Tabla de contenidos para April 2024 en ImagineFX

The digital art world today sits at an interesting point in its history. The tools we have at our disposal are now more powerful than ever, but the ability to create overly slick and polished visuals for films and games, or to create a complex image from a text prompt, has led to a feeling that the human touch is slipping away. People are looking for connection when they consume art, and there’s now a sense that technology might be coming between the artist and viewer. The result is a series of trends that are reinforcing the human connectedness that people get from art, and rejecting output that threatens it. One example is the film industry’s move towards 2.5D stylised animation. Audiences are losing their appetite for perfect lighting and…

Best known for his work on Wonder Woman, Batman: The Brave And The Bold, and The Green Lantern for DC in recent years, British artist, painter and author Liam Sharp has been able to carve himself out a unique niche as a comic illustrator with a distinctly idiosyncratic feel. Ahead of this year’s launch of the Spawn: The Dark Ages series that he’s writing, drawing and colouring, we caught up with Liam to find out a little more about his art, process and career to date. Your work schedule has evolved since your earlier days as a professional. What has shaped this change in work patterns? When I was younger I used to be a bit more cavalier with my working days, and I’d have four days, for example, when…

Creating a dust jacket that stands out amid a store packed full of bestselling books is a tremendous challenge, especially if it’s an older title. To compete with flashy new releases publishers will periodically redesign the jacket’s artwork. This might be done to highlight an anniversary or build anticipation for a TV or film adaptation. Fortunately, the WondLa trilogy is celebrating both, with a TV series debuting on Apple TV+ later this year. Since I’m not just the author but the illustrator as well, I felt that this was an exciting opportunity to revisit old friends and introduce them to a new generation of young readers. Along with the design team, I had to keep in mind the essence of the story and who the intended audience is. The first…

Artist PROFILE Jolene Yeo LOCATION: Singapore Jolene currently works as an illustrator. She paints in a wide variety of styles and has also worked on creating colouring books. www.collateralds.com Mood and atmosphere are essential in the realm of art. They help immerse viewers into the image and can have a dramatic impact on how the artwork is interpreted. There are a couple of things that contribute to setting the mood in art, with colour and lighting being key elements. Colours invoke different feelings and emotions, and delving into colour psychology can help you decide on what colours can be used to bring your art to life. Another contributing factor would be the lighting setup and how you wield light and shadow. Employing strong, dynamic lighting will usually invoke a sense…

Artist PROFILE Maximilian Degen LOCATION: Australia Maximilian is an illustrator with 13 years’ experience. During that time he has worked as an artist for video games Ori and the Blind Forest, Overwatch, Fortnite, Hearthstone, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. https://bit.ly/48XdP9w “This artwork is based on a sketch that’s over five years old. I always liked the idea behind it and the mystical feeling, so I wanted to see how I could paint it today. I like blocking out shapes, such as in the thumbnail, and then drawing on top loosely to help me refine certain areas. The primary focuses of this image are the flowing shapes in the smoke that take the form of a snake, and the fire. When adding colours, I really wanted to push that…

Where did you grow up and how has this inf luenced your art? I grew up all over. I was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and the fall of Yugoslavia led to us seeking refuge in Kosovo. In 1998 another war broke out, and my parents fled the Balkans to start a new life in the US. We went to Lincoln, Nebraska, and later moved to Milwaukee, where I live now. Throughout my life, art ser ved as an escape and a way to process my feelings. As a kid I drew Disney and Looney Tunes characters. There was something fun and innocent about them, which provided a contrast to the harsh life as a refugee. Life for me has felt surreal and absurd in many ways. It’s probably why when…

Juan Salvador Almencion LOCATION: Philippines MEDIA: Photoshop WEB: www.artstation.com/djlumpia Juan, also known as DJ Lumpia, is a game artist and illustrator whose work is greatly inspired by fantasy-themed elements. In terms of style, he takes his influence from artists like Dave Rapoza, Tyler Jacobson and Even Amundsen. 1 KOBOLD RANGER “A Kobold Ranger character with a painterly style I made for Metal Pen’s Art Jam. I kept in mind the clear silhouette and its overlapping elements.” 2 FIRST DAY “This is a piece I drew for Atomhawk’s 2020 art contest. I tried to depict a relaxing mood through the environmental lighting.” 3 DWARF VICTORY “This illustration was made for the Brushpoint Academy Art Jam. It imitates Magic: The Gathering art by focusing on dramatic lighting and establishing a clear…

