about
creative and business ratios,
it’s about reading the room
and keeping that joy alive. “At
any given moment,” says
Brandon, “you could accidentally blow out
the creative spark. You have to keep that
spark fuelled.”
Understanding how a creative mind
works is a key part of Moonbot’s success,
giving ideas time to breathe and
embracing the meandering steps towards
perfection. Brandon likens it to teaching
his daughter how to ride a bike, telling her
“the important thing to understand is Brandon Oldenburg It takes an equally balanced individual to who want to embrace a variety of things.
and Joe Bluhm sought
we’re going to fall down at least 45 times. to create a conflicted fit into a team that creates such playful Many studios try to compartmentalise,
Just embrace that and say ‘Yes, I fell down character in Chipotle’s perfections. “An incredible portfolio is one finding the one step where an artist excels
The Scarecrow through
once! Now I’m going to fall down 44 story, body language, box to check,” says Brandon, “but they need and avoiding the risk of letting them step
times!’ But know that every time you fall lighting and colour. to have a love for storytelling, cinema, outside that expertise. “What’s unique
you are going to get closer to this thing games and books. They also have to have about this place are the different
called riding a bike.” good people skills. And it’s important disciplines,” says art lead Joe Bluhm. “But
they’re doing what they love; that means we we all care about the same

They need to be satisfied – will get incredible work and they will be
happy. They need to be satisfied – we don’t
things: the quality of art,
storytelling and the game or
we don’t want anyone to feel want anyone to feel like this is a job.”
While a well-developed skill set is
film we’re putting out there.
Everyone wants to support
like this is a job important, Moonbot also looks for artists that. I like the idea that you can speak up
and someone will listen rather than saying
Dolby asked Moonbot to take it’s not your turn to talk.”
Morris Lessmore on a new

No beans about it
adventure in Silent, a short film on
the evolution of film technology.
Kenny Callicutt was a
freelance illustrator before
coming to Moonbot. “I was
more traditional; never
freelanced for any studio, it
was all magazines, book covers and kids
books.” He never got to see what the final
product looked like. “I was largely ignorant
of what working at a studio entailed. Before,
I’d get a call from somebody I’d never met,
they’d send over a written pitch, I would do
some thumbnails and make a picture.

42 October 2014
 studio profile

Moonbot
Joe
Bluhm
Joe tells us what he brings
to the Moonbot table
Had you published anything before
coming to Moonbot?
I produced caricatures for years.
When you see how people react to
being drawn, with their insecurities
coming to the fore, you find it’s such
a strange anthropology. I decided to
publish a caricature art book called
Rejects where I show the drawings
people didn’t like because they were
done too well.

What was your first experience at

Moonbot?
I came to the company to do
storyboarding, but I instantly started
asking if I could become involved
with the character design and
concept art. I was responsible for
the majority of the design and
storyboards for The Fantastic Flying
Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

What do you focus on as

department lead?
I make sure all the artists are
enjoying what they’re doing, that
communication is happening
between members of the art team,
and try to set a standard for the
quality of art we do.

What are your personal tasks

at Moonbot?
It can be storyboarding, creating
animatics for the beginning of a
project, helping to conceive the
Photo by Louisiana Economic Development

story and aesthetic. Sometimes, it’s

doing concept art, such as a
styleframe at the beginning of a
project to define the look of a film or
commercial, and my favourite thing
is to do character design.

What have been some of your

favourite projects?
We recently did a project for Amplify
Learning, putting together a tablet
and digital curriculum to teach Edgar
Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado.
I was a huge Poe fan when I was
Moonbot Studios artists
and animators work younger so I was really excited to do
in the “artist pit,” this. I got to interpret the text
which was designed to visually, design the characters and
foster collaboration. storyboard and create something
totally new. I was lucky enough to
lead story, art direct, and direct the
film with Bill Joyce.

What was your favourite task on

Chipotle’s The Scarecrow?
I really enjoy colour and establishing
palettes. The model and animation
team sends you a screengrab: it
looks like a weird, half-finished grey
sculpture shot, and I get to paint on
top of that, supporting the lighting
artists as much as I can. Those are
fun because all you are thinking
about is light and colour and how it
plays in the scene.

Joe graduated from the

As the main illustrator
Cleveland Institute of Art and
on The Numberlys,
Christina Ellis worked built up a career in caricature
closely with Kenny art, which he also taught,
Callicutt, collaborating before joining Moonbot.
on ideas to create the www.joebluhm.blogspot.co.uk
best results.

October 2014 43
studio profile

conducting
a character
CG generalist Kendra Phillips on why sound
was key in the making of a short animation
Kendra worked on the short film Silent, for
Dolby Laboratories. “I was involved in every Orchestral setting
step of the project, from the client meetings “The original pitch was an older male composer
and initial pitching phase at the very beginning, with wild hair, conducting an off-screen orchestra Hair today...
to and character designs, storyboarding, to show off the sound system. After iterating on “We loved that the composer’s hair could be so
designing the main character and eventually that idea for a while, everyone felt we should try expressive – almost becoming a character in itself
modelling and rigging her to an extent. different approaches.” – so we tried other options.”

“There’s always a moment you see in your mind

that becomes the heart of a project.” Brandon
Oldenburg, on his inspiration for The Scarecrow.

Here, it’s everything from asset design Joe Bluhm designed story. We just started doing sketches, Bill many ideas I had, and how my mind runs
colour keys for The
to matte paintings.” Now, at Moonbot, he’s Scarecrow, which is liked a few and wrote to match. That was at a mile a minute.”
already collaborated on a video game, one of his favourite awesome. That doesn’t usually happen.” At Moonbot, Christina “floats like a
tasks at Moonbot.
several short films including Chipotle’s The Christina Ellis was hired by Moonbot firefighter on different projects, but I almost
Scarecrow, and books such as The Fantastic after her 2010 graduation from Ringling always get to do preliminary palettes and
Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and College of Art and Design. “I was lucky general lighting.” She left her mark on
the upcoming A Bean, A Stalk and A Boy because my portfolio wasn’t nearly every phase of William Joyce’s book,
Named Jack, written by William Joyce, that impressive, but it was The Numberlys.
Moonbot’s other creative partner. interesting enough to get an “Bill will get ideas, put a drawing on your
Working with William [Bill] is far more interview. They opened my desk and say, ‘play with this’. Sometimes I
organic. On Beanstalk, Kenny says that, sketchbook and saw how get to play for a day, sometimes longer. It’s
“The script existed but it wasn’t set in stone the process of nurturing.” Because he knows
and the arrangement of the book was still
up in the air. There were even instances
I almost always get to do his artists well, their skill sets and styles, Bill
is usually pleased with the results.
where Bill hadn’t decided what was going
to be written on the page, but had given us
preliminary palettes and “For two weeks I did visual exploration.
We started a dialogue on how many pages
a pitch of what was going to happen in the general lighting the book had, what compositions would be

44 October 2014
 studio profile

Moonbot

Child’s play Expressive face Fingers in pies

“Myself and the directors pushed the clients “After the character designs were finalised by the “By the end of the project, I had been involved every single part of
towards the idea of a bright girl. This introduced a visual development team, I got to model her and the project except for animation, which is not something that I’d done
unique angle to the character’s relationship.” create her facial rig.” since school.”

where and what the story would be like. Kendra Phillips to do the art and I was able to help him with
prepares for the
He’d give me more specific drawings and director’s afternoon compositions or character designs when he
the book kept getting polished.” rounds, refining 3D needed it. I like relationships that change
models for the short
film, Silent. with the time and needs of the project.”
mixing things up a little Now Moonbot may be turning the page
Collaboration and fostering relationships is to its next adventure. The studio’s acquired
one of Christina’s passions, and she’s happy the rights to two books: The Extincts and
when the mantle of lead is passed to a co- Olivia Kidney. Joe is tackling the character
worker. “With Numberlys, I got to be the designs and concept art for what Moonbot
main illustrator, but Kenny helped me with hopes will be its first feature film. “I’m
the illustrations when he had free time. restless if I don’t get my hands in While developing The Numberlys, Christina Ellis and
When Beanstalk came around it was his turn everything,” he says. Bill Joyce brainstormed all elements of the book.

October 2014 45
 profile
DreamWorks Animation

rain
Country: US

to T
DreamWorks Animation has produced

o w
animated feature films since 1998’s

H ragon 2
Antz, which featured the voice of
Woody Allen. How to Train Your
Dragon 2 is its 29th film, and the
accompanying Art Of HTTYD2 book
(including over 300 concepts,

Your D
preliminary drawings, architectural
plans and digital artworks) is published
by Titan Books. For more information
on the art book visit
http://ifxm.ag/ifxHTTYD2.

ki n gs ta le reveal
d ragon s ‘n’ v i sequel
ork ed on th e e sm a sh -h i t
Artists whto hwe sketches that led to th
some of
Drago
Nico Marlet came up with
toothless
Concept artists Tron Mai, Ryan Savas,
the first idea for this character.
After a couple more passes by
Paul Fisher and Johane Matte other artists, Nico then finalised it
tackle Toothless. Character designer Nico with a dragon skin cape.
Marlet: “We added a few refinements to
make him look a little older.”

Thunderdrums
Nico Marlet came up with the design and
look of these thunderously scary dragons with
his trusty pencil and markers.

46 October 2014
 Sketchbook How to Train Your Dragon 2
at ease
Tron Mai, who has previously worked
on Kung Fu Panda 2, Tangled, The Croods
and the first Dragon film, captures the
peaceful essence of Toothless with this
rough sketch.

watercolours
Dean DeBlois works up
his own pen sketches with
ink and watercolour, much
like he did for his first
co-writing and directing
project: Disney’s Lilo &
Stitch, which was
released in 2002.

pens
HTTYD 2’s screenwriter
and director Dean DeBlois
sketches characters Toothless
and Hiccup with pen,
getting an idea of them
mid-flight.

“We added a few

refinements to make
Toothless look a little older”

October 2014 47
 get your
resources
See page 6 now!

Workshops assets
are available…
Download each workshop’s WIPS, final image and
brushes by turning to page 6. And if you see the video
workshop badge, you can watch the artist in action, too.

