Tabla de contenidos para July 2023 en ImagineFX

While it can be a great experience being a freelance indie artist, there may be a time where the pull of collaborative work is strong and you want to join a larger creative team, which could mean learning some new skills. This issue, we delve into this topic to help you discover what you need to do, and what could be in store, if you make the leap into studio work. If you’re looking to upskill then we have a host of workshops for you too, from Cindy Avelino’s wonderful workflow tutorial on our stunning cover art, through to part one of a new short series on creating comic art with Steve Ellis. In this first instalment, he shows you his drawing and inking process, but be sure to come…

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 Art vs AI Good morning ImagineFX. I’m writing to thank you for your latest issue, where you took a much-appreciated and balanced look at some of the issues artists face with the rapid increase of AI-generated art, and some of the threats it poses. It was really interesting to hear some of the views of people working within the industry. Keep it coming please! Zoe, via email Rob replies Hi Zoe, thanks for writing in. I’m very glad you liked our coverage of AI in issue 226. We’ve covered AI in previous issues,…

Artist PROFILE Sy Gardner LOCATION: England Sy is a concept artist and illustrator for the game and movie industries, and has worked on a variety of popular shows and IPs. He is currently a full-time background artist working remotely in the UK for Powerhouse Animation, who are based in Austin, Texas. Away from work you’ll find him spending time with his children, and exploring nature up and down the UK. www.instagram.com/sygardnerart Do you want to share your sketches with your fellow ImagineFX readers? Send us an email with a selection of your art, captions for each piece and a photo and bio of yourself to mail@imaginefx.com…

SHOWCASING THE FINEST TRADITIONAL ARTISTS 1 ELEKTRA “An homage to the great Frank Miller creation. One of those drawings that started with a doodle of a face before evolving.” 2 BONNIE PARKER “The infamous outlaw, with more than a nod to Faye Dunaway’s 1960s stylings in the film Bonnie and Clyde.” 3 ADÈLE BLANC-SEC “This is my take on a Jacques Tardi panel. His meticulous backgrounds combined with cartoony figures is always an appealing mix.” 4 HELLBOY “A commission of Mike Mignola’s famous character, and a way to fit an assortment of architectural elements into one drawing.”…

“I get up around 8am and shave to help me wake up. I buy coffee, which puts me in the work mindset, and then I’m back by 8:30am. I check emails and schedule out my week. I love to sketch for the first hour to get my brain going. I like to change up how fast I work each day, so if I’m sprinting today, I’ll create 10 options. Tomorrow I’ll slow down, pick one that I like, and refine it. The next day I’ll sprint again. I break up my day that way too; before lunch, I’ll refine yesterday’s favourite, then in the afternoon I start a second option. That keeps it alive and fun. I try to keep studio hours, even at home, so I stop for lunch…

Dustin Nguyen is living many artists’ dreams. Having grown up enthralled by characters like Batman and Superman, he turned this passion into a career that’s seen him illustrate his favourite superheroes for DC Comics. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he also co-created the groundbreaking sci-fi comic Descender with graphic novel royalty Jeff Lemire. We caught up with Dustin to learn more about his work and hear how he balances his many amazing achievements. Tell us a little about your background as an artist. How did you get started and what has your career been like? I liked drawing as a kid, just like every other artist I think. I was never that into actual art classes or art schools themselves, but I put a lot of time and energy…

56 76 66 68 82 This issue: 56 Draw an epic mythical beast Find out how Cindy Avelino designed her terrifying Hydra for this issue’s creature cover. 64 The mixing of mediums Rovina Cai melds traditional skills with digital tools in her Magic: The Gathering card art. 66 Maintain your visual balance Why creating quiet areas was a vital element for Luca Pisanu’s Turkish-inspired composition. 68 Create a stylised building concept Georgi Marnero combines his Blender skills with Photoshop to build gorgeous architecture. 74 Experiment with colour Discover the helpful palette plugin Joe Gloria recommends to test out your colour schemes. 76 Design and ink a comic panel Check out the first part of our workshop series with master Marvel artist Steve Ellis. 82 Find focus in key areas Bungie’s…

