In this visually captivating volume, a vibrant selection of loved and revered children's book illustrators reveals the secrets of their narrative techniques. Divided into a series of enchanting sections each created by individual illustrators, this unique and gift-worthy book tells the story of how to successfully depict narrative and compel an audience through visual art. Marvel at how composition and environment can create suspense, and how color, visual hierarchy, and symbolism can tell a story beyond just the action. Learn how to inject dynamism and emotion into your illustrations to tell a tale that isn't just engaging, but is memorable and one that transcends generations. Lavishly illustrated and with a luxurious finish, How to Be a Children's Book Illustrator is ideal for book lovers in general as well as anyone looking to unlock the secrets of children's book illustration.

Popular artist Gretel Lusky welcomes readers into her fantastical world in this high-quality art book.This is an artist who loves fantasy and all things magical: fairies, mermaids, mythical creatures, knights, and more. She creates characters that are colorful yet mysterious and places that feel otherworldly, always pretty yet sometimes bordering on unsettling. Gretel fans will love delving into the story of her creative early years, discovering why she chose art as a career, and following her development timeline. She presents two exclusive galleries of art - one with a fantasy focus, based around maritime creatures and witches, and another that celebrates the beauty of sketchbooking.  The artist has written chapters on her creative process, which aspiring and established artists will equally enjoy, and created a section on "Embracing The Mess," discussing the techniques of letting go of perfectionism, listening to your body, and staying motivated as an artist. With tools and materials covered in detail too, plus in-depth tutorials for readers to follow along with, this Art Of title is packed with incredible insight and joyous art, appealing to existing fans of Gretel as well as newcomers to her work.

Building on the foundations set by our popular Art Fundamentals book, Beyond Fundamentals shows artists how to take their work a step beyond techniques and mechanics. A memorable, unique image requires more than just accurate anatomy and choosing the right tools, after all! This impressive volume offers in-depth guidance on conveying mood and emotion, creating narratives, and improving your images' storytelling through composition, character details, and atmosphere. Beyond Fundamentals is an ideal book both for hobbyists and new artists wanting to add extra depth to their work, and for skilled illustrators looking for a spark of new inspiration.

Thanks to Procreate, designing characters for the entertainment industry can be done on the iPad. In this book for newcomers to the software, several renowned and experienced designers demonstrate how they do it, sharing not only their professional tips and tricks, but also how the traditional character design process translates to Procreate. Whether you sketch or paint, draw from reality, or dream up new concepts, you will become fluent in using Procreate for all stages of character design. The thorough Getting Started section spotlights the specific Procreate tools, such as Brushes, Layers, and Adjustments, that bring your characters to life. Perfecting color and nuance of hair, skin, eyes and fabric of your characters is vital, and the Quick Tips section lets you quickly locate and manipulate the tools you need. Take the opportunity to observe and practice the techniques as part of a real-world workflow, as professional character designers demonstrate in seven step-by-step Projects how to use Procreate's tools to successfully evolve a character from initial thumbnails to final hero pose. Whether or not you have used Procreate before, Beginner's Guide to Procreate: Characters ensures your character ideas and concepts become fully realized creations on the iPad screen.

Learn how to paint on your iPad like the professionals in Beginner's Guide to Procreate, a comprehensive introduction to this industry-standard software. Accessible and versatile, Procreate is an ideal tool for anyone wanting to give digital painting a go. Step-by-step tutorials, quick tips, and inspiring artwork ensure you'll have all you need to create stunning concept art quickly and easily.

3dtotal Publishing is an established authority on art and design, with a growing stable of high-calibre artist-authors. With such incredible talent and know-how under one publishing-house roof, we are uniquely placed to launch the BRAND NEW SERIES, Artists' Masters Series. We have already released several bestselling, well-respected art-theory books including Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition and our much-loved character design titles. We cover the breadth of art and design, offering tutorials and inspiration from hundreds of experts across many genres. Now, this exciting new series takes a deep dive into the key areas of art theory, focusing on specific aspects which, when mastered, make the difference between good and world-class design. This innovative concept launches with Artists' Masters Series: Color & Light. A select few hugely popular industry experts reveal techniques they use to infuse characters with the advanced levels of color and light that make their work instantly recognizable and universally admired. Their in-depth illustrated advice, detailed step-by-step tutorials, enlightening case studies, and awe-inspiring inspiration provide a distinctive and invaluable blend of advanced techniques that can't be found anywhere else. For artists and designers aiming to raise their game to an expert level, the Artists' Masters Series is the key to success.

