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Product Description
Product Description
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
About the Author
James Gurney's unique blending of fact and fantasy has won him worldwide critical acclaim. His work has been featured in one-man exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Maison d'Ailleurs Museum in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, and the U.S. embassies in Switzerland and Yemen. He lives with his wife Jeanette in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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Length:
0:24
Mins
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 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.)
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outstanding - A Gold Mine of Information
As an artist, I am always looking for new ideas and techniques to apply in my own work.
I had already purchased Jim Guerney's book "Color and Light" and read all the articles... Read more
I had already purchased Jim Guerney's book "Color and Light" and read all the articles... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Richard Harpum
Perfect for aspiring artists & illustrators
This book is a gold mine of information for those wishing to create pieces of art with enough realism to make the images almost believable - and let's face it, James Gurney has... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. G. P. Skinner
Incredible book
I love everything about this book, it has amazing images and it's very interesting seeing how the author creates amazing worlds based in a wide range of objects and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ro
good book
Looking for a book on imaginitive artwork as I love the artwork which is done on album covers in fantasy and science fiction and wanted to know how these artists get their ideas, I... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. Pb Holbrook
Perfect reference and Coffe table book
This book is about drawing from your imagination, it's focusing on the Fantasy type of drawing. It's full of great tricks and all a massive source of inspiration. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Steven C
[Re]Constructing and [Re]Imagining Western Art: Imaginative Realism by...
*Overview--Western vs. Eastern art techniques.
**Contents
***A question about technique
****Conclusion
*James Gurney, the creator of the fantasy series,... Read more
**Contents
***A question about technique
****Conclusion
*James Gurney, the creator of the fantasy series,... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2009 by Andre Lawrence
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