“The industry is currently undergoing startling changes, notably with advancements in AI. These developments are undoubtedly impacting the nature of work in the industry, raising questions about ethical versus unethical methods of creation, and for some even challenging the definition of art itself and the value we attribute to ‘human-made’ artwork, as opposed to something created by an algorithm. Regardless of how I or other artists are feeling about this, it’s clear that the technology is only improving, and will keep on doing so. I don’t see AI going away. And as well-intentioned as certain regulations are, I don’t know if it’s realistic to hope that laws will ever fully protect artists and other creatives from these technological tides of change. So, I think 2024 will be another year of…

“This piece was inspired by the lyric ‘I need my golden crown of sorrow, my bloody sword to swing,’ from the song King by Florence + the Machine. I imagined this character in a dark, empty space and continued from there. I then gathered references to help draw a sketch, and took some photos of the pose I wanted. After that I chose my colours and made a value scheme to ensure I could achieve the eerie, moody look I had in mind, then it was a case of finalising the rendering. I always recommend choosing your colour and value schemes before you start painting. I also like to prep a colour palette to work from so I can make sure the image stays cohesive.” Artist PROFILE Fernanda Suarez LOCATION:…

Yukoring LOCATION: Japan MEDIA: Watercolour WEB: www.yukoring.com Yukoring specialises in expanding the pop culture illustration of Japan in the context of traditional art. Challenging the growth of AI illustration, she hopes to prompt a re-evaluation of traditional artwork. 1 LARGE FLOWERS “The pandemic forced us to change our lifestyle, but I’m hopeful this change will lead to our lives blooming like a large flower in the future.” 2 MECHANICAL WINGS AND GIRL “In this artwork, a girl is about to embark on the exploration of a world where artificial and natural elements intertwine.” 3 FRAGRANT COLOURS “With this piece, I created a scene where the great orange-tip butterflies are drawn over to the flowers, painted with the girl’s fragrant colours.” 4 NEW YEAR KIMONO “I vividly depicted Japan’s New…

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. “The seed for the story came from the writing games we did at school, and two of our team members, Sebastian and Zhen, came up with the idea of a boy who’s a fish and whose dad is a sushi chef. We brought many other ideas to the table, but this was a particular one that we all loved and felt could become a great story. We did a lot of brainstorming and talked about our personal experiences and feelings.…

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 X: x.com/imaginefx Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/imaginefx Share your artwork via #imaginefx: instagram.com/imaginefxmagazine Feeding AI datasets Love the magazine. Just wanted to share that I feel Christina Kraus really hit the nail on the head in issue 226 about how AI will be in the future. Alot of the arguments I hear for AI at the moment are that it can’t replicate human imagination or some similar principle. But the profit lies in making it able to do this, and whenever someone types in “make it more painterly” or, worse, “make it in the style of XXXX”, the AI is creating a dataset. As much as…

Workshop assets are available… Download your resources by turning to page 5. And if you see the video workshop badge, you can watch the artist in action, too. 54 62 72 66 74 This issue: 54 Design engaging book cover art Artist and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi updates his cover for The Search for WondLa. 60 Prepare your colour palette Why Fernanda Suarez won’t progress to painting without having a plan in place. 62 Shape powerful fantasy figures Get more from your characters with Mariia Bulgakova’s tips, including colour and texture. 66 Develop a mood and atmosphere Set the tone for your story with visual elements before switching it up for a brand new version. 72 Convey ideas at first glance Leave the viewer in no doubt about the meaning of…

Artist PROFILE Mariia Bulgakova LOCATION: Bulgaria Mariia is a game dev artist and content creator with more than 100,000 social media fans. She enjoys creating picturesque fantasy art. https://bit.ly/47G3kq2 I thought up an idea for a new illustration of a female fantasy character who wields significant magical power in her hands. I wanted to express her strength and magic with textured brushstrokes, keeping clear of any sharp lines and infusing each stroke with a sense of weightlessness. Initially, I thought of the character as levitating and wanted her to directly face the viewer, but as the piece evolved the idea transformed and I adjusted the character’s pose, particularly the position of her hands. I decided she’d be holding a magical orb, with the hands placed to form a triangle and…

Artist PROFILE Charlie Pickard LOCATION: England Charlie is a classically trained fine artist and illustrator who works, exhibits and teaches out of his studio in London. https://bit.ly/3R3Dcz3 Shadows are often the source of most of the mistakes in students’ early artworks. If we handle them properly, they can be an incredibly powerful part of our artwork, but they can be tricky. The value differences that make them up are often some of the most subtle in nature and they are easily overdone. Shadows have the potential to add a tremendous amount of atmosphere and graphic impact to our work and this tendency to over-render them can destroy these wonderful effects, leaving us a picture that’s broken up. It’s important we understand how to approach them in a way that doesn’t…