Books

The Katurran Odyssey is an epic tale of faith, hope, and selfless heroism of a courageous young lemur named Katook, illuminated by the stunning illustrations of Terryl Whitlatch, one of the world’s most celebrated creature designers, and brought to dynamic life by the storytelling of author David Michael Wieger. Like such classic works of fantasy as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, The Katurran Odyssey is set in a mythic world imbued with beauty, adventure, and transcendent imagination. Follow Katook as he faces great perils and marvels on his quest to save his family and his island home from the Long Winter. George Lucas calls the book “remarkably beautiful” and adds, “anyone who is lucky enough to spend time with The Katurran Odyssey will be richer for the experience.”

No matter what stage artists are in their careers, “it’s necessary to look toward the future eager to learn and to be better every day,” writes artist and best-selling author Marcos Mateu-Mestre (Framed Ink, Framed Perspective Vol. 1 & 2) in his latest book, Framed Drawing Techniques, which is packed with opportunities to do just that. In exquisite and thoughtful detail, Mateu-Mestre lays out distinct approaches to drawing in the book’s chapters—The Ballpoint Pen, Graphite Pencil, The Digital Way, and The Gray Scale—outlining the benefits and challenges of each, and specific techniques that can be applied to one’s work in all the mediums to achieve the greatest results. Alongside his important technical lessons, on everything from depicting reflected light on a character’s hair to how to add rain to dramatize a scene, is Mateu-Mestre’s awe-inspiring artwork, which serves to educate and motivate artists of all levels to discover what incredible storytelling is possible with a single pen or pencil (or tablet).

It all began in 2009, when designer Lorin Wood started the Nuthin' But Mech blog to share artwork by him and his colleagues featuring their favorite subject: robots. Three years later Wood launched the eponymous book series, providing three (now four!) opportunities for dozens of talented artists from around the world to showcase their passion projects and personal visions of robots in print.

Wrapping up the undeniably popular series, Nuthin’ But Mech 4 perfectly complements the thrilling volumes that preceded it, and celebrates how far artistry and technology can advance in just a few years. This final installment features artists from all manner of industries (film, animation, video games, theme parks), and their remarkable works illustrate a vast range of tones and themes. You'll also learn about the creators themselves through their accompanying biographies, which add a personal―sometimes comedic―touch.

It's fitting that with the series coming to a close, Nuthin’ But Mech 4 brings together the highest number of creatives yet―fifty-seven in all―each with original and imaginative points of view. More talent, more inspiration, more mech!

Are you ready to begin your career as a concept artist in the video game industry but don't know where to start?

The Big Bad World of Concept Art for Video Games: How to Start Your Career as a Concept Artist is book two in the Big Bad series, delving deeper into the subjects and topics explored previously in An Insider's Guide for Students. Going beyond the amateur level, this guide prepares the upcoming professional, or any other artist, for a future in the entertainment industry. Whether you are a graduating student joining the workforce, a young professional who has just broken into the job market, or even an existing professional frustrated with your current situation, receive help figuring out what comes next for a fulfilling career.

Eliott Lilly is a highly sought-after concept artist with over a decade of experience in the video game industry. He has worked for such prominent game companies as id Software, Treyarch, and Activision. He has contributed to several popular franchises, including Rage, Doom, and Call of Duty. Also an educator, Eliott teaches introductory concept art classes to university students.

With his firsthand knowledge of the ins and outs of the video game industry, Eliott Lilly is an exceptional guide who can help prepare you for the rewarding journey toward realizing your ambitions.

The Silver Way: Techniques, Tips and Tutorials for Effective Character Design by Stephen Silver offers invaluable instruction from one of best teachers in the industry. Whether you’re a professional artist interested in improving your drawing skills, or an aspiring designer fresh out of high school looking to add to your portfolio, The Silver Way will help you build your confidence and strengthen your work in order to successfully design characters for any project, in any style. Chockfull of helpful—and entertaining!—drawing techniques and easy-to-follow tutorials developed through his decades of experience as an artist on popular animated shows (Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, The Fairly OddParents) and as the owner of Silver Drawing Academy, The Silver Way is the kind of educational art book you’ll revisit again and again for guidance, encouragement, and inspiration.

