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Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist (Volume 1)
From the award-winning artist, learn to see and shape the world in a way you never before imagined.
An award-winning fantasy artist and the creator of Dinotopia, James Gurney instructs and inspires in Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist. Renowned for his uncanny ability to incorporate amazing detail and imagination into stunningly realistic fantasy settings, James Gurney teaches budding artists and fans of fantasy art step-by-step the techniques that won him worldwide critical acclaim. This groundbreaking work examines the practical methods for creating believable pictures of imaginary subjects, such as dinosaurs, ancient Romans, alien creatures, and distant worlds.
Beginning with a survey of imaginative paintings from the Renaissance to the golden Age of American illustration, the book then goes on to explain not just techniques like sketching and composition, but also the fundamentals of believable world building including archaeology, architecture, anatomy for creatures and aliens, and fantastic engineering. It concludes with details and valuable advice on careers in fantasy illustration, including video game and film concept art and toy design.
More than an instruction book, this is the ultimate reference for fans of science fiction and fantasy illustration.
"Gurney's Imaginative Realism is a gold mine for artists who want to create images that sing with authority and delight the viewer with rich otherworldly visuals." --Erik Tiemens, concept artist, Star Wars: Episodes II and III
"Imaginative Realism is an indispensable, flawless reference for vision makers in any discipline to create their own imaginative realms." --Frank M. Costantino, ASAI, SI, FSAI, JARA, cofounder, American Society of Architectural Illustrators
An award-winning fantasy artist and the creator of Dinotopia, James Gurney instructs and inspires in Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist. Renowned for his uncanny ability to incorporate amazing detail and imagination into stunningly realistic fantasy settings, James Gurney teaches budding artists and fans of fantasy art step-by-step the techniques that won him worldwide critical acclaim. This groundbreaking work examines the practical methods for creating believable pictures of imaginary subjects, such as dinosaurs, ancient Romans, alien creatures, and distant worlds.
Beginning with a survey of imaginative paintings from the Renaissance to the golden Age of American illustration, the book then goes on to explain not just techniques like sketching and composition, but also the fundamentals of believable world building including archaeology, architecture, anatomy for creatures and aliens, and fantastic engineering. It concludes with details and valuable advice on careers in fantasy illustration, including video game and film concept art and toy design.
More than an instruction book, this is the ultimate reference for fans of science fiction and fantasy illustration.
"Gurney's Imaginative Realism is a gold mine for artists who want to create images that sing with authority and delight the viewer with rich otherworldly visuals." --Erik Tiemens, concept artist, Star Wars: Episodes II and III
"Imaginative Realism is an indispensable, flawless reference for vision makers in any discipline to create their own imaginative realms." --Frank M. Costantino, ASAI, SI, FSAI, JARA, cofounder, American Society of Architectural Illustrators
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
James Gurney
36 books422 followersBorn June 14, 1958 in Glendale, California. Raised in Palo Alto, the youngest of five children of Joanna and Robert Gurney (a mechanical engineer). Earned a B.A. in Anthropology in 1979 with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of California at Berkeley. Studied painting at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,California, where he met his wife Jeanette. In 1984 they moved to the Hudson Valley of New York State, where they raised two sons, Daniel and Franklin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
December 4, 2012
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)
If you are a regular reader of James Gurney's blog, Gurney Journey, you would expect nothing less. This book is as good as I expected. He dispenses his knowledge as freely as he does on his blog. Here's what he says about his own book from the introduction:
This is not a book about figure drawing, anatomy, or perspective. It's not a step-by-step guide on how to draw dinosaurs. It's also not a recipe book for a particular paint technique, although all these topics are addressed in passing. What this book contains is a distillation of the time-tested methods that I've found to be most helpful for achieving realism in imaginative pictures. — James Gurney
If you haven't got the hint from the title, this book is about making your art real and believable. In every chapter, James Gurney shares with us what he learned when creating his paintings. There are topics on people, dinosaurs, architecture, vehicles, composition and his step-by-steps (not techniques but process). The tips he gives can be applied on other subjects as well.
The importance of research is emphasized and the amount of research he does really shows. While creating an illustration on ship wreckage for National Geographic, he talked to survivors to get an accurate account. He found out there's a drummer boy who used his drum as a float and drew that in. He also acted out the various poses of sailors in distress, rather than drawing them from imagination. The result is a painting that tells its story convincingly. The same goes for many of his other paintings.
Another interesting read is the story of him trying to design a Dinotopian fire engine. When he presented his concept art to a professional fire engine designer, it was critiqued to have form but not function. There's lack of heat protection for the dinosaur, lack of understanding on how water hose works and a complicated water pump design. The revised concept is a huge improvement in believability that I thought it actually might work.
