Fantasy Art

While it is obviously necessary to have an extensive range of art materials and equipment, it is quite easily built up over time, but to start off you really need the essentials that will keep you in good standing with creating your own artwork and maintaining your workspace.

The quite obvious two are pencils and paper, without these your drawings won’t ever appear, unless you fancy sketching on toilet paper and leaves.

Pencils don’t have to be that expensive either as almost any pencil types get the job done, all you need are the full range of hard and soft types so you can create lots of tonal work with lighter shades, medium shades and darker shades. B to H are the standard pencils to use for this task in drawing and sketching.

With paper it also doesn’t matter about using the high end premium quality paper for sketching, I’d only use this paper for top sketches that have already been planned out well in advance, because a premium weighted piece of paper creates a sense of professionalism and also looks good.

A workspace or drawing board is an essential piece of kit for laying out your drawings, you can find some decent ones online. Drawing boards come in all different sizes for your drawings and sketching purposes, if you can’t afford one for the time being you can create one from cheap bits of wood and a bit of DIY skills and knowledge.

Art markers are a good alternative to pencils as they rely on drawing quick for sketching and these are what I use ad you can buy the following on amazon and you don’t have to buy the box packs either as I don’t often get the boxes, just the small packs for frequent use.

Prismacolor art markers that I have just started to use are the double ended art markers from prismaclor. and I find that theseare easy to use ad have a comfortable grip.

Also I recommend investing in a graphic tablet and if there are any to buy then a Wacom tablet is the one.

INTUOS3 6D ART PEN
This pen provides rotation sensing technology with a unique chisel-shaped nib that emulates brushes, markers, and calligraphic pens. Simply by rotating the pen, a drawn line becomes narrow or broad. When the 6D Art Pen is combined with a software application supporting its feature set, the pen can produce almost any type of brush effect or marker stroke.

All around us inspiration can be taken from the real life images our eyes capture everyday, these mental images are stored in our computer like brains for lots of creative stuff that we as humans do quite naturally, whether it’s making the perfect cup of tea right down to making the bed with origami folded sheets.

Drawing and creating fantasy art comes about when we are drawn to or sucked in by the contagious and inspirational artwork of other artists and then we tend to see realistic looking life landscapes in paintings and the inspired choices that the artists made and combine all these mental images into our own imaginative creations.

To see how other artists do what they do and how they do it is best. But also inspiration can be found within stories, books and lists of words, theseare far better to imagine your creations with, something that you read and then conjure up images in your own mind as to what can be sketched on paper.

Medieval history for me is a good source of inspiration especially for castles and knights armour that kind of thing, years back in real history has influence in the future of many created pieces of artwork, whether it be a painting or portrait. Your imagination can be used to exaggerate your influences and make them your own ideas and concepts.

Art of the past can be one of the main sources of inspiration, because many artists had little distractions such as the internet or even television, so they had the time to concentrate on their works of art and become good at it much quicker. But even now there are more and more fantasy artists out there who are earning a reputation as quality and professional artists from their own websites and blogs and the ability to command artist commissions from all the available sources.

One of the largest fantasy art sites filled with fan art and professional fantasy art is Elfwood and perhaps is one I look at most for inspiration in fantasy art.

The drawing of the demon  tree below was based on an idea I saw elsewhere but it gave me the inspiration to draw something that I liked, so always draw what you like and what passes the time for you with ease and you will draw some of your best stuff always.

How to draw a flaming skull seems to be a hot topic in the drawing help that I see on the internet.

Additionally I will be doing more of these tutorials for the beginner artists out there, all will be fantasy related so expect tips on how to draw dragons, wizards, elves and many more.

Drawing skulls is a favourite subject of mine, that and demons, but altogether drawing any imaginative creature or character is the best drawing exercise that nay artists can do, everyone can tap into their imagination for inspirational and creative sketching.

By looking around us too we can see many images of skulls and other ideas for creatures and imagined worlds if only we do look, finding inspiration can be quite hard at times, much similar to writers block sometimes the ideas and creative spark just doesn’t happen.

