For generations artists have created imagery destined for the entertainment of others, and now you can too.Revered science fiction artist and film designer, Doug Chiang, reveals the thought processes and techniques he used working on blockbusters such as the Star Wars prequels, War of the Worlds, Terminator, and Beowulf. You'll learn from Chiang's visionary experience as he shares his design processes, giving expert advice and showcasing the groundbreaking style that has earned his creations a spot in the Brooklyn Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art and the Tokyo National Museum.Inside you'll discover:30+ lessons for creating out-of-this-world science fiction scenes in the style featured in films, books, comics, toys and games using both traditional and digital techniquesDetails and tips for using Adobe Photoshop to conceive, design, draw and enhance your creations25 step-by-step demonstrations of outrageous robots, vehicles, creatures and environments with finished color imagesForeword by film producer/director Robert Zemeckis (Monster House, The Polar Express, Back to the Future, Beowulf)With tips on everything from basic skills like blueline sketching and assembling a toolkit to conceptualization and painting for digital art, Mechanika has everything you need to get great results and make your science fiction worlds come alive!

    Whether you're new to colored pencils or perfecting advanced techniques, you'll find the answers you need here in dozens of complete step-by-step demonstrations, including: Simple techniques for achieving amazingly realistic compositions, including layering, burnishing and underpaintingProven methods for working successfully with water-soluble colored pencilsA full range of inspiring subject matter, from flowers and animals to landscapes and still-life compositionsTips for solving common problems, fixing mistakes and taking sharp, clear reference photosExpert guidance in choosing the right materials and colors, including complete color charts from all the major manufacturersIt's all here in the "The Ultimate Guide to Colored Pencil"--the solutions and secrets you need for your own colored pencil success

    With their unique perspective, the Japanese have a way of looking at the world that has long been a source of great interest for the Western mind. Here, Japan’s most talented creative professionals strut their stuff in the form of posters, advertisements, print media, visual identity, and print design. Divided into chapters by media type, this highly visual guide presents a diverse selection of graphics and includes an index of designers, complete with website addresses and contact information.

    These methods are so easy that anyone--from doodler to advanced artist--can master them in minutes! Step by step, you'll learn how to capture the look of metal, glass, weathered wood, skin, hair and other textures. Two detailed start-to-finish demonstrations show you how to use these textures to create drawings that look so real they seem to leap right off the page.

    This interactive activity book takes you on a ramble through a secret garden created in beautifully detailed pen-and-ink illustrations – all waiting to be brought to life through colouring, but each also sheltering all kinds of tiny creatures just waiting to be found. And there are also bits of the garden that still need to be completed by you. Appealing to all ages, the intricately-realized world of the Secret Garden is both beautiful and inspirational.

    Pencil Drawing Techniques brings together six of today's best artists, all of whom are incredibly fine instructors as well.The artists show you how to develop your skill and ability in handling pencil technique. Ferdinand Petrie shows you how to handle pencils and produce a controlled variety of lines, values, and textures. Then he shows you exactly how to use these techniques to draw landscapes in a range of styles and compositions.Rudy De Reyna explains pencil basics, and explores perspective, size relationships, form, and structure. Douglas grave teaches you how to begin drawing portraits by building a drawing step-by-step. Norman Dams and Joe Singer demonstrate how you can use the pencil to produce spectacular drawings of animals. John Blockley and Richard Bolton show you how pencil drawings can capture the essence of a subject and help you work out a plan for painting it. Finally, Bet Borgeson teaches you all the secrets of colored pencil work and demonstrates a whole new dimension. The book is divided into seven sections: how to handle a pencil, fundamentals of drawing, drawing landscapes, drawing portraits, drawing animals, drawing for watercolors, and handling color pencils. The copious illustrations show in detail how the artists use their techniques. For the artist who uses the pencil, Pencil Drawing Techniques is an an excellent instructional book of ideas for using the pencil creatively.

    Joseph Sheppard's concise instructions have been carefully integrated with over 250 halftone illustrations and over 180 line drawings to lead artists one step at a time through the techniques required in rendering human anatomy convincingly.The opening chapter of the book presents the special techniques involved in mastering human proportion.The chapters that follow each deal with a separate part of the body: the arm, hand, leg, foot, torso, head, and neck (with special coverage of facial features and expressions) and the complete figure.Each of these chapters follows a basic format that combines drawings of the featured body portion from many different angles, coverage of the specific bones and muscles involved, a table of muscle origins and insertions, and coverage of surface anatomy and depictions of the body part in a variety of positions.