“This piece is from a series of studies where the challenge was to focus on interesting architecture, texture and lighting. The inspiration came from a place in Turkey. I wanted to accentuate its colours and push the design and contrast by simplifying a lot of the information, in order to stay true to the essence of the subject. The balance between clean and busy areas is important in paintings like this. You want your eyes to have space to breathe and relax. The use of strong blues as a transition colour in the shadows helps to convey a sense of depth.” Artist PROFILE Luca Pisanu LOCATION: US Born and raised in Italy, Luca has been drawing since he can remember, and loves animation and video games. Luca’s journey has brought…

Artist PROFILE Steve Ellis LOCATION: US Steve is an illustrator and writer in the worlds of comics and fantasy art, and has worked for both Marvel and DC. His focus is on bringing to life his personal projects like Thornclaw Manor and Moonshine Bigfoot. www.steveellisart.com This is the first of a two-part series on creating a page for a new project. This page is for an upcoming comic with writers Shannon Eric Denton and Kevin Grevioux called Ironkiller, set in a post-apocalyptic hell world occupied by demons and recreated through evil magic. Here we’ll cover how I design and make decisions on the characters and world, and how to tell a story that both moves the action along and establishes the setting. This is especially important in a new project,…

1 TEMPERANCE II “I decided to experiment with a more expressive way of creating watercolour washes. To contrast this, I added a black snake to anchor the character.” 2 160722 “Mesmerised by the atmosphere of Thessaloniki, I wanted to convey the feeling of freedom and melancholy it evoked in my heart.” 3 NINEN “I was asked to create a portrait with an intense gaze. The biggest challenge, and also the greatest pleasure, was exploring the medium.” 4 MXNGROVE “This represents the parasitic relationship of intrusive thoughts and the futility of trying to escape them. Yet the character is learning to coexist.”…

Sometimes I wonder whether my ideas, visions and epiphanies are not a product of my mind, but come from an external source. It’s interesting to contemplate that in some way they could be a window into something else. They may indeed come from my own mind, but it’s more fun to imagine the possibility that there’s more to it. This sort of thinking is why I became intrigued with the idea of Pasithea from Greek mythology; she is the personification of relaxation, meditation and hallucinations. It’s enchanting to imagine that ideas could be the product of divine intervention, which is precisely what I wanted to capture with this piece. For the initial concept stage I used my iPad Pro with Procreate. I’d initially intended for this image to be digital,…

Final art: Digitally coloured With this drawing, I wanted to create a story of the everyday lives of a Gundam maintenance crew. It’s set during the crew’s lunch break, which is also when the workshop’s stray cats come to interact with them. I wanted the Barbatos Gundam to be the focal point of the image, and the crew to add life and human elements to an otherwise lifeless mech. It was also a fun way to play around with scale. But what really adds the charm to the story are the stray cats, which were added as a sort of Easter egg hunt. I used Kuretake and Pentel brush pens to create the original drawing on top of a loose pencil sketch. Once the original ink drawing was completed, I…

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 Statuesque YEAR CREATED: 2022 MEDIA: Photoshop “As I started working on this painting, I felt inspired by themes of rebellion, power, female strength, darkness, and light. I wanted to create a character that embodied defiance, who refused to be held back by the forces that sought to limit her potential. To amplify my creative energy, I listened to Pentakill. As I worked, I felt a sense of excitement building within me. When I finally put down my brush…

Artist PROFILE Georgi Marnero LOCATION: Bulgaria Georgi is a concept artist and illustrator, who has worked in the field of environment art for games and animation for the past eight years. https://bit.ly/40zHsJX In this tutorial I’ll show you my process behind creating an architectural concept for video games or animation. We’ll walk through the process of searching for inspiration and how to find it in your everyday life. To begin we’ll look at studies, and then I’ll explain how to apply what you’ve learned to your personal design projects. Personally, my creative workflow usually starts out with visiting somewhere, seeing somebody, and doing something. In other words, having real-life experiences that I can interpret into my artwork . This is also a skill that I want to see in other…

Where did you grow up and how has this influenced your art? I spent my first 18 years with my family in the countryside, in a small village in the west of France, and in the nearest town for school and friends. The rural environment, playing in the paths and building huts in the woods, gave me a great affinity with nature. That theme is very much evidenced in my illustrations. But my work today has retained an urban aspect thanks to the graffiti I started practising in the city with my friends as a teenager. What, outside of art, has most influenced your artwork? Nature. I have always loved organic things. As a kid I was crazy about dinosaurs and animals; I wanted to be a wildlife reporter! I’m…