He has provided lots of photos and his own work in the book. You'll get to see how he stages the props for reference, sketches and drafts, plenty of commissioned work (especially from National Geographic), the bird on his shoulder while he's drawing, the lousy-art incinerator he created from mirrors and other entertaining stuff.
Imaginative Realism is an enlightening and fun read. Highly recommended to professionals, beginning art students and those who wish to push their art to the next level in terms of depth.
Be sure to check out more work and writing from James Gurney at gurneyjourney.blogspot.com. On his blog, he talks about his work, art theories, insights and news from the creative field.
October 29, 2012
I got this book because I thought my talented artist son (of Tunnel Sun Studios and Geek Fight design/illustration fame) would enjoy adding it to his reference shelf. Now that I've been through it, I know he will absolutely love it--but I loved it, too! I was absolutely enthralled by the book. I had no idea what goes into producing effective fantasy artwork, and now I can better appreciate my son's skill--and even remark on his technique instead of just saying "that's really nice."
Reading the book and comparing Gurney's works to my son's, I was able to see which methods he is already using in his artwork and also be tickled to recognize those that he'll be intrigued with that he may not have already tried. Some chapters are subject-oriented (people, creatures, architecture, history and archaeology, etc.) and some deal with composition, procedures, and working habits. All of the chapters are largely structured to demonstrate under-the-hood methods and techniques to achieve particular ends, and we can see how the works unfolded in Gurney's studio through various stages. Gurney even shares timeframes for completion (increasing my appreciation for what goes into works like these) that I think most aspiring artists will find helpful.
The material and techniques are presented succinctly, in engaging two-page spreads, designed to give the gist so that intermediate-level and professional artists can draw immediate conceptual benefit without bewildering beginners and non-artists with a lot of technical information. Gurney stresses that his approach is suitable for both digital and hands-on illustration. Excellent Recommended Reading and Glossary sections appear in the back to entice and inform all levels of readers, and the Index is well-organized and complete.
At the beginning of the book, a Studio section takes us into Gurney's studio and gives some great ideas for making tools at low cost as well as how best to conserve the more expensive ones. I saw at least one thing I can give my son as a graduation present: a Gallery Flambeau! (ROFLMAO!) The book ends with a Careers section that I found especially reassuring. Here I was worrying about my son's ability to find a job with an art degree, but now I feel a lot better about his prospects.
Finally, the design of the book itself is both classic and appealingly edgy; a high-quality glossy paperback with lots of air and color, it would make a fine coffee table book/conversation piece, even for non-artists. I liked the typeface on the back cover so much, this seventies-era typographer went on a hunt for it: Claxton, I presume. Engaging with this book really brought back for me my own creative exploits when I was a young adult about my son's age, and "that's really nice."
Reading the book and comparing Gurney's works to my son's, I was able to see which methods he is already using in his artwork and also be tickled to recognize those that he'll be intrigued with that he may not have already tried. Some chapters are subject-oriented (people, creatures, architecture, history and archaeology, etc.) and some deal with composition, procedures, and working habits. All of the chapters are largely structured to demonstrate under-the-hood methods and techniques to achieve particular ends, and we can see how the works unfolded in Gurney's studio through various stages. Gurney even shares timeframes for completion (increasing my appreciation for what goes into works like these) that I think most aspiring artists will find helpful.
The material and techniques are presented succinctly, in engaging two-page spreads, designed to give the gist so that intermediate-level and professional artists can draw immediate conceptual benefit without bewildering beginners and non-artists with a lot of technical information. Gurney stresses that his approach is suitable for both digital and hands-on illustration. Excellent Recommended Reading and Glossary sections appear in the back to entice and inform all levels of readers, and the Index is well-organized and complete.
At the beginning of the book, a Studio section takes us into Gurney's studio and gives some great ideas for making tools at low cost as well as how best to conserve the more expensive ones. I saw at least one thing I can give my son as a graduation present: a Gallery Flambeau! (ROFLMAO!) The book ends with a Careers section that I found especially reassuring. Here I was worrying about my son's ability to find a job with an art degree, but now I feel a lot better about his prospects.
Finally, the design of the book itself is both classic and appealingly edgy; a high-quality glossy paperback with lots of air and color, it would make a fine coffee table book/conversation piece, even for non-artists. I liked the typeface on the back cover so much, this seventies-era typographer went on a hunt for it: Claxton, I presume. Engaging with this book really brought back for me my own creative exploits when I was a young adult about my son's age, and "that's really nice."
May 13, 2022
This is 100% the most useful art book I've ever bought.
If you're a beginner, the methods described in this book may seem a bit daunting.
But if you're well past the "how to shade a sphere" stage (and still looking for ways to improve) then you need this book. Perspective, storyboards, models, maquettes, composition, lighting; it covers everything an intermediate artist might want to know. There are tips in this book that I've never seen anywhere else. You won't regret adding it to your collection.
If you're a beginner, the methods described in this book may seem a bit daunting.
