Table of contents for April 2026 in ImagineFX

My studio is located in my home. As a selfemployed artist and digital creator, I spend most of my day in this workspace. I live in Rishon LeZion, a city not far from Tel Aviv, Israel. I’ve always had small work corners, whether in the living room or my bedroom, but in the home where I’ve been living for over two years now, I finally built the studio I had dreamed of. Given the reality of life in my region, I set it up inside the reinforced security room of the house, so I can continue creating even during times of danger. My daily routine is quite steady. I usually wake up around 5am. There’s something about those quiet early hours that lets me begin the day calmly and without…

The dynamic between visual development, visual effects production and the shaping of creative choices underpins the flow of work across departments at ILM. Unpacking process and the spirit of creative exploration, Jason Horley offered us a detailed insight into life for the artists at the fabled studio, unpacking process and the spirit of creative exploration in a peek behind the curtain. In its work on movies and television projects, in live-action and animation, the ILM art department comprises a team of professionals based across all of the company’s studios. Its origins reach back to the 70s and the work of Ralph McQuarrie, who had been engaged by writer-director George Lucas to visualise key scenes and characters in action for Star Wars. These earliest images showed what the world of a…

“Gargoyles are one of those cool fantasy staples, right up there with orcs” “There’s something I seem to love about drawing dwarves, just don’t ask me what!” Artist PROFILE Cole Eastburn LOCATION: US Cole has worked on video games and TCGs for more than two decades – with over 15 years making art for World of Warcraft. His passion has always been for creating characters and universes, especially fantasy-based, but loves working on any IP based in a creative world. Cole lives by a simple motto told by one of his idols – ABC: always be creating! www.artstation.com/colehole 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…

“I had the idea of a smuggler’s cove that felt moody, dark and in shambles. I initially established the composition with rock formations, but I scrapped that to make the port the focus. I’d been making building assets as prop call-outs before starting the environment, so once composition was established it was all about the assembly of different elements I’d prepared. The 3D is mainly used to establish materials and the mood; if the material is established properly you can overlay photos to give it that extra punch while keeping lighting accurate.” How I create… A DOCK DRAPED IN SOMBRE FOG 1 Block in terrain To create the terrain, I use basic cubes merged using different rotations and angles. A Remesh modifier is applied to blend the seams. A procedural texture…

Price £329/$349 Company Anycubic Web https://anycubic.com RATING Last year, I managed to lose my confidence in Anycubic. But I’m pleased I had the chance to test this new version of the Kobra. I would class it as one of the best 3D printers on the market right now when it comes to a balance of quality with value. You see, the issue with the Kobra 3 V2 is not so much the printer itself, but the ACE Pro (Anycubic’s version of an automated material system for multicolour printing) unit that the combo bundle ships with. The bottom line: Anycubic’s Kobra 3 V2 is miles ahead of the Kobra 2 series, but it remains light years behind Bambu Lab’s design and interface in terms of ease and effortless operation. The setup…

Publisher CreatureArtTeacher Price £48 approx/$65 (frequently discounted) Format Online Length Over 14 hours Web https://creatureartteacher.com Storyboarding sits quietly beneath almost every form of visual storytelling, yet finding proper training beyond the basics can be difficult. This course from Lyndon Ruddy – a story artist with 20+ years at Blue Sky, Disney, Warner Bros and Sony – delivers exactly that. At 14+ hours, this is not a quick overview, and to the course’s credit, it doesn’t try to be. Ruddy works through the complete process methodically: shot selection, framing, the 180-degree rule, eyelines, camera angles and when to move the camera. Each concept is illustrated with production examples, which is always the best way to learn. What makes this particularly lovely is watching Ruddy work in real time, even if his…

Here at Athena Productions, we are fortunate to work on a wide range of video games, from indie to AAA titles. Every image we create tells a story, whether it’s the function of the smallest prop or the narrative behind the largest environment. There is always a story being told. Creating effective horror concept art is all about intention. Every design decision, from composition and lighting to creature silhouette, needs to be made with the viewer’s emotional response in mind. The goal isn’t just to make something look scary, but to build tension, atmosphere and impact, from the initial brief all the way through to the finished piece. In this workshop, our team has managed to create a terrifying keyframe using ZBrush, Blender and Photoshop, featuring a spider-like creature revealing…

