Fantasy Art Insights From A Fantasy Artist

Fantasy art should be a place for your own creative freedom to assert itself, as the main point to express yourself if it were limited in some way it would be a stifled creative expression and would therefore fall flat as a pancake and become a useless piece of art never to be fondled again.


The War Devil battling the undead armies in the wastelands of filth, © Copyright Wayne Tully 2008.all Rights Reserved

I often find myself drawn to dragon art quite alot and other artists representations of this fantasy art



Drawing what you want to draw is a key thing in this express yourself ideal, only in realising this will you move up the ladder and get on with the task in hand, which is perfecting your creative niche, a corner of the universe to call your own, and eventually share with the rest of those who are equal and relevant in your own minds path.

The drawing of fantasy is the realisation of ordinary life but with the fantastical elements thrown in for excitement and wonder, although the standard professional style of fantasy art/paintings is one drawn from models and real life photographs or that reach for perfect physical resemblance normally seen in body building contests.

You should be encouraged to draw what you want and not because you see someone elses art/paintings and decide you must do things their way, that's not what art is about, it's about finding your own way of working and then making it work for you.


Fantasy Monster Warrior Poster by waynetully
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The time and age of fantasy is as endless as... well time itself, the genre of fantasy and the art that is an escape for many into the worlds of dragons and mythical creatures is much more than a fashion statement, it is a way of imaginative creation that should be encouraged for everyone that loves to draw and be part of a rich and diverse way of driving your individual creations forward.

When I think of the many fantasy realms that have been envisioned by the countless inspiring artists and painters of the past, present and the future to come, I to become inspired by the many visions of these master visionaries.
I've often awoke in the middle of the night to have an idea for a great drawing, character, graphic novel or any other project and started sketching and before I know it it's time for the mundane working day. Look For Fantasy Art Posters at AllPosters.com

Inspiration is not just limited to other artists, it's also found in the relaxing things you love to do, like watching horror, fantasy films late into the night or listening to you favourite korn album over and over again, or the most oddest and stand out characters and people in real life can instill inspiration without even knowing it sometimes.

As you may or may not be aware my main area of creative inspiration comes from the horror films and horror comics and graphic novels, I just can't seem to accept anything else (although I do like other films and comics etc)I'm sort of drawn to this dark horror fantasy world by some unknown force, a force that seems to know what I want to draw all the time.

The more I think about it, I realise I must do something about getting into some area of art/creation that will make me feel like life is great, rather than just bearable with an ordinary run of the mill job, that's why I started this squidoo lens, to start to make my mark and also collectively gather a network of fantasy websites and build a community where we could help each other and show our work to the world.

I've joined cafepress as many others have and built some basic stores with demonic designs throughout, which I will expand and turn a few into premium stores, this is also one of the columns of foundation that I am using to drive myself forward and get my work out there, like many other artists it starts with a sketch and ends in recognition for your efforts.

Wayne Tully

Rex art for all your art supplies delivered direct to your door

Drawing fantasy or anything for that matter should be fun or else you would'nt be doing it right.
The reality of my exerience is I love drawing but other things get in the way at times, but then this is life and you should just make time if it's where you want to be later on down the road, I myself would love to be drawing right the way through the night like I used to as kid, but working, bringing up a family, paying the bills etc has become the most important thing in anyones life and quite rightly so, but if you are that determined it's best to make the time.

I'm doing this right now, burning the midnight oil, late nights building up ideas in scrap books and notepads, and drawing comics and stuff late into the night has become the norm that I have even set up a spare bed in the computer room, just in case I nod off while I am working.

Drawing fantasy stuff is as easy as thinking of story ideas in your head and it's that much easier to brainstorm and sketch at the same time than try to complete a masterpiece straight off, like anything the foundations are built first and the rest comes naturally after that.

While deciding on ideas it's best to think in terms of situations, characters and even some story elements to place in your pictures, because when you look at most painting or fantasy art drawing it almost always represents some form of emotion from a character or atmosphere from the landscape or even some sort of compositional element that also creates a story in the viewers head, some of the best examples make you think of the subject more and decide whats happening in the picture.

When considering drawing or even taking up the fantasy area of art you have to consider which and indeed what areas you may specialize in or be even good at, as we are all good at one main type of drawing/media or theme.

Over the years I personally have come to realise that I am suited to the comic book style of drawing, so I have concentrated on that, but a true artist doesn't limit themselves in this way so it is more better professionally for you to branch out into many areas and learn to either draw in many styles ie: manga,realist,comic book etc.

In doing this you are expanding your range and also learning in the process also, by picking up many art styles you are effectively studying all aspects of drawing and quietly perfecting and finding your own art style.

Having said this, not all art styles suit many artists and so only a few should be concentrated on for your best results.

Research into fantasy is also a good idea as more ideas and inspiration can be found in many a book or website that may help you on the road to becoming the fantasy artist professional that you deserve to be.

The time of the graphic novel has stood the test of time and is by far the best source of graphic storytelling as far as I am concerned, it's the visual style that draws you in just like a movie with wide camera angles and inexpensive special effects portraying every story progression with the dialogue of each character, pushing the story further forward.

Plus they are usually either stand alone stories concentrating on a handful of cool characters or they are collected parts of a comic book series with added pages.

Through the eyes of an artist though it's the art that has to take a sort of first priority over the story somewhat as the layout of the pages are the single most recognizable thing that we look for in graphic novels.

Zombies are mostly associated with the horror films, classics such as dawn of the dead and the recent land of the dead as well as countless others, there is something quite disturbing about the dead walking slowly towards someone to eat our brains or tuck into some living flesh in all it's gory detail.

And it's this single idea that makes me want to draw them, whether it is just their heads or the full zombie design with ripped clothes and blood gushing all over the place, as a fan of horror films also this appeals to me as another category in fantasy art, the better zombie films are the ones were the zombies are more zombie like and by this I mean burnt faces and holes in their heads and blood dribbling down their faces, this was what was lacking from the original dawn of the dead film as the green faces made me think when is the incredible hulk going to turn up, although it was a great film as opposed to the remake - with olympic running zombies, it simply didnt inspire me as much as day of the dead did.

As I said befor there have been countless zombie films over the years, some good(day of the dead) some bad(The dead next door)but without these films brought about by george romero back in the sixties would zombies be the cult monsters of the horror/fantasy arena today?
I think not, again inspiration has to important in everything we do as doing most drawing on your own can be pretty dull without others work to motivated by.

Tattoo designs can be simple in design or as complicated as you make them, either way you should decide what types of tattoo you are good at and work on this basis alone, as you can learn the other tattoo design/themes later on, if you are comfortable in recieving criticism from tattooists, show your work to them as they know more about tattoo design than anybody.

Ask them questions based on what sells best and how to layout your designs, questions like these the tattooists if they are sociable they would be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Bear in mind if they don't like your work they can be pretty honest (believe me I've been there before.)
Once you have spoken to a few professional tattooists it is time to put what advice they have given you to good use, and come up with some excellent designs based on the requirements of the tattoo world - which is clear line work, colours that don't make the design look too busy, and also images that are original or unique can go a long way through internet sites such as ebay.

try to draw what you love to draw as you will more than likely in a short space of time have built up a good range of designs that you will be proud of.