The Artist’s Magazine – Imaginative Realism

The Artists magazine March-April 2022- Imaginativ Realism
The Artists magazine March-April 2022- Imaginativ Realism

The March/April issue of The Artists Magazine is devoted to imaginative painting and magical realism. The cover and lead article feature the beautiful painting by James Gurney shown in the images above, and a step-through of his process in creating it.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this particular painting in person, and it’s a strikingly beautiful example of Gurney at his best in combining the styles of the Victorian painters with modern fantasy subjects. (Imagine if you will, Lawrence Alma-Tadema painting dinosaurs!)

This is a very good issue of a good magazine. Unfortunately, the Artists Network website, for reasons that elude me, is not very effective in promoting the physical magazine. (They don’t clearly associate the cover with a list of contents and excerpts specific to that issue, and from there link to the ordering page.)

If you’re fortunate enough to have a bookstore in your area that carries a relatively wide array of magazines, you may still be able to find a copy.

You can order a physical copy here, and a digital copy here.

You can also access Gurney’s article, complete with images, online if you’re willing to give them your email address. You can link to the article from this page, and once on this page, enter your email address and you’ll have immediate access to the article.

The entire issue (and the magazine in general), are worthwhile.

James Gurney was a particularly appropriate artist to tap for this issue, given that he’s the author of an excellent book devoted to the subject: Imaginative Realism: How to Paint what Doesn’t Exist (Lines and Colors review here).

 
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Christophe Vacher (update)

Christophe Vacher
Christophe Vacher

Christophe Vacher is a French painter and concept designer who I first wrote about back in 2007. He has worked for studios like Disney, Dreamworks, ad Universal, and his movie credits include titles like Dinosaur, Hercules, Tarzan, Treasure Planet, Enchanted and Dispicable Me.

On his website, you will find examples his personal and professional work in both traditional and digital media, as well as sketches and preliminary designs. On the “Technique” page, you will find a step-though and process notes for the panting shown above, bottom.

In addition to his imaginative design and refined rendering, I particularly enjoy the way he conveys a sense of scale and grandeur in many of his images.

There is a collection of his work available on Amazon, which can be accessed through this page. Some of his original art is available through his galleries on Saatchiart and Singulart.

 
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Nicholas Kole

Nicholas Kole. illustration and concept art
Nicholas Kole. illustration and concept art

Nicholas Kole is an illustrator and concept artist based in Vancouver, BC. His clients include Disney, Dreamworks, Hasbro, EA Games/Waystone, Riot, Axis, ReelFX, Mattel, 38 Studios and Spiritwalk Games, among others.

Kole’s style is energetic and cartoony, with just enough rendering to give his characters an appealing dimensional aspect.

For the past few years, he has been working full time in Procreate on an iPad Pro, including a year on the road.

Kole has a personal project called Jellybots — which I believe is both an art book and a comic — that he is supporting through Patreon. He also has digital art books available through Gumroad.

 
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Justin Gerard (update)

Justin Gerard fantasy illustration
Justin Gerard fantasy illustration

Justin Gerard is an illustrator based in Georgia who works in the publishing, gaming and film industries. I first profiled him in 2009, and pointed out my admiration for his richly imaginative dragons. Since then, in the midst of his other work, he has been creating a series of equally imaginative “Monster of the Month” illustrations.

Gerard’s monsters are wonderfully over-the-top and beautifully rendered in the fantasy art/concept art vein of dramatic imagery. He can somehow make them simultaneously gruesome and visually charming.

There is a portfolio of his work on the GalleryGerard website. You will find more examples on his ArtStation portfolio, in which you will also find close-up crops and preliminary drawings for many of his Monster of the Month images.

Gerard is regular contributor to the Muddy Colors website and among his articles you can find walkthroughs and descriptions of technique.

Justin Gerard is married to illustrator Annie Stegg Gerard, who I have also previously profiled.

 
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Chase Stone (update)

Chase Stone, illustrations and concept art
Chase Stone, illustrations and concept art

Since I last wrote about illustrator and concept artist Chase Stone back in 2014, he has created a new website, and has posted new work there as well as on the site of his artist’s representative, Richard Solomon.

Stone works primarily in the areas of fantasy and science fiction, his dramatic highly realized approach bringing a visceral presence to both genres.

I particularly enjoy his illustrations for the Magic The Gathering set: Amonkhet, which are an imaginatively stylized take on Egyptian gods. He also paints great dragons, as well as dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

His website galleries are divided into Trading Card, Editorial and Book illustration. He also has prints of many of his pieces available on InPrint. His gallery on the Richard Solomon site includes a brief bio and mention of his process.

For more, see my previous post on Chase Stone.

 
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Brian Ajhar

Brian Ajhar
Brian Ajhar

Brian Ajhar is a well known illustrator and character designer whose wonderfully loopy people and animals, both real and imagined, have enlivened the pages of countless periodicals, children books and animations over the past forty years.

His style can look so loose and gestural as to appear casually done, but if you stop an look, it’s clear that it is his training and skill and his foundation of solid draftsmanship that allow it to appear that way.

In a similar way, his colors can appear bright, but on inspection are actually often muted, made to appear brighter by careful juxtaposition.

Ajhar works in digital as well as traditional media, the latter including watercolor, acrylic, pencils and inks.

There is a gallery of his work on his website, and another on the cite of his artist’s representatives, RappArt.

Ajhar’s website also includes videos and interviews.

 
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