This painting, ‘The Scribe’, is the back cover to my art book, Ralph Horsley: An Art Adventure. The book is a career retrospective, and this image encompasses the processes and techniques for creating fantastical oil paintings that I have developed over the past 30+ years of my career. These include a dynamic point of view, interesting lighting, storytelling and detail. My work process has evolved through experimentation, trial and a degree of error. I believe that having a clear methodology helps me create stronger work. This article breaks down my approach into a series of tips that lead from the initial idea and thumbnail sketches through to a completed oil painting. I encourage you to think about your own approach, experimentation and decision making.
Art has been an exciting journey that has taken me from being a teenager playing Dungeons and Dragons to painting cover artwork for the game. I hope this helps you on your own path.
Ralph is a traditional artist who has successfully forged his passions for gaming and fantasy art into a career painting dragons and goblins. www.ralphhorsley.co.uk
1 Preparation is key
It can be hard to resist the temptation to launch into a painting straight away. Introducing some preparatory stages prior to that can feel like adding extra work (and time) onto a project, but good preparation will not only help you create a better picture, it's also a more efficient way of working. There is a lot of decision making in creating art, and parcelling them up into bite-size chunks does ease digestion of the whole.
2 Write your own brief
Denne historien er fra July 2022-utgaven av ImagineFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 2022-utgaven av ImagineFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world
CREATIVE STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY
Co-founder and creative force André Luís talks about the ethos and evolution of Trojan Horse Was A Unicorn
Gigi Murakami
Shock and terror! Step into the world of the American horror manga artist, where her tastes are on full display
The path to the top at a video games company
No cheat codes required Tanya Combrinck finds out exactly what it takes to make the leap from burgeoning student to game-shaping art director
