***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
+ - Half-star
Freaks! How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures
Steve Miller
Watson Guptill
Nonfiction, YA? Art
*****
DESCRIPTION: Furries - anthropomorphic (humanlike) animals and fantastic hybrids - have been around for a long time, but lately their popularity has exploded. From comic
books to cartoons and sports mascots to product logos, these creatures are everywhere. This book, compiled by many top illustrators in the comic book and cartoon industry,
discusses how to create and draw convincing human/animal hybrids, from the "usual" humanized dog or cat to bizarre fusings such as elephant and centaur or lion and bat.
REVIEW: As the blurb on the back cover claims, this is the first art book dedicated solely to anthropomorphic creatures. At least, it's the first one I've seen.
Considering how long they've been popular, it's long past due. The writing may be pitched at the teen/preteen audience, but anyone of any age with an interest in the subject
should learn something from this book. I liked that it didn't just stick with mammals; anthro bugs, reptiles, birds, and insects get their due. There's even an anthro octopus!
The book features a variety of moods and styles, including notes on where the artists found their ideas and how to integrate multiple animal influences. A very minor nitpick is
that he insists on calling the backwards-pointing joint in the rear leg of many animals a second knee, when it is actually the equivalent of the human ankle joint. Many animals
walk on their toes, their true knee being higher up and closer to the body - a fact that a simple glance at skeletons should reveal. It seemed a cop-out to just call it a weird
"second knee" instead of encouraging the reader to observe comparative anatomy. Learning the anatomical reasons for such things should be encouraged, because strong anatomy
skills lead to more lifelike drawings, even in fantasy art. On the whole, I found it very inspirational, even if I don't do too much "furry" or "anthro" art myself. That is,
right now I don't. Books like this might convince me to try more human/animal hybrids in my art. The author certainly makes it look like fun.
You might also enjoy:
Illustrating Nature: How to Paint and Draw Plants and Animals (Dorothea and Sy Barlowe, Art - Drawing realistic animals and plants)
The Encyclopedia of World Wildlife (Mike and Peggy Briggs, Nonfiction - Wild birds and animals from around the world)
Eyewitness Books: Cat (Juliet Clutton-Brock, YA Nonfiction - A science book about cats, with many photographs)
Drawing & Painting Fantasy Figures (Finlay Cowan, Art - Designing and drawing fantasy characters)
On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight (Richard Ettlinger, Nonfiction - Photographs of flying birds)
Drawing the Head and Figure (Jack Hamm, Art - A book on drawing humans)
How to Draw Animals (Jack Hamm, Art - Drawing mammals)
Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy (Christopher Hart, YA? Art - A good introduction to anatomy)
How to Draw and Paint Birds (Lynn Bogue Hunt, Art - How to paint birds)
Animal Drawing - Anatomy and Action for Artists (Charles R. Knight, Art - How to draw various animals)
How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Stan Lee and Steve Buscema, YA? Art - Anatomy, perspective, inking, design, and storytelling with the Marvel flair)
The Encyclopedia of Bird Reference Drawings (David Mohrhart, Art - Line drawings of the beaks, wings, and claws of various bird species)
DragonArt: Fantasy Characters (J. "NeonDragon" Peffer, YA? Art - How to draw fantasy humans, elves, and relations)
Great Cats (Dr. John Seidensticker and Dr. Susan Lumpkin, consulting editors, Nonfiction - Articles and photographs of wild cats)
Fantastic Realms (V. Shane, YA? Art - Drawing fantasy characters, creatures, and worlds)
Figure Drawing Without a Model (Ron Tiner, Art - Learning to draw convincing humans from memory)
How to Draw and Paint: Cats in Action (Walter J. Wilwerding, Art - Wild cats in action)
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Thunder Lizards! How to Draw Fantastic Dinosaurs
Steve Miller
Watson Guptill
Nonfiction, YA? Art
****
DESCRIPTION: There are many books about dinosaur facts, and many books on how to draw them, but the material in the latter often fails to live up to the former. Until
now, no dinosaur drawing book has looked at comparative anatomy or other essentials of producing a convincing picture of a prehistoric creature. The author and the many
contributing artists set out to right this wrong, demonstrating that only by understanding how a creature is put together will an artist be able to draw a good dinosaur or other
extinct creature. This book covers several dinosaurs and dinosaur families as well as Archaeopteryx, the infamous feathered bird/dinosaur (now not nearly so unique as more and
more fossil finds have feather imprints around them), and pterosaurs, who technically weren't dinosaurs but lived at the same time.