Learn how to confidently draw the human form from head to toe with this comprehensive, richly illustrated guide. Expert drawing instructor and storyboard artist Tom Fox knows exactly how to capture the figure in poses that are both dynamic and true to human anatomy. The book details the central figure-drawing elements and techniques that are essential to every artist of every skill level. From understanding the XYZ axis and basic skeleton, to thinking in 3D space and creating mannequins of all levels of detail, the book deals with everything the reader needs to know before moving on to the figure itself. Tom presents in step-by-step details exactly how to add the muscles and depict truly believable poses. Every part of the body is presented in detail, with easy-to-follow breakdowns of the torso, arms, and legs, and the often-tricky head, hands, and feet. The author also shares insightful, game-changing anatomy tips, many learned from years of working for major clients in the entertainment industry and teaching others to draw the human figure, both in person and online. This combination of experiences and skills make Tom an outstanding author of this must-have book for artists in all areas of figure drawing.

In this visually stunning hardback, globally loved artist Lois van Baarle, AKA Loish, explores the origins, influences, and features of her style, and helps readers do the same deep dive into their own style.

It is her third book with 3dtotal Publishing, a natural progression from the bestselling The Art of Loish (2016) and The Sketch Book of Loish (2018) which to date have sold over 85,000 copies combined. The Style of Loish now sees the artist explore her own style through several facets of her work, including creating volume, choosing color, establishing flow, and the ideas and subjects themselves. While looking at the motivation behind her own work, Loish also guides the reader through ideas and tutorials to help them identify, understand, and even evolve their own style. The book bursts with brand new, specially commissioned art that provides a unique opportunity to understand the foundations of Loish’s style. She reveals the journey she took to pinpoint when and how her style was created.

Combined with candid advice and a passion for supporting fellow artists, the book is beautiful, inspirational, and practical for artists of all styles and abilities.

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide. Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. The cover for issue 24 has been created by Nathanna Érica - an illustrator and paper artist based in São Paulo, Brazil. Inside we interview Justin Runfola, a character designer and visual-development artist with years of experience in the animation industry.

Delve into the popular and competitive world of heroine design as 50 of the world's finest character artists from the fields of animation, illustration, comics, and games share a behind-the-scenes look at their stunning sketchbook pages, showcasing over 2,500 drawings! A range of styles and genres are explored, including classic comic book superheroines and magical princesses, plus historical, fantasy, and sci-fi heroines from across time and space. From concept sketches and initial thumbnails, to emotions and expressions, outfit variations, and an engaging chosen design, artists share their previously unseen explorations alongside expert advice for crafting compelling heroine designs. Further pages explore action and pose - a library of dynamic sketches with invaluable basic-shape overlays, offering a revealing collection of each artist's ideas and experiments. "3dtotal Publishing launched a brand-new design series, with the recent release of Character Design Collection: Heroines. This series aims to present inspirational sketches and pose explorations by some of the best character artists out there. This first edition is simply incredible, and perfect for ushering in what I'm sure will be continued greatness ahead with future volumes... This book will surely serve as a fantastic reference for inspiration and a great tool in learning character creation. Highly recommended!" Nick Charles @ Renderosity Magazine

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide. Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. The cover of issue 16 features bespoke artwork by playful illustrator and art director, Rafael Mayani and is accompanied by an interview and insights into his making processes. Packed with industry observations, inspiration, and practical advice from professional artists including Rayner Alencar, Noor Sofi, and Nuria Tamarit, issue 16 offers something for every character designer.

Whether your favourite medium is digital, traditional, or a mix of both, Stockholm-based Feefal will have used it to explore her unique world of anthropomorphised figures, animals in dream-like settings, and cool-girl magic. Her spooky-cute style has been a constant throughout her career, amassing 870K dedicated Instagram followers who not only adore her art, but are always keen to know the stories and inspiration behind it. Now for the first time, Feefal has written a beautifully produced book, her work printed on high-quality paper, providing the chance to not only show what she does, but also how. 3dtotal Publishing excels at helping artists to communicate both the motivations behind their unique creativity, and the technical tips and tricks they use. Feefal shares the early influences that put her on the path to becoming the professional character designer she is today, including those of her Swedish-Japanese upbringing. In doing so, the ideas behind paintings such as Lamp Shade Lady, Understanding the Hahahaki Disease (a fictional ailment caused by unrequited love) and Momento Mori are explained. With galleries of curated classics intertwined with step-by-step tutorials and fascinating insights into her creative process, Feefal's work is as intriguing as it is spellbinding.