Advice from the world’s best artists

52
This issue:
52 How to render
characters
Pramin Phatiphong reveals
how to make your 2D
character designs look like
3D models.
56 Design a set
for animation
Discover how to design and
stage a distinctive animation
environment, with the help
of Mingjue Helen Chen.
60 15 ways to
survive your dream
job in animation
Chris Oatley brings you his
insider advice for becoming
a successful artist in the
animation industry.
67 How to use
the Scale tool
56 60 68 SketchUp makes increasing
or decreasing the size of
elements in your artwork
easy, says Mark Roosien.
68 Dynamic lighting
in Photoshop
Nathan Fowkes helps you to
bring your environment
designs to life with clever
lighting designs.

67

October 2014 51
 Workshops

how to render
characters
Discover how you can make your 2D character designs look
like 3D models. Pramin Phatiphong is your guide

ixing colours, size, character rendering of a 3D look in 2D. This is a intuitive, but spending the extra time in

Pramin
f poses, format and rendering
styles will be some or all of
the things that you’ll be asked
time-saving method that helps the
development team to clarify and define
concepts before the character or asset is
establishing your graphics up front will
give you the flexibility to deal with most
production demands that raise their
Phatiphong to do during the visual development submitted to modelling, which is a heads during the latter part of the process.
Country: US process. This can be time consuming and lengthier and more costly process, and Staying organised, naming layers and
creatively draining, even for the best of us. more difficult to correct at a later date. creating context folders will give you back
Pramin is an
Los Angeles So in this workshop, I’ll introduce an The approach adopts a relatively non- more time for higher levels of creative
based art approach to rendering that I’ve used over destructive method of rendering, which thinking and execution. Finally, knowing
director and
the years to help me through many makes use of many layers along with the the basics of 3D lighting or just plain
concept artist
working in animation, demanding production requirements. Pen tool. It requires some time to set up cinematic lighting will always come in
advertising, print and Essentially, my process covers the properly and this might seem counter- handy, whatever the assignment.
mobile. He’s an all-round
ethical chap with good
table manners.
http://ifxm.ag/praminp

get your
resources
See page 6 now!

Conceptualising the composition Colour test

Resizing Brus
h 1 The brief calls for a young, hip urban girl with artistic 2 I take a single thumbnail and make eight copies of them
Opt+Ctrl (PC) dreams, so I draft up black and white thumbnails to work out on a single layer. To colour it, I create a separate layer using the
ac)
Opt+Cmd (M
ld thes e ke ys down composition ideas as well as story and mood. I create between Overlay layer effect. I use as many layer effects (Color, Multiply
Ho
g your six and 10 thumbnails, using no more than three to five basic and Screen) as necessary to achieve the right effect. It’s always
while draggin
right.
stylus left or value planes with a simple Hard brush, and a Soft brush to create better to paint in the effects, but having a command of layer
various lighting schemes. effects will help you stay flexible for production demands.

52 October 2014
In depth Render characters

October 2014 53
 Workshops
Thumbnail image

Coloured
thumbnail

Blocking out shapes Colour fill

3 Once I’m satisfied with the colour scheme, I take the small 4 Next, I colour each part by sampling the colour test
black and white thumbnail and enlarge it with the Transform thumbnail. Double-clicking the shape layer brings up a Color
Get to grips tool to the desired size. Just like using tracing paper, I use the Pen Picker window, and I use the Eye Dropper tool to find the target
with the Pen tool to create shapes for each character part – face, eyeball, hair, colour. I pick a half-tone from each plane. Whether creating
This Photoshop tool
might be one that most
legs, mouth and so on – over the enlarged thumbnail. As I do shapes or colour, I prefer to use a non-destructive method when
concept artists avoid, this, I make sure the values match the original. possible. This gives me options during my painting phase.
because the drawing
feedback doesn’t feel as
spontaneous, and it’s
also fairly cumbersome
to use. But with a day’s
dedicated practice, a
working knowledge of
the Pen tool can add
greater precision and the
speed you need to your
creative arsenal.

Ambient occlusion On to the face

resources 5 This is generally a 3D term. Put simply, it’s the innermost 6 After applying ambient occlusion, I create a Soft Light
area of the painted object where it’s darkened by shadow. I use a effect layer and apply several colour accents to bring out the iris,
Clipping layer with a Multiply setting to start painting in cheeks and lips. Soft Light is one way to make the image pop
shadows (not cast shadows) in areas where there’s a recess: for with subtlety, but enough to create a strong focal interest. Of
Photoshop example, the fold of the eye, the mouth or the clothing. I use course, applying specular shine to eyes at either the 10 or two
custom brushes: black and set the layer’s Opacity to between 60 and 70 per cent. o’clock position of the iris is a safe bet.
Soft Round

This brush is great for

painting planes that
require gradients, and
for blending edges or
colour transitions.

Med Round

Painted
mask
Ideal for laying down
colours and broad
strokes. It’s usually the
first brush I use for the
bulk of illustrations.

Hard Round
The big picture Adding a cast shadow
7 At this point, I back up and assess the overall picture. 8 Now that all the pieces are prepped, I introduce a dramatic
This brush gets the least
Then I apply Soft Light or Overlay layer effects to the entire body cast shadow on a Clipping layer. Using a purple colour fill, I set
amount of use, but it’s to balance the composition, making sure that the colour accents the layer to Multiply. I then create a mask to erase off the part
extremely helpful when serve the focal point. I made the rear leg darker, as well as that represents light dawning on the character’s face. A Soft
I need to create a vector-
bringing up the occlusion behind the head to create more depth. Round brush gives me the flexibility in handling the cast shadow
like stroke quickly.
I also create some graphic and textural elements to the umbrella. edges, because they vary in softness.

54 October 2014
 In depth Render characters

Layer Select
ing
From The Can
vas
Ct rl+click (PC)
Cmd+click (M
ac)
Helpful when
navigating
to paint on dif
ferent
layers.

Lighting accents
9 After some degree of adjustment, I merge all the layers 10 Adding blur
Next, I use a tilt-shift effect to create shallow focal length
and save it as another file to declutter my workspace. I create to add intimacy to the character. In essence, the blurred edges
another Clipping layer and set it to Vivid, sampling the base force the viewer to look at the in-focus area. The degree,
colour to paint lights in. Vivid mode works rather well for a position and size of blurring is a matter of preference. Whether
high-key composition such as this one. hard painted or by effects, blurring helps to add a little mystery
to the piece.

Apply some noise

11 Next I use the Add Noise effect to mimic film grain, as 12 Background elements
The brief requires the background to be simple, sketchy
well as distress the image further. This is done by applying a and sparse, so that text can be added when the image goes on the
colour fill on another layer, usually black. I render Add Noise to cover. On a separate layer, set to Multiply, I apply a light-blue fill,
this black-filled layer and set it the layer to Overlay. I adjust the then scrawl a few architectural details that suggest a Parisian
Opacity to create a subtle effect, and mask off unwanted areas setting. I also paint some lighting overlays to the background to
with a Soft brush until the desired effect is achieved. further frame the character.

Purge the
clichés
Be bold and crank out as
many thumbnails as the
schedule allows. Don’t
pause to criticise. No one
has to see your less-
favourable creations.

13 Adjust values
All the heavy lifting has been achieved by playing with 14 Conclusion
A lot of the initial work was done to anticipate iterations of
This is an exercise to
purge any clichés that
are inside you. Your
shadow and colour. I use Adjustment layers to tweak the levels the image. Creating all the assets using a non-destructive process
creative muscle has a
and saturation for optimal readability, and create more details to means that re-adjusting lighting, saturation and even pose or warm-up point and
fill in the compositional gaps, such as reinforced occlusions, expression is straightforward. This technique adds speed and needs to be stretched to
improve, if you’re to see
paint splashes and colour droplets. I warm the image by adding a control to my workflow. You can, of course, use Illustrator to
decent results.
watercolour texture to the background. substitute the process, but that’s another workshop…

October 2014 55
 Workshops

Design a set
for animation
Mingjue Helen Chen applies her knowledge of art direction
to design and stage a distinctive animation environment

elcome! This workshop won’t stage it in the clearest way possible.

Mingjue Helen
W only outline the basic way to
start a set design, but also
introduce the thinking
Afterwards, you can reverse engineer the
actual design of the set and props.
As a visual development artist, a large
Chen behind set design for animation. part of the job is being able to visualise
Country: US One of the most important aspects of what the film could look like
any set in animation is the fact that it aesthetically, using techniques such as
Helen works
as a visual should work as a stage for the characters lighting, texture and stylisation to get that
development and story, as well as any action that takes vision across. Another big consideration
artist and art
place within it. When you look back at that relates specifically to film versus
director
in the feature animated some of the classic feature film traditional illustration is the time the
film industry. Films that animations, you’ll notice that each frame audience has to digest information. In an
she’s been involved with is designed so that it contains the best illustration, the purpose is to capture the
include Frankenweenie
and Big Hero 6. composition to tell the story. Your set viewer’s attention for as long as possible;
http://ifxm.ag/mh-chen design should be no different: it should to elicit their appreciation of small details
first and foremost be designed for the and paint strokes. However, in film the
get your camera and story. viewer only has a limited amount of time

resources
See page 6 now!
I find the easiest way to begin is to
imagine a scene or actual shot from the
to digest the visual information put forth
by the camera in a shot. Essentially, every
final film with a strong story point, and second counts!

Painting your
©iStock.com/marcduf

lighting effects
When lighting an object,
I prefer to paint the light
into it and then add layer
effects such as Color
Dodge afterwards to
enhance the effect. My
Produce some thumbnails Research
basic approach is to start
on the object with basic 1 Before beginning, I decide on a simple story – one that’s 2 Next, I spend some time seeking out references for
lighting built in, use an
easy to read and a fun jumping-off point. A lonely girl spends her different aspects of the painting; these can be photographs of the
Overlay/Dodge layer
with the colour of the time in the attic of an orphanage or a foster home, and it’s here actual space, props or even lighting. By the time I start looking
light I want to use, and she meets another inhabitant of the attic. This simple story for reference I’ve already made some key decisions about the
then create a new layer
provides just enough context to get going on a set. I usually piece, such as the fact that I want the main light source to be
for effects such as bloom.
produce four or five thumbnails to get things going. warm candle light.

