Digital Illustration: A Masterclass in Creative Image-making [Paperback]

Lawrence Zeegen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2005

Digital Illustration - A Masterclass in Creative Image-making instructs the reader, through detailed, step-by-step tutorials, in the skills and techniques used by the masters of digital image-making.

With the growth of computer arts, designers are now using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash as much as QuarkXPress. These designers are combining handcrafting skills with modern techniques to produce a fresh creative aesthetic. Digital Illustration reveals the secrets of the industry's most successful creatives who transfer traditional illustrative skills into digital dimensions, producing the highest quality, most commercially successful animation, three-dimensional and vector-based illustration. This book offers a master class for students and professional designers and illustrators who want to take their work beyond the constraints of two-dimensions and to gain greater commercial success.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Zeegen is an influential image-maker, illustrator, graphic designer and academic. He is also a regular contributor to Computer Arts magazine, Creative Review, the Association of Illustrators' magazine The Journal, Artists' Newsletter and MacFormat. He was Council Member for The Association of Illustrators 2000-2002, is a full D&AD member and has been on annual award jury panels for both.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: RotoVision (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2880467977
• ISBN-13: 978-2880467975
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not impressed, July 6, 2007

By 

B. Clute - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Illustration: A Masterclass in Creative Image-making (Paperback)

I didn't like the tutorials, and most of the illustrations in this book were terrible. You won't get much out of this book that you can translate into practical portfolio pieces. Get Illusive: A guide to contemporary illustration, or handmade if you want to see what the real movers and shakers in the illustration business are doing.

4.0 out of 5 stars This gets the creative juices flowing., November 19, 2010

By 

Dr. Gori 71 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Illustration: A Masterclass in Creative Image-making (Paperback)

I like this book, however it could use a title change. Instead of "Digital Illustration," I think it should be titled "Digital Funky Pop-Art Collage." The work in this book bears no resemblance to the digital illustration that one would make for a client that requires either technical art, digital paintings, character design, or storyboards, etc. This is funky modern illustration design that you might see accompanying an article in a "hip" magazine. That being said, the examples are excellent, and cover a wide range of modernist pop-art styles. Much of the art seems to have a "street", "punk rock" or even "outsider art" surreal edge to them, definitely reflecting the taste of the author. (If this type of art isn't your thing, than this may not be a book for you.) An interesting factor to note about the examples is that they don't look or feel digital, that is they retain a painterly hand-made or hand-assembled freshness. This is indicative of the lessons repeated in this book; illustrators shouldn't abandon traditional media in favor of digital media completely, but rather combine them to achieve new effects and achieve a more efficient way of working. There are many tutorials covering the steps the artists took to achieve many of the effects, along with commentary from the artists. Even without reading the text, I am inspired to try to achieve the look, feel, and technique of these pieces. And after all, being inspired and getting those creative juices flowing is really what any art "how-to" book is about. I recommend it to any artist working digitally in any field, and it would make a nice accompaniment to a "how-to" art book collection.

2.0 out of 5 stars One-Dimensional, December 11, 2007

By 

R.M. Fernandez - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Illustration: A Masterclass in Creative Image-making (Paperback)

I wasn't impressed with the illustrations that were showcased in this book. The vast majority (more than 90% of the book) of the illustrations are very juvenile and look as though they were created by an elementary school student. I don't have anything against that style, but there's certainly a wide variety of contemporary styles that could have been showcased instead of page after page of flat drawings.

If you're into this style of illustration, you may thoroughly enjoy this book. I was hoping for a broader range of styles and more substance regarding illustration techniques (the book is mostly "Illustrator Profile" interviews).