Book Review: Sketching from the Imagination: Fantasy

Sketching from the Imagination: Fantasy is a delightful sequel to the earlier book which is also from 3dtotal Publishing, namely Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing.

For those who love sketchbooks, you'll be treated to another 320-page volume of beautiful sketches from top artists around the world. I really enjoyed the earlier book and I'm thrilled to have another thick compilation of sketches.

The layout is nice. There's a very sketchbook feel with textured line borders, handwritten headings, the many sketches wonderfully reproduced, many printed to the edge.

The artists featured appear alphabetically. They talk about their love for sketching, inspiration and ideas, the materials they use, and their sketching techniques. Every sketch also comes with a short caption. This is an insightful and inspiring book, one that you will want to leave close to you on the table or shelf.

This volume focuses on fantasy. There are many character designs, mostly human based, but occasionally there are those walkers like orcs, skeletons or anthropomorphic characters. There are only a few fantasy environment sketches.

The art is fantastic. Sketching tools are usually pen and pencils, and you'll get to see how these artists use theirs to draw such beautiful drawings. Some are so refined, especially the pencil drawings, that I would consider them as finished art rather than just a sketch. Overall, it's really great to see the imaginative and creative product of these artists.

I really wish 3dtotal Publishing would come up with more of these sketchbook volumes, perhaps for creature design, environment, sci-fi, comics. It would be a blast if that happens!

Definitely highly recommended. Fantastic value for money.

If you like this sketchbook, I would also recommend the following:

• Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing
• ImagineFX Sketchbook
• Sketching Times 1
• Sketching Times 2
• KATSUYA TERADA 10 TEN - 10 Years Retrospective -
• Mattias Unfiltered: The Sketchbook Art of Mattias Adolfsson
• Kim Jung-Gi 2007 & 2011 Sketch Collection
• Kim Jung-Gi 2013 Sketch Collection
• The First in Line
• Sketch Book for the Artist
• The Daily Zoo
• 0レンジ(オレンジ)~森本晃司作品集~ (Orange / Koji Morimoto / Scrapbook)

Sketching from the Imagination: Fantasy is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and 3dtotal Publishing

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Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn | 3dtotal Publishing