100 Fantasy Creatures and Characters: Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing - A Sourcebook for Aspiring Artists and Designers (Draw Like an Artist)

by Brynn Metheney

Featuring more than 600 sketches depicting a vast array of fantastic beasts and beings, Draw Like an Artist: 100 Fantasy Creatures and Characters is a must-have visual reference for student and aspiring artists, illustrators, and animators for fantasy, gaming, and augmented or virtual reality—anyone who’s seeking to improve their realistic drawing skills and create compelling mythological marvels.
 
This contemporary step-by-step guidebook demonstrates fundamental art concepts like proportion, anatomy, and spatial relationships as you learn to draw a full range of amazing life forms—including unicorns, mermaids, dragons, vampires, and zombies—all shown from a variety of perspectives. Each set of illustrations takes you from beginning sketch lines to a finished drawing. Author Brynn Metheney’s classic drawing style will make this a go-to sourcebook for years to come.

Learn how to:

• Establish basic shapes and symmetry
• Articulate lines for body shapes, forms, and shading
• Add defining details

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Fantasy Creatures and Characters is a library essential for any artist who’s interested in learning how to draw these richly imagined and visually and culturally influential legendary beings.

The books in the Draw Like an Artist series are richly visual references for learning how to draw classic subjects realistically through hundreds of step-by-step images created by expert artists and illustrators.

• ISBN13: 9781631599644
• Publish Date: 8 September 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quarry Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 112
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

100 Fantasy Creatures & Characters is a sourcebook and tutorial guide in the Draw Like An Artist series. Released 8th Sept 2020 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 112 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.
These books all follow the same format. A very short introduction (10% of the content) gives some basic tips and very (very) brief overview of recommended materials. The following chapters contain short step-by step progress illustrations for line drawing 100 fantasy creatures and characters grouped together by category: creatures first (gryphon, unicorn, kelpie, and so forth) followed by characters (sorcerer, dwarf, mountain troll, etc). The book also includes a final chapter with specific original studies in the same 6 step format such as lava swimmer and goulodon.

These are very simple single page 5-8 step illustrations. The finished drawings are not part of a composition, and there is no written direction involved. All of them are simple enough to not really require directions. None of them are beyond the ability of keen amateur level. Correspondingly, there is little here which will challenge advanced artists.

This would make a superlative choice for young artists or adult learners, especially bundled with drawing supplies. There are several other companion volumes available also (flowers, faces, and some others probably).

Four stars (given the limitations). I will say that very many of these were pretty darned cool and would look great printed on cards or used as coloring pages.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.