Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist [Paperback]

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."

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.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

This is a fantastic book and will be a wonderful addition to anyones collection who is interested in developing fantasy art, or even just improving general drawing and design skills.

The information is broken down into manageable bitesized chapters, so you can read the whole book as a whole, or just dip in and out. The illustrations are lovely, and I love reading about how the artist develops ideas and gathers information.

The cover of this book does not do it justice, as it could put some artists off if they are not really into fantasy work, but there are some great illustrations, and the influence of some past masters are evident in some of the work.

The book is a good size and there is plenty to read and lots of information. The book is printed on good quality paper and is really good value for money. A breath of fresh air in the art book format. If you like fantasy art, or are interested in reading about how other artists work then buy this book, you won't be disappointed.

I joined Mr.Gurney's blog having received this book. I am an illustration and print student and bought it as I thought it may be useful for a project on mythical beasts. I only got it yesterday, but so far it's looking like a really valuable resource, and seems to cover a lot of areas that will be really helpful in this and future projects. The book is thicker than I thought it would be, due to the usual standard of 'how to' art books. But this surpasses that group by far in my opinion. It feels nice to have it in my collection. Thank you JG.