Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist [Paperback]

James Gurney (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 20, 2009

An award-winning fantasy artist and the creator of Dinotopia, James Gurney instructs and inspires in Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist. Renowned for his uncanny ability to incorporate amazing detail and imagination into stunningly realistic fantasy settings, James Gurney teaches budding artists and fans of fantasy art step-by-step the techniques that won him worldwide critical acclaim. This groundbreaking work examines the practical methods for creating believable pictures of imaginary subjects, such as dinosaurs, ancient Romans, alien creatures, and distant worlds.

Beginning with a survey of imaginative paintings from the Renaissance to the golden Age of American illustration, the book then goes on to explain not just techniques like sketching and composition, but also the fundamentals of believable world building including archaeology, architecture, anatomy for creatures and aliens, and fantastic engineering. It concludes with details and valuable advice on careers in fantasy illustration, including video game and film concept art and toy design.

More than an instruction book, this is the ultimate reference for fans of science fiction and fantasy illustration.

"Gurney's Imaginative Realism is a gold mine for artists who want to create images that sing with authority and delight the viewer with rich otherworldly visuals." --Erik Tiemens, concept artist, Star Wars: Episodes II and III

"Imaginative Realism is an indispensable, flawless reference for vision makers in any discipline to create their own imaginative realms." --Frank M. Costantino, ASAI, SI, FSAI, JARA, cofounder, American Society of Architectural Illustrators

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Gurney’s unique blending of fact and fantasy has won Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards. His work has been featured in one-man exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Delaware Art Museum, and the U.S. embassies in Switzerland and Yemen. He lives with his wife, Jeanette, in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; 1 edition (October 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740785508
• ISBN-13: 978-0740785504
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting
  • #41 in Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism > History

More About the Author

James Gurney is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Dinotopia book series. He designed the World of Dinosaurs stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and has worked on over a dozen assignments for National Geographic magazine, painting reconstructions of Moche, Kushite, and Etruscan civilizations. He has won the Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards. Solo exhibitions of his artwork have been presented at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and currently at the Lyman Allyn Museum of Art. He has recently been named a "Grand Master" by Spectrum Fantastic Arts and a "Living Master" by the Art Renewal Center. His most recent book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, was Amazon's #1 bestselling book on painting for over 100 weeks and is based on his daily blog gurneyjourney.blogspot.com. For more information, visit www.dinotopia.com or www.jamesgurney.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who want depth in your art October 25, 2009

By Parka TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Length: 0:24 Mins

If you are a regular reader of James Gurney's blog, Gurney Journey, you would expect nothing less. This book is as good as I expected. He dispenses his knowledge as freely as he does on his blog. Here's what he says about his own book from the introduction:

"This is not a book about figure drawing, anatomy, or perspective. It's not a step-by-step guide on how to draw dinosaurs. It's also not a recipe book for a particular paint technique, although all these topics are addressed in passing. What this book contains is a distillation of the time-tested methods that I've found to be most helpful for achieving realism in imaginative pictures."

If you haven't got the hint from the title, this book is about making your art real and believable. In every chapter, James Gurney shares with us what he learned when creating his paintings. There are topics on people, dinosaurs, architecture, vehicles, composition and his step-by-steps (not techniques but process). The tips he gives can be applied on other subjects as well.

The importance of research is emphasized and the amount of research he does really shows. While creating an illustration on ship wreckage for National Geographic, he talked to survivors to get an accurate account. He found out there's a drummer boy who used his drum as a float and drew that in. He also acted out the various poses of sailors in distress, rather than drawing them from imagination. The result is a painting that tells its story convincingly. The same goes for many of his other paintings.

Another interesting read is the story of him trying to design a Dinotopian fire engine. When he presented his concept art to a professional fire engine designer, it was critiqued to have form but not function. There's lack of heat protection for the dinosaur, lack of understanding on how water hose works and a complicated water pump design. The revised concept is a huge improvement in believability that I thought it actually might work.

He has provided lots of photos and his own work in the book. You'll get to see how he stages the props for reference, sketches and drafts, plenty of commissioned work (especially from National Geographic), the bird on his shoulder while he's drawing, the lousy-art incinerator he created from mirrors and other entertaining stuff.

Imaginative Realism is an enlightening and fun read. Highly recommended to professionals, beginning art students and those who wish to push their art to the next level in terms of depth.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delivers! October 7, 2009

By Reviewer

Format:Paperback

I have been a long time reader of James Gurney's blog. My interest was not in sci-fi/fantasy, but rather, his insights into painting 'what's not there'. I have studied representational painting - the training is indispensable, but (obviously) focuses on painting a model or still life. The academies do not teach the lost art of painting realistic but imagined scenes - of course you can find classes about painting 'abstractedly' or from 'imagination' but not painting, say, an historic scene or creature that no human has ever seen alive (like a dinosaur) - and that's the gap filled in by this book.

The book offers a wide range of topics - from pleasant surprises like created imaginary maps that look 'real' to extensive coverage of the forgotten use of maquettes and dioramas.

What this book is not: Though this book is fun and interesting to read for non-artists, this is not an in depth 'how to' book on technique (though he does go over some techniques) - so before you set out to paint 'what's not there' you have to have the basic drawing and painting skills to be able to successfully execute the ideas in this book.

overall, its a great overview and practical guide creating paintings from your imagination that look 'real' but it's also just fun to read. Highly recommended.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Instant Classic September 29, 2009

By Illustrator and Concept Artist

Format:Paperback

An instant classic that really gets into the nuts and bolts of doing professional illustration work. It is a rarity among popular art instruction books that they have both basic information and very professional level information. But this book has both. Great explanations, clear prose, and lots and lots of great pictures demonstrating the principles under discussion. And of course there's lots of amazing fantasy artwork by the author which is all reproduced excellently. In that way its also a Monograph of Jim Gurney's work, as it also includes lots of his other illustration work, besides Dinotopia, including some fantasy paperback book covers and some incredible Historical Pieces done for National Geographic. All of which is deconstructed to show us his thought process while composing and designing his pictures, the building and setting up models, the use of silhouettes, chiaroscuro, and value control, using research to assist the imagination and increase creativity, and many other facets of his workflow. There's also a nice concise history of imaginative art that starts the book off, which includes the best reproductions of a Howard Pyle and Dean Cornwell picture I've seen. I purchased this book directly from the Dinotopia Store, so I got it signed by Mr. Gurney. Well worth it, learned a lot very quickly.