Digital Sci-Fi Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Stunning, Futuristic Images [Paperback]

Michael Burns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2004

Visions of future worlds have always captured the imaginations.Images of towering cyber-cityscapes, awesome uninhabitable planetary worlds, sleek super-cars and space cruisers, strange mutant beings, and terrifying alien life forms have spilled from the feverish minds of fantasy sci-fi illustrators for as long as the genre has existed. Today, as more and more artists are switching from traditional media to the digital world of computers, the images being created are breathtakingly realistic.

Featuring works from the world’s best sci-fi artists, Digital Sci-Fi Art begins with an examination of the traditional styles and sources of sci-fi imagery then analyzes the new digital tools available to today’s illustrators. The heart of the book comprises a detailed survey of the key techniques involved in creating digital sci-fi art -- with step-by-step walkthroughs showing how specially-created pieces are produced. The book ends with a showcase of some of the best contemporary work being produced anywhere in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Modern CG artists will also check out [Digital Sci-Fi Art] if they know what’s good for them!” (Ramin Zahed, Animation Magazine )

About the Author

Michael Burns is a freelance author and producer. Formerly Editor of CGI Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Computercreative.com (Future Publishing), he has contributed extensively to various graphics magazines, including Computer Arts and Macworld, and is also the author of several books on creating digital art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Harper Design (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060724331
• ISBN-13: 978-0060724337
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #843,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Considerably disappointed, September 8, 2005

By 

Svanur Bjornsson (Reykjavik, Iceland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Digital Sci-Fi Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Stunning, Futuristic Images (Paperback)

Considering how disappointed I was with the book, I should only give it 2 stars, but since I should have researched the book in general, I raised it by one star.

My interest in digital art is mostly concerned with photoshop and 3D modelling packages that offer extensive manipulation of vertexes and polys.
This book deals with the subject of art in a world where you use prefabs in the making of each and every image. Dodge and Burn are used instead of real, painterly values.

This isn't a book on creating art with applications where you must think of every outcome and every pixel, but with applications that give you ready made imagery you can spruce up. Nothing wrong with it in itself, and I understand that some people use that to meet deadlines(or reference), which is acceptable in the capitalistic world we live in, but for people who want to learn the true creation from the first dab of color, it is severely wanting.

In short, this book is for those who want to see how you make imagery with the tools of technology that acts as shortcuts. If you want to make art using bryce and poser, there are worse books you could spend money on. If you want to learn to paint digitally, this book isn't for you in any way. For that I'd rather recommend Don Seegmiller's book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy it used, and you'll get your money's worth., September 1, 2005

By 

Eric S. Peters "Aspiring Game Developer" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Digital Sci-Fi Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Stunning, Futuristic Images (Paperback)

$25 may be just a little steep for what I view as a moderately useful book (Amazon sells it for less I understand). Students and other experienced computer animators will here me on this one: it's very Poser/Bryce-oriented. There is not one thing wrong with that in and of itself, but prefab packages only offer that, prefabs. It's like going to a craft store and purchasing a statue and paint. You go home, paint it nice and pretty and show it off. Sure it looks nice but did you make it? Not really. This book shines with it's ideas for post work, but the tutorials are very brief, so really it only offers ideas. Buy it for that, decent ideas for futuristic designs.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book on CG art., October 12, 2005

By 

Nate Stone "Boo" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Digital Sci-Fi Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Stunning, Futuristic Images (Paperback)

I recently took courses in 3DMax, Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects. Ok, so now what? This is where Mike's books come in. His books are not step by step technical instructions on how to create computer graphics art but more about stimulating the artistic side of your brain and imagination as to the kinds of art that can be created using computer graphics tools. This book is not about CG technology, it's about CG art. If your background is purely technical I would recommend this book in conjunction with a couple of art courses. Great computer art is not created by CG technicians but by CG artist. Mike gives you guidelines as to what you can do as a skilled CG artist. He does not show you in detail how to create the art shown in the book. I guess he assumes that if you know the CG tool well enough then you should be able to figure out the details. Again this is a book about computer art, it is not about technology.