Table of contents for March 2024 in ImagineFX

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 Anatomy solved! Hi Rob. I’m writing in to say a massive thank you for the latest issue. I’m a pretty confident artist and feel very at home in most areas, but drawing the anatomy is definitely not one of them. I’ve often struggled to get this right, but not been able to quite manage it. Your anatomy issue helped me out so much. I loved the training and seeing the different approaches. It’s interesting to see such varied results all coming from a place of realism. Thanks again! Ella, via email Rob replies…

This issue: 52 From sketch to finished painting Cover star Daniela Uhlig on her gorgeous Procreate portrait. 58 Create animation in a Disney style Aaron Blaise makes an adorable short with Procreate Dreams. 62 Masterful shapes and edges Part two of our expert series on improving your anatomy skills. 66 Make a mystical mermaid scene The intricacies of a stunning illustration from Tasia M.S. 70 Create novel concept ideas Manh Lu develops a new take on classic Russian literature. 72 Learn to paint volumetrically Build light and shadow to give your anime artwork more life. 78 Design 3D landscape concepts Discover how to use Blender for incredible environments. 84 Spacecraft design aims Till Freitag creates a starship inspired by a shampoo bottle.…

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 When we first begin to draw, it’s common to represent what we see using lines. However, lines don’t exist in nature. Everything that we see is, in reality, just varying shapes of colour. Once we realise this simple truth we run into a problem. Shapes on their own appear 2D, but when we look at the world we perceive 3D forms. So how can we express these? Many students will try to express form by adding more and more value shapes, which often results in broken-up and over-modelled art. However, we now know that the simpler our values, the stronger our artwork will…

Volumetric painting is a great way to achieve a 3D appearance in your artwork. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I develop this style for an anime character, following a method that allows you to understand the forms better, and help you to build greater confidence in your art. What I want to introduce to you is the concept of painting light onto a form. This process is much more flexible because you don’t have to worry about creating perfect line-art. In essence, we’re thinking about this like we’re sculpting a character out of clay. One good focus point to keep in mind is how the forms are being lit, as this will help you to understand where the light and shadow is. You can use a basic sphere or…

1 2 3 Kimera Wachna LOCATION: US MEDIA: Acrylic WEB: www.gracemerewoods.com Kimera is a fine artist and illustrator who specialises in exploring the human condition through the use of stories, nature, spirituality and dreams. 1 AD INFINITUM “Two opposing owls personify contrasting conditions and flow together in cyclical perpetuity.” 2 JOURNEY BACK HOME “A bear proceeds to unlock a singular path to its centre. This was part of a collection shown at Haven Gallery on Long Island.” 3 ENCHANTMENT “When creating this piece, I was eager to explore the power behind collective intention and its desired outcome.” 4 THE MASKS WE WORE “Spirits guide the hand reluctant to change, unravelling the several guises that no longer serve the wearer.” 4 Aria Fawn LOCATION: US MEDIA: Watercolour, graphite, clay…

Mona Finden LOCATION: Norway MEDIA: Photoshop WEB: www.monafinden.com Mona works as a commercial illustrator and loves to draw fantasy scenes, detailed characters and floral shapes. Her artwork often has a melancholic feel, though she mostly aims for a sense of calm. 1 NIGHT MOTHER “Inspired by Elden Ring, I wanted to draw a priestess and go wild with details. I also wanted to imply importance and danger.” 2 A FORGOTTEN LOVE STORY “A repaint of an older drawing of the same name. I wanted to capture an untold love story frozen in time with this piece.” 3 MERMAID “Similar to A Forgotten Love Story, this shows the remnants of a story. A mermaid is crushing on the only man around.” Nicole Cardiff LOCATION: US MEDIA: Photoshop WEB: www.artofnicolecardiff.com…

Artist PROFILE Daniela Uhlig LOCATION: Germany Since moving to Berlin in 2003, digital painter Daniela has discovered a greater passion for the illustration and character design worlds. Within a year, she began to work professionally within the industry. https://bit.ly/3uVqf2S This picture doesn’t really have a profound message. There were no specific references, or forward plans for how the portrait should look later on. This piece is more just the result of my constant struggle to keep my drawing skills fresh. There are times that I have to force myself to draw traditionally again so that my brain doesn’t forget everything. But honestly, I can’t help but drift into digital colouring very quickly. For this artwork, I decided to keep the original sketch and include it in the finished piece. This…