So in this little post I am going to go through a little drawing exercise to get you on top form for more creative and imaginative art, so as an example we are going to be talking drawing skulls, skulls are the easiest starting point and one that I can reference quite well as I draw them quite often and much like drawing demons I can draw multiple variations of a skulls head in one sitting.

Now all you really need for this practice run of the drawing run through are a pencil and a few sheets of paper.

Take your pencil and start to draw at the top left hand corner of your paper, but the trick is here is to draw very quickly, not create a drawing that is long lasting, but rather progressive in nature, something that you will be able to develop later on. By drawing quick you are sketching fast to blast through and get some ideas down, just like writing notes down quickly, sketching them fast becomes a valued skill in it’s own right.

Now try and draw a few skull designs across the piece of paper, some that you can be selective about what works in the skull design and what does not, now by the end of it you should have a piece of paper full with at least four or five skull heads and at least one of these should be a favourite one, one that you know will work as a stand alone design.

How to draw flaming skulls shows you a basic step by step guide and what I have just briefly talked about with some examples to guide you through, the same principles apply to any drawings you do, the key here is to plan out your skull art or whatever else art you have and make sure it will look right for your best drawings to shine.

See also a previous short post on skull drawing on the fantasy art blog

Zazzle is a great place to network with other fantasy artist on the zazzle network, you can find art by these artists on a great range of products and get to know these artists and their work.

Sites like Zazzle are worth a closer look, because they can get your art out there online much quicker if you have some good designs already to upload to the ranges of merchandise available, or you could specialize in certain types of products with your designs.

I’ve started one to give you an idea if you don’t already know about Zazzle, it’s something similar to Cafepress, a print on demand service were you can set or mark up your own prices on your art designs. I have opted for a fantasy art/photography design gallery.

Zazzle offers lots of opportunity to add almost all types of artwork and designs to your chosen range of products, this is one of many opportunities you should use to get your art out there, plus it’s a learning experience to sell your own artwork, so have a go.

There are many fantasy artists on Zazzle and they have various designs and styles, I have had fun looking at the different Zazzle galleries because to look at other artists work can be of great benefit to your work and influence some new art from you too.

I would certainly give Zazzle a try for their good intentions to reward the artist or designer and empower them to create a business online out of their artwork, in fact I am in the process of this right now, although I may have to separate the fantasy art and the photography into two online stores.Get ready to Zazzle!!!

Sometimes all it takes is a small sketch in fantasy art to gather some top ideas about creating some more great concepts, then you refine these concepts further by drafting them out on scraps of paper, I do this often to get in the mood with creating new fantasy ideas and concepts.

Drawing your ideas down on paper is just the same as writing down your ideas really, so the fact of bringing your own imagination to the ways of sketching them out are to be applied all the time, often is the case, that I find I have nothing to draw, I stare into space and try to think up new ideas and draw them on the page, but sometimes this proves difficult.

But with a few simple methods outlined here, I will attempt to overcome this for anyone who has this problem frequently.

Now one tip is to start to draw without knowing what you really want to draw, start by doodling and draw line and shapes to see what you can make of them, further to this, having a couple of pages dedicated to each piece of what you want to start to draw, for example head drawings and ideas based around this is the way to go, then another page with full character sketches, by doing it this way you can bring together all elements of your ideas.

Small a5 notepads help me alot, when I suddenly have ideas for sketches and I keep these all about the house, so I can just grab one if the inspiration hits, it doesn’t matter what you use, ideas can even be drawn on toilet paper!!

Sketching ideas out beforehand is nothing new, and it only helps you in the long run if you plan all that you create.

Youtube is home to many instructional painting and drawing videos that can and will inspire, none more so than Ed Beard and his impressive art Youtube portfolio of videos, the videos are clear to listen and see the artwork being worked on whether he is doing a painting or just a drawing Ed creates fantastical pieces of artwork much like any other professional illustrator does, but his Youtube videos are some of the best that I have seen out there on the Tube network.

In the following video he goes through a step by step process of block painting a dragon with acrylic paint as he has the reference drawing at the side of his painting at all times. This is a quick overview in the way that Ed works and it sure is good to see how another artist works, especially as myself acrylics are the best medium for me second to oils.

