Digital Horror Art: Creating Chilling Horror and Macabre Images [Paperback]

Martin McKenna (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1598631810 | ISBN-13: 978-1598631814 | Publication Date: August 3, 2006 | Edition: 1

If you have ever felt the urge to paint the perfect zombie, or been morbidly compelled to capture the malignancy of a monstrous attack, then this is the book for you. Here, using the latest digital painting and modeling applications, expert horror artists show you exactly how they realized their nightmare visions. Each stage in the process is unveiled, from initial sketches through to fully rendered horror scenes that are more realistic and terrifying than ever before. The book spotlights Adobe Photoshop, Poser, Bryce 3D, Autodesk 3ds max, and Corel Painter, among other software products.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martin McKenna is a freelance illustrator with a successful 15-year career. He has illustrated for numerous book publishers and has a long association with the games industry, working with Games Workshop, Hasbro, Parker Games, and Wizards of the Coast. He has been a development team artist with the games publisher Eidos Interactive and other leading studios. In 1995, he won the British Fantasy award for Best Artist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598631810
• ISBN-13: 978-1598631814
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Techniques Can Be Applied to Any Subject, November 21, 2006

By 

Diane Cipollo (Editor at BellaOnline.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Horror Art: Creating Chilling Horror and Macabre Images (Paperback)

Once you have mastered the basic tools of digital art software such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, Autodesk Maya or NewTek LightWave 3D, you might become curious about going beyond the basics when creating your own digital art. I discovered this book by Martin McKenna while I was searching for new books to review for BellaOnline. I was especially looking for books that did go beyond the usual drop shadow, bevel and other special effects and filters. I found what I was looking for in this book. As the title suggests, this book is about digital horror art and showcases the original artwork of several 2D and 3D digital artists. Each artist takes you step-by-step through their artistic process, from inspiration and conception to rendering or print, discussing the techniques they used to achieve their particular artistic style. But, don't let the macabre subjects dissuade you from considering this book. The techniques discussed here can be applied to any subject.

For those interested in expanding their skills in 2D digital art and photo manipulation software such as Photoshop and Painter, there are several examples in this book which will introduce new digital art techniques that you may not have considered before. For example, in his digital painting entitled Party Ghoul, Mark Gibbson used underlying gradient layers and blending modes to create subtle lighting. In a second example, Felipe Machado Franco discussed how he added texture to his painting using layers and photographs of textures from the world around him. On the other hand, in his work called The Forgotten Spell, the author of the book showed his traditional approach to digital painting in Photoshop which began with a rough sketch, then flat color was blocked in and finally texture and detail were added.

For 3D artists, there are many techniques showcased in this book. For example, in Medieval Resurrection by Sony Computer Entertainment's Cambridge Studio, the final image was made up of several 2D background layers and 3D foreground layers which were complied in Photoshop. Richard Force had a technique that I have never encountered before. In his work entitled Vampire Wretch, Force first modeled his subject in traditional clay and then photographed the sculpture. Once in digital form, he continued to work on his piece in Photoshop by adding texture layers with blending modes. In a third example, Howard Swindell worked totally in the 3D environment using several 3D software including Maya, LightWave 3D and Pixologic Zbrush to create his final work called The Creature.

Martin McKenna is a 15 year veteran illustrator and has been working in the game industry for some time. He is the author of Digital Fantasy Painting Workshop.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring!, September 15, 2007

By 

Threshie (Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Horror Art: Creating Chilling Horror and Macabre Images (Paperback)

I'll be honest with you, this book is NOT for a complete beginner to art--there will be no line-by-line art instruction in here. Rather, this is for someone who is already an artist but would like to try creating a different genre of work--horror and macabre. And it does a wonderful job! The chapters are filled with information about the contributing artists, step-by-step tutorials on how they created certain pieces with the finished piece shown at the end, specifications for what software was used to create each picture, and galleries of professional horror and macabre artwork.

I am impressed by the wide array of different digital mediums that have been covered--photo-manipulation, painting and drawing from scratch, 3D landscapes and people, and even the skin textures for 3D model characters. It's an impressive book with many, many different styles of artwork inside, so as long as you want horror and macabre artwork (and if you bought a book with this title you must) then there's bound to be something in here that appeals to you.

Just looking through this book inspires me to create more art. =)

3.0 out of 5 stars Great to look at, but not much to learn, February 11, 2009

By 

Crudux Cruo - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Digital Horror Art: Creating Chilling Horror and Macabre Images (Paperback)

It was more of a showcase of some great art, but it really didn't
show you how to do anything in particular. Then again, the cover of
the book doesn't have the words....."How to create...."