56 October 2014
 In depth Set design

Deciding on a thumbnail Laying in the space

3 I chose a thumbnail in which the characters stand out 4 This is the most important step for me, because this is where I lay in the key planes of
from the supporting background. I also decide on the setting of the set, as well as the initial lighting. It determines not only the size of the space, but how dark
an attic because it has a lot more visual interest than in a or light the final piece will be. Every stroke I make afterwards will be judged against the value
bedroom, because of the shapes created by the dormer windows. and colour of this first layer of paint.

October 2014 57
 Workshops

Last Filter
)
Cmd+F (Mac
Ctrl+F (PC)
pth of field
Control the de
tting th e Last Filter
by se
tcu t to a low-level
shor
r.
Gaussian blu

Set up your perspective grids

5 I don’t often rely on perspective grids: if I follow them too closely I find the end result looks too stiff for animation. I do lay
them in early, though, so I can look back and remind myself of what perspective I think the piece should be. The decision of what
perspective to use has already been determined in my loose thumbnail.

Creating your own textures Laying in your textures

resources 6 I tend not to use photographs in my paintings, because 7 Next, I apply texture along those large planes of the set
they rarely look correct next to the more cartoony characters. So I established early on. I regularly pull up my perspective grid to
for repeating patterns and textures, I’ve started to find ways of make sure that it follows it more or less. I often use these textures
creating my own. The danger in this though, is too much in a layer mode such as Multiply and adjust the Opacity. It’s
repetition, so I make sure things aren’t too even: for example, the important to paint over the laid-in texture, because otherwise
Photoshop
widths of the wood. it’ll look like a flat texture that’s been overlaid, funny enough!
custom brushes:
006oilpastel

I use this flexible brush

as a quick sketching
brush, and for depicting
nice, crisp edges.

thick_acrylic_
ultra_textured

This is my main painting

brush. I use it to produce
a textured painterly base
on every painting I do.

light_thick_paint
Painting the chimney Adding architectural details
8 I repeat the process of creating my own texture for the 9 At this point I have my “stage” designated, so I start
I use this brush for its chimney. I move it on to a new layer so I can focus just on the painting elements like the crossbeams with my lighting scheme
neat vertical and chimney. Once I’m happy with the result, I move it back into my in mind. The human brain tends to want to equalise things, but
horizontal texture. It’s
original file and adjust the lighting to match the rest of the to give this attic the feel of a little wear and tear I change up the
ideal for creating a subtle
wood grain texture. image. Using a combination of Multiply and Darken layers gives spacing between the beams. It also creates interest within the
me a pretty good result. design, because not everything is perfectly spaced.

58 October 2014
 In depth Set design

Painting rim
lights properly
One of the biggest
mistakes I see when
painting rim light is when
it presents as a flat line
along a shape. Think of
rim lights as a light
source that falls on top
of the object and wraps
around the form. Rim
lighting will also be more
believable if it looks like
it’s affected by texture
and how the object
reflects light. For
example, use softer rim
lights for objects such as
wool or hair, and harder

10 Time to redraw!
Now I take my image and recompose smaller details back on top of it, such as the characters and a few prop details. It’s always
ones for metal.

hard to know how much detail you need to put into a painting, and for the first step of a set design like this painting, I think
something that conveys the feeling of the space rather then every little detail is more important.

Transform to
ol
Cmd+T (Mac
)
Ctrl+T (PC)
Quickly lay in
a flat texture
or to move ele
ments
around quick
ly.

Illustrating some props

11 Keeping with the main value structure of the piece, I paint 12 First character
Now I lay in the first character. She should be clearly
details such as the foreground elements and the small trinkets visible among the darkness and all the little trinkets that she’s
that the character might have put up in her space – newspaper put up, so I make sure she’s one of the brightest points in the
clippings, feathers, glass, for example. I want to show that she’s painting. I also create a cast shadow of the character to
taken this empty space and made it her own. If this set were to go accentuate her lighter silhouette against the darkness that the
to final, these props would warrant their own design pass. shadow creates. This also helps to push the smaller details back.

13 Second character
This second character is tricky, because of the idea that she 14 Lighting effects and finish
After the bulk of the painting has been completed, I can now focus on adjusting the
isn’t just a human. I chose blue to offset the warm lighting on the lighting and values for the best read. The idea is to tweak the balance of the piece just in terms
human character, to pull them completely into different worlds of value, to achieve the clearest read. I also add a rim light to the sitting character’s face
and to keep the painting from feeling too monochromatic. I use because I feel she’s become slightly lost in the painting, even though I’ve put a dark shadow
a variety of blurs, Gaussian and motion to help give her a glow. behind her. Finally, I add a noise filter to tie the painting together.

October 2014 59
 Workshops

ways to survive
your dream job
in animation
Chris Oatley’s visual development experience will
help you to ascend the animation industry’s ranks

pring 2007 was when I landed experienced pro. In that time, I’ve

Chris Oatley
S my first in-house visual
development gig at Disney.
After a few months of eye-
observed a few common mistakes and
misconceptions that could sabotage your
animation career before it starts.
Country: US opening experiences at the studio, I felt Even if you feel like a total noob
compelled to create the podcast that (I often still do), no one has to know. You
Chris left
Disney in 2012 I wish had existed when I was trying to can – and should – begin preparing
to start The break into the industry. yourself to work in a studio environment
Oatley Over the past seven years, eight long before you break in. Here are 15
Academy Of
Concept Art &
animated films and a hundred podcast ways to ensure that you look, sound and
Illustration. His ArtCast episodes, I’ve been helping artists make feel like a confident professional on your
features education and the transition from total noob to first day at an animation studio.
career advice from some
of the industry’s top
professional artists.
www.chrisoatley.com

1 You’re probably stopping too soon

At Disney, I would spend three to five days on a single character design and then another week on the visual
development painting. Sometimes during that process, we would decide to scrap everything and start over. It’s
rare for me to meet an aspiring artist who works this hard on a single character design or digital painting. I know
that almost every artist on the internet is in a huge rush to churn out as many paintings as possible, but this isn’t a
race. Well, it is a race, but have you ever heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?

60 October 2014
 Artist insight Studio survival guide

Try to understand how

the synthesis of visual
elements defined the art
direction of successful
animated films
2 Become a chameleon
As an animation visual development artist, you’ll have
to adapt your work to the style of a particular film or
TV show. You’ll also face many design challenges that
aren’t covered in the style guide. Study the history of
design and watch every director’s commentary and
‘making of’ documentary you can find. Try to
understand how the synthesis of visual elements
defined the art direction of successful animated films
such as Sleeping Beauty, Mulan and The Incredibles.
Doing so will increase your artistic agility, and develop
your versatility and your unique visual voice.

October 2014 61
 Workshops

3 draw and paint the real world 4 If it looks wrong, then

You can’t hide a weak drawing using shiny digital techniques. it’s probably wrong
True professionals will see the stiffness in your figures and the Legendary painting guru Richard Schmid said: “Never
mushy perspective in your environments. Regardless of your knowingly leave anything wrong on your canvas.” If
skill level, it’s crucial to paint from real-world observation. You something in your drawing or painting looks “wrong”
can always find figures and environments to study for free. then don’t move on until you figure out what the
Paint en plein air. Draw the animals at the zoo. Sign up to life- problem is and fix it. Don’t ignore the problems in your
drawing sessions. Get your art buddies to pool funds and hire paintings. They won’t go away with more rendering.
a model, or save your money and pose for each other. They’ll only get worse.

Make the most of every

opportunity to prove that
you’re an indispensable
asset and a worthy addition
to the A-Team

6 It’s hard out there for a temp

Breaking into animation is often like dating someone
with a fear of commitment. Your first few gigs might
feel uncomfortably impermanent, and that’s likely
because the studio is still unsure about the financial
5 Create your own ‘tradigital’ techniques viability of investing in a long-term relationship with
Most of the artists at Disney work tradigitally, meaning they move back and you. This happens to almost everyone. Don’t let it mess
forth between traditional and digital media. All of my character designs begin in with your head. Make the most of every opportunity to
my sketchbook and then I scan them into Photoshop or SketchUp or both to prove that you’re an indispensable asset and a worthy
explore further. I then print the digital version and draw over it with pencil or addition to the A-Team. I found Linchpin by Seth Godin
marker or colour it with marker and coloured pencil. Then I scan the hybrid (www.sethgodin.com) a great read for learning how to
image and finish it digitally. Keep changing things up to keep it interesting. become indispensable.

62 October 2014
 Artist insight Studio survival guide

7 be inventive… up to a point
Your work must be inventive and
stylistically versatile. But you also don’t
want to stretch so far into versatility that
you begin to showcase your weaknesses.
Cory Loftis (pictured above) is a great
example of an artist who maintains a
balance between consistent quality and
mind-blowing versatility, as his blog 8 Under-promise, then over-deliver
demonstrates: http://coryloftis.tumblr.com. When passionate artists get excited about a new, creative opportunity, they
often promise too much, become overwhelmed and end up having to
apologise for unmet expectations. As my friend Mike puts it, this is, “Writing
cheques with your mouth that your body can’t cash.” I’m especially guilty of
this. It’s a hard habit to break. When freelancing for a studio (an opportunity
that often precedes full-time work) or following-up with a recruiter or art
director, always promise less than you know you can deliver by the deadline.
When you deliver more than they expected, you’ll seem like a superhero.

9 meet the professional geek

The animation industry is full of geeks. Our cubicles are
adorned with toys and most water cooler conversations
sound like film school, but every successful animation
pro has found their zen. They carry themselves with
friendly confidence and engage in compelling, adult
conversations. They aren’t presumptuous and are good 10 Feed your head
at reading social cues. Their colleagues feel both Creative ideas come from knowledge. Knowledge comes
challenged and respected. Many aspiring artists haven’t from history, past and present. A deep knowledge of art, film
found the balance between geek and professional. and literary history will fuel your imagination and help you
Spend time with older, wiser professionals from any communicate efficiently (and impressively) with your
industry and practise the art of conversation. directors. If it’ll make you smarter, read it.

