John Howe's Ultimate Fantasy Art Academy: Inspiration, approaches and techniques for drawing and painting the fantasy realm

by John Howe, Terry Gilliam (Foreword by), Alan Lee (Afterword)

Overview

Discover the creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of leading fantasy artist John Howe – conceptual designer on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy – in this comprehensive practical art book.

• Brings together Fantasy Art Workshop and Fantasy Drawing Workshop into a combined volume, fully updated and with new art.
• Examines in fascinating detail over 150 of the artist's outstanding sketches, drawings and paintings, plus the techniques and stories behind each.
• Leads you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned drawing and painting demonstrations that reveal John's renowned artistic approach in action.
• Discusses the rewarding journey into fantasy art, from the first steps of building a compelling portfolio to book illustration, graphic novels and the big screen.

This book will appeal to artists and fans of John Howe's work by leading you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned demonstrations, sketches and finished paintings, some designed specifically for this book, that reveal John’s renowned artistic approach in action, plus the techniques and stories behind each. 

It covers a wide range of subjects, beginning with the creative process, exploring where inspiration comes from, looking at narratives and themes, gathering reference materials, organizing your working environment, and protecting and storing artwork.

Howe covers drawing materials and explores drawing and painting fantasy beings from initial inspiration and approaches to characters, symbolism and accoutrements. He begins by showing how to create different types of male and female archetypes, humans in action, armour and weapons, faces, expressions and hands, hair and costumes, and goes on to explain how to create different types of fantasy beasts: talons, wings, fangs and fire, and noble animals, interspersed throughout with exciting case studies. 

The book also explores fantasy landscapes and architecture and balancing light and dark atmospheres. The final section of the book provides further inspiration and guidance on presenting work in various forms, including film work, book covers and advertising, all areas John Howe has vast experience in. 

The foreword is written by groundbreaking film director Terry Gilliam, with an afterword by Alan Lee, John's partner on the conceptual design for The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and Oscar-winning illustrator.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781446308929
Publisher:	David & Charles
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	538,807
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

John Howe was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1957. He attended the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg. He worked extensively on the conceptual art for The Lord Of The Rings films with Alan Lee and Peter Jackson. He lives in Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Terry Gilliam Introduction THE CREATIVE PROCESS My artistic journey Narratives, themes & inspiration Gathering & using reference material Organizing your work environment Out & about Protecting & storing your artwork TOOLS & TECHNIQUES Drawing tools & materials Holding the pencil Drawing & sketching Paint & ink Digital workflow BEASTS & BEINGS Fantasy being CASE STUDY: Cernunnos Human beings CASE STUDY: Tom Badgerlock Fantasy beasts CASE STUDY: Beowulf and the Dragon BACKDROPS Landscapes CASE STUDY: Atlantis Architecture CASE STUDY: The Arrival of the Airships Atmospheres CASE STUDY: Barghest Land WORDS & PICTURES Drawing the line somewhere Into the white Wandering but not lost To the world’s edge Lost in wilderland Images were magic once SKETCHING TUTORIALS Merlin Dragon Thor and the Giant Lancelot Centaur Arwen Balrog Mermaid THE BUSINESS OF FANTASY The big bad world Book cover illustration The big screen: set design Putting your work up front The future … Afterword by Alan Lee Acknowledgments About the author Index Credits

Preface

When a book long out of print is republished, the most compelling urge is to rewrite it all, to amend and correct, to bring to it new experiences and thoughts that fill the interim since that initial publication. On the other hand, one should not invalidate the existing work, nor create a sort of hybrid volume which is neither old or new. This book, which combines Fantasy Art Workshop and Fantasy Drawing Workshop, is both old and new. The original books compose the major part of it, with new amendments, and a new portfolio section with more recent work and thoughts. The result is a book about drawing and painting, and how to take the right steps to achieve whatever goals you might have set for yourself. There are exercises and examples, vehicles for your imagination and your capacity to visualize, but the most important role is played by you. If you know how to draw already and you are quite satisfied with the results, then this book is not really for you. If you feel that figurative and narrative imagery is not your cup of tea, this book is not for you. If you feel that mythology and fantasy have little to say to our modern world, then this book is most definitely not for you. If you are searching for off-the-shelf methods and sure-fire technical tricks of the trade, then this book is most definitely not for you. However … … if your mind is full of images that keep escaping from your fingertips, this book may be of help. If you are unsure of the direction your art wishes to take, but know you should be heading somewhere, this book may be a signpost of a kind for your journey. If you find pleasure in telling stories in pictures, then this book may help you clarify your thoughts. If life has obliged you to leave pages of yourself unturned, and you’d feel better with a little company for a chapter or two, then this book is definitely for you. I will say from the start that I dislike ‘How To ...’ books, unless purely technical and about carpentry, hot-water pipes or pruning. I dislike the temptation to reduce an intuitive, personal process to a ‘system’ applied to any circumstances. I am dubious of rectangles and circles that magically turn into animals. I dislike seeing archetypes transformed into stereotypes. I sigh in dismay when I see famous paintings divided into arbitrary shapes and golden means. These leave little place for serendipity, imagination and instinct, your most precious allies and tools. Pencil drawing is giving yourself up to an exercise in the incidental. It is a form of communion with your subject, whether the subject is in front of you or inside your head. Expertise and skill, intuition and imagination, information and experience go hand in hand with your desire to express feelings, to tell stories, to create and share worlds. This mix of the universal and the personal is unique to you. I have tried to say in words how I feel about all of that. (With each picture being worth a thousand of them, that makes quite a few.) I’m grateful to the editors for allowing my thoughts such unruly growth, pruning only when necessary. This book is personal, too. I speak for myself, not for the art of drawing and painting. It is the product of four decades in art, and many years’ teaching. While much of this time has been spent locked up in the studio, these studios have been in many countries, on varying projects. Events have allowed me to meet people the world over. This has all enriched and enchanted me, part of the experience I wish to share. Finally, to my comrades-in-art and fellow illustrators, I beg your indulgence for this foray into the dreaded land of Explanation and the perilous realm of Reason, momentarily forsaking the foggy shores of Inspiration. I am speaking only for myself, not for my profession. All of you have your own voices. (But buy the book anyway.)