Discover your potential with The Rookies; the launchpad for emerging digital artists. With The Rookies, your work won’t only be seen, it gets noticed and featured, just like this! Join a community where your journey from hobbyist to professional artist is supported every step of the way.  WWW.THEROOKIES.CO Tideborn YEAR CREATED: 2025 MEDIA: Blender, 3DCoat “I discovered sea fort references while browsing for inspiration, which sparked a strong interest. With a long-time fascination for pirates and the sea, I researched the structure and history of such forts. My goal was to create a grounded yet distinctive design, blending real-world details with imagination to make the setting feel engaging and memorable.” Artist PROFILE Jordan Looh LOCATION: Malaysia Jordan is an aspiring environment artist who enjoys building worlds and themes through art. Their…

Where did you grow up and how has this influenced your art? I grew up in Paris in the 1980s, a city rich in culture and history. I spent a lot of time in museums, read manga and comic books, and played many video games that are now considered retro classics. At home, my mother dedicated an entire shelf to books about painters, so I was surrounded by images of all kinds and genres. Looking back, I think my work sits at the crossroads of all those influences – fine art, popular culture, games, and illustration – without ever feeling the need to separate them. What, outside of art, has most influenced your artwork through the years? Introspection and getting to know myself better have had a huge impact on…

“When it comes to working on an established franchise, they often already possess a visual language. If you compare Star Wars with Star Trek, for example, you can see that both are epic sci-fi worlds, but also very different. And so it’s about studying existing material and thinking, ‘What is it about this world that’s being created? What are those visual cues?’ Even if you’re creating something new, keeping some of the visual cues from movies or source material will let the audience know they’re still within that universe and that world.”…

Artist PROFILE Nick Bray LOCATION: Sweden Nick Bray is a concept artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. His work is heavily influenced by his love of fantasy and science fiction, which can be seen throughout his portfolio, which encompasses everything from characters through to environments. http://artstation.com/nickbray SEND US YOUR CONCEPTS! Are you working on a project, fresh project or doodling your own development sketches that you’d like to share with us? LET US KNOW! Email your WIPs and final images to: mail@imaginefx.com develop@imaginefx.com…

Price £750/$900 Company Wacom Web www.wacom.com Every so often, a device lands that redraws the line for E an entire category. The Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 feels like one of those moments. This tablet finally makes Android feel grown-up and serious as a platform for digital artists. Wacom teased us with the release of the super-slim and lightweight Movink 13, but it lacked both an OS and chipset to stand on its own as a desktop or smartphone. MovinkPad 11 was a first toe-dip into a fully fledged Android tablet, but as such it was there to catch up with the competition – the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad – and not to overtake it. MovinkPad Pro 14 is something bigger, both physically and in terms of ambition. This tablet is…

Price £7,999/$8,799 Company ASUS Web www.asus.com Ready your Z9s, GFX ETERNA 55s, and URSA 12K LFs. ASUS has a new 8K monitor on the market. An 8K screen isn’t something you pick up on a whim, and you’ll probably already know if that many pixels will be helpful to your creative workflow or not, but the ASUS ProArt Display PA32KCX takes it to another level. This screen, which from the outside looks a perfectly ordinary 32-incher with a USB hub aimed at creatives much like BenQ’s 4K PD3225U, costs an eye-watering amount of money. But its Mini-LED backlight gives it remarkable brightness, and its colour reproduction is second to none. There’s a degree of adjustability in the mount, with tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustments so you can get it into…

Storyboard Artist Artist Francisco Beltrán Software Photoshop Brushes 46 Price £7 approx/$10 Rating A comprehensive 46-brush toolkit built specifically for budding storyboard artists. The set covers the full range of mark-making needs – from quick gesture sketches to clean inked frames which for 10 bucks is amazing value! bit.ly/3NBWZHJ Shiyoon 1920x1080 Storyboard Brushes Artist Shiyoon Kim Software Photoshop Brushes 6 Price £7 approx/$10 Rating A series of brushes designed to work within the the document size while still being enjoyable to draw with. The set covers three distinct feels: Microny, Inky and Sketchy. A focused, professional toolset for serious storyboard work. bit.ly/4jYGlOL Ulrich’s Storyboard Tools Artist Ulrich Zeidler Software Procreate, Photoshop Brushes 6+ Price £3 approx/$4 Rating Designed to work just as well, whether you’re using Procreate or Photoshop, this…