October 2014 63
 Workshops

11 Hit the ground running 12 Prepare to be unprepared

Some young artists break into Disney and start dilly-dallying. Everyone on the crew has too much to do. When
One of my younger colleagues dropped by my cube for up to something goes wrong, the producers look for the
an hour, multiple times a day. This artist didn’t get the “not- most convenient, viable answer… and that might be
removing-my-headphones” message, so we eventually had to you. After you break in, it probably won’t be long
have an awkward chat. Yes, you need to make connections before you’re asked to solve a high-stakes problem, or
with your colleagues, but every minute of the job is an at least contribute to the solution. Stay cool. Trust your
audition for the next movie or TV show. Work hard, play hard. talent and training. And don’t let them down.

After you break in, it

won’t be long before you’re
asked to solve a high-stakes
problem, or at least
contribute to the solution

13 Negotiate a fair rate 14 With great power...

The Animation Guild (aka “Local 839”) in Burbank Artists and storytellers have an extraordinary ability to
publishes a yearly wage survey for the animation cultivate empathy in the world. Much of the pain we
industry: http://animationguild.org/contracts-wages. experience is caused (or severely intensified) by a lack
Refer to it when you’re submitting your salary of empathy across cultures, creeds, clubs and between
requirements to an animation studio in southern individuals. Yes, I want you to pursue mastery of the
California. Your starting rate is crucial because your craft and success in your creative career with
future pay raises will probably build upon it. Note the wholehearted passion. I want you to get your dream
entry-level rates as well as the ceiling to negotiate a fair job. I really do. But I want you to consider a higher
rate without insulting your potential colleagues. While calling, too. How can your art help to heal a
studios in other cities will probably pay a little less than relationship, humanise the oppressed or awaken
studios in LA, you can still use the survey as a basis. selfless love in your audience? Why not try?

64 October 2014
 Artist insight Studio survival guide

15 The long haul

A successful career in animation goes way beyond your portfolio.
Inside the studio, your primary job isn’t to be the best artist on the
crew. Your primary job is to make the lives of your art director,
producers, director and crew as easy as possible. Of course, that
means being a solid artist and taking art direction. But it also means
being a humble listener, a trustworthy collaborator, a clever problem
solver and a generous encourager. I hope you’re up to the job!

October 2014 65
 Willow#2 by Cris DeLara
CGWorkshops Instructor

Online Learning 2014

VFX and Entertainment Design

CGWORKSHOPS
cgworkshops.org
 Quick technique Scaling help

SketchUp
how to use
the scale tool
The proper use of scale is just as important in a 3D environment
as it is when working in 2D. Mark Roosien helps you on your way

s you develop your models in frequently. It’s just a natural part of the

A SketchUp (you can download

the free version of the
program, SketchUp Make, at
design process.
Fortunately, SketchUp enables you to
resize individual lines, surfaces, Mark Roosien
Playing with
green cubes
A B
www.sketchup.com), you’ll often find components or entire models in just a few Country: Netherlands

yourself rescaling individual features, or clicks. This is achieved by using the Scale Mark is a
perhaps even an entire model. tool. Here I’ll use a (very rough) model of self-taught
Particularly during the early stages of a a robotic walker, to demonstrate the artist who
jumped from
3D model, things can change rapidly and scaling process in three simple steps. traditional
media to SketchUp seven
years ago. He specialises
Always consider in nuts ‘n’ bolts sci-fi art.
1 the human scale
http://ifxm.ag/mroosien

Every time you open a new file in

SketchUp, you’re greeted by a 2D human
figure. I always use this figure as a
reference to set up the overall size of a
model. In this case, the walker should
be bigger. Select all walker components
with the Select icon. Now select the Scale In this article, I use the Select tool (A) and
Scale tool (B). When using the Scale tool, a
tool. A yellow box appears around the yellow box with green handles appears.
selected model. Click any of the handles to manipulate the
yellow box (and thus its contents). When

Resize the model you move a cube, that cube and its
2 Select one of the green cubes on the end-points of the yellow box to resize the
counterpart will turn red. If you’d like to
rescale a component from its centrepoint,
model. Move your mouse to enlarge the model. The walker has a nicer overall size now, hold Ctrl while moving a cube. You can also
define an exact scaling factor by entering a
but the main body should be a bit flatter. Click one of the main body components, value in the Scale box.
choose Edit Component, and then select all the lines and surfaces in it.

Manipulate individual features

3 Click the Scale tool again. The yellow box reappears, but only
around the selected features in the component. This time, use the green
box on top of the yellow box and move it downwards. The component
(and its duplicate) is flattened. If you like, move your mouse in the
opposite direction to stretch the component. It’s that easy.

October 2014 67
 Workshops

Dynamic lighting
in photoshop
Concept artist Nathan Fowkes shows you how to bring your concept art
and environment designs to life through clever lighting design

s concept artists, our job is to times using different lighting palettes to exposing their designs to the light of day

Nathan
A reach out to our audience
and connect with them on a
profound emotional level.
create a range of emotional beats.
Learning to do this gives each of us the
ability to become a visual storyteller,
and hiding distractions in the shadows.
This process can bring emphasis and
emotion to any part of a scene: the sky,
Fowkes One of our primary tools to achieve this much like a musician who can score an background, mid-ground or foreground.
Country: US entire movie with its emotional highs and
goal is lighting design. For this workshop I invite you to commit to becoming a
Nathan is a I’ll build a scene using light to create lows rather than striking a single cord. master of designing with light. It’s only
concept artist visual interest and emotion. I’ll use light to design the emphasis for through mastery of the core concepts of
with screen My process is to explore the idea each scene. My first decision must be to draftsmanship, colour, pictorial
credits on 11
feature films. through thumbnails, then bring them decide what the scene is about and then composition and lighting design that will
He’s worked for clients into Photoshop for colour development to design the light accordingly. Concept enable you to create artwork which
throughout the and finish. I’ll rework the scene several artists must be cinematographers, resonates with your audience.
animation and gaming
industries including
DreamWorks, Disney,
Blizzard Entertainment
and Ubisoft.
http://ifxm.ag/n-fowkes

get your
resources
See page 6 now!

Omit the
solution
Sometimes the solution
to lighting problems is
not about what you put
in, but what you choose
to leave out. If your
subject is meant to be
illuminated, try
contrasting it with
shadowed areas devoid
of information. And vice
versa for the shadows: if
your subject needs to be
seen in the shadows, try
burning the information
out of the lights. You
then have the value
range to lighten the
Sketching out initial ideas
shadows for clear detail
work. The active versus
1 I like to start by working out ideas in my sketchbook. I find this step enjoyable because the pressure is off
passive relationships will and I can just play around with ideas. Here I’m using a pocket-sized sketchbook (a Hand Book Artist Journal) and
create a powerful
a Prismacolor Verithin orange pencil. The architecture is loosely inspired by a trip to Westminster Abbey in
statement in your work.
London. I’m intentionally giving the scene three-point perspective for dramatic effect.

68 October 2014
 In depth Dynamic lighting

Experiment
with values
If you’re struggling with
your lighting, most likely
it’s a value problem
(lights and darks). Try
turning your image to
greyscale, and look for
clear silhouetting of
shapes and clear,
consistent light sources.
When it’s time to move
back into colour, try to
keep things simple by
only considering the
Tonal rough Background lay-in
2 The finished rough is painted over the line art with a 3 Here I’m setting the stage for a stormy sky and misty grey
temperature of the
colour. If you do nothing
other than get warm,
Pentel water-soluble ink brush and a waterbrush. Technique isn’t landscape. I like to start with a warm wash before laying my
cool and neutral colours
important here: any medium that will give you a full range of neutrals over it. This creates an impressionistic richness that to feel right relative to
values will do. The benefit of simple sketchbook work becomes gives a sense of natural light and visual interest to the scene. The each other, you’ll be
apparent in this stage. Notice that only the face and silhouette of simple statement at this stage is a gradation from a light sky to a surprised at how
accurate your colour
the façade has been emphasised. shadowy ground. becomes!

Large silhouettes Lighting detail

4 I create selections for key elements in the image, such as 5 Because the big masses of the scene are already
the clouds, layers of architecture, doors, windows and trees. I save established, I can now bring out architectural details and paint
each selection as a channel and click them as needed to rough in in the light raking across the building tops. I treat the central
the establishing silhouettes. The light patch in the sky emphasises building as a character close-up, with dramatic lighting falling
the central building. It darkens toward the edges to give the other around the head. This completes the base image, but it’s not
building lower contrast and therefore less importance. nearly good enough. I’ll try to improve it during the next stage.

Ker-plowee!
6 A concept artist must design the light such that the wind,
sky and land cry out to the audience. So I’m reworking everything
to make the lightning flash inescapable. The background now
disappears against the sky, a warm patch in the sky contrasts with
the lightning and the glow has been limited. Regrettably, we can’t
rely on lightning for every image so let’s paint some…

October 2014 69
 Workshops

…zombies!
7 I know, I know, zombies are so last year. This is really
about changing the emphasis in the scene from sky and
architecture to characters. Try strong rim light on characters
or important objects to give them visual importance.

70 October 2014
In depth Dynamic lighting

Pretty in pink
8 I have to admit something at this point: notice that every
one of my previous images lean towards dark and moody? Well,
we’re artists, we love dark and moody! But I’ve seen far too many
hopeful concept artists get really good at dark and moody
without any range beyond the monochromatic. This becomes a
ceiling that keeps us from rising above the crowd, so for that
reason I’m going with an anti-zombie pink in this one.

Creating a volume of atmosphere

9 One of the tricks of the impressionists was using
backlighting. It’s a wonderful lighting setup because it enhances
the simple silhouettes of scenes and sends a unifying warm light
cascading through the work. The result is an image that looks as
if the space is coming alive as a volume of light. For visual
interest I’m letting cool skylight fill the atmosphere in the
distances away from the sun.

10 Black night of magic

Okay, enough sunshine now. I can’t resist getting back to
the dark and moody. This is a great opportunity to explore the
elimination of detail. In this one, shadows lose all information
and unimportant edges disappear into the night.

October 2014 71
 Workshops

What’s inside?
11 I’m using calmer night-time lighting now, because the
lighting is no longer about the drama of the environment, it’s
about what’s on the inside. This is my big opportunity to focus
on the interior, so I’m lighting up those windows. Scenes like this
are often used in film to establish a location before the camera
cuts to the interior.

12 Extremes of light
Here I want to emphasise that you don’t have to resort to a
lightning flash to give light a powerful presence. I’m combining
top-light with atmosphere so the light becomes a penetrating
force in the scene.