REVIEW: As the Description says, this is, as the cover and preface state, the first drawing book I've read that approaches dinosaurs as a serious subject matter like
animals or humans. Naturally, Miller does this in a manner that will appeal to younger artists, but there is plenty here for those who have moved beyond step-by-step drawings.
This gives the book an extended lifespan of usefulness as the artist grows in interest and skill level. More than one finished picture of most of the dinosaurs are included, to
show how different artists interpret the same basic material; one of the frustrations of drawing dinosaurs is that there are no living specimens to study, but that also gives the
artist a certain freedom. I only wish he had chosen a few other dinosaurs and pterosaurs to highlight, and a section on the bizarre marine reptiles of the dinosaur age would've
been fun. He also misidentifies one skeleton illustration (page 118) as being a Triceratops, when the dinosaur pictured clearly has the wrong head-frill and horn
configuration (judging from my other dinosaur books, and this book itself when it specifically covers Triceratops later on) and must be one of the other ceratopians.
Overall, this is a fun and inspirational book on drawing dinosaurs. Much like Miller's Freaks! anthro-drawing book, it strongly tempts me to explore this subject, though
a lack of space and time to draw again stymies me.
You might also enjoy:
Illustrating Nature: How to Paint and Draw Plants and Animals (Dorothea and Sy Barlowe, Art - Drawing realistic animals and plants)
Drawing & Painting Fantasy Figures (Finlay Cowan, Art - Designing and drawing fantasy characters)
The Dinotopia books (James Gurney, YA Fiction - The illustrated journeys of a 19th-century professor and his son, shipwrecked on a lost land where humans and dinosaurs coexist peacefully)
Drawing the Head and Figure (Jack Hamm, Art - A book on drawing humans)
Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy (Christopher Hart, YA? Art - A good introduction to anatomy)
How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Stan Lee and Steve Buscema, YA? Art - Anatomy, perspective, inking, design, and storytelling with the Marvel flair)
Dinosaurs (Carl Mehling, editor, Nonfiction - Dinosaurs and other prehistoric life forms, from trilobites to woolly mammoths)
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (Dr. David Norman, Nonfiction - Dinosaur species and investigation techniques)
DragonArt: Fantasy Characters (J. "NeonDragon" Peffer, YA? Art - How to draw fantasy humans, elves, and relations)
Fantastic Realms (V. Shane, YA? Art - Drawing fantasy characters, creatures, and worlds)
Figure Drawing Without a Model (Ron Tiner, Art - Learning to draw convincing humans from memory)
Pterosaurs: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Flying Reptiles (Dr. Peter Wellenhoffer, Nonfiction - An overview of pterosaur species)
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The Art of How to Train Your Dragon
Tracy Miller-Zarneke
Newmarket Press
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
****+
DESCRIPTION: One of the standout animated movies of 2010, Dreamworks' spellbinding tale of the misfit Viking boy Hiccup and the dragon Toothless, based on
the children's book by Cressida Cowell, captured the imaginations of dracophiles young and old. It displayed a marvelous mixture of realistic lighting and textures
combined with surreally exaggerated designs, wrapped around a deftly-crafted story that ultimately broke free of the book that inspired it. This collection looks
behind the scenes, revealing conceptual art and the artistic evolution of the award-nominated blockbuster.
Includes a preface by author Cressida Cowell and a foreword by Craig Ferguson, who voiced Gobber the blacksmith.
REVIEW: First off, if this movie fails to win an award, it's evidence of exceptionally poor taste and judgment... moreso than even I expect out of the
industry.
That said...
As one might surmise, I loved the movie; it easily ranks in the top 5 animated films I've ever seen... and the top 5 films I've seen, period. This book made an
excellent companion, revealing the story's long and sometimes awkward path from sketch to screen. Some of the text got a little thick with industry terms, but
otherwise I highly enjoyed it. Anyone who loved the movie should get this book, to see how it all came together.
You might also enjoy:
The Art of Anastasia (Henry Deneroff, Art - The concept art behind the animated movie Anastasia, from Fox Animation Studio)
How to Draw and Paint Dragons (Tom Kidd, Art - From first sketch to last brushstroke, learn to bring dragons to life on canvas)
Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World (William O'Connor, Art - Imagine and draw a wide variety of dragons)
The DragonArt books (J. "NeonDragon" Peffer, YA? Art - Nearn to draw many dragons and related critters)
How to Train Your Dragon (Single Disc Edition)
(2010 DVD - Dreamworks' superb animated movie about a misfit Viking who befriends a ferocious dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell)
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