But if you're well past the "how to shade a sphere" stage (and still looking for ways to improve) then you need this book. Perspective, storyboards, models, maquettes, composition, lighting; it covers everything an intermediate artist might want to know. There are tips in this book that I've never seen anywhere else. You won't regret adding it to your collection.
September 3, 2014
Gurney's guide to painting the imaginary is thoroughly detailed, carefully put together and covers an exhaustive list of topics. The methods and materials he documents, the techniques, disciplines and theories he covers and the examples he provide are not only educational the first time, they're also excellent sources to reference after reading.
I highly recommend this book to anybody who has learned the basics of painting and wants to begin incorporating some advanced ideas and principles into their work. It has changed the way I paint every day at work - I can hardly give it higher praise than this.
I highly recommend this book to anybody who has learned the basics of painting and wants to begin incorporating some advanced ideas and principles into their work. It has changed the way I paint every day at work - I can hardly give it higher praise than this.
April 22, 2022
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist by James Gurney
is a book which teaches artists techniques involved in rendering our ideas into reality through the use of techniques and methods accrued over the years. He teaches us about composition, idea generation and finalization, different sub-genres of imaginative art, and how to tackle drawings. He even goes back in time and analyzes paintings and the methods used back then to achieve their vision.
It shows that good art is well thought out and effort must be made to produce stellar art pieces. It also shows art is methodical and pedantic and is not just about talent but hard work and attention.
The book, while dated in some sections, teaches us some invaluable things. He goes into great detail by teaching us methods of making preliminary drawings and also experimenting with our composition and lighting. He teaches us how to decompose our drawings into various components and and even further deconstructing those deconstructions and using a combination of references, imagination, and experimentation to build up the final image.
While his art is stellar, his methods are a bit dated I feel. He recommends constructing models in real life and tearing things apart. He also talks about how hard references are to find. But in the age we are in, one of 3D models and endless resources on the internet, it would be quite a waste of time to go these routes unless they are more easily achievable or absolutely essential (which in most cases they are not).
Some other parts of the book were also not entirely useful to me as he kept going on about maquettes. Even though I'm still a beginner and not at the level of creating such realisms that would require perfection, I understand the drive to model things in the real world to get the slightest details right such as fossil shadows in the Sahara desert. Still, I don't see myself using them anytime soon.
Some important lessons I learned are:
1. Learn to deconstruct scenes into components ( even recursively).
2.Experimentation is very important. Don't give in to tunnel vision.
3.Research, even literary forms are important when drawing, be it understanding the history
behind a civilization we are trying to recreate or understanding how fire engines work to
make a Dinotopian one.
4.Most designs are derivatives.
5.Drawing scenes is a way to truly appreciate, understand and digest the world while building
our observation skills.
Towards the end, he kept veering into different topics which while related under the general umbrella of composition, felt out of place and like fillers. I felt like I was out of the general flow and narrative of this book which had now turned into reference material.
Overall I give this book a 3/5. The concepts at the beginning were really eye-opening for me as a beginner. The concepts explored just after were heavily focused on things not easily doable for amateurs like making maquettes, hiring models or tearing apart things but I was still able to extract some useful information.
I’ll definitely be coming back to this book to relearn the composition tools he shared.
SOME POWERFUL QUOTES FROM THE FOREWORD
“Study more than art. Learn about history, drama, astronomy, archaeology, and music, and let it all feed your art. Art grows better in rich soil.”
“Without untiring diligence, single-mindedness, and a combative spirit, there can't be any good result. All this talk about ‘inspiration’ is nonsense.
Anything that we imagine can be transformed, through love and effort, into a visually convincing truth. But even as we strive for verisimilitude, it really is the invisible quality of believability that we are ultimately striving for. The only thing that’s true about anything is the spirit of it.”
is a book which teaches artists techniques involved in rendering our ideas into reality through the use of techniques and methods accrued over the years. He teaches us about composition, idea generation and finalization, different sub-genres of imaginative art, and how to tackle drawings. He even goes back in time and analyzes paintings and the methods used back then to achieve their vision.
It shows that good art is well thought out and effort must be made to produce stellar art pieces. It also shows art is methodical and pedantic and is not just about talent but hard work and attention.
The book, while dated in some sections, teaches us some invaluable things. He goes into great detail by teaching us methods of making preliminary drawings and also experimenting with our composition and lighting. He teaches us how to decompose our drawings into various components and and even further deconstructing those deconstructions and using a combination of references, imagination, and experimentation to build up the final image.
While his art is stellar, his methods are a bit dated I feel. He recommends constructing models in real life and tearing things apart. He also talks about how hard references are to find. But in the age we are in, one of 3D models and endless resources on the internet, it would be quite a waste of time to go these routes unless they are more easily achievable or absolutely essential (which in most cases they are not).