How can I be more creative? People from every walk of life have asked this question. Whether the motivation is to find more personal satisfaction in everyday life or to achieve success in the workplace, the desire for creativity, and the struggle to sustain it, is universal. Drawing on his varied experiences as a successful product designer and creative director, as well as a seasoned educator and a working parent, Fridolin Beisert’s Creative Strategies: 10 Approaches to Solving Design Problems uncovers priceless strategies to lead a more creative life—in any industry, at any level—whether you are a student, a teacher, a parent, or a CEO. Beisert’s approaches, cleverly and appropriately titled Pattern Breaking, Planting Limits, and Reality Hacking, to name a few, are revealed through case studies and personal anecdotes that are both entertaining and illuminating, and demonstrate that creativity is a skill that can be learned the same way that we learn how to ride a bicycle: by actively practicing it.

The Loop is closed. Life is returning to normal when the pastoral countryside is suddenly flooded by dark water from the huge abandoned underground facility. Rumors spread in classrooms and schoolyards, stories about the flood and how it has brought something with it. One thing is clear: the past is not ready to be forgotten.

Simon Stålenhag is back. In his new artbook Things From The Flood, Stålenhag continues the stories of Tales From The Loop, memories of a Nordic childhood infused with strange machines and weird creatures from other dimensions. In Things From The Flood, Stålenhag moves his focus from the 80s to the 90s, the decade of great change when the outside world truly came to Scandinavia. These are tales of the trials of youth, of schoolyard hazings, of first kisses, of finding yourself – and robots.

Perspective is a discipline often set aside when it comes to general art study, though it is essential to master in order to produce any piece of art that is and feels realistic. As intimidating as perspective may seem to aspiring artists, celebrated artist and author Marcos Mateu-Mestre takes the mystery out of understanding and applying it correctly with his highly anticipated two-volume collection, Framed Perspective.

In FramedPerspective, Vol. 1: Technical Drawing for Visual Storytelling, Mateu-Mestre equips artists with the technical knowledge needed to produce successful visual storytelling–related drawings: from understanding the basics of the space around us and how we perceive it, to more sophisticated endeavors such as creating entire environments that are believable.

Sure to be one of the most popular books in your art library, thanks to Mateu-Mestre’s thorough step-by-step explanations and awe-inspiring illustrations, Framed Perspective, Vol. 1 will train you to enjoy every curve and slope you see in the world and, more importantly, translate that vision into art with a solid comprehension of depth and proportion—in short, accuracy. Your perspective will never be the same!

Whether you’re an aspiring artist or new to the medium, seasoned instructor and accomplished artist Nathan Fowkes makes drawing portraits in charcoal not only accessible, but also a real pleasure! From stocking the best supplies to using them effectively, and composing a portrait while avoiding common mistakes, How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal by Nathan Fowkes will place you firmly on the path to producing the charcoal portraits you've dreamed of creating. His easy-to-follow tips, in-depth tutorials, and valuable exercises make this guide your first step toward building an understanding and appreciation for every face you draw. This handy book will not only equip you with the skills to capture them in beautiful charcoal fashion but also to transfer those skills to any media.

Simon Stålenhag’s Tales from the Loop is a wildly successful crowd-funded project that takes viewers on a surprising sci-fi journey through various country and city landscapes―from small towns in Sweden and the deserts of Nevada to the bitter chill of Siberia―where children explore and engage with abandoned robots, vehicles, and machinery large and small, while dinosaurs and other creatures wander our roads and fields. Stålenhag’s paintings and stories take place in an alternate version of Sweden in the ’80s and ’90s, primarily in the countryside of Mälaröarna, a string of islands just west of Stockholm, and how this reality came about: the development of the Loop, a large particle accelerator and the side effects of the massive project. These incredibly captivating works and accompanying text capture perhaps a not-too-distant reality that is both haunting and imminent: addressing the many ways developing technology and nature can create havoc and wonder in our world―plus, its impact on the next generation. This is the English edition of the first book in Swedish that sold out in its initial printing.

Designing a captivating creature simply for it to exist against a white background and going no further is a purely academic exercise. Designing a creature that can survive in a world, interact with its own and other species, and go on to make an impact, is designing with intent. This is the end goal of creature design and what you will witness in this latest book from industry expert Terryl Whitlatch.

With decades of experience in the entertainment industry, developing creatures for Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace and Beowulf, among other films, Whitlatch offers an abundance of valuable advice throughout the Principles of Creature Design. For Whitlatch, there’s no limit to what can be imagined with an open mind, though the journey may not always be an easy one. It’s what she calls “chasing the unicorn.” We will surely enjoy joining her on her journey, filled with creatures so vivid, whimsical, and elaborate that we will wish—or wonder if—they are real.

