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Mechanika: Creating the Art of Science Fiction with Doug Chiang [Paperback]

Doug Chiang
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 27, 2008
Delve into a world of imagination populated with giant robots, strange vehicles, alien creatures and other fantastic inventions. For generations artists have created imagery destined for the entertainment of others, and now you can too.

Revered science fiction artist and film designer, Doug Chiang, reveals the thought processes and techniques he used working on blockbusters such as the Star Wars prequels, War of the Worlds, Terminator, and Beowulf. You'll learn from Chiang's visionary experience as he shares his design processes, giving expert advice and showcasing the groundbreaking style that has earned his creations a spot in the Brooklyn Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art and the Tokyo National Museum.

Inside you'll discover:

  • 30+ lessons for creating out-of-this-world science fiction scenes in the style featured in films, books, comics, toys and games using both traditional and digital techniques
  • Details and tips for using Adobe Photoshop to conceive, design, draw and enhance your creations
  • 25 step-by-step demonstrations of outrageous robots, vehicles, creatures and environments with finished color images
  • Foreword by film producer/director Robert Zemeckis (Monster House, The Polar Express, Back to the Future, Beowulf)
With tips on everything from basic skills like blueline sketching and assembling a toolkit to conceptualization and painting for digital art, Mechanika has everything you need to get great results and make your science fiction worlds come alive!


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Currently Executive Vice President of ImageMovers Digital, a Walt Disney Company, Doug Chiang has earned an Academy Award, two British Academy Awards and a Clio Award. He joined Industrial Light and Magic in 1989 and Lucasfilm LTD in 1995, becoming creative director and visual effects art director. He has worked on many blockbuster films including Terminator 2, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, The Mask, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Polar Express, and War of the Worlds. He has written and illustrated several books, including Robota (Chronicle Books 2003), which he created and co-wrote with Orson Scott Card. His artwork has been in major exhibitions around the world.
www.dchiang.com
www.imagemoversdigital.com

Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: IMPACT (June 27, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1600610234
  • ISBN-13: 978-1600610233
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.4 x 11 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Tutorials from a pro November 10, 2008
Format:Paperback
Length: 0:23 Mins
It's not very often you see a great concept artist come up with a tutorial book. Here, we have a great book by Doug Chiang. He's the concept artist for big movie hits like Star Wars, War of the Worlds and Terminator just to name a few.

In this book are 30 lessons and step-by-step tutorials for creating science fiction art, mainly robots. There are details and tips for using Photoshop.

Through these pages, one can see Doug Chiang's process of creating sci-fi concept art. It's always interesting to find out how other artist work, especially one of such high caliber.

His work has also appeared in other books like Robota, and The Art of Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth The Wait July 30, 2008
By colie
Format:Paperback
For those of you who've seen the author's art in print or person, the stars are no surprise. If you haven't seen his work, this book not only showcases his talents and skills as a designer/renderer in finished pieces, it gives direct insight and instruction on how he gets there. From pencil sketch to marker render to digital finished product, Doug takes you through his approach to getting an idea onto a medium.

What seperates this book from other "how-to" books in this design field is it's engaging simplicity in execution. Doug's broken the book into easy-to-browse chapters that cover different techniques and design subject matter in each. This is to it's benefit, as each step encompasses not only fundamental techniques of execution, but Doug's insights on the design of the subject matter. There is little, if any, over-explaining. The instructional images do the talking with simple text accompanying each.

Did I mention it's really hard to find a good (if any) book on marker techniques? This one's the best I've seen. So if you've been thinking about trying markers as a new style, this is a must have.

An all-out great purchase and true bargain considering you get a concept design, multiple-technique, step-by-step package by a truly exceptional and highly respected industry artist.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended. June 19, 2008
Format:Paperback
I've just finished reading this book, and I can confidently state that it is one of the best books available pertaining to the subject of creating science fiction art.

The author does an excellent job explaining both the technical aspects of the drawings, but also how he goes about the design process. There are dozens of designs explored, each emphasizing either a different approach or a different subject in a step-by-step manner.

There are other books of this nature available, but they are generally not as well thought out or organized as Mechanika. It seems like there was a real effort put into this book towards covering a wide variety of subjects in a detailed manner, and it really shows. The little tips sprinkled throughout the book make it invaluable.

This book should age well with the viewer, and long after all of the tips and techniques have been absorbed I imagine it will still be an excellent source of inspiration to thumb through from time to time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Clever
produto excelente, os resultados foram bons consegui chegar ao resultado esperado, atraves do que ele se propos a discutir recomendo.
Published 1 month ago by Clever Santoro Lopes
5.0 out of 5 stars I got this for my boy friend and he loves it.
And even I like looking at the pictures and how interesting the information is. This is a book that science fiction lovers need.
Published 2 months ago by lizzy5588
5.0 out of 5 stars Especially recommended for 2D Sci-Fi concept artists
This is a great book for any artist who wants to learn about the process that Doug Chiang relies on to create Sci-Fi concepts in 2D. Read more
Published 5 months ago by David Michalczyk
5.0 out of 5 stars just wow!
I flipped through this book whilst standing at a book store, and was quite blown away by the detail of the graphics and the descriptions. Read more
Published 14 months ago by jujubee
3.0 out of 5 stars good enough for the price
Ok, this book is ok for the money, but is not a must have imo. The final results of the exercises are not master pieces by any means as some of Chiang work. Read more
Published 16 months ago by jmrconcept
5.0 out of 5 stars Doug Chiang!! the best
Every page is a treasure. Step by step techniques, great concepts, traditional and digital process. Big one book for concept illustrators.
Que buen libro! Read more
Published 18 months ago by 852
4.0 out of 5 stars Mechanika
I love how he talks about his methods of developing concept art. It has helped me to redevelop new processes in how i produce my concepts. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Little Hawk
5.0 out of 5 stars Exelelent For beginers
This is not a how-to book. Its more of a book preparing you to develop your own ideas, and it's worth every penny
Published 21 months ago by T. C. Elder
2.0 out of 5 stars Beginning level only
While it isn't necessariy a bad book, it's appearance is in line with more intermediate-advanced tutorial books. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Adrian D. Nedelcu
3.0 out of 5 stars not a bad book for the price
As a collector of art books and an artist myself, this book has some decent inspiration if you are into scifi.
Published on April 14, 2011 by niloc
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