    Valerie McKeehan, an Etsy standout, teaches us everything we need to know to create gorgeous hand-drawn chalk designs. In over 60 lessons, learn the ABCs of lettering (literally) and basic styles: serif, sans serif, and script. Next, how to lay out a design, combine various styles into one cohesive piece, and add shadows and dimension. Master more advanced letter styles, from faceted to ribbon to “vintage circus.” Use banners, borders, flourishes. And finally, 12 projects to show off your newfound skills, including a Winter Wonderland Snow Globe; a smartphone-themed birthday card to text friends and family; a one-of-a-kind party invitation to create, photograph, and mail; and a bake sale sign guaranteed to put everyone who sees it in the mood for a cupcake! The book is also a practice space, with three foldout “chalkboards”—the inside cover and foldout back cover are lined with blackboard paper.

    Ryder Cup team captainImpact has long been called golf's "moment of truth," and great golfers have spent countless hours working on their swings trying to upgrade their impact dynamics as the golf club approaches, contacts, then swings through the ball. For the first time, with The Impact Zone, golfers will have a book that focuses their attention on the very same region of the swing on which professional golfers have always concentrated. The Impact Zone is a unique instructional guide in that everything in it either focuses on or applies to improving a golfer's understanding and execution of impact. Here, acclaimed professional golfer Bobby Clampett concludes that the overwhelming bias and convention of today's contemporary teaching environment is to value swing styles over swing dynamics, and in so doing, the overwhelming majority of golf teachers miss the boat in terms of teaching the game effectively. Ultimately this emphasis on swing style comes at the expense of helping golfers to develop sound swing dynamics, which are the real keys to consistent ball striking and better golf. With the help of CBS's Swing Vision high-speed camera—using images from many of the game's greatest contemporary players (including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, and more)—The Impact Zone takes an unprecedented look at the most important six inches in golf, those that immediately precede, contain, and follow impact. To further demonstrate these principles, Clampett presents photos and drills that convey the five essential dynamics golfers need to produce and reproduce solid impact Throughout these instructional pages, Bobby Clampett—teamed with veteran golf writer Andy Brumer—relays his own personal story of straying from swing dynamics and how he found his way back. He recalls memorable stories from the Tour, blending innovative instruction with his colorful, engaging anecdotes. Clampett and Brumer create an essential instructional guide with clear, concise advice—on creating great swing dynamics through the impact zone—the universally acknowledged key to more consistent and better golf.

    You choose whether to let the sun blaze or the rain pour, to move a maple tree here or make the trail wind over there, to subdue a hillside with quiet greens or make a forest glow with dazzling golds and reds. It's not only a matter of what to paint, but how to go about painting it.This book examines, one at a time, the three major elements of landscape painting: water, sky and land. You will be encouraged to try numerous ways of painting each one. Then you can choose the methods that best express how the outdoors speaks to you.Let this reliable collection of tips, techniques, ideas and lessons be your companion on a sure path to creative fulfillment and better watercolor landscapes.

    "I believe that you must be able to draw things as you see them--realistically," wrote Rudy de Reyna in his introduction.Today, generations of artists have learned to draw what they see, to truly capture the world around them, using de Reyna's methods. How to Draw What You See shows artists how to recognize the basic shape of an object--cube, cylinder, cone, or sphere--and use that shape to draw the object, no matter how much detail it contains.

    Delicate watercolors shine like jewels set into each page of this exquisite book. In tones of sea and morning sky, stucco and brick, olive leaf and apricot, rose and geranium, sara Midda captures the land, the people, the shimmering air—the whole feeling of Provence and the Côte d'azur, and the spell they cast over even those who haven't visited. Interspersed throughout are photographic collages and charming observations. The whole book is printed on uncoated stock to convey the feeling of an artist's sketchbook.

     For Annie and Will, who have left their marriages to be together, the future is fraught with the complications of starting over. Both have left pieces of themselves behind: For Annie, it is the husband and friend she has known since childhood; for Will, it is the five-year-old daughter he adores. And for the Korean-born Sungae, one of Annie's English-as-a-second-language students, it is a search for the words that will help her resolve the sorrows of her tragic history. As Sungae struggles with the new language and with her memories, her story unfolds in ways that will have profound consequences not only for Sungae, but for Annie, Will, and their former spouses. A lyrical and deeply moving novel about love, loss, and language-and about confronting life's tough choices-The Language of Good-bye "weaves a wonderful story [about] letting go of the past and moving forward into the future" (Gail Tsukiyama, author of The Language of Threads).

    Using only pen and paper, you will learn to make 24 basic Zentangles as well as inspiration for incorporating these designs into your art. Zentangles can be used to decorate wearables and home decor objects as well as cards, scrapbook pages and journals. Best of all, you can do this even if you have never drawn anything before.

    Her innovative ideas are now collected and elaborated on in this unique volume. Carla offers a year's worth of assignments, projects, ideas, and techniques that will introduce more creativity and nonsense into your art and life. Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists offers readers a fun way to learn and gain expertise in drawing through experimentation and play. There is no right or wrong result, yet, the readers gain new skills and confidence, allowing them to take their work to a new level.