Especially noteworthy on this video is the fact that the most important element such as the dragon itself is created last by blocking in the shape with a stencil, so that Ed could create the background scenery first and then concentrate on the dragons colours and interactions with the grand colour scheme.

At the end of the video you will have the opportunity to view some more of Ed Beard fantasy art videos with about 13 more in this current playlist, which is highly recommended if you have the time that is.

I’m sure many of you know the top fantasy artists out there, but what of the ones who are just starting out? There are up and coming professional fantasy artists appearing all he time, but with little experience in marketing themselves online they struggle to get noticed.

I have looked up who appears on the search results who seem to not get much exposure or artists that I have not heard of before and attempt to review their blog or fantasy art.
Just because it’s an excuse to show off some quality fantasy art rather than my rough cut drawings.

1.
Jeff Miracola

The digital artwork and paintings on his online portfolio are certainly worth a look at for the quality and uniqueness of creation, his digital artwork is very colourful and original, although personally I prefer his paintings as it is more in line with what I prefer, solid fantasy imaginings and really inspired painted pieces.

You can read more about Jeffs latest works on his blog and also his biography here

2. Eric Talbots art is more in line with what I like to draw and create, his art style is apparently his own and done in a comic book style that is really inspiring to look at, you can check out one of his blogs here Eric Talbot

3. Nicole Cadets fantasy art is really professional looking and I recommend you check out her galleries for some stunning pieces, with elves and faeries and lots of other fantasy stuff to look at and be amazed.

4. No particular artist here, but rather a site that you may have heard of Elfwood, this is home to lots of professional and practising artists who like to showcase their art on a free gallery space, this is a massive site and one that I often trawl through on a spare day with nothing to do.
Fantasy art is the theme of the site and there is lots to see here, so go and check out Elfwood

5. And last of all there certainly is some style to this illustrators work, a recognizable style that really strikes a chord and is wonderful to look at, Valerie Wade has an art appeal for her work and it reminds me of the types of illustrations you get on birthday cards and other similar postcards.

Well I hoped you took the time to look at these few fantasy artists, because I try and visit them when they have uploaded new stuff.

When it comes to the task of trying to draw consistently and in your own art style you need to  consider how you can achieve this over time, there are ways of doing this with a little practice and effort and this blog post is aimed at you the artist trying to find yourself and your art style.

Firstly if you are reading this and you already feel that your art style has been found then read no more, but if you need help then you are here in the right place.

Now whenever you get down to drawing anything, you obviously take time to plan what you are going to draw or else you might not get anywhere, but taking the time to see how you tackle the drawing process is one of the key factors in finding your own art style, because by seeing how you plan and draw the way you do, the ways and methods shape the art you create and over time you draw better with a way of working set in place.

Now naturally the way you draw is followed by what you like and love to draw, being comfortable in what you seem to draw effortlessly gives you more confidence and the worry disappears from your drawing style making your art look more professionally drawn by someone whose personality shines through in the characters and scenes that you create.

Taking a look at how other fantasy artists work could also influence the types of art and style you adopt later on, but this is usually a good practice, because often is the case that any and every future artists get inspired or even change their art careers altogether at some point in their art ventures.

Having said all that is above, I would also say that the life you lead and the people that you meet also have an impact on your art style, this is especially true when you are put into situations that are out of your control and allow you to daydream or bounce off other peoples ideas.

Even the world around you influences key areas, especially in my on art I have found that taking a walk in the park can breath new life into my art when I return to my drawing board.

Taking on board new ways of working, advancing your techniques of drawing and trying a different approach to the evolution of your art all plays the part of building up your art style to a level you will be happy with.

Over time you will have built up several rough sketches and concepts that may get abandoned or that you have no use for at the present time, I prefer to file these away in special folders that I make out of thick card, this helps to keep the sketches clean and free from creases and marks with old laminating sheets taped over the top of some rough sketches that I certainly want to use at a later date.

Often times I include some of my best draft sketches in my main art portfolios and by an art portfolio I mean a collection of your very best artwork.

Whenever I have been stuck for further ideas I always raid my draft sketch files for revisiting old ideas, that I always find of use in some way.