Table Of Content

OtherWorlds HOW TO IMAGINE, PAINT AND CREATE EPIC SCENES OF FANTASY TOM KIDD OtherWorlds. Copyright ©2010 by Tom Kidd. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition. Other fine IMPACT Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or online supplier. Visit our website at www.fwmedia.com. 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 Distributed in Canada by FRASER DIRECT 100 Armstrong Avenue Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4 Tel: (905) 877-4411 Distributed in the U.K. and Europe by F+W INTERNATIONAL Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England Tel: (+44) 1626 323200, Fax: (+44) 1626 323319 Email: [email protected] Distributed in Australia by CAPRICORN LINK P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor NSW, 2756 Australia Tel: (02) 4577-3555 Library of Congress Cataloging in publication Data Kidd, Tom. Otherworlds: how to imagine, paint, and create epic scenes of fantasy / Tom Kidd. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-60061-866-6 (alk. paper) eISBN 13: 978-1-4403-1361-5 1. Fantasy in art. 2. Painting--Technique. I. Title. II. Title: How to imagine, paint, and create epic scenes of fantasy. ND1460.F35K52 2010 751.45'47 — dc22 20100178603 edited by Sarah Laichas designed by Jennifer Hoffman production coordinated by Mark Griffin METRIC CONVERSION CHART To convert to multiply by Inches Centimeters 2.54 Centimeters Inches 0.4 Feet Centimeters 30.5 Centimeters Feet 0.03 Yards Meters 0.9 Meters Yards 1.1 About the Author Tom Kidd has been a top award-winning fantasy art illustrator for over twenty-five years. His work has been featured in many volumes of the Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art series, and he is the author of Kiddography: The Art and Life of Tom Kidd (Anova Books/Paper Tiger 2005). He has won multiple awards for his science fiction and fantasy art, which has encompassed book covers and interiors, magazines, films and figurines. He has exhibited at many museums and provided conceptual and design work for companies as diverse as Disney and American Express. The breathtaking vistas of the art of Tom Kidd, alias Gnemo, alias Newell Convers, can be mistaken for no other. Visit his website at http://spellcaster.com/tomkidd and blog http://kiddography.blogspot.com. This book is dedicated to my wife Andrea Montague who shares in all my ups and downs even when I flew in a blimp. Acknowledgements I'd like to thank my editor, Sarah Laichas, for patiently shepherding me through the making of this book and my designer, Jennifer Hoffman, for making the pages beautiful. All of the following people graciously took the time to teach me something that made it into this book: Julia Jackson, Abe Echevarria, Cortney Skinner, Elizabeth Massie, A.C. Farley, John Pierard, Sergio Martinez, David Mattingly, Barclay Shaw, Paul Chadwick, Eric Peterson, Rick Berry, Michael Whelan, Mark Ryberg and the Artlisters. Contents FOREWORD INTRODUCTION Part One THE BASICS OF GETTING STARTED Part Two TECHNIQUES, THEORY & SUBJECT MATTER Part Three PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER CONCLUSION FOREWORD BY MICHAEL WHELAN Tom asked me to write an intro for this book. I haven't seen the book yet, but I think it's bound to be good. In fact, I'm sure of it. You see, that was our deal; I write an intro, Tom gives me a copy of his new book. Then, hopefully, mysteries are answered: I learn something of how he does what he does, acquire some of his glorious color sense, absorb his feel for three-dimensional structure, learn where his fantastic ideas grow from and how he nurtures them into full-flowered paintings of wonder and beauty. I imagine that's why you are holding this book, too. We are going to have to rely on Tom's own words and examples for this info. I went over his biographical background, asked him some annoyingly personal questions, and all I can gather is that he is Tom Kidd the celebrated fantasy and science-fiction artist, more in spite of his history, than because of it. His life wasn't so special, as he often points out. Like many of us, he was born. He grew up some. He got very sick. (St. Louis encephalitis, or SLEV as it is called by the CDC, is an uncommon but occasionally fatal nervous system viral infection, nearly impossible to treat.) He recovered … but slowly and haltingly. Nevertheless, he continued to grow. He read. He was curious. He learned. He drew. Then — He got the idea he could make a career out of illustrating.