13 Light to soothe the soul

No, I’m not a New Age kind of guy, but I do need to be
able to convey the natural magic of light. This can be achieved by
“golden hour lighting” when the harsh light is reduced but the
warm and cool contrasts are increased in the last light of day.
This happens because the redder wavelengths of light are able to
penetrate the angular volume of atmosphere, but the bluer
wavelengths are reflected away into the atmosphere. Hence the
dimmer light and stronger warm/cool contrasts.

72 October 2014
 In depth Dynamic lighting

14 Into the full light of day

I’ve been falling back toward too much mood and drama again, so let’s go out on a
ray of sunshine. The secret to strong sunshine is actually in the shadows; the bright
lighting has a tendency to bounce warm tones into adjacent shadows. Add to that the vivid
blues that fall on shadowy top planes from the sky and you have brilliant shadows that
only exist in the full light of day.

October 2014 73
 New art
discoveries
We’ve searched the universe to bring you
the best drawing and painting advice ever!
Issue 114 UK on sale Friday 12 September 2014
74 October 2014
Sought-after artist
shares her secrets
characters with b
Charlie Bowater
for painting
Featuring…
eautiful skin
Composition skills
Master artist James Gurney
reveals how to get your
scenes right every time.

Painter 2015
Don Seegmiller shows us
how to get the best out of
the latest version of Painter.

Photoshop guide
From the tools you need to
get started, to avoiding the
most common mistakes.
Miles Johnston
Inside the sketchbook (and
mind) of this brilliant
up-and-coming UK artist.

October 2014 75
 SOFTWARE & hardware
78 Jot Touch with Pixelpoint
78 Adobe Line
training
79 Concept Design
Workflow Vol 1
Books
The latest digital art resources are put 80 Fred Gambino’s latest,
and more!
to the test by the ImagineFX team…

Painter 2015
Particle Accelerator Painter’s celebrated brush technology
Android Jones’ Forward
Escape shows the
incredibly detailed work
gets an update – is it enough to justify the expense of upgrading? you can create with Painter.

Price £315 (upgrade £159) Company Corel Web www.corel.com Contact 08000 488984

hile Adobe has embraced exhausted its supply of real-world

W software subscriptions to
much of its product line,
Corel is sticking to the pay-
brushes and mediums a few years ago,
and has therefore moved on to more
abstract creations. With Painter 2015,
up-front model. The latest version of it’s the introduction of particle brushes.
its evergreen Painter software is a If you’re familiar with Flame Painter
case in point: you can buy a boxed you’ll know what to expect from these
copy or a digital download, but there animated brushes. The Particle Spring
are no rolling subscription packs or brush, for instance, consists of a
seamless updates. number of points that follows your
Where Painter always moves cursor, springing backwards and
forwards is in its brush technology, forwards as you build momentum and
which is its big selling point and its trailing off if you draw a sharp angle,
raison d’etre. Corel seemingly resulting in a gauzy, wispy line. Particle

Particle Effects are best suited to

Painter’s window layouts means you
adding subtle effects such as a fine curl
can see just about everything at once,
while keeping your workspace clean. of cigarette smoke or a cobweb
76 October 2014
 Software Painter 2015
Artist interview
Greg
Newman
The freelance illustrator gives us
his thoughts on Painter 2015

Do you use Painter alone, or do

you use Photoshop as well?
For the most part I use Painter,
although from time to time I’ll do
transformations in Photoshop.
Painter has provided me with
almost everything I need to do my
work effectively, without having to
rely on Adobe products.
Is Painter 2015 noticeably faster
than previous versions?
With 64-bit support on the Mac,
I can honestly say yes! Painter 2015
enables me to paint with some of
the brushes I wasn’t able to use
A nice touch is that before – namely Real Watercolor.
Particle Brushes have
in-depth descriptions What do you think of the new
and diagrams, so you Particle brushes?
can find out what to
adjust to achieve They’re fantastic and have a lot of
particular results. settings for tweaking the particles
and flow. I’m still trying to figure
out how I can work these brushes
in a way that will fit my style. The
first tests I ran with these brushes
enabled me to create some
Features interesting strokes that mimic hair
n New digital brushes realistically. That will be a huge
n Jitter smoothing
n RealBristle painting asset, since I’m heavy into portrait
n Enhanced speed and work and realistic textures.
performance
n Native 64-bit What other new features have
performance on Mac
n Brush tracking impressed you?
n Real-time effect A few that come to mind are user
previews
n Custom user- interface improvements and new
interface palette help palettes. Painter’s developers
arrangements
n Smart photo- have ramped up support for other
SmartStroke technology enables painting tools tablets on the market and have
you to follow the contours of n Real-time stylus and
photos with a brush. Windows Tablet PC made sure that the Monoprice
support tablets are among them.
Flow Yeti, on the other hand, creates change how hard you have to press to System Is there anything else you’d like
randomised patterns of coarse hair: get your virtual ink flowing. There’s also Requirements
PC: Windows 8.1 to add to Painter?
perfect for painting fantasy beasts. many under-the-hood enhancements, (64-bit), or Windows 7 Corel has done a great job of
(32-bit or 64-bit
These brushes don’t act like real-life such as support for 64-bit processors, listening to the community and
editions), with the
brushes, and this is the point. Each and custom palette and tool latest Service Packs, taking the suggestions and needs
Intel Pentium 4, AMD
takes a little getting used to, and it’s arrangements. of artists into consideration with
Athlon 64 or AMD
worth starting with a blank canvas to Painter is still one of the best pieces Opteron CPU, 2GB of this release. Not that it hasn’t done
RAM, 650MB hard disk
experiment on. They’re best suited to of digital art software we’ve come so in the past, but the team has
space, mouse or
adding subtle effects, such as a fine across, but while the new features – tablet, 1,280x800 done an exceptional job of
display, DVD drive,
curl of cigarette smoke or a cobweb. especially the particle brushes – are implementing features and changes
Internet Explorer 8 or
They’re adjustable, too, so you can use great, there are no massive leaps here. higher into this release that continue to
Mac: OS X 10.7, 10.8 or
the Particle Flow Sparkler with a large This begs the question, should Corel make Painter the top digital
10.9 (with latest
brush size to create a galactic sky, make Painter a subscription-based revision), Intel Core 2 painting tool in my studio.
Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM,
rather than the focused glimmering software, offereing additions and
500MB of hard disk
light points it was intended for. tweaks as internet-based updates, space, mouse or
There are a few other tweaks in the rather than totally new versions of the tablet, 1,280x800 Greg has painted for ESPN
display, DVD drive, Magazine, National
2015 version, too, such as RealBristle software? It’s a hot, devisive, topic, that Safari v5 or higher Geographic, the Discovery
brushes that realistically respond to the Corel may have to broach before the Channel and Broadway.
Rating
pressure, speed and tilt of your Wacom next iteration comes out. For now, 2015
www.gregnewman.org
stylus, and brush tracking so you can is a worthy addition to the family

October 2014 77
 Reviews
Diagonal lines proved troublesome for the Jot Touch. There is a ghostly dachshund in this image.
A future software update might eliminate this problem. Adobe also supplies retrievers and chihuahuas!

Line
Line up We try Adobe’s
app that – unsurprisingly
– is all about lines
Price Free
Company Adobe
Web http://line.adobe.com
rating

Jot Touch with Pixelpoint

Adobe’s Line app forms a big part
of its approach to both hardware
and software. It’s compatible with
the company’s Slide ruler app, and
Adonit Again The company’s latest product ticks all our requires a Creative Cloud account
boxes, but some big issues are looming in the stylus world… to login and save your creations to
Adobe’s online storage reservoir.
Price £70 Company Adonit Web www.adonit.net Contact [email protected] It also deftly solves an age-old
problem with creating art on
e’re guessing that those several sessions, rather than during a tablet devices: the ability to draw

W clever stylus designers at

Adonit are regular
ImagineFX readers. The
solid 11-hour painting stint. It charges
via USB as opposed to the Jot Script’s
single AAA battery, so it might be
straight lines accurately.
It works like any other art app to
begin with, but then gets clever with
Jot Script – which we reviewed in worth investing in a power bank if its Touch Slide. This applies two
issue 106 – dropped the weird you’re going to be away from a socket parallel guidelines to your canvas,
transparent disc of its predecessor, for a long time. which can be moved around and
but its lack of pressure sensitivity It works as you’d expect, delivering rotated using two circles. Drawing a
was a bit of a letdown. The accurate brush marks and a smooth ink line involves sliding your finger
company’s latest stylus, the Jot flow. Lag is still a bit of an issue, but it’s along one of these guides, and the
Touch with Pixelpoint, includes the no deal-breaker. A bigger problem, guidelines can then be moved so
Script’s precision tip as well as 2,048 however, are diagonal lines. Draw one you can draw another. There’s a
levels of pressure sensitivity, both of slowly and it quivers a little, giving you bunch of features on top: French
which should please digital artists. a slightly wavy line rather than a curves enable you to create smooth,
As with all of Adonit’s styluses, the straight one. This might be fixable in an rounded edges, and a perspective
Jot Touch with Pixelpoint feels solid update, but it’s rather annoying. guide means you can match your
and weighty. Furthermore, it’s well- The other problem – and this is likely Features lines to the correct vanishing points.
n 3.18mm Fine point
balanced and comfortable to hold, to affect the entire industry and not just Pixelpoint tip Limited colour palettes and
thanks to its rubberised grip. It works Adonit – is that Apple has filed patents n 2,048 levels of furniture clip art suggest that Line is
pressure sensitivity
with any touchscreen device when it’s for its own stylus, which could be n Two programmable aimed at designers rather than
turned off, but you can tune it into your released alongside the next generation shortcut buttons artists. But it’s still perfect for
n Palm rejection
iPad via Bluetooth to enable pressure of iPads. This would make the case for n Bluetooth LE sketching backdrops or creating
sensitivity and tie useful features such purchasing a third-party stylus less connectivity buildings and streets, and the fact
n USB charging
as Undo to its two buttons. compelling, especially if Apple’s stylus n Eleven hours’ that it’s free makes it all the better.
Adonit states that the Jot Touch’s includes pressure sensitivity. While the battery life
n One month battery
battery will last 11 hours after a charge, Jot Touch ticks all our boxes it could life in sleep mode
and we found this to be about right, soon feel like, well, a box-ticking n Ninety minutes’
charge time
although we tested the device over exercise. Are you reading, Adonit? n Adobe Cloud
extensions

System
Requirements
iPad: iPad 3 and newer,
iPad Air and iPad Mini

Rating
The Jot Touch with Pixelpoint takes its qualifying The ability to trace over images is handy for
name from the precise tip at the end of the stylus. creating futuristic building interiors.

