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TODAY'S FEATURED POST

The Faerie Queene Project

Justin Gerard

Today I'm pleased to share a few images from a new edition of the Faerie Queene that I am illustrating. The project is a modern English transposition of Spenser's classic tale by Oasis Family Media and will feature 72 illustrations. This will be the largest single project I have ever undertaken and I couldn't be more excited. The story is filled with absolutely fantastic imagery. There is darkness, beauty, bravery, monsters, and plenty of classical mayhem. It was…

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EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

“Monchi’s Quest”

YESTERDAY’S POST

Image

The Idea Map

Wylie Beckert

June 14, 2021 - The prevailing wisdom is that a painting starts with a sketch. My own methods are a little less direct; usually the beginning of one of my paintings looks something like this: I've found this sort of written concept exploration is damn near essential to making a good painting - first and foremost because it helps me avoid making the kind of rote images ("girl standing badassedly with sword; flames optional") with which the fantasy art world is already well-supplied. More surprisingly, it does quite a bit of the heavy lifting for a painting. It's a lot easier to get away with a bit of broken anatomy or an imperfect inkwash if your image is ABOUT something - keeping the eye and mind of the viewer too busy to dwell on the way you drew an…

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Recent Comments

  • Paul herbert on The Idea MapIt is a tricky format to mess with. Lots of decisions involved with each card depiction all the while trying to keep it all cohesive. I…
  • aielene on Raising an Artist: Art School AdmissionsI must say it is very well written; the blog held all the precise information about theOTT platform Development Company
  • Peter Anton on The Faerie Queene ProjectThis looks awesome- always love your artwork. Looking forward to seeing more!
  • nico kopf on The Idea MapThis is one fantastic article! Thanks for sharing your process. At times I also start a piece completely different to the methods used…
  • Steve on The Idea MapThat is a wonderful breakdown of your method, Wylie. I've used something similar- making an idea/theme map- for environment design proj…
  • Wylie Beckert on The Idea MapThank you! Playing card art is such a different animal from all the other types of images I've done — taking on a multi-deck project fo…
  • Wylie Beckert on The Idea MapOn the plus side, it really does make the actual painting part feel like a vacation 🙂

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