Step into a world of witchcraft both good and evil, where the iconic character of myth and legend is once more brought uniquely to life. From the first alleged witch to be hanged in Salem, and Goya's depictions of witchcraft, to Shakespeare's Macbeth, Hogwarts, and beyond, there is no shortage of inspiration, but also of recycled characterizations and central-casting stereotypes. Now, 30 of the world's most talented fantasy and concept artists discover their own, personal manifestation of the witch. Starting with research, readers will witness the alchemy of details extracted from the seemingly mundane transformed the whole body of the witch, fantastical yet unnervingly believable at the same time. The design process goes on to cast spells not only on appearance, but also the environment, practices, and magical belongings of this one-of-a-kind witch. With the final design depicted as both a line drawing and in full color, the whole character and their world is defined. A summary of each witch details their background, behaviour, strengths, weaknesses and, of course, powers. The result is 320 pages encased in a beautifully finished hardback cover, the ultimate field guide to designing witches that transcend time, place, and even the most vivid imagination.

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide. Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. Renowned character designer and visual development artist Taraneh Karimi creates the cover for this issue, alongside a step-by-step tutorial to show readers how she goes about creating her stunning work.

Creating Professional Characters: Develop Spectacular Designs from Basic Concepts is an inspiring and informative exploration of how popular professional character designers take the basic concept of a character in a production brief and develop these ideas into an original, high-quality design. Suitable for student and professional character designers alike, this book focuses on how to approach your character designs in ways that ensure the target audience and production needs are met while still creating fun, imaginative characters. This visually appealing book includes twenty thorough tutorials guiding you through the design and decision making processes used to create awesome characters. Replicating the processes used in professional practice today, this book demonstrates the types of brief a professional designer might receive, the iterative design process used to explore the brief, the influence of production feedback on the final design, and how final designs are presented to clients. This detailed, enlightening book is an excellent guide to creating incredible imaginative characters suitable for your future professional projects.

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide. Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks.

In Mythical Beasts: An Artist's Field Guide to Designing Fantasy Creatures, thirty talented artists show you how to sketch, draw, and render thirty mythical creatures. Learn how to create some of the best-known fantasy creatures including the werewolf, unicorn, and of course the fantasy staple the dragon. Also included are lesser-known mythical beasts such as the Slavic Leshy, Japanese Jorogumo, and the Congolese Dingonek. Each creature has its own chapter which covers its history, how to render main elements, and variations, and one large final illustration. If you are a fan of mythology and fantasy, then Mythical Beasts is the book for you!

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide.Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. The cover for issue 26 has been created by Mila Useche, a Colombian artist living in Berlin. She is a successful character designer, visual development artist, and illustrator, and is currently working on a short film. We interviewed her about her career and she supplies a step-by-step tutorial on how she created the stunning cover art. Also in this issue, hugely popular artist Ben Eblen creates two characters from a basic prompt: 'Thief, Woodland, Surprise!' We interview Sara Paz and Simone Grunewald about their art, careers, and advice for budding artists. Alex Jensen shows us how to design a cast of superheroes, and Rachelle Joy Slingerland is back with a reimagining of a fairy-tale witch.

For the first time, talented French illustrator and character designer Sibylline Meynet not only shares her beautiful artwork in this beautifully crafted book, but also presents specially commissioned tutorials, step-by-step techniques, and the story of her journey as a professional artist. Reverie: The Art of Sibylline Meynet is a must-have for aspiring artists and illustrators in need of career inspiration and a creative re-boot. Sibylline launched herself as a freelance illustrator straight out of high school in her native France, and now works as a comic artist, character designer, and illustrator for magazines and books. Her artwork features in abundance the girls and animals she loves to draw, characters who exude charm and whimsy as well as great narrative strength and depth. Behind her artwork is a career in film and print, on projects from Scoob! (Warner Bros.) and Garfield (BOOM! Studios), to Cursed and Orange is the New Black (Netflix). In this book, Sibylline shares her experiences working in the industry, juggling work commitments with exhibiting, collaborations, and personal projects. For artists seeking new creative exercises, career inspiration, advice, and a chance to peruse the gallery of a talented and unique professional artist, this exciting new book is essential.

