Discover the breathtaking creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of leading fantasy artist John Howe, in this comprehensive practical art book. Leads you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned drawing and painting demonstrations that reveal John’s renowned artistic approach in action.

Foreword by Terry Gilliam Introduction THE CREATIVE PROCESS My artistic journey Narratives, themes & inspiration Gathering & using reference material Organizing your work environment Out & about Protecting & storing your artwork TOOLS & TECHNIQUES Drawing tools & materials Holding the pencil Drawing & sketching Paint & ink Digital workflow BEASTS & BEINGS Fantasy being CASE STUDY: Cernunnos Human beings CASE STUDY: Tom Badgerlock Fantasy beasts CASE STUDY: Beowulf and the Dragon BACKDROPS Landscapes CASE STUDY: Atlantis Architecture CASE STUDY: The Arrival of the Airships Atmospheres CASE STUDY: Barghest Land WORDS & PICTURES Drawing the line somewhere Into the white Wandering but not lost To the world’s edge Lost in wilderland Images were magic once SKETCHING TUTORIALS Merlin Dragon Thor and the Giant Lancelot Centaur Arwen Balrog Mermaid THE BUSINESS OF FANTASY The big bad world Book cover illustration The big screen: set design Putting your work up front The future … Afterword by Alan Lee Acknowledgments About the author Index Credits

When a book long out of print is republished, the most compelling urge is to rewrite it all, to amend and correct, to bring to it new experiences and thoughts that fill the interim since that initial publication. On the other hand, one should not invalidate the existing work, nor create a sort of hybrid volume which is neither old or new. This book, which combines Fantasy Art Workshop and Fantasy Drawing Workshop, is both old and new. The original books compose the major part of it, with new amendments, and a new portfolio section with more recent work and thoughts. The result is a book about drawing and painting, and how to take the right steps to achieve whatever goals you might have set for yourself. There are exercises and examples, vehicles for your imagination and your capacity to visualize, but the most important role is played by you. If you know how to draw already and you are quite satisfied with the results, then this book is not really for you. If you feel that figurative and narrative imagery is not your cup of tea, this book is not for you. If you feel that mythology and fantasy have little to say to our modern world, then this book is most definitely not for you. If you are searching for off-the-shelf methods and sure-fire technical tricks of the trade, then this book is most definitely not for you. However … … if your mind is full of images that keep escaping from your fingertips, this book may be of help. If you are unsure of the direction your art wishes to take, but know you should be heading somewhere, this book may be a signpost of a kind for your journey. If you find pleasure in telling stories in pictures, then this book may help you clarify your thoughts. If life has obliged you to leave pages of yourself unturned, and you’d feel better with a little company for a chapter or two, then this book is definitely for you. I will say from the start that I dislike ‘How To ...’ books, unless purely technical and about carpentry, hot-water pipes or pruning. I dislike the temptation to reduce an intuitive, personal process to a ‘system’ applied to any circumstances. I am dubious of rectangles and circles that magically turn into animals. I dislike seeing archetypes transformed into stereotypes. I sigh in dismay when I see famous paintings divided into arbitrary shapes and golden means. These leave little place for serendipity, imagination and instinct, your most precious allies and tools. Pencil drawing is giving yourself up to an exercise in the incidental. It is a form of communion with your subject, whether the subject is in front of you or inside your head. Expertise and skill, intuition and imagination, information and experience go hand in hand with your desire to express feelings, to tell stories, to create and share worlds. This mix of the universal and the personal is unique to you. I have tried to say in words how I feel about all of that. (With each picture being worth a thousand of them, that makes quite a few.) I’m grateful to the editors for allowing my thoughts such unruly growth, pruning only when necessary. This book is personal, too. I speak for myself, not for the art of drawing and painting. It is the product of four decades in art, and many years’ teaching. While much of this time has been spent locked up in the studio, these studios have been in many countries, on varying projects. Events have allowed me to meet people the world over. This has all enriched and enchanted me, part of the experience I wish to share. Finally, to my comrades-in-art and fellow illustrators, I beg your indulgence for this foray into the dreaded land of Explanation and the perilous realm of Reason, momentarily forsaking the foggy shores of Inspiration. I am speaking only for myself, not for my profession. All of you have your own voices. (But buy the book anyway.)