Some other parts of the book were also not entirely useful to me as he kept going on about maquettes. Even though I'm still a beginner and not at the level of creating such realisms that would require perfection, I understand the drive to model things in the real world to get the slightest details right such as fossil shadows in the Sahara desert. Still, I don't see myself using them anytime soon.
Some important lessons I learned are:
1. Learn to deconstruct scenes into components ( even recursively).
2.Experimentation is very important. Don't give in to tunnel vision.
3.Research, even literary forms are important when drawing, be it understanding the history
behind a civilization we are trying to recreate or understanding how fire engines work to
make a Dinotopian one.
4.Most designs are derivatives.
5.Drawing scenes is a way to truly appreciate, understand and digest the world while building
our observation skills.
Towards the end, he kept veering into different topics which while related under the general umbrella of composition, felt out of place and like fillers. I felt like I was out of the general flow and narrative of this book which had now turned into reference material.
Overall I give this book a 3/5. The concepts at the beginning were really eye-opening for me as a beginner. The concepts explored just after were heavily focused on things not easily doable for amateurs like making maquettes, hiring models or tearing apart things but I was still able to extract some useful information.
I’ll definitely be coming back to this book to relearn the composition tools he shared.
SOME POWERFUL QUOTES FROM THE FOREWORD
“Study more than art. Learn about history, drama, astronomy, archaeology, and music, and let it all feed your art. Art grows better in rich soil.”
“Without untiring diligence, single-mindedness, and a combative spirit, there can't be any good result. All this talk about ‘inspiration’ is nonsense.
Anything that we imagine can be transformed, through love and effort, into a visually convincing truth. But even as we strive for verisimilitude, it really is the invisible quality of believability that we are ultimately striving for. The only thing that’s true about anything is the spirit of it.”
September 30, 2020
If you are a national geographic magazine reader you would have already come across hundreds of this authors illustrations, recreating history, capturing those actions in time that time itself forgot. The book covers architecture, people, dinosaur, background composition, and his step by step process of approach into converting a vague idea into a refined art work( of course lots of background research, reference study involved). Time tested methods like the "windmill principal".
It is a fun and informative read, one can read it as a book or browse like a magazine, exercise for training eye and hand for observational drawing, and to stimulate that imagination part in the brain. Recommended for both professional and beginner artists
It is a fun and informative read, one can read it as a book or browse like a magazine, exercise for training eye and hand for observational drawing, and to stimulate that imagination part in the brain. Recommended for both professional and beginner artists
May 8, 2024
Gawrsh (this man is a genius. Every time I reread I want to grab a mirror, a brush, and a reference lizard.)
June 24, 2022
Terrific book with many great tips and tricks for all kinds of imaginative artworks. Either you wish to paint a historical scene, re-create an extinct animal species or create your own sci-fi or fantasy world, it’s all here in a form of short, easy to understand, lavishly illustrated chapters. At the end of the book some step by step of the process is shown. The author assumes that the reader already has basic skills set in painting and drawing.
November 12, 2013
The artwork is great, and the stories are very interesting, but as per the subtitle I was honestly expecting a bit more on the techniques and teaching rather than showing off his great works. Still, much food for thought and a lot of inspiring work ethic. Way cool!
PS: on the criteria above I liked his "Color and Light" book better, though even that suffers a bit from that... or at least I would hunger more to not just know the man but learn the craft of the man!
PS: on the criteria above I liked his "Color and Light" book better, though even that suffers a bit from that... or at least I would hunger more to not just know the man but learn the craft of the man!
December 17, 2019
Gurney se acaba de convertir en uno de mis pintores favoritos.
Sus explicaciones de cómo crear realismo imaginativo es maravilloso. Este libro es pura inspiración, y ver sus cuadros son una auténtica magia.
Recomiendo el libro tanto a artistas como aquellos que simplemente les guste el arte y quieran hojear sus pinturas.
Sus explicaciones de cómo crear realismo imaginativo es maravilloso. Este libro es pura inspiración, y ver sus cuadros son una auténtica magia.
Recomiendo el libro tanto a artistas como aquellos que simplemente les guste el arte y quieran hojear sus pinturas.
January 13, 2013
My first 5-star book of the year.
James Gurney is most famous for creating the Dinotopia books, but he's a painter who has also done a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy book covers as well as a ton of work for National Geographic.
Imaginative Realism is aimed primarily at artists, but if you have an interest in art and the nuts and bolts of creating it, you'll probably like this book as it is akin to the behind-the-scenes features on a DVD. By the equivalent of Coppola or Kubrick. It's amazing to see the lengths Gurney goes to create a painting. Beyond just using photo references and life drawings, he builds models and maquettes in order to test shadows and foreshortening, among other things. Some of his dioramas are quite elaborate. The research he does is impeccable and thorough. He really thinks this stuff out. I have a whole new appreciation of his craft.
You'll also learn things as Gurney talks about the specifics of how to achieve a certain effect, or the history behind a style of painting. I even learned a couple new words, such as pareidolia, which is the natural human tendency to see faces in objects. It really is jam-packed with information.
This book is superbly laid out as well, something other book designers could learn from. Also on display are a variety of terrific paintings, with very few suffering from "gutter loss" by being splashed across two pages.
This book is a great tool for artists but also extremely informative for those interested in art in general or Gurney's in particular.
James Gurney is most famous for creating the Dinotopia books, but he's a painter who has also done a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy book covers as well as a ton of work for National Geographic.
Imaginative Realism is aimed primarily at artists, but if you have an interest in art and the nuts and bolts of creating it, you'll probably like this book as it is akin to the behind-the-scenes features on a DVD. By the equivalent of Coppola or Kubrick. It's amazing to see the lengths Gurney goes to create a painting. Beyond just using photo references and life drawings, he builds models and maquettes in order to test shadows and foreshortening, among other things. Some of his dioramas are quite elaborate. The research he does is impeccable and thorough. He really thinks this stuff out. I have a whole new appreciation of his craft.
You'll also learn things as Gurney talks about the specifics of how to achieve a certain effect, or the history behind a style of painting. I even learned a couple new words, such as pareidolia, which is the natural human tendency to see faces in objects. It really is jam-packed with information.
This book is superbly laid out as well, something other book designers could learn from. Also on display are a variety of terrific paintings, with very few suffering from "gutter loss" by being splashed across two pages.
This book is a great tool for artists but also extremely informative for those interested in art in general or Gurney's in particular.
December 15, 2011
An interesting insight into how an artist creates fantastical worlds.
This book isn't really a tutorial book on drawing, but much can be learnt from it. You will gain endless tips from it's study and it will fill you with ideas and inspiration.
I think essentially Gurney breaks down the fear of stepping away from the'copying' of life and photography, supplying the reader with techniques which free them to put down their imagination with confidence.
Some of the suggestions such as making marquees may be a little too far for the average reader, but this was still important to know how a professional goes about his skilful work - professional and skilful both descriptions gained through such meticulous methods.
I particularly found the sections covering light and dark useful, also the discussion of composition was extremely interesting, stepping away from long held beliefs.
This book isn't really a tutorial book on drawing, but much can be learnt from it. You will gain endless tips from it's study and it will fill you with ideas and inspiration.
I think essentially Gurney breaks down the fear of stepping away from the'copying' of life and photography, supplying the reader with techniques which free them to put down their imagination with confidence.
Some of the suggestions such as making marquees may be a little too far for the average reader, but this was still important to know how a professional goes about his skilful work - professional and skilful both descriptions gained through such meticulous methods.
I particularly found the sections covering light and dark useful, also the discussion of composition was extremely interesting, stepping away from long held beliefs.
August 27, 2020
I don't know why I did not buy this book that looooong time ago when I first heard about it. Must-have for all artists that want to create different fantasy creatures, people, whatever you can think about - from their own imagination. There is something from everything, references, colors, thumbnails, so many good pages, so many good informations! Only one thing I can't appreciate enough are pages dedicated to dinosaurs, cause they are really out of my interest, but maybe I will find on those pages something interesting and helpful in the future. Anyway. Don't wait. Order tha book! It's totally worth the money!
November 15, 2016
In this book Gurney sums up his approach to imaginative realism, references, maquettes, techiniques and more. For some one who reads his blog, this book do contain a lot of things already posted there. But of course with more detail and also some sample of Gurney's commissioned works are worth checking out.
December 31, 2014
A great guide for starting artists. Mainly emphasizes how you create a visual library for yourself from life studies so you have it to pull from when creating the fictional world.
March 12, 2021
good book showing all the different ways to get reference for drawing things that don't exist. Great art but I feel like it didn't help me that much.
March 20, 2022
Extremely informative. This is written primarily for professional artists working with oil paints, but most of it is applicable no matter the medium or level of skill.
October 18, 2020
This book is such a multi-faceted one; it's something that is instructional, motivational, exciting, playful and always thought-provoking. I found myself getting ideas bounce around in my head as I kept reading and I enjoyed that.
Some background before I brought this book: I followed James Gurney's blog for a year or two and found it to be (and still find it to be) an excellent place to learn about art. When I learnt that he released a book, I felt like I owed him to buy the book as a return for the excellent content in his blog posts. And boy, did this book deliver. I don't consider myself going into the illustration/fine art field but I found this book to be so useful because you can translate it to whatever kind of creative work that you create.
One of the most important lessons I learnt from this book and about imaginative illustration in general is that you've got to observe life as best you can (and in a creative manner). Seeing all the maquettes, the lighting set ups, the material used by Gurney so he could produce such brilliant paintings reminded me that you need to do this in whatever art your producing if you want to create something imaginative (but was realistic). I kept thinking about films and about Christopher Nolan's determined approach of using practical effects and giving his actors the setting/backdrop they can work with rather than using a green screen. And that's so important, it's so important to enrich your art and give it the feeling of authenticity to the viewer/reader.
I also found the act of building up the scene naturally with models, careful lighting, maquettes, etc. to resonate with my own thoughts about the artistic process. Basically, the art does get better if you do it from observation. The art does get better the closer you are to the subject whether by experience or by observation.
And finally, the paintings Gurney shows off in this book are just drop dead gorgeous. Found myself enjoying studying them, and the painting examples he uses to showcase what he's talking about are really effective in demonstrating the written content.
Some background before I brought this book: I followed James Gurney's blog for a year or two and found it to be (and still find it to be) an excellent place to learn about art. When I learnt that he released a book, I felt like I owed him to buy the book as a return for the excellent content in his blog posts. And boy, did this book deliver. I don't consider myself going into the illustration/fine art field but I found this book to be so useful because you can translate it to whatever kind of creative work that you create.
One of the most important lessons I learnt from this book and about imaginative illustration in general is that you've got to observe life as best you can (and in a creative manner). Seeing all the maquettes, the lighting set ups, the material used by Gurney so he could produce such brilliant paintings reminded me that you need to do this in whatever art your producing if you want to create something imaginative (but was realistic). I kept thinking about films and about Christopher Nolan's determined approach of using practical effects and giving his actors the setting/backdrop they can work with rather than using a green screen. And that's so important, it's so important to enrich your art and give it the feeling of authenticity to the viewer/reader.
I also found the act of building up the scene naturally with models, careful lighting, maquettes, etc. to resonate with my own thoughts about the artistic process. Basically, the art does get better if you do it from observation. The art does get better the closer you are to the subject whether by experience or by observation.
And finally, the paintings Gurney shows off in this book are just drop dead gorgeous. Found myself enjoying studying them, and the painting examples he uses to showcase what he's talking about are really effective in demonstrating the written content.
August 30, 2022
It's an excellent book for artists who want to elevate their craft. Not merely draw or paint better but develop better art concepts and create final pieces more thoughtfully. Having a sneak peek into the approach of the author helped me not only to improve my practices but also to appreciate art in a new, more informed way.
James Gurney is a professional artist specializing in painting realistically things that don't exist for National Geographic, fantasy and sci-fi book covers, and his own illustrated book series Dinotopia. In this book, he breaks down the creative process behind many of his phenomenal art pieces. There is a lot of preparation, conceptualization, and planning done to make sure that the final result will be:
a) not only realistic but more importantly believable,
b) not simply correct but also intriguing and original,
c) telling an interesting story.
Each method or practice is explained in bite-sized chunks that are written in a conversational manner, without "artsy" words that would confuse beginners. However, if you are just starting your art journey this book might be overwhelming. It's inspiring to see how great art comes to be but the amount of time and effort necessary at this level and scale can be intimidating.
Most of the book focuses on developing the piece (rather than actual delivery) - meaning research, exploration, and prototyping - and is full of invaluable tips for any creator, regardless of medium or art form. The style of the author is very realistic. He can go the extra mile to find or create real-life references for his unreal art subjects but, at the same time, he emphasizes letting the imagination run free whenever it serves to tell a better story.
I'm dropping one star because there are a few ideas that seem out of place in this book, being either beyond the reach of mere mortals or tackling a different subject, e.g. eye-tracking analysis or the whole Careers chapter. Also, some points are very specific to an art piece illustrating them and are hard to generalize for another usage - it feels like "show and tell" of the author but the task of extracting insights is fully the reader's job.
This book is a valuable resource for anyone who mastered the basics of drawing or painting and wants to get serious about creating art. I will certainly be referencing it on regular basis, looking for inspiration and honing my own creative process.
James Gurney is a professional artist specializing in painting realistically things that don't exist for National Geographic, fantasy and sci-fi book covers, and his own illustrated book series Dinotopia. In this book, he breaks down the creative process behind many of his phenomenal art pieces. There is a lot of preparation, conceptualization, and planning done to make sure that the final result will be:
a) not only realistic but more importantly believable,
b) not simply correct but also intriguing and original,
c) telling an interesting story.
Each method or practice is explained in bite-sized chunks that are written in a conversational manner, without "artsy" words that would confuse beginners. However, if you are just starting your art journey this book might be overwhelming. It's inspiring to see how great art comes to be but the amount of time and effort necessary at this level and scale can be intimidating.
Most of the book focuses on developing the piece (rather than actual delivery) - meaning research, exploration, and prototyping - and is full of invaluable tips for any creator, regardless of medium or art form. The style of the author is very realistic. He can go the extra mile to find or create real-life references for his unreal art subjects but, at the same time, he emphasizes letting the imagination run free whenever it serves to tell a better story.