Following the success of previous titles in this popular series, Sketching from the Imagination: Worlds of Magic showcases the fantastical characters and worlds of 50 artists and illustrators. Chosen especially for this book these artists from around the globe take inspiration from folklore, myths, modern stories, and sometimes even real life as a basis for their imaginative work. Everything mystical, magical, impossible, and unlikely has fascinated us across the centuries and been an enduring theme in art, literature, film and TV. This book is packed with concepts developed and conveyed through the medium of drawing here and now, in the 21st century. Artists of a dizzying array of styles and backgrounds throw open the doors of their imaginations for all to see the creatures and characters, people and places, and other unheard-of concepts that so many artists strive to depict. As with the previous titles in the series, Worlds of Magic gives artists the opportunity to share the ideas, motivations, creative strokes of genius, or simple chance that lit the fire beneath their imagination. This makes it not only a visual feast of fantastical magic from artists around the world, but also an absorbing and compelling read.

The second installment in the intriguing journey of Guweiz, whose stunning art has earned him over 1 million followers on Instagram. Following on from his first book, Guweiz: The Art of Gu Zheng Wei, the artist now takes us deeper into his world of absorbing manga-style art, discussing the storytelling in his work and his evolution as an artist. Fans will discover new insights into the artist’s creative processes, with in-depth step-by-step tutorials and discussions around working full-time as a freelance artist. Guweiz will talk about how he has grown and changed as an artist since his first Art of book, offering a rare opportunity for readers to see a famous artist’s progression documented across the years in beautiful keepsake books.

Character designers take inspiration from beautiful botany and, in this project-focused title, each create a brand-new character based on nature, with step-by-step tutorials allowing readers to follow along. From mushroom fairies to swamp-dwelling beasts, and Mother Nature herself, we have seen countless characters inspired by the delicacy and harshness of the natural world. The projects include notes on the ideation, research, design, and creation of the characters, leading to a stunning final image, plus a gallery from each artist showing more of their nature-themed works. Budding artists will love learning how to create these much-loved botanical characters, while more experienced creators will enjoy seeing how experts design something original. Even non-artists will want to own this book packed with beautiful imagery and intriguing, enchanting characters. The illustrative artwork is created both digitally and traditionally, with styles ranging from anime-inspired to watercolor, all with a fantastical, magical aura.

Illustrator and concept artist Devin Elle Kurtz shares her journey, from childhood ambitions to be an artist and finding the best educational fit, to working in the industry as she continues to develop her craft. The Art of Devin Elle Kurtz bursts with the stunning color, light, and storytelling that Devin has mastered, using traditional and digital methods. This is a unique opportunity to learn from a young industry professional. Devin recalls navigating educational opportunities, looking for the combination of formal classes and personal study that suited her needs. Color and light play a huge part - whether she uses traditional or digital techniques - and specially commissioned tutorials give aspiring artists the chance to sample her methods while evolving their skills. Readers will also enjoy the intriguing subject of storytelling, as Devin explores the themes that feature the most in her own work, including where they originated from. These insights and reflections are not only fascinating, but also help readers unlock their own authentic storytelling potential. Devin has been handpicked to join the ranks of superstar artists who have produced their Art of... books with 3dtotal Publishing, creating the unique blend of advice, tutorials, inspiration, and galleries that we love to see.

Anatomy for Artists is an extensive compendium of high quality, detailed photography and drawings, showing the human figure in a variety of shapes, sizes and poses that can be used as a solid foundation for all character art.This thorough and detailed library of visual resources will consist of stunning photography and comprehensive drawings showing the muscular structure of figures of varying body types. These male and female references will act as an invaluable starting point for artists trying to create art based on the human figure. Whether you're a traditional sculptor, oil painter or 3D digital artist, the resources within this book will prove to be useful and informative and will help you improve the quality and accuracy of your own art.

Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition is a fully revised and updated back-to-basics title, packed with the fundamental concepts, conventions, and theory every beginner artist needs to create successful work. This essential book is written by industry experts who thoroughly address key basics including color and light, composition, perspective and depth, and anatomy in a series of insightful chapters. As well as being the perfect introduction for newcomers, Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition also offers experienced artists the chance to brush up on their theory and discover new tricks, tips, and techniques to advance their art even further. Richly illustrated throughout for optimal learning, each section of the book is specifically designed to guide the reader through the essential yet often challenging elements that make up the foundations of art, no matter which medium or technique is used. As fascinating and illuminating as it is practical and essential, Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition contains the foundations of art, presented, taught, and completely demystified for the today's artist.