Book Review: Mechanika

Submitted by  Teoh Yi Chie on  November 11, 2008 - 3:00 pm

Mechanika

It's not very often you see a great concept artist come up with a tutorial book. Here, we have a great book by Doug Chiang. He's the concept artist for big movie hits like Star Wars, War of the Worlds and Terminator just to name a few.

In this book are 30 lessons and step-by-step tutorials for creating science fiction art, mainly robots. There are details and tips for using Photoshop.

Through these pages, one can see Doug Chiang's process of creating sci-fi concept art. It's always interesting to find out how other artist work, especially one of such high caliber.

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Places to get Mechanika:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de | Amazon.co.jp

Tags
star wars
art book reviews
doug chiang
mecha robots
sci fi art
impact
2008 favourite

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 02 Aug 2009 - 15:55

I have a question and don't really know who to ask. I saw your review of a book called Mechanika, first on Amazon and then on your blog. First of all, thanks for the reviews. They're very helpful.

To my question...I'm very interested in getting a book like Mechanika or one similar. Especially because of the tips, techniques, and instructions it gives. However, I have noticed that it seems to focus a lot on using Photoshop. The problem is that I wouldn't be using that. At least, not for now. I can't. So, I'm really wanting something that will help me with using paper instead of a computer. So, my question or questions are is Mechanika still a good book for someone who doesn't even have Photoshop? If not, do you know of another book that would be better suited for me?

I'd really appreciate any info or advice. I hope my question makes sense. Thanks very much for taking the time to read this.

Teoh Yi Chie Sun, 02 Aug 2009 - 15:56

Actually the book focuses on a lot of pen and marker art. These are the ones that draw the forms of the vehicles. For the grayscale examples, even the highlights and shadows are rendered with markers.

For the coloured illustrations, photoshop is then used.

Also, some basic knowledge on perspective will help a lot while attempting the examples.

*** (not verified) Sun, 02 Jan 2011 - 10:36

Can you advise another good artbook for beginners with same detail instructions?

*** (not verified) Mon, 03 Jan 2011 - 11:04

It may be not robot drawning specified book just fantasy, sci-fi genre

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 26 Apr 2011 - 21:43

There is very little in the book that deals with Photoshop. Only some final effects but they are not needed. This book is for anyone that likes to draw!

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