I'm dropping one star because there are a few ideas that seem out of place in this book, being either beyond the reach of mere mortals or tackling a different subject, e.g. eye-tracking analysis or the whole Careers chapter. Also, some points are very specific to an art piece illustrating them and are hard to generalize for another usage - it feels like "show and tell" of the author but the task of extracting insights is fully the reader's job.
This book is a valuable resource for anyone who mastered the basics of drawing or painting and wants to get serious about creating art. I will certainly be referencing it on regular basis, looking for inspiration and honing my own creative process.
January 28, 2018
Really nice as a reference book/guide to have on your shelf, or just to flip through and enjoy the paintings. I did not overly enjoy so much focus on dinosaurs or machines though, unfortunately. And what I gather from this is "to draw something really good you must reference reference reference FUCKING REFERENCE EVERYTHING". I honestly almost never do, which might explain why my art has been stagnating for 10 years now. Something that gave me hope is the author saying it took him 3 months of research and painting for a particular detailed piece. That sounds so mind-boggling to me, someone who has maybe spent 12 hours top on a piece. Here rises the hope that if I spent more I could astound myself with the results. The problem is...I spent 12 hours tops on a painting in my life :'D not sure how to do MORE. What this doesn't say is how to power through the fatigue and being already fed up with a piece after 10 hours.
I am left kinda with a feeling of shame for not having referenced stuff in my xy years of artistic endeavor. And I have never ever done master studies, another apparent MUST as a training technique. While it does give me good insight into which ways to improve, I feel regretful of not knowing this before.
Having liked this, I have to say that I don't precisely agree with the author's endnotes in the afterword. "Forget about style", he says. "Those stylistic mannerisms will make your pictures look dated in the future, and the more you can avoid them, the more timeless your work will be." Obviously, he is a proponent of realism and I do in a way agree with not sacrificing learning realism and the proper techniques in favour of just developing your style but I really don't think it is an end goal for me personally. Ridding my art of my personal features in order to closely follow nature. In case he meant "don't skip learning the proper techniques just because you're lazy to reference and call these shortcuts your 'style'" then yeah, I agree.
I am left kinda with a feeling of shame for not having referenced stuff in my xy years of artistic endeavor. And I have never ever done master studies, another apparent MUST as a training technique. While it does give me good insight into which ways to improve, I feel regretful of not knowing this before.
Having liked this, I have to say that I don't precisely agree with the author's endnotes in the afterword. "Forget about style", he says. "Those stylistic mannerisms will make your pictures look dated in the future, and the more you can avoid them, the more timeless your work will be." Obviously, he is a proponent of realism and I do in a way agree with not sacrificing learning realism and the proper techniques in favour of just developing your style but I really don't think it is an end goal for me personally. Ridding my art of my personal features in order to closely follow nature. In case he meant "don't skip learning the proper techniques just because you're lazy to reference and call these shortcuts your 'style'" then yeah, I agree.
December 6, 2022
I'm usually a hater of any Art Instruction genre book- or at least, those that I have on hand. I believe in my life, I've read maybe 3 of them completely, out of a 30+ I've received or bought on my own. This one, however, was a fun read with inspiring methods I hadn't considered for my own art, in areas that I don't necessarily approach often - unless I want to spend a long and difficult time fishing through online references with little success (due to my lack of vocabulary and experience). It covers a wide range- from drawing vehicles or machinery (an area I have little practice in) to ensuring the composition compliments the piece- something often talked about in courses that not everyone has access to, but with refreshing artwork examples for those who have seen it before.
I can't say that I've looked long at every single page, but I enjoyed what I did read, and I'm excited to read more when I have the time to.
I can't say that I've looked long at every single page, but I enjoyed what I did read, and I'm excited to read more when I have the time to.
July 3, 2018
This is one of those books that you can read and then revisit again and again just to flip through.
Gurney is the king of preparedness, and it shows in his stunningly realistic worlds. Get ready to be blown away the effort that goes into it, but also the incredible payoff. Nothing is by accident.
This book doesn't just show you how to make up creatures from your imagination, it gives you instructions on creating his level of lifelike creatures with shape, dimensions, flesh tones, and habitats that make sense. You'll learn about making physical models and dioramas, staging them and lighting them, keeping files of reference materials, expanding your range by limiting your palette, where to find real-world inspiration for fantasy art, plus an absolute barrel-load of Gurney's work throughout his career.
Gurney is the king of preparedness, and it shows in his stunningly realistic worlds. Get ready to be blown away the effort that goes into it, but also the incredible payoff. Nothing is by accident.
This book doesn't just show you how to make up creatures from your imagination, it gives you instructions on creating his level of lifelike creatures with shape, dimensions, flesh tones, and habitats that make sense. You'll learn about making physical models and dioramas, staging them and lighting them, keeping files of reference materials, expanding your range by limiting your palette, where to find real-world inspiration for fantasy art, plus an absolute barrel-load of Gurney's work throughout his career.