78 October 2014
 Inspiration Art tools and training

Aaron takes his colour key further than In Concept Design

he needs to, so he can show techniques Workflow Vol 1, Aaron
such as painting in alpha channels. delves deep into the
earliest stages of
creating an image.

Concept Design Workflow Vol 1:

Composition Sketching
THUMBS UP Think you’ve got thumbnails figured out? Aaron Limonick
shows how your first sketches can make or break your painting
Publisher The Gnomon Workshop Price £35 Format DVD/download Web www.thegnomonworkshop.com

here’s nothing quite like the and shapes until he finds the

T feeling you get when you

start with a blank sheet,
whether it’s in Photoshop
composition he wants to take forward.
Rather than use a single toolset
during this session, Aaron switches
Artist profile
Aaron
or a sketchbook, and the sense of
discovery as you work out how to
freely between different techniques
– using pure line or blocking in with a
Limonick
make the idea in your head come to brush, for example. With his role of a
life in two dimensions. concept artist who’s contributing to a Aaron has been working as a
We’ve seen many training videos in team effort in mind, Aaron explains concept artist since 2004. He got his
which the artist glosses over the how choosing a specific technique will first job working at Neversoft
thumbnail stage, spending perhaps make the sketch more useful for Entertainment before joining High
10 minutes developing a composition different team members, such as 3D Moon Studios for four years, where
Topics covered
before focusing on rendering the n Sketching modellers or lighting artists. he worked on pitch artwork, as well
image. In this first video of a two-part techniques With a composition in place, Aaron as The Bourne Conspiracy and
n Composition
series, Aaron Limonick redresses the methods shows the crucial stages of developing Transformers: War for Cybertron.
balance by spending four hours n Value studies your image: first a value study, then a From 2011, Aaron freelanced on
n Colour keys
fiddling with his thumbs. n Laying down colour colour key. For the latter stage in films such as RIPD, Seventh Son
Aaron’s mission is to get you thinking n Design motifs particular, he can’t resist adding more and Into the Storm, as well as for
n Perspective in
about the earliest stages of creating a design detail than is necessary, taking the clients like LEGO and Disney. He's
composition, so that each of your n Painting opaques chance to show some cool rendering now a concept artist at
n Adding detail
thumbnails or sketches takes you n Alpha channels techniques, such as the use of alpha Naughty Dog, having
closer to your goal of an awesome channels in Photoshop to paint in recently contributed
Length
image. In a lengthy early chapter 279 minutes realistic detail. But you’ll also gather designs to Uncharted
lasting over an hour and a half, he plenty of design tips, such as repeating and The Last of Us.
Rating
iterates a basic concept of a future shapes across elements to make them
www.limonick.com
cityscape, experimenting with angles feel part of the same scene.

October 2014 79
 Reviews

Dark Shepherd:
The Art of Fred Gambino
Shepherd’s Pie Could journeyman artist Fred Gambino be the next
big Hollywood director? He certainly sets out his stall in this book…
Author Fred Gambino Publisher Titan Books Price £25 Web www.titanbooks.com Available Now

here’s an argument that Fred’s also attempted to turn the

T tomorrow’s directors won’t

have attended film school.
Instead, they’ll be digital
story into a comic book, and he’s
certainly mastered the visual styles
associated with the big-screen and
artists versed in Photoshop and Maya. small graphic novel. There are some
Godzilla’s director Gareth Edwards is nice breakdowns of his artistic process:
a perfect example, and judging by he uses MODO for posing, and then
Dark Shepherd, Fred Gambino could Photoshop for adding finishing
well follow his footsteps into touches. He prefers to use human
blockbuster megastardom. models over CG ones because of the
The title refers to Fred’s concept for dangers of entering the uncanny valley,
a sci-fi action movie, the screenplay although in some images the
and artwork of which make up the first difference between the photographed
half of this book. The story begins with face and the CG body can be jarring.
a newborn baby found on a decaying The rest of the book comprises
alien spaceship, before turning into a Fred’s work for major Hollywood
series of beautiful visuals involving a studios, advertising agencies and video Fred’s six-year stint producing cover art for the
feisty heroine and a large robot. The This is one of Fred’s
game companies. These include Battletech books was where he cut his digital teeth.
tale shines a light on his skills as an 20-minute speedpaints, Project X (a LEGO telly series), Escape
created during his time
artist, and delivering an appropriately as principal artist at a
from Planet Earth, and unused art for never made, although Fred would
cinematic sense of scale and mystery. video game company. Star Wars Visions, a book probably disagree with this. We’ve
commissioned by George Lucas, to often seen compelling art books for
which Fred contributed a wild version various films (Elysium and Prometheus
of the Air Whales from Episode II: spring to mind) only to be
Attack of the Clones. They’re stunning disappointed by the final movie. With
images that deliver a muscular sense of Dark Shepherd we’ve got an awesome
power and drama while drawing from collection of images, and an amazing
the beauty of nature, and apparently film that will forever dwell in the
even George was impressed. reader’s imagination.
In some ways it would be all the
more compelling if Dark Shepherd was Rating

80 October 2014
 Inspiration Books

E338: The Art of Loic Zimmermann

film fan How Loic Zimmermann has established himself as a go-to
visual artist for film makers looking for something left of centre...
Author Loic Zimmermann Publisher 3DTotal Publishing Price £23 Web www.3dtotalpublishing.com Available Now

oic Zimmermann was

L inspired to get a new

tattoo, so he hijacked
game developer Quantic
Dreams’ body scanner so he could
use a 3D CG model of his torso to plan
his full-sleeve tattoo. “I left the office
with a dozen fragments of my torso,
head and arms on a flash drive.”
It’s a great little anecdote; one that
highlights Loic’s punky inventiveness
and his understanding of both 2D and
3D art. This book showcases both in a
likeably hotchpotch manner, opening with a discussion between Loic and work is in equal parts surreal,
fellow artist Michael Kutsche, which nightmarish and erotic.
moves between influences, the A collection of Loic’s photographs
intricacies of character design and demonstrates his eye for composition,
visual effects for movies. symmetry and character, and the book
Movies have always played a big part finishes with Binaural, a series of
in Loic’s art. He uses cinematic, paintings of women wearing various
widescreen canvas ratios and pure types of helmets. And, of course, you
blacks to evoke the big screen, and get to see his finished tattoo.
Loic’s able to turn his
hand to a range of 2D
frequently depicts pop-culture icons
and 3D art styles. such Bob Dylan and Wolverine. His Rating

Digital Art Masters: Volume 9

Digitally Mastered A collection of beautiful art from some of our
best pals – with the added bonus of ‘making of’ insights
Editor Emalee Beddoes Publisher 3DTotal Publishing Price £30 Web www.3dtotalpublishing.com Available Now

he ninth edition of the

T Digital Art Masters series

comprises 50 pieces of
work, including imagery
from Serge Birault, Ioan Dumitrescu
and Levi Hopkins. The selection of art
here is worthy of a compilation such
as Exposé, albeit with fewer pieces.
Where this tome gets one up on
others is that each piece is
accompanied by a breakdown written
by the artist in question. You can
admire the art – most of which is
presented on double-page spreads – and it becomes something of a Peyman Mokaram explains how to use
game as you try and guess which Maya’s fluid settings to create a serene
tools and software were used to lake, and Rouhollah Toghyani adds a
create it, and even which studios the ginger beard and hair to his barman
artists work for. character with ZBrush’s FiberMesh.
There’s a nice blend of 2D and 3D Of course, it’ll never be quite as good
work on display, too, with Maya, ZBrush as our own in-depth workshops. But
Over four pages, Akim
and 3ds Max rubbing shoulders with it’s still a quality book that delivers an
Fimin explains how he Photoshop and Painter. The insightful glimpse behind the scenes.
created this futuristic
landing pad using
breakdowns are great if you’ve yet to
Photoshop and MODO. make the leap into 3D software: Rating

October 2014 81
 Start painting today! Discover new ways to create art with inspirational
advice and techniques from the world’s leading digital artists

Therese Larsson | page 42

on sale 17 July! http://beta.imaginefx.com/shop

Inspiration and advice from the world’s best traditional artists

This issue:

84 FXPosé Traditional
The best traditional art revealed.

88 Creative Space
We visit Creative Singapore.

96 Anatomy advice
How to render form in colour.

depict plate armour on a 98 First Impressions

battle-ready
Brian Froud on Alfred the Great.

warrior
Learn how Michael C Hayes uses oils to paint
a determined-looking knight in battle Page 90
October 2014 83
 FXPosé showcasing The FINEST traditional fantasy artists

Jeremy Wilson
Location: US 1
Web: www.jeremywilsonart.com
Email: [email protected]
media: Oil

“Strange fantasy,
unsettling horror and eerie
folklore” are recurring
themes in Jeremy’s art. The
New Yorker is a graduate
of the Lyme Academy College of Fine
Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and now
lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.
He has a string of clients in the
entertainment industry, and teaches at
Virginia Commonwealth University.
“My work creates mysteries,” the
artist says, “which allows not just a
first glance and first impression, but a
lasting image.”

ImagineFX crit
“Jeremy’s
characters are
frozen in dark
contemplation or
dealing in human
remains. It’s their world
we’re glimpsing, and 2
you get the idea that
we shouldn’t outstay
our welcome.”
Beren Neale,
Digital Editor

1 The Keeper
Oil on linen, 24x30in
“I was pleased when I managed to take
this painting well beyond its reference
photo. I used phthalo green, cadmium
red and cadmium yellow for the skin
tones. It’s also going to appear in
Spectrum 21.”

2 The Skull Merchant

oil on panel, 17x24in
“This image featured in Spectrum 20. It
will also be shown at the Society of
Illustrators for the Spectrum show later
this year.”