Artist PROFILE Tasia M.S.LOCATION: South Africa Tasia is an illustrator and concept designer who works in diverse creative realms, from publishing to films. She always sets out to craft captivating visual narratives. www.tasiams.com My task began when LightBox Expo asked me to work on an illustration befitting their event, which I was so excited for. They also wanted me to incorporate their logo into the artwork, which had to be more than just an appendage. My goal was clear; I wanted the logo to represent the feeling of awe I have for LightBox. It needed to radiate as the focal point, ensconced within the heart of the illustration, sparking curiosity as if a magical creature had just stumbled upon an enigmatic revelation. My initial idea was to have a fairy…

“Scott and I have worked back-to-back since 2010,” Elisabeth says. “We first shared a one-bed apartment in New York City with the studio space in our bedroom. After moving to Massachusetts, our studios to date have been found on an enclosed porch, in a living room, and then a dining room. We were finally able to build our dream home studio in 2021; it’s a much-needed space for us to have with two young kids and a rambunctious dog. It’s been 13 years of sharing an art space and we still haven’t gotten sick of each other. We absolutely love working from home in the space that we built. Everything we need is within reach, from our entire artbook library to our shipping supplies. We even have a slop sink!…

Artist PROFILE Thomas Mahon LOCATION: England Passionate about making art, Thomas is a senior concept artist and painter approaching a decade working within the video game industry. More recently he has been drawn to creating pet portraits in his spare time and sharing his process online to help other artists. www.artstation.com/thomasmahon People think contrast only applies to lighting, but there are many different kinds   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 sketchbook@imaginefx.com  …

Artist PROFILE Aaron Blaise LOCATION: US A graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, Aaron worked as an animator for Disney for 21 years. He was co-director of Brother Bear and nominated for an Oscar, and worked on Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan and more hit movies. He now teaches animation techniques and regularly gives talks at events. https://bit.ly/3RlKcYe Early last year I was contacted by Procreate and asked if I’d be interested in talking to them about a secret project. Intrigued, I said yes. They informed me that for several years they’d been working on a new animation app called Procreate Dreams, and wanted to know if I’d be interested in trying it and creating a demo animation. Once again I gave them a resounding…

“My project, The Devil Has Come To Town, is based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, in which the devil visits Moscow to wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in God or Satan. The concept was made like a sort of animated fantasy movie that’s dark yet still comical. Most of the scenes have a symmetrical look that was largely inspired by the films of director Wes Anderson. I first made hand-drawn character sketches, then used Photoshop to paint the colour keys. While making the concept, the book was always on my desk. I hope to make it into an animation in the future.” Artist PROFILE Manh Lu LOCATION: Vietnam Manh Lu is a visual development artist based in Ho Chi Minh City. When she’s not…

“This is one of the first spaceships I designed. It’s actually based on a shampoo bottle that gave me a nice constrained base shape to work with. The idea is that the ship can grab something with the hydraulic arms on the front, but they also double as a transportation bay when collapsed. This piece uses tight line work as a base, with the shading then added on top. When I design spaceships my priorities are the readability, shape hierarchy and material distribution. The cockpit is set as a clear focus point by contrast and material choice.” Artist PROFILE Till Freitag LOCATION: Germany Till Freitag is a Berlinbased freelance concept designer. His list of clients includes the likes of 1047 Games, Bungie, Karakter and Chromatic Studios. https://bit.ly/3TrpBUK…

The first comic book cover I ever illustrated for Marvel was 20 years ago. As a way to mark that milestone, I proposed to create new versions of some of my early works. I was fortunate that two of my earliest projects became big hits and resulted in iconic images that have influenced the way these characters have been portrayed since. I chose new versions of She-Hulk #1 and The Invincible Iron Man #76, both of which were painted in 2003 and published in 2004. The Iron Man cover in particular became one of the most influential and copied images, and was the start of my long relationship with the character in comics, movies and video games. The original image was painted digitally in Photoshop over the top of traditional…

Where did you grow up and how has this inf luenced your art? I grew up in northwestern New Jersey, about an hour away from New York at the time, but it was a different world; cow pastures and farm fields. I didn’t really fit in socially and left when I first had the chance. I went to art school, and left for New York City as soon as possible. I guess it might have been an antiinf luence. I liked running around in the fields at times, but I spent most of my childhood inside drawing, usually characters from comics and Star Wars stuff. What, outside of art, has had the most inf luence on your artwork through the years? Probably humour and faces. I love seeing the personality…