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Book Review: 100 Ways to Create Fantasy Characters
100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures
Author/Artist: Francis Tsai
Publisher: Impact
Francis Tsai wasn't a name I immediately recognised picking up the book. But he is a talented concept artist and freelance illustrator who's worked for all the big companies, and who didn't start out in traditional art school. On that fact in the introduction alone, I was immediately intrigued and encouraged. He draws a distinction between design-based art education and illustration-based art education, and if concept art is an industry you're aiming for, he makes clear that it's beneficial to have the skills taught in both. (Design helps in effective visual communication and problem-solving, while illustration/fine-art training focuses on observation, documenting and reproducing visuals in various media.) Chances are, unless you're in a course specifically for concept art, you probably have a grounding in one field, and would need to be practice the other on your own. (Or if you're like me, you've got to work on both all on your own!)
It's practical, thought-provoking advice like this that makes clear this isn't just a book of examples and tutorials. It's a book that reveals, from experience, the art skills needed to become a concept artist, or a book, comic, or media illustrator, and how to go about getting and honing those skills. Observation and constant sketching is a must (which made me realise that joining the local urban sketchers wasn't as "useless" to me as I thought), as is gaining a visual vocabulary, learning the problem-solving approach to designing characters, places, AND the final art pieces. This book is not just for browsing through; Francis Tsai goes from the "big picture" advice and long-term strategies for a striving artist, before going into the 100 ways of creating fantasy figures.
So we co...
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