3 The Offer (Acolytes of the

Black Sun)
Oil on panel, 21x30in
“Through characters of my own
creation, the original composition was
intended to convey the myriad golden
opportunities presented to oneself and
the anxiety of decision, as described
through fantasy.”

84 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

 FXPosé Traditional art
3

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 85

 FXPosé
Mike Sass 1
Location: Canada
Web: www.sassart.com
Email: [email protected]
media: Oils

Mike spent over a decade

at BioWare – he was the
Canadian video game
developer’s first in-house
artist – where he worked on
string of hit RPGs, creating everything
from box art and magazine covers to
concept art and marketing illustrations.
In 2009, Mike left BioWare to pursue
his passion for fantasy illustration and oil
painting. He’s since illustrated for such
celebrated franchises as Star Wars,
World of Warcraft, Magic: The Gathering
and Dungeons & Dragons.
“I now work almost exclusively in
oils,” Mike says. “I’m at home combining
gaming illustration with my love for the
craft of painting.”

ImagineFX crit
“In my mind,
Mike’s imagery
harkens back to
the style of art that was
featured on a lot of
D&D books from my
© Wizards of the Coast

teenage years. Yet there’s

also a modern slant
to his work: it’s an
intriguing combination.”
Cliff Hope,
Operations Editor 2

1 Reckless Reveler
Oil on paper on panel, 12x16in
“I’m really happy with how this Magic
card turned out. It’s a satyr lighting fire
to a Trojan horse. It was difficult to
make that clear, having two elements of
different scale.”

2 Battlefield Thaumaturge
Oil on panel, 12x16in
“This Magic: The Gathering card
painting was used on the event deck
packaging for the game. The client
initially requested a shot from behind,
but I suggested this alternative pose
and it was accepted.”

3 Clockwork Golem
Oil on panel, 12x16in
“I had a lot of fun with this, and would
like to do more action-packed gaming
art in the future. I really enjoy
illustrating multi-figure battle scenes.”

4 Aerie Worshippers
Oil on panel, 16x20in
“This painting was my first oil painting
© Wizards of the Coast

for Magic: The Gathering. Because of

the classical theme, I chose to paint it
quite a bit larger than card paintings are
normally done. This painting is a finalist
for the Art Renewal Center salon for
imaginative realist painting.”

86 October 2014 Email your submissions to [email protected]

 FXPosé Traditional art
3
© Wizards of the Coast

submit your
art to fxposé
Send up to five pieces of your
work, along with their titles, an
explanation of your techniques,
a photo of yourself and contact
details. Images should be sent as
300DPI JPEG files.

Email: [email protected]
(maximum 1MB per image)

Post: (CD or DVD):

FXPosé Traditional
ImagineFX,
Quay House,
The Ambury, Bath
BA1 1UA, England
© Wizards of the Coast

All artwork is submitted on the

basis of a non-exclusive
worldwide licence to publish,
both in print and electronically.

Email your submissions to [email protected] October 2014 87

 Creative Space
HEY YOU!
Are you part of
a regular art class
or group? Email us at
[email protected]
if you want to
feature here!

Creative Singapore
Founder Damien Thomasz reveals how his illustration group unites
people from all walks of life through a shared love of art

C
arly Constantinou held “Passion is the only passport. Competency other media, hosting groups covering
Creative Singapore’s doesn’t matter. Members are encouraged digital art, collaborative art, live figure-
inaugural gathering on to share their experiences as much as drawing and even 3D digital sculpturing.
New Year’s Eve 2012. The their drawing techniques.” He’d also like to hold an exhibition
British expatriate has since The non-profit group is also built showcasing attendees’ artwork.
handed the baton over to local artist around the idea that the best way to Whatever the future holds for
Damien Thomasz, who’s expanded the improve skills in art is to practise art Creative Singapore, the group will stay
group from informal get-togethers in skills. “We don’t just talk about it,” the true to its inclusive, open-door ethos:
cafes and parks, to larger art jams, organiser says, “we prefer instead to focus “Our diversity fosters greater creative
museum visits and dress-up events. on doing it, and we enjoy the journey and development and artistic expression –
Throughout that time, there’s been one process involved in creating art.” Recent exposing us to our common humanity,
constant: novice or professional, events include a cosplay special and a Purrfect pose: Creative
something beyond professions, cultures,
everyone’s welcome. two-in-one sketchwalk and museum visit. Singapore member Kaela Isa languages and religions.”
models as Catwoman, at the
“We’re happy for anyone to join our art As Creative Singapore attracts more group’s hugely popular live
For more information about the group visit
events and activities,” Damien says. members, Damien hopes to expand into Cosplay Sketch event. www.meetup.com/Singapore-Creatives.

88 October 2014
 Creative Space Creative Singapore
This collaborative Creative Singapore co-organiser
drawing exercise saw CS Peh poses with Kaela Isa, very
members sketching much into her role as Catwoman

Cat among
side by side to create at a recent Sketch Live event.
a banner of artwork.

the artists
Kaela Isa as Catwoman is centre
of attention in these sketches ...

Model Kaela in
various poses by
Derek Chua.

A speed sketch
of Catwoman
courtesy of
co-founder
CS Peh.

Derek Chua
captures
Catwoman’s
suppleness.

A 30-minute
sketch, again
by CS Peh.

The group headed outdoors

for a sketch-walk session, with
members drawing the sites
en route to Singapore’s
Peranakan Museum.

Derek Chua
drew this
pose of
Catwoman.

A small get-together to
practise quick portraits in the
cafe at the National Museum.
Attendees were given
15-minute time limits.

October 2014 89
90 October 2014
 Workshops

get your
resources
See page 6 now!

Oils
Painting armour
realistically Join illustrator Michael C Hayes for a detailed look at his
structured method for taming a difficult subject and media

T
here’s something about and follow a step-by-step process that artist insight and advice on the subject matter at hand,
painting armour in traditional helps ensure consistent results (a must for I’ll also be sharing some of my strategies
make it your own
media that’s always appealed working in the freelance market). for correcting mistakes without the aid of
Oil is a very versatile
to me. It’s the paradox of Although some of the steps might seem the Undo command.
medium. It can be
having both very little room like a waste of time, I feel that they reduce I’ll be skipping many of the preliminary
applied as thin as
for error lest the illusion be broken, and errors and help illuminate the path ahead. watercolour, in a thick
stages of image creation process that
having so much room to play with value Thus, they actually save time. impasto chunks and readers will be well aware of, such as
and colour within those constraints. It’s In this workshop, I’ll be assuming you everywhere in between. thumbnails and colour studies. Instead,
no surprise that this technically have a decent grasp of the basic principles There’s no one I’ll dive into placing layers of paint on top
challenging subject has dominated of draftsmanship, because the concepts I universal right way to of each other and brush strokes next to
the many covers, gaming cards and cover are a bit more intermediate to use it – only the way each other as part of that seemingly
personal oil paintings that I’ve created advanced. Although I’ll be getting into the that suits you best. magical process of transforming millions
over the years. key aspects of working with oil paints, of microscopic pigments suspended in oil
There are many schools of thought on much of what I’ve to say about colour, into an illusion of reality.
how one should apply paint to a surface, value and edge will translate into the Michael is a classically trained
ranging from the extravagant, seven-layer digital medium. oil painter working both in the
paintings of the Flemish masters to strict, Creating this image wasn’t a freelance fantasy illustration
single-layer, wet-into-wet purists. While straightforward task. Rather, it was a field on games such as Magic:
not as rigid as the aforementioned process of discovery with many turns. This The Gathering and as an independent artist
Flemish, I’m probably one of the more is to say, mistakes were made and creating and selling books, originals and
methodical painters working in corrections and changes needed to prints of his personal visions. He lives in San
illustration today. I work in multiple layers happen. So, in addition to my thoughts Diego, California. www.artofmike.com

October 2014 91
 Workshops
Materials
OIL PAINTS
n Titanium White
n Ivory Black
n Cobalt Blue
n Cadmium Yellow
n Transparent Maroon
n Payne’s Grey
n Raw Sienna
n Transparent Brown
Oxide
(by Winsor & Newton)
n Greenish Umber
n Naples Yellow Light
n Yellow Ochre Light
n King’s Blue
n Ultramarine Violet 1 Pencil drawing
n Cadmium Red Light With any painting, having a solid, accurate drawing
n Cadmium Orange in place is beneficial. With both armour and portraits, it’s
(by Rembrandt) absolutely crucial. A mistake in perspective with the armour,
n Mars Violet or placing an eye too high can easily destroy the illusion.
(by Holbein)
n Manganese Violet
(by Gamblin)
Brushes
n Royal and Langnickel
n Sabletek L95525
n Filbert # 2,4,8
n Robert Simmons
n Royal Sable 785
round #0
n Grumbacher Golden
Edge
n 630 #1-4 Flats
n Silver Brush
Silverwhite
n 1503s #8 filbert
n Royal and Langnickel
Mini
n Majestic 20/0 fan
tool
brush for fine blending/ 2 Blocking in darks TIP
smoothing small areas I select fast-drying alkyd burnt rub in light
umber and paint in the shadow areas A kneaded eraser can be
Mediums
right on top of a copy of my drawing used on small areas of thin
n Gamblin Galkyd Lite
that’s been mounted and sealed. This paint. This is especially
n Gamblin Galkyd
layer will dry within a few hours. useful in pulling out
slow dry
n Gamblin Gamsol highlights in an
underpainting.

3 Colour underpainting 4 Further underpainting

I thin my paints significantly using a mixture of Usually one pass is enough. In this case, after some
gamsol and galkyd, and then start laying in large sections of sleep, I feel that it’s just a bit too far away from what I want.
colour. Using the thickness of the paint to control value So I add more layers of thin transparent paint to darken
enables me to make changes quickly and easily. some areas and change some colours.

92 October 2014
 In depth Painting armour

BRUSH
TIP
cover all the angles
Angle a flat brush to
develop a hard edge on
one side of your brush
stroke and a soft edge
on the other.

5 Paint by numbers
It’s now time to start rendering and
polishing. The next several steps are all done in
one sitting, while the paint is still wet. The only
way to allow for the time-intensive nature of
this stage is to work section by section.

October 2014 93
 Workshops
artist insight
on detail
When adding detail,
understand that in the
visual hierarchy of your
image it shouldn’t
compete with larger
forms or composition.
Keep it in check by
lowering the contrast
of colour and value until
it exists, but doesn’t
stand out.

