DC artist Prentis Rollins shows readers how to conceptualize, draw,
colorize, and digitally enhance and finish dozens of sci-fi characters,
settings, and scenarios with a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to
the entire process.
A DC Comics illustrator shows readers how to conceptualize, draw, and
digitally enhance their own science fictional worlds - whether for
graphic novels, comics, movies, or video games. Sci-fi imagery commands
today's popular culture, from Star Wars to The Hunger Games and The
Walking Dead.
For clear-eyed artists, ages 12 and up, who see that science fiction is
becoming science fact at an astounding rate, How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias
and Dystopias gives an in-depth look at the process of completing sci-fi
illustrations - from the thought behind them (brainstorming and
conceptualization) to constructing basic forms and objects on paper,
converting roughs into finished pencil drawings, inking them in, and
coloring them in Photoshop.
The book is organized around the perennial distinction between two ways
of representing the future in sci-fi: the pessimistic and the hopeful,
or dystopian and utopian. After a basic primer on drawing (perspective,
human faces, basic anatomy, light, shadow, rendering, and composition),
five chapters detail the drawing of sci-fi humans, aliens and robots,
land vehicles, flying vehicles, and cityscapes. Rollins demonstrates the
astounding power of science fictional storytelling with 32 step-by-step
case studies invented just for the book. Each demo is dated to a unique
imagined future or alternate past and explained with fascinating detail.
Examples include: battle-hardened mercenaries; a bizarre biomechanical
alien that lives on a furnace-hot planet; a gigantic truck of the near
future with a built-in apartment; a miles-long nuclear ramjet
interstellar spaceship; a retro-utopia reminiscent of The Jetsons; and a
galactic imperial city of staggering proportions.
How to Draw Sci-Fi Utopias and Dystopias is packed with professional
tips on the right tools, techniques, and materials; how to draw tech;
when to Google a reference photo or use a background from
istockphoto.com; how to get and stay inspired; and how to execute a
unique story. The gorgeous and varied artwork, and thoughtful
storytelling combined with friendly instruction, will leave readers with
hundreds of new ideas to create worlds of their own.
