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How to Draw and Paint Science Fiction Art
Geoff Taylor

Search Press
10 October 2011 / ISBN: 9781844486915
How-To Books/Art
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Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde


If you are a fan of science fiction in any form you will surely have noticed how the artwork on film posters, book covers or even console games brings the imagined world to life. This book looks at how to bring your own – or anybody else’s – futuristic vision to life.

No book on the art of science fiction would be quite right if it only dealt with making your mark using traditional methods such as drawing and painting. Much art today is done using a computer, and what could be more apt for anything futuristic! Much of this book is devoted however to traditional methods, but still more is designed to get your creative juices flowing.

It starts with an overview of the book and how to use it, showing how each section works and giving typical page layouts. This is the sort of thing that sells a how-to book to me in a store as I can instantly see what I am getting, so bravo Search Press. It moves on to define the genre, show how you can be inspired by what is already in existence, and this section has a nice touch in the shape of a timeline running from 1860 onwards at the bottom of several pages, showing significant titles. There is much, too, on gathering reference material from both the natural and man-made world, and still more on various methods of making your mark - - from paints to digital programs, color wheel, perspective, composition, etc. Section 3 features several helpful projects to get you started. These demonstrate how to use reference materials to create landscapes, flora, fauna and machines and show how to progress from inspiration to finished work in a few stages. All this is more to read through than to work through, however, and how much you get out of this book depends on how advanced an artist you already are in your chosen medium.

This is not a book aimed at the beginner, but it does not profess to be; instead of a hands-on approach this opts for making you think about how to apply what you already know to depicting unfamiliar subject matter. It is handsomely illustrated and will be helpful to the more experienced artist.

 

Reviewed 2011
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