John Howe's Ultimate Fantasy Art Academy

Inspiration, Approaches and Techniques for Drawing and Painting the Fantasy Realm

By: John Howe, Terry Gilliam - foreword, Alan Lee - contributor, Jordan Ellis-Rannells

Narrated by: John Howe

Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Discover the creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of leading fantasy artist John Howe - conceptual designer on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy - in this enhanced, immersive audiobook.

Read by the author with an original soundscape composed and performed by lifelong Tolkien fan Jordan Rannells, this unique audiobook delivers more than four and a half hours of fascinating detail on John's approach to his work, with exclusive additional insights not present in the print edition.

Discover more than 100 of the artist's outstanding sketches, drawings, and paintings, plus the techniques and stories behind each, with advice on how to develop your own personal style of fantasy art. Listen as John reveals the rewarding journey into fantasy art, from the first steps of building a compelling portfolio to book illustration, graphic novels, and the big screen.

The format of this audiobook differs from the print edition for a more engaging listening experience. Starting with the text, John discusses his thoughts on the creative process and other elements of fantasy art. Following this, he presents the case studies and the art, where you are invited to open the accompanying PDF so that you can visually follow the audio descriptions of each piece. Throughout the book you'll hear music and sound effects to enhance the experience, so the use of earphones is highly recommended. The accompanying PDF also leads you step by step through a range of specially commissioned drawing and painting demonstrations that reveal John's renowned artistic approach in action.

This audiobook will appeal to artists and fans of John Howe's work and all those who are intrigued by the fantasy art genre. It covers a wide range of subjects, beginning with the creative process, exploring where inspiration comes from, looking at narratives and themes, gathering and using reference material, organizing your work environment, working en plein air, protecting, storing, and digitizing artwork, and specific techniques for drawing and painting, including John's unique way of holding the pencil.

John explores drawing and painting fantasy beings from initial inspiration and approaches to characters, symbolism, and accoutrements; fantasy landscapes and architecture and balancing light and dark atmospheres; and the business of fantasy including designing for the big screen.

The afterword is read by Alan Lee, John's partner on the conceptual design for The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and Oscar-winning illustrator.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 John Howe (P)2021 David & Charles

Everything and more than I expected!!

I appreciate that John, who is technically a master and who has had an amazingly successful career would take the time to document the spirit of what he does. I don’t know if I am wording that the way I mean it. There is an abundance of access to illustration courses but I feel that he has not only documented a bit of his process but why he has dedicated his life to the unseen but felt worlds. You can feel the love he has that sparked many of our imaginations when we were young. His imagination flowed into adulthood when many of us felt that it was a childhood friend we lost. Thank you for this book, I will listen to it many many times!!!