6 Pre-mixing my colours 7 Base layer

Instead of mixing colours as I go, I prefer to mix up a I quickly and roughly scrub in a very thin layer of
large puddle of colour beforehand. This saves a bit of time, paint, using a transparent mixture for the shadow side and a
gives me the opportunity to sort out colour relationships, semi-opaque mixture for the light side, This makes it
and allows for unexpected but useful mixtures to occur. possible for me to place any subsequent brushstrokes
directly into wet paint.

COLOUR
TIP
Creative licence
Small colour notes can
generate visual interest,
and don’t need to be
justified by the physics
of bounced light.

8 Establish value range

With the large shapes now firmly established, the
next step is to block in some secondary shapes such as
highlights and reflected environment. Note that I’m not
painting every single detail – just enough of them to achieve
the overall feel.

artist insight
stop and evaulate
After each painting
stage, I step back a
few feet from the
canvas, wait a moment
or two and ask a simple
yet important question:
“Is this working enough
9 Correcting errors 10 Establishing secondary forms
for me to move on to I notice that I’ve made a moderate drawing error on Once I’m happy with both the three-dimensional
the next step?” I never the gauntlet. It happens. I’d rather not have the thicker form and metallic effect of the larger forms, I start going
proceed forward if the layers of light colour blend into the deep darks, so I’m going into the smaller forms and building them up. I’m careful to
answer is anything to remove them completely with a paper towel. stay within the overall value structure I’ve established.
other than “absolutely”.

94 October 2014
 In depth Painting armour
artist insight
Three steps to
glazing

1 Mix paint and a liberal

amount of medium.
Rembrandt’s
Transparent Oxide
series of pigments work
particularly well for

11 Shape and edge refinement 12 Punching up the highlights subtle glazing.

Next I adjust the shapes and blend where necessary. In real life, metallic surfaces have a very bright,
With the armour I push what I see towards harder, blinding highlight. To achieve the illusion of this effect, a little
geometric brush strokes along the edges of the artistic license is required. Adding notes of pure colour next
overlapping plates. I also want to create more fluid, liquid to a white highlight will make it appear even brighter.
reflections and highlights inside the forms.
2 Evenly apply more
paint than you need
with a synthetic nylon
brush. Focus on
achieving the right tint
for the painting.

3 Carefully and
gradually wipe away
excess pigment with a
rag and/or blend with a
soft brush to produce a

13 Reflected light within the shadows 14 Rinse and repeat precise tint.
To even further this effect, I inject pure notes of If painting is a visual language, and my style a
colour into the shadows near a highlight. In certain areas I dialect, then I see every image as a sub-dialect, with its own
use cadmium orange and yellow then blend out into raw rules in grammar and form that I’ve learned along the way
sienna, burnt umber and then finally full black. and can use to tell the rest of the story with ease. BRUSH
TIP
cleaning regimen
To maintain my brushes,
I clean them with liquid
oil-based soap, then leave
the soap on and shape
them to a clean
point or edge.

15 Glazing
Once the above layer has dried, the final step is to
go back with one final layer or two of extremely thin,
transparent paint to subtly adjust colours and values. In this
case I need to warm up the armour slightly.

October 2014 95
 Workshops

Oils

Rendering form
in colour
Chris Legaspi demonstrates how to quickly and efficiently render form in colour,
by adjusting the temperature of his limited palette

A
fter years of study I’ve Later, I’ll add a yellow and a red to bring transition tones, making sure this is warm
Materials
learned working methods about the necessary temperature shifts. enough so they separate from the cool
that help me to simplify When painting, my first concern is n Canvas or illustration shadow. Then I mix the next value shape
my colour and painting value and I’ll squint to see the value board and shift that temperature as well. I’ll
n Bristle brushes of
process. One of these shapes. I’ll also simplify the values and continue this process to the brightest
various sizes
methods is rendering with temperature group value shapes as much as possible. highlights. As long as the temperature
n Oil paint colours:
shifts. So when I change the value of a With these simple value shapes in mind, shifts are dramatic enough, the values will
Titanium White,
colour, I alter the temperature by adding I can then mix a colour for every step or read and the colours will feel lively.
Ultamarine Blue, Burnt
more yellow, more red or blue. transition in value. Chris is keen to share his
Sienna, Yellow Ochre
I start with a limited palette of white I begin by blocking in the shadow with and Alizarin Crimson
extensive knowledge of figure
and only two colours: usually a warm a medium-dark cool tone, ignoring details n Solvent or thinner drawing and painting. See more
earth tone such as Burnt Sienna and a and variations in the shadow. Then I mix of his work and drawing advice
cool blue, for example Ultramarine Blue. the next value shapes that comprise at www.learn-howtodraw.com.

Colours mixed Mix yellows get your

in upper areas
resources
See page 6 now!

Ignore details
in shadow

1 Block in shadow 2 Transition tones

Once the drawing and I begin rendering by moving
placement is defined I’ll block in the from shadow to light using a warm
shadow. I mix a greyish blue tone using brown comprising Burnt Sienna and
Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. I Ultramarine Blue. This warm ‘pops’
also make sure to simplify the shadow against the cool-blue shadow. For
shape by disregarding details and Mix cool reds subtle variation, I mix in yellows and
nuances. Shadow variation and details in lower area cool reds. These temperature shifts
can be added at a later stage. make the colour lively and life-like.

96 October 2014
 Artist insight Render in colour
Mix more
yellows in artist insight Pure blue
upper areas create a Central
colour pool
When rendering, I mix a EXERCISE
large pool on my Clever colours
palette for light, Paint a figure from life
shadow and mid-tone with a limited palette. Use
colours, and arrange a colour strategy to make
them from dark to light. temporary shifts as you
Staying organised helps move values from
me mix more accurate dark to light.
colours and values.

Highlight
bloom

Mix more
reds in
lower areas

3 Half-tones and lights

I apply a pinkish brown
half-tone to soften the transition,
before using a lighter yellow for the
light. The yellow pops nicely against
the cooler pink. For variation, I’ll add
yellows in the light areas and cool reds
in the lower areas.

Mix blue in
brightest
highlight

Subtle
shadow tone
Pure reds
Light
colours
Background
colour

5 Refine and finish

4 Highlights and I refine my edges, correct the
background drawing and add temperature shifts to
I introduce highlights using a cool pink the background, along with accents of
that blends with the skin, followed by a rich colour. Then I finish by washing
cool light grey for the bright highlights. subtle darks in the bottom areas and
For the background I mix a mid-tone glazing light yellow in the light areas.
blue and a touch of yellow. This slightly Background This heightens the sense of light and
green-blue works well against the colour adds technique and edge variation.
more reddish blue in the shadow.

October 2014 97
 First Impressions
Brian Froud
inner structures, the rhythms of my art,
Since seeking solace trying to allow them to be revealed on
the surface of the image, making fluid
in the Hampshire paint strokes that evoke spirit.
woods, Brian has What’s the most important thing that
always found wonder you’ve taught someone?
To discover fluid imagery rather than
and humour in art superimpose a rigid, pre-conceived idea.

What advice would you give to your

Where did you grow up younger self to aid you on the way?
and how has this That it’s okay, everything will be alright,
influenced your art? and no decision goes disastrously wrong.
I grew up in Hampshire, Be true to your own vision, not someone
southern England, in a else’s. It’ll be a difficult and sometimes
place called Yately. It was a small country lonely path, but there’s no other way. Be
village, and my school was surrounded kind to yourself about whether you are
by trees and scrubland. This is where good or bad: your duty is to do it and
I found adventure, by exploring the keep going. Believe that sometimes your
hidden, secret places. I felt so at home in art does reveal truth.
such a liminal place. I won five shillings
in a local art competition – this How has the industry of fantasy art
seemingly vast sum of money sparked changed for good since you’ve been
my interest in art (and money still does!) working in it?
Fantasy art used to slumber within
You’re a child, you see a painting or books and then rest on book and record
drawing that changes everything… covers. Now, with new technologies used
what are you looking at? queen of the faeries didn’t know I had, encouraged me in my in games and films it’s on new, feverish
It’s a sculpture – a large bronze of Alfred This image features in the artist’s work, and showed me around my local journeys. Fantasy images writhe and
latest book, Brian Froud’s
the Great – in Winchester. It is dramatic. Faerie’s Tales, which goes on sale art school in Maidstone. This was a explode across the eyes of many more
He stands nobly with his sword in hand. in September. revelation of oil paint fumes, purple- viewers than before. It’s more
He seemed to connect me to a powerful haired models (Quentin Crisp) and huge mainstream to our culture.
past, to the aspect of the hidden land of paintings of Mick Jagger and Eric
England itself. I have continued to Clapton. I had found my home. What annoys you about the industry?
explore this ever since. It’s too shiny: much is overwrought and
And did anyone try to get in your way? over-rendered. More is not necessarily
Someone who helped you on your way? Next month I won’t name him, but there was better. In its desire to be more realistic,
John Penny was a teacher at my grammar XDon Maitz someone – he was an art director – but it’s in danger of going the opposite way
school. He spotted my talent which I he didn’t succeed. He said that I’d never and becoming divorced from reality.
What’s missing is meaning or connection.
Fantasy images writhe and
explode across the eyes of many Why is the fantasy art industry still the
best place to be working?
more viewers than before Modern art has abandoned so much. It’s
only in fantasy art where technical skills
work for him again, but later, because of and inspiration are in service to images
my growing success, he worked with me that engage; where passion for ideas
on four career-defining projects. flourish; where metaphor and poetic
thought are valued; where drama and
What are your painting rituals? story are still thought to be essential in
I start at nine in the morning – worry, elucidating the human mind and its
make coffee, fret, make coffee, despair, relationship with the world. At its best,
have a glass of wine – until five pm. fantasy art is not a retreat from the
Other days I take off and go shopping. world, but an expressive re-engagement.
KLM Brian has made his name with his unique
Brian’s first paid commission Is your art evolving? What’s the most faerie art. His designs were showcased in the
was working with two of his
art college tutors on a brochure
recent experiment you’ve made? classic films Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.
for the Dutch airline KLM. Absolutely. I’m going deeper into the www.worldoffroud.com

98 October 2014
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