December 26, 2023
This book is great for ppl that are planning or that work on the creation of characters, fantasy backgrounds, futurist objects. But i had a different idea of this book, i thought that will talk and teach other kinds of forms to create. For me as an experience artist with a work that centers in other aspects of visual arts, this book didn't have lot of interesting information. Also the way the authors explain his owns paints are a good way to imagene the process but for me it was a lot of information that wasn't interesting. I think it lack a little bit more of profound knowledge, like how to actual understand a mechanical invention creature, or how to play with two different objects to actually create something original. Too much examples that for me where not usefull at the end. Still is a great book, just not for my work.
June 6, 2024
In short, it's an excellent book... but I made the mistake(?) of reading the second part first, and can't help but compare them.
The second part is plainly better - both the narration is more engaging, and the chosen illustrations are more developed (better chosen?), perhaps they come from a later period in the author's life. Either way, much of what I wrote in my other review still holds true here.
The difference is that this tome is more introductory, covering more subjects in techniques and tools. One would hope it also deals with the "imaginative" part of the title, but I felt it was limited in that regard - it could just as well be a general painting textbook. But can you really teach imagination? And when it comes to teaching you how to translate it into artwork, both books are highly recommended.
The second part is plainly better - both the narration is more engaging, and the chosen illustrations are more developed (better chosen?), perhaps they come from a later period in the author's life. Either way, much of what I wrote in my other review still holds true here.
The difference is that this tome is more introductory, covering more subjects in techniques and tools. One would hope it also deals with the "imaginative" part of the title, but I felt it was limited in that regard - it could just as well be a general painting textbook. But can you really teach imagination? And when it comes to teaching you how to translate it into artwork, both books are highly recommended.
November 9, 2018
Learned many artistic techniques in this fascinating and beautiful book.
I agree with his statement that goes against the modern concept that an artist should develop a unique personal style, "The artist … should try to study nature as faithfully as possible and portray it with as few mannerisms and conventions as possible. Those stylistic mannerisms will make your pictures look dated in the future, and the more you can avoid them, the more timeless your work will be." (I'll personally add that "style" will come with experience)
I agree with his statement that goes against the modern concept that an artist should develop a unique personal style, "The artist … should try to study nature as faithfully as possible and portray it with as few mannerisms and conventions as possible. Those stylistic mannerisms will make your pictures look dated in the future, and the more you can avoid them, the more timeless your work will be." (I'll personally add that "style" will come with experience)
June 30, 2021
Love this book! It's not so much a 'how to draw/paint' book (of which there are many books out there already), but more of a 'how to think/plan to draw/paint' book. While it talks some about different drawing materials and techniques, it mostly goes over methods you can use to help you draw/paint something more accurately when what you're painting doesn't exist. It's a very helpful and informative book for approaching your imaginative/fantasy artwork and, for that, there are very few books out there. It goes over using pose references and making maquettes to better inform your final artwork.
November 3, 2021
This book completes the other (Color and Light). It has a lot of art, examples and it explains well the process of creating an object/sculpture in order to create a painting after ( the figure that is represented on the book cover). He explains that we can paint the imagination by creating it first, then it's a matter of setting the light correctly on the studio and paint what you just sculpted or composed on your table.
If not, this and the other book are amazing to keep as a collection, because of the amount of full page art.
It might be a little overwhelming for beginners.
If not, this and the other book are amazing to keep as a collection, because of the amount of full page art.
It might be a little overwhelming for beginners.
June 5, 2017
Now I know why Gurney's paintings are so amazing; the amount of research and preparation he does for a painting is stunning.
This isn't a "How to Draw" beginner's book, but is a "How to Be a Better Artist" guide. I think you would need some basic drawing foundations (self taught or otherwise) before delving in to get the most out of it, although there are excellent principles for beginning artists to apply to their drawing habits, as well.
This isn't a "How to Draw" beginner's book, but is a "How to Be a Better Artist" guide. I think you would need some basic drawing foundations (self taught or otherwise) before delving in to get the most out of it, although there are excellent principles for beginning artists to apply to their drawing habits, as well.
September 3, 2018
GET THIS BOOK. Please. With sugar lumps on top and all the shaved coconut and pistachios you will ever NEED.
To be a creative, thinking about fanasty become particularly common, but rendering it out on paper let alone in paint can seem to be a daunting endevor.
There is no other peice of literature as comprehensive on the topic of painting what does not exist - whatever the cost, this is a staple, chicken soup for the technical.
To be a creative, thinking about fanasty become particularly common, but rendering it out on paper let alone in paint can seem to be a daunting endevor.
There is no other peice of literature as comprehensive on the topic of painting what does not exist - whatever the cost, this is a staple, chicken soup for the technical.
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