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.
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