The Complete Book of Drawing Fantasy Art

How to draw amazing characters and scenes

Steve Beaumont

• Publisher: Arcturus
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781784285234
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

This action-packed volume brings together a whole range of fantasy art projects, from the nearly human to the downright monstrous. Steve Beaumont's two successful fantasy art titles, How to Draw Fantasy Art and How to Draw Fantasy Worlds, are brought together into one bumper volume. Projects range from a demonic seductress to a howling werewolf, a winged warrior and a rock and roll vampire. Throughout the book fantasy artist Steve Beaumont provides step-by-step instruction and professional tips.

PROJECTS

Now that you have got a grasp of the necessary tools and techniques, you can move on to the really exciting bit – creating your own drawings. In this section of the book you will find a range of fantasy figures to have a go at, from a princess to a gunfighter belonging to the legions of the undead.

The first figures are intended to give you an easy start, so it’s wise to draw them before you move on to the more complex images. Tackling one of the latter at the outset risks disappointment before you have hardly begun. Conversely, making a good job of the Elfin Princess, for example (here), will give you a lot of satisfaction and confidence – and it’s the confidence of the line work and handling of shading that will convince the viewer that they are looking at work by a competent artist.

As you work your way through, you will come to images that have been coloured with Photoshop. This is complex software that takes quite a time to learn in its entirety, but it is possible to use it for the projects here and get good results without having to delve too deeply into everything it offers. If you do not have a graphics tablet, it is well worth buying one for the greater ease of manoeuvring on screen it gives you – the large ‘professional’ tablets are costly, but there are smaller ones for non-professional use available that are much cheaper. While a tablet will be the most expensive piece of kit compared to pens and pencils, it will really liberate the way you work digitally.

So, enjoy the projects and do not be afraid of making mistakes – each one will teach you something and set you on your way to being a better artist.

PROJECT 1

ELF PRINCESS

This first exercise is a good way to build up your confidence in figure drawing before tackling the more complex characters in the book. The main point of focus here is achieving the correct stance, as the attitude of the figure is conveyed through the pose. Drawing the character will also give you a chance to tackle clothing, armour and accessories, all of which are part of character design.

STEP 1

Begin by drawing a skeleton frame, using the techniques outlined on here and referring to this image as a guide. It is important to get the stance right before moving on to the next stage. If the pose is not balanced, all the shading and armour in the world will not disguise the fact that the figure’s pose is weak.

STEP 2

Once the skeletal figure has been drawn with the correct stance, flesh out the outer shape of the body and check the stance again, as it is easy to start over at this stage if you find it is unbalanced. The red arrows in Figure 1 clearly show the various angles of the pose. Notice that the figure is putting her body weight on her right leg (her left as we are looking at her), which is causing her hip to tilt and her left leg to bend. Her shoulders are also affected by the position of her legs – her right shoulder is lower than her left. The angle of the head is also important – notice that it turns towards us, adding another twist to the spine.

Figure 1

STEP 3

Once the pose has been established and you are happy with the balance of it, the rest of the body can be fleshed out. The breasts rest on the ribcage area and for now can be round or slightly oval. When drawing the face, keep the features simple. Try not to overwork it by adding too many lines. Notice I have not drawn the entire line for the nose, merely implying its position by carefully placing nostrils in the correct place. Because the head is tilting downwards, her eyes are looking slightly up towards her eyebrows (Figures 2 and 3). Once you are happy with the face, you can carefully erase the guidelines (Figure 4).

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

STEP 4

Now you can add details such as the hair and cape. Keep the shapes simple whe...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Materials and Techniques
• The Basics of Figure Drawing
• Projects
• Sketchbook
• Index
• Back Cover