ImagineFXの August 2023 の目次

Producing work that realises someone else’s creative vision is an art in itself. You’ll need to juggle tasks like pricing, contracts, feedback and payment, and there’s opportunity for miscommunication and other inefficiencies to throw a spanner in the works. Building a solid process that works for you and your clients is essential for making sure it all runs smoothly. Syd Mills works full-time as a freelancer whose client work includes book covers, character art and illustrations for tabletop RPGs. Her first piece of advice for those taking on commissions is that you start out small; begin with just three or fewer clients to make sure that you don’t become overwhelmed. Before you get going, work out your timescales and pricing. “Figure out how long it takes you to complete a…

Artist PROFILE DaCosta Bayley LOCATION: Canada A self-taught, awardwinning illustrator with an insatiable love for all things robotic, DaCosta has been creating professionally since 1995. Working under the studio name ‘CHOCOLATE SOOP’, DaCosta has produced designs across various media and collaborated with artists worldwide. DaCosta is also the founder of the long-running ‘MARCH of ROBOTS’ drawing challenge on Instagram. https://chocolatesoopstudio.com "I’ll come away from a good online chat with a couple of pages of robot doodles" "Many characters are simply exploration with no goal or story; they might later become stickers"…

Artist PROFILE Bo Feng Lin LOCATION: Germany Bo Feng Lin is an illustrator and artist based in Hamburg. He specialises in stylised portrait illustrations with abstract twists featuring a range of bold and vibrant elements. www.bofenglin.com In this tutorial I’ll show you step by step how I create a digital illustration from start to finish using Procreate. You’ll get to see how I work with shades and highlights to shape the character, and add in extra details and abstract shapes to complete the painting. I’ll be using some of my own brushes for this tutorial, but you can use the default brushes in Procreate just as well. If you want to try out my custom brushes, you’ll find them in the assets for this workshop. Nothing I’m showing you here…

“It all starts with a strong idea. Usually I draw loose thumbnail doodles to get a feeling of how to translate what’s in my mind into the concept, all thinking about the themes of the design. What elements can I bring in that would tell the story behind the concept? After all, you want people to be able to learn the history behind your art when they see it. As for technical approaches, it’s always better in the drawing phase to work from light to dark. You want to be able to control the areas of focus by reinforcing them with stronger and sharper lines. Keep your lines working in your favour to suggest volume and textures. Apply most of these in your focal points and allow them to get…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 This piece features my interpretation of the final evolution of one of the best Generation II starter Pokémon: Feraligatr. For these fan art pieces, I try my best not to do a complete overhaul of the creature’s design because, honestly, they’re iconic and perfect already! I begin every doodle by using a red coloured pencil, either a Col-Erase Prismacolor or a Ticonderoga. Using red allows me to quickly build my illustration without creating a huge mess on the paper. I can quickly map out the composition of the doodle, anatomy, perspective, lighting and textures without having too much build-up just as long as I work lightly. For any erasing, I’ll use a regular kneaded eraser that my dog hopefully hasn’t stolen or…

Tai Aoki LOCATION: Japan MEDIA: Photoshop WEB: https://taiaoki.com Despite growing up in the US, Tai lived in a Japanese household. “I took in influences from two very different cultures, which I think is what defined my current tastes.” 1 1 BUY EGGS “This is just me trying to express negative emotions, namely loneliness. Regardless of how successful that was, I enjoyed experimenting with textures and crudely sticking in any ideas that came to mind.” 2 2 LUSCIOUS “He’s a vampire that devours other vampires. This was an attempt at a more realistic render than what I’m used to, while maintaining a surreal feel through colours.” 3 3 GIGA SLAPP “I’ve always loved cybernetic limbs in sci-fi. I’m still improving on designing machinery, but I’m happy with the overall…

Contact the editor, Rob Redman, on mail@imaginefx.com or write to ImagineFX, Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA, England Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/imaginefx Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/imaginefx Share your artwork via #imaginefx: instagram.com/imaginefxmagazine Career change Hello, I’m reaching out to say I found your article on moving to a role in a studio really interesting. I see a lot of talk about leaving to become a freelancer, but it’s rare to find information about joining an existing team and I find that odd. I get that it can be exciting to be your own boss and to have what looks to be a lot of freedom, but the reality can be quite different. When I did this I found the business side of things took over…

Francesca Baerald LOCATION: Italy MEDIA: Pencils, ink, watercolours, acrylic, oil WEB: www.francescabaerald.com Francesca’s home country of Italy is the perfect place to find inspiration, both in terms of history and nature. “I’m always looking forward to my next adventure!” 1 KALIMDOR “I spent days and nights playing World of Warcraft. You can imagine my joy when I was asked to draw the lands of Azeroth! I truly enjoyed revisiting all those places.” 2 ANSALON “Drawing DnD dragons is always a joy, but doing it for Dragonlance is even better! I’m so fond of the setting Weis and Hickman created, it has sparked my creativity since I was young.” 3 GLOOMHAVEN “Sometimes games like Gloomhaven have the power of linking together thousands of people. I had the freedom to…

Where did you grow up, and in what ways has this influenced your art? I moved around a lot growing up. That was such a huge motivation for me to immerse myself in my art, it gave me a feeling of home and identity no matter how alone or new I felt. I was perpetually the new kid growing up and painfully shy. Creating art gave me an identity; I wasn’t just the new girl, I was the new girl who could draw. What, outside of art, has most influenced your artwork? Nature for sure! I don’t think it’s terribly obvious in my work but being out in the world taught me to see the beauty everywhere. The smallest moment could spark new ideas for emotions, colours and compositions for…

The Rookies is a platform to help digital artists get discovered without having to compete with professionals for attention. You’ll get to the front page of those sites one day, but for now, we’ve got your back and want to help turn your passion for creative media into a successful career. WWW.THEROOKIES.CO The Negotiation Temple YEAR CREATED: 2023 MEDIA: Blender, Photoshop “Within is a personal IP inspired by my own experience with grief. This image is the environment designed for the embodiment of Negotiation, and where he tries to trick the main character into willingly forfeiting his soul.” Artist PROFILE Jairo Valencia LOCATION: Colombia I worked for the advertising industry for more than a decade until I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of being an artist. I am now…

For me, drawing is the most straightforward way to experiment, explore, and dare to create something I would not have tried otherwise, without being judged or criticised. This drawing is an example of that. I had an idea in mind but also had a 30-day deadline. My intentions were to focus on Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night and first child of Chaos. Thinking about what a ‘night goddess’ and ‘child of Chaos’ mean to me led me to visualise a figure in the night sky, with the moon behind her. I also wanted to surround her with an air of mystery and ethereal feelings. I started drawing shapes on paper, keeping my intentions in mind, guiding my shapes and flow of the marks and lines I created. Then,…