OtherWorlds: How to Imagine, Paint and Create Epic Scenes of Fantasy

by Tom Kidd

Go where no artist has ever gone before. Bizarre terrains, enchanted forests, futuristic metropolises, ornate palaces—these are the places where adventure dwells. In this fun and fiercely original book from celebrated fantasy artist Tom Kidd , you'll learn how to set the scene for epic tales of adventure. Discover where Kidd finds his best ideas, the methods behind his glorious color sense, and how he turns it all into exquisite skies, glittering cities, spectacular rock formations, stormy seas, magnificent forests and other bold, breathtaking vistas. This book is your ticket to destinations of absolute wonder and bizarre beauty. Thrill your viewers by transporting them to locales so vast and unreal, it will take their breath away.

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Drawing

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2010

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing artist. Highly recommended.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures on my blog)

This is Tom Kidd's book on fantasy art. It's 192 pages, hardcover. The art is fantastic.

It's an instructional book that covers the tips and techniques on painting. The useful tips come from his personal observations. He talks about colours, composition, mood and other topics relating to fantasy art.

The techniques are taught by 13 step-by-step demonstrations. They are oil-based tutorials so if you're using watercolours, you need a shift in mindset. For example when painting a snow scene, he lays a base tone over the canvas, which is something you can't do with watercolour if you want to preserve the white, at least in the same sequence as described.

What's lacking is perhaps the part on conceptualization. He doesn't talk much about how he gets his ideas, but more on what he does with them. There's one example where he has a flying elephant idea and he eventually turned it into a flying airship with an elephant head. He has a huge reference library and reading material so that's where some ideas might come from. This book itself is also reference for inspiration.

It's a good book for those who already know some basics in oil painting and want to learn more techniques in applying them to fantasy art.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I read it: Review copy from the publisher
About the book: With OtherWorlds,you will learn to draw and paint fantasy scenery. Also disc over how to bring forth ideas more quickly, and communicate a sense of place that evokes a range of emotions, especially the thrill of taking an exotic journey to explore the unknown. Enjoy Tom Kidd's lively and personal step-by-step instruction that includes information on materials, observing nature, drawing, form, color, creating special effects and more. You will learn to create scenes so vast they take your breath away with exquisite skies and aircraft, rugged terrain, glittering cites, spectacular rock formations, stormy seas, magnificent forests and more. (from Goodreads)
Who Should Read This? Artists, people who would like to be artists, people who like art, especially fantasy art.
Final Thoughts: I really love fantasy art, and this book is just full of beautiful artwork. Not only that, but it tells you how to create your own beautiful artwork. There are some great tips to techniques that an advanced artist might already know, but someone like me who is more on the beginner side will find extremely helpful. Each section has a materials list, a step by step guide for drawing a scene (breaking it down into smaller parts of instruction), and of course, the finished picture. I would enjoy this book even if it only had the amazing pictures to look at, but it's nice that there's so much more here.
Grade: A
Cover Thoughts: I love the picture on the cover here. It gives you a small taste of what's inside.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very helpful. One of my pet peeves about art books is that they often show you only step by step guides to a specific piece. However, this book focused more on the different elements that make up a piece (lighting, composition, color, water, clouds, ect) than on how to create just one piece. Basically, it provided a lot of helpful advice on how to create a piece. In addition, there were some step by step guides on specific pieces (for those who like that kind of thing).

As the title says, the book focused on how to create fantastical worlds. One of my favorite parts was when the author went through creature design.

I highly recommend this to all people who are interested in creating fantasy or science fiction artwork.

[Once · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is Beautiful, The illustrations are just so magical looking.The Author did a amazing job in creating the How-to instructions. I will state this is not a art book for beginners. The drawings are a higher level of talent or practice. If you are a fan of fantasy art this will be your go to book hands down. The way the Author explains its so you can open your eyes and see the world in a different perspective so you can capture its beauty.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this delightful book Tom Kidd, veteran illustrator of speculative fiction (with a love for air blimps and elephants) takes the reader/viewer through the steps of conceiving, drawing or painting fantasy and sci-fi art. This substantial tome is full of practical and technical advice, step by step instructions and beautifully reproduced illustrations on every page. It's a beautiful, informative and inspiring. Not something to read in a day or a week, but a book to treasure for a lifetime.

[John pierard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book on sf art I've ever seen. Lavish, passionate, funny. Definitely rates five figs in a five fig rating.--JWP.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Tom has some really great fantasy art and authors the book at the big picture level rather than small techniques. Inspiring. My favorite section was nighttime paintings.

[Nexius · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty good