Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist Volume 1

Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist Volume 1

Gurney, James

Paperback

Series: James Gurney Art, Book 1

General ArtPainting Instruction

Publisher Price: $29.99

ISBN10: 0740785508
ISBN13: 9780740785504
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Published: Oct 20 2009
Pages: 224
Weight: 2.02
Height: 0.59 Width: 8.98 Depth: 10.44
Language: English
How do you paint a dinosaur you've never seen, design a believable alien civilization, or create a fantasy world that feels real? Award-winning artist and author James Gurney provides artists with a practical guide for creating images that are both imaginative and convincing.

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

In Imaginative Realism, acclaimed artist James Gurney shares the creative process behind bringing imaginary subjects to life with convincing realism. Whether you're painting dinosaurs, dragons, mythical creatures, futuristic cities, historical civilizations, or entirely original worlds, Gurney demonstrates how observation, research, storytelling, and traditional artistic principles combine to create believable images. Rather than focusing on a single medium or style, he teaches universal methods that apply equally to oil, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and digital painting, including archaeology, architecture, anatomy for creatures and aliens, and fantastic engineering.

Alongside a survey of imaginative paintings from the Renaissance to the golden Age of American illustration, this book provides comprehensive chapters on studio techniques, sketching, reference gathering, maquettes, composition, lighting, color, historical research, and plein-air studies. It concludes with details and valuable advice on careers in fantasy illustration, including video game and film concept art and toy design.

Whether you're an aspiring illustrator, concept artist, fantasy painter, game designer, or fine artist looking to expand your creative process, this is the ultimate reference for transforming imagination into believable works of art.

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