Friday, November 26, 2004

Going Bust Learning To Draw.

Here is a place to buy busts and casts for drawing study. I have one little bust of my own that I use to study drawing faces, and I can't recommend it enough. It is much better than just using photos for study and reference, because it gives you a much better idea of facial structure.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Bud Plant Profiles.

Bud Plant is the biggest supplier of books by illustrators on the web, and they also have an excellent section of profiles on famous illustrators going as far back as the 19th century. Some of these profiles are also about famous comic strips (Bud Plant is mostly a comic site, but there are tons of illustrations materials there also), and famous people like Betty Page, the top pinup girl. I always find it fascinating to read these little bios about famous artists, you can often find little hints about what made them tick, and how they became successful.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Worship Daily At The Shrine Of Travis Charest.

Yes, he is that good. For you poor, uninitiated souls out there, go forth and be awestruck.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Ode To Summer.

Oh, you just gotta check this out.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Free Digital Art Application.

My friend Nolita says this program is great! Here is the skinny:
ArtRage is a painting package designed to provide a realistic and fun simulation of using paint on a canvas, along with pens, pencils, crayons, and other tools. You can run ArtRage on a normal Windows machine with a mouse, but it works particularly well if you have a graphics tablet. Even better, running ArtRage on a TabletPC takes advantage of the unique interaction of pen and screen to produce a realistic painting feel. ArtRage is all about playing with paint without the mess, and having fun in the process. You can paint your own image from a blank canvas to completed work, or load in a picture to trace and have the tools pick their colours for you as you paint over it.
You can get it here.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Now Here's A Challenge.

I heard about this via email some time ago, but the deadline is January 17, 2005 so you still have time to, well, basically put together the best damn pic you have ever done if you want to have a chance to win! Here are the Grand Space Opera Challenge Instructions.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Stephanie Puimun Law Reveals Her Secrets!

One of my favorite fantasy artists is Steph Law, whose work I admired even before I met her. I chat regularly with her, and am privileged to have her as a friend. I analyze her work alot, because I think she sets up a pic about as well as anyone in the business. Each one of her pics is almost like a self-contained world. Steph seems to have a 'formula' for her pieces - a central figure or figures, additional elements or players (birds and foxes roaming about are favorites of hers) all set in a dreamy landscape. Here is a something great - she has a step-by-step tutorial of how she watercolors the amazing pic above. Heh, she makes it look easy, doesn't she.

'The Mirror' by Sir Francis Dicksee.

Welcome to the first post at the Fantasy Art Review! To start things off, I wanted to post my favorite painting.

Click to enlarge.

Here you see why we at the Fantasy Art Review (meaning ME) highly recommend the Art Renewal Center.