Three years ago, car designer Olivier Gamiette became fascinated with how watches work and began drawing them in his spare time. He started to educate himself on the different elements that watches possess and how to define their proportions. His goal was to not only draw credible and realistic watches, but also to have them tell time in ways he had never seen before. Thirty-four extraordinary concept watch designs later, SOON presents Gamiette’s creations in all their glory. Meet Sentinelle with its six rotating glass cylinders, the futuristic Celerity with horn-like propellers, and Sublissime with its mesmerizing crisscrossing bands. Discover these timepieces and the magic each one holds through Gamiette’s thoughtful watch descriptions, in-depth design tutorials, and, above all, his conceptual masterpieces.

Note: Design Studio Press is not associated with the Kickstarter campaign as hardcover copies were reserved only for backers.

The afterlife—a place that fills our hearts and minds with wonder as well as dread. What is in store for us there? Will there be suffering or redemption for our souls, or both? Who or what holds the power in the afterlife? And is there no escape?

Heaven’s Hell: The Art of Anthony Jones unveils one artist’s exploration of this shadowy realm and the beautiful and haunting beings battling over it. Meet the sultry and fearless sisters of Haliled, the scheming Crimson and Sapphire Sages, and the mighty brothers of Jisais—all of whom don the most sensual, imaginative attire—drawn and painted in striking detail that will captivate curious minds. Jones’s artwork is undeniably provocative and unsettling simultaneously—this effect is ultimately his intention—for the afterlife holds as much mystery as it does terror: it is both heaven and hell.

Anthony Jones has worked as an artist in the entertainment industry since 2008. He has worked for several notable companies over his career, including Sony, Blizzard Entertainment, Paramount, Western Costumes, Applibot, Wizards of the Coast, and Hasbro. But he is most proud of his role as a teacher, helping aspiring artists finesse their skills, as well as providing them a venue where they can showcase their work, through his company, Robotpencil.

From animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Batman to video games The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, the 10 concept designers of Punch Drunk Moustache 2 have thrilled audiences worldwide with their work on some of the most popular animated films, TV shows and video games produced today. Prepare to be knocked out by more imaginative worlds and characters created by artists John-Paul Balmet, Molly Denmark, Andre Kirk, Dela Longfish, Jim Moore, Will Nichols, Carlos Sanchez, Jeff Sangalli, Amy Beth Christenson Smith, and Chris Voy, whose original art and stories will take you to fascinating imaginary lands.

In 2005 Chris Ayers was working as a character designer and concept artist in the Los Angeles film industry. On April Fool's Day his career–and everything else for that matter–was put on hold when a cancer diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia slammed its massive fist down on the PAUSE button of life's remote control. Fortunately, though, that pause did not become STOP and a premature EJECT.

After a lengthy and tumultuous period of treatment and physical recovery, Chris devised a personal project to support the continuation of his emotional recovery. By combining two lifelong passions, animals and art, and challenging himself to draw one animal each day for a year, The Daily Zoo was born.

For those of you who have been following the Zoo since its early inception, you'll know that the project proved to be so therapeutic and creatively satisfying that he continued it beyond its initial yearlong timeframe. At the time of writing the introduction to this book, Chris is nearing the end of Year Seven, which will culminate with Day 2,559. That's a lot of drawings…but what he feels is the bigger accomplishment–and what he is most grateful for–is that it also marks a lot of days of being in remission from the leukemia.

During the 1960s, out-of-this-world automobiles took America by storm, care of pioneering custom car designers like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and George Barris, whose dazzling chrome creations—each with its own name and personality—captured the hopes and dreams of thousands of youth ready for their first joyride.

Simultaneously, the music world was getting its own punch of adrenalin with Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and Dick Dale providing the perfect soundtrack for a time when experimentation was the order of the day. The counterculture that emerged was one of pure innovation—hot rods, MAD Magazine, Rat Fink, Von Dutch, Robert Williams, Stanley Mouse. Never before or since has there been a time when the border between imagination and engineered physical reality was crossed with such boundless, almost reckless regularity.

Joyride/Flatout: Hot Rods and Dream Machines is a tribute to this formative time through the eyes of author and designer Dan Quarnstrom, whose love of hot rod culture, and those who were a part of it, is as fresh and contagious as it was more than 50 years ago, when he was a young boy attending his first hot rod show. From thumbnail sketches to finished drawings, Post-it squiggles to thorough model breakdowns, Joyride/Flatout is a testament to what can happen when you hold onto your enthusiasm and infuse it into everything you create.