action 66–7 agents 217 airbrushes 42 angels, fallen 50–3 architecture 108–14 armour 52, 57, 68–9, 73, 76, 164–8, 170, 172–4, 176–8 Arrival of the Airships (Howe) 112–14 artists' block 128–9 Arwen 180–7 Atlantis 104–7 atmosphere 116–22 backdrops 90–122 backing boards 46 Badgerlock, Tom 74–6 Balrog 38, 188–95 Beagle, Peter S. 34 beasts and beings 54–89 Beowulf 48, 60, 70, 81, 86–7, 89, 118 Bhargest Land 120–2 birds 7, 46, 71, 82, 85, 109, 110, 126 book covers 208–11 brushes 42, 45, 102 careers in art 204–18 Celtic myth 5, 17, 62, 85, 116, 117 centaurs 57, 68, 172–9 Cernunnos 62–4 Chimeras 15 Clément, Claude 18–19, 71, 99, 103, 218 coloured pencils 164–70, 196–203 costumes 72–3, 140, 143–4 creative process 10–29 cross-hatching 36, 149, 151, 166–7, 169, 183, 190, 192 dark and light, balance of 118 de Lint, Charles 96 digital work 48–53, 217 digitizing images 29 directional hatching 152, 177, 183 directional modelling 41 dragons 8, 18, 35, 57, 81–2, 86–7, 89, 93, 98, 100–1, 113–14, 148–55, 216 drawing 38–41, 136–7 from life 27 elves 57, 59, 60, 180–7 erasers 3, 33, 41, 136, 193, 195 faces 51, 70–1, 76, 143, 146, 157, 159–60, 162, 168–70, 180–6, 197–203 fangs 80–2 fees 206–7 films 212–14 fire 80–2, 100–1 fixatives 46 four elements 90, 96–103 Frankenstein's monster 34 giants 156–63 graphic novels 211 Green Faces/Green Men 5, 85 hair 72–3, 143, 157, 159–60, 169, 182–4, 197, 201–3 hands 70–1, 143 highlights 3, 33, 41, 48, 59, 69, 73, 102–3, 118, 122, 144–6, 165–7, 169–70, 174, 177, 190–5, 199–202 Hobb, Robin 7, 16, 74, 93, 209 Holdstock, Robert 92, 117 horses 7, 12–13, 57, 66, 68, 172–9 human beings 66–76, 140–7, 164–70 illustration boards 46 images, magical nature of 136 imagination 127, 128–31 ink 46 inspiration 14–19, 56–7, 78, 92, 94–5, 96–7, 116–17, 128–31, 140, 148, 156, 164, 172, 180, 188, 196 Jackson, Peter 9 Kay, Guy Gavriel 79 Khnopff, Fernand 218 knights 69, 73, 74–6, 98, 164–70, 211 Lancelot 69, 73, 164–70 landscapes 92–107 Le Guin, Ursula 82 Lee, Alan 208, 220 Lovecraft, H.P. 14 magicians 34 Martin, George R.R. 7, 8, 34, 61, 221 masking tape/sheets 45 Medusa 73 Merlin 85, 92, 140–7 mermaids 61, 196–203 narratives 14–19 Nilsson, Oscar 206 paint 42–6 palettes 42 paper 34–5, 44 pastel pencils 32 pastels 44 Peake, Mervyn 70 pencil holds 36–7, 136 pencils 32–3, 36–41, 136–7, 138–203 pens 46 presenting work 216–17 Pullman, Philip 211 Quay alien 81, 82 rain 118, 162 Reeve, Philip 49 reference material 20–2, 140, 148, 156, 164, 172, 180, 188, 196 rights 207, 217, 218 Satan 35 scale 84, 87, 105 scratchboards 46 seas 87, 93, 99, 101, 103, 104–5, 107, 170 set design 212–14 shading 36, 41, 143–4, 146, 149–54, 157, 159–62, 165–70, 173–7, 180–6, 189–94, 197–202 shields 52, 173 Siegel, Jan 208 sketchbooks 35, 137 sketching 38–41, 136–7, 138–203 smudging 38, 166, 190–1, 193 snakes 73, 79 storing work 28–9 switching off 37 swords 35 talons 80–2 themes 14–19 Thor 156–63 thumbnail sketches 37, 140, 148, 156, 172 Tolkien, J.R.R. 9, 12–14, 17, 25, 35, 58, 67, 71, 108–9, 134, 180–95, 206, 207, 210, 212–15, 217 tones 40 tools 30–5, 42–6, 102, 136–7 toothbrushes 102 training 12–13 Trassard, J.L. 19 trees 18, 46–7, 92, 96, 98–9, 116–18, 117, 211 Troyes, Chrétien de 66 unicorns 41, 78, 84–5 washes 9, 26, 43, 47, 51, 63, 87, 102, 105, 113–14, 121–2 water 102–3 see also rain; seas watercolours 42, 43 weaponry 68–9, 76, 174–6, 178–9 wings 80–2, 176, 179 working environment 24–6 world building 128–33