“This is a personal project inspired by my love for future tech, urban settings and the beauty that can be found in the decay of public spaces. I started with a rough blockout to define the main layout. Then, after experimenting with composition sketches, I worked individually on the most important ‘hero assets’. Finally, I put all the pieces together with the proper set-dressing. In large-scale scenes it’s important to decide on the overall layout and distribution of all elements early on in the process. Detailing too much and too early can be overwhelming.” How I create… FUTURE WORLDS 1 Blockout sketching Here, it’s important to clarify the main layout and placement of main designs. No need for details. Just work to a realistic human scale and establish a simplified version…

“Quick sketches are often just silhouettes or roughs that we build up to finish with a whole page. For example, you might have a page of 20 silhouettes and that’ll go to the director, production designer and producers. There’s a process in designing, especially when it comes to characters. Most of the work we do never gets seen by anyone – it’s only the final design that gets approved and eventually gets seen. And for that, there’s been probably months of design work to get to that point. That’s not to say the months of design work beforehand is bad, it’s just not quite right and is all a part of the process the public never know about.”…

“This scene is inspired by China’s Zhuoshui Fengyu Bridge. The composition features strong visual tension, which I found especially compelling, and the art is developed around this perspective. I combined Southeast Asian roof shapes and materials, and introduced a waterfall to the setting to create a dramatic yet dreamlike atmosphere. I also added dynamic elements such as spray from the water and a flock of birds to bring life and movement to the scene. The entire piece is hand-painted in 2D, with the emphasis on maintaining a loose and expressive painting style.” How I create… A BRIDGE WITH A STORY 1 Establish composition The bridge reference is used as a perspective foundation. The architecture is integrated into the waterfall and mountain, creating a strong sense of danger. The colour palette is…

Price From £1,700/$2,399 Company Lenovo Web www.lenovo.com The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10 Aura Edition(161AH10) is a creatorfocused laptop with an Ultra 9 processor, dedicated GPU, and a generous 32GB of RAM, ready for some serious work straight out of the box. It handled everything from batch editing to web research and serious multitasking without any signs of slowing down. For me, the standout feature is the OLED screen, which is crisp, bright and colour-rich, making it an absolute joy to work on. For creative professionals looking for a machine that can comfortably handle real creative workloads, this laptop should be on your shortlist. In fact, I’d place it among the best laptops for photo editing and content creation currently on the market. “The OLED screen is crisp, bright…

Price From £935/$1,249 Company Geekom Web www.geekom.co.uk Thin and light are two words that you’ll often see used in relation to laptops, as manufacturers try to position theirs as the thinnest and lightest out there. There’s not that much that differentiates portable PCs, so physical size is something they can capitalise on to make their product stand out. Enter the GeekBook X14 Pro from mini-PC specialist Geekom. It’s an extremely light all-metal laptop that rivals the Asus Zenbook A14 for slimness and, unlike Asus’s slender effort, packs an Ultra 9 Intel processor instead of a Snapdragon chip. Is that enough to make it one of the best laptops for Photoshop, though? We got it in to find out. “Working in 2D and without ondevice AI calculations going on, the performance…

Daniel Dana LOCATION: US MEDIA: Blender, Photoshop, Gravity Sketch, 3DCoat WEB: www.artstation.com/daniel_dana_art Daniel is a concept artist and illustrator who works across film, television and advertising. Currently, he’s working with Terraform Studios, with previous clients including Netflix, Insomniac Games and One Pixel Brush. 1 CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY “When the Christmas holiday season is approaching, I often feel the desire to make a piece like this one; something cosy, wintery, or perhaps possibly even romantic.” 2 THE HOBBYIST “This piece was made with the intention of practising more cinematic lighting and composition. It was one of those ‘aha’ pieces for me early in my process of learning 3D.” 3 RARE MINERAL MINES “This one is an exploration of otherworldly shapes and forms. The environment was designed using an array of…

If you are used to using 2D software or a piece of paper and want to learn 3D, the kicker is learning to navigate in an extra dimension. If you’ve ever opened a 3D application and felt lost, you’re not alone. Unlike a 2D canvas, where up is up and left is left, a 3D viewport is a window into an empty, infinite space that you can view from any angle. Once you’ve learned the three core moves – orbit, pan and zoom – you’ll find that they work almost identically across every 3D application. Orbit rotates your view around a central point,. Pan slides your view without changing angle. Zoom moves you closer to or further from what you’re looking at, narrowing or widening your field of view. These…