99% of orders dispatched within 24hrs, delivery times may vary.
01892 510 850
sales@searchpress.com
Advanced Search
The ultimate guide to fantasy character design from renowned illustrator, Meng Zi.
This comprehensive manual, packed with breathtaking illustrations, is your key to crafting the most extraordinary beings in the realm of fantasy: it is an essential tool for game and animation designers, hobbyists, art students and teachers alike.
Astonishing in detail and meticulously conceived, Meng Zi’s fantasy characters are a masterclass in conceptual design. Whether you're looking for an inspirational reference or an idea generator, this book will spark your creativity. Filled with artistic insights and practical exercises, this comprehensive guide will teach you basic anatomical structure, help you to finesse your own design ideas, and then improve your aesthetic prowess through observation and practice.
Inside you’ll find:
Chapter 1Introduction to concept design and drawing The world of fantasy 10 Mastering the human body 11 Concept design 11 Tools 12 Basic knowledge 15 Technical terms 15 Line weight 16 Basic elements of a picture 17 Geometric forms 18 Perspective 19 One-point perspective 19 Two-point perspective 19 Three-point perspective 20 Cavalier perspective 20 Sketching 21
Chapter 2Structure and dynamics of the human body The human skeleton 24 Main joints of the body 24 Proportion of the skeleton 28 Characteristics of the skeleton 29 Form of the skeleton 36 The human muscular system 38 Three views of muscles 38 Head 40 Facial features 42 Exercise: Drawing a complete head 51 Muscles of the neck 56 Muscles of the trunk 58 Muscles of the limbs 64 Exercise: Drawing the whole body 76 Character dynamics 79 Stick man 79 Box man 81 Example poses 83 Sketching the human body 91
Chapter 3Animal structure Animal anatomy 96 Gorilla 96 Horse 98 Antelope 100 Dog 102 Lion 104 Bat 106 Eagle 108 Fish 110 Dragon 112 Dragon hawk 114 Endosaurus 116 Anatomical details 118 Heads 118 Horns and antlers 118 Limbs 121 Wings 122 Drawing animals 123 Basic forms 123 Drawing complete animals 126 Combining different animals 128 Drawing fantasy creatures 131 Hou king of the beasts 131 Hydra multi-headed water beast 133 Bestiary 135
Chapter 4Exploring concept designs Genre and design 142 Starting points for character design 147 Exaggeration 147 Symmetry 149 Geometry combining simple shapes 150 Silhouette 151 Rhythm line length 153 Accessories enriching the character 154 Groups contrasting body shapes 156 Example character designs 157 Exercise: Designing a character 157
Chapter 5Decoration, detail and accessories Pattern design 168 Common patterns 168 Designing patterns 170 Armour design 175 Types of armour 175 Chineseinspired armour 176 Japaneseinspired armour 178 Europeaninspired armour 179 Other accessories 180 Weapons 180 Mounts and steeds 186 Jewellery and totems 190
Chapter 6Drawing complete Characters Human male - Swordsman 192 Human female - Spirit Mage 196 Elf - Night Princess 199 Mecha Warrior - E-34 Destroyer 202 Monster - Hellcaller 205 Merman - Aquatic General 210 Human male - Shaman 214 Undead - Revenant 218 Demon - Black Dragon Legionary 222 Human male Mercenary 226 More character designs 230
Chapter 7Reference material and inspiration Portraits 242 Full body line art 249 Full body tonal designs 268
Meng Zi is a freelance illustrator and art teacher, who specializes in character design and development. Renowned in the world of design for gaming and animation, he has contributed to numerous 3D animation projects; his particular eye for combining real-world figures and creatures into convincing fantasy designs mean he is in high demand.
The Art of Fantasy is his first book, providing an insight into the creative experiences and techniques of an expert practitioner within this highly competitive creative industry. A bestseller in Meng Zi's native China, the book has also enjoyed huge international success.
By Paul Bryn Davies
£4.99
By Sharon Hurst
By Glenn Fabry
£15.99
We use cookies to personalise your experience and to analyse our traffic. Do you want to allow all cookies or view and change settings?
This cookie tool will help you understand who is using cookies to collect information from your device, for what purposes they use the information, and how you can control the use of cookies for non-essential activities.
Search Press supports the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC), and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA).
If you opt out of advertising cookies, you may still see Search Press ads on other sites, but those ads will not be customized by us or our service providers and we will continue to customize your experience on our website via our use of cookies you have not refused.
Alternatively, privacy settings in most browsers will allow you to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, have it notify you when you receive a new cookie, or disable cookies altogether. If your browser is set to not accept any cookies, you will not receive Interest-Based Advertising, but your use of the Search Press service may be impaired or unavailable. In addition, if you use our cookie tool to opt-out of certain cookies, your opt-out preferences will be remembered by placing a cookie on your device. It is therefore important that your browser is configured to accept cookies for your preferences to take effect. If you delete or clear your cookies, or if you change which web browser you are using, you will need to set your cookie preferences again.
Note that from time to time we are over-inclusive in which cookies are listed in the opt-out tool. For example, we do not use Facebook, Twitter or Google cookies in all regions.
For more information on our use of cookies, please read our Cookies Policy.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide our website or online service. For example, we and our Service Providers may use these cookies to authenticate and identify visitors when they use our websites and applications so we can provide our service to them. They also help us to enforce our Terms of Use, prevent fraud and maintain the security of our services.
Lifespan: Most cookies are session cookies (which are only active until you close your browser) or are cookies which are only active for one day. Some cookies are active for a longer time, ranging from 3 to 12 months. The cookies used to prevent fraud and maintain the security or our services are active for a maximum period of 24 months.
These cookies help us to customize and enhance your online experience with Search Press. For example, they help us to remember your preferences and prevent you from needing to re-enter information you previously provided (for example, during member sign up). We also use these cookies to collect information (such as popular pages, conversion rates, viewing patterns, click-through and other information) about our visitors' use of the Search Press service so that we can enhance and customize our website and service and conduct market research. Deletion of these types of cookies may result in limited functionality of our service.
Lifespan: Most cookies are only active for one day. Some cookies are active for a longer time, ranging from 3 to 12 months.
These cookies use information about your use of this and other websites and apps, your response to ads and emails, and to deliver ads that are more relevant to you and for analytics and optimization purposes. These types of ads are called "interest-based advertising" and will be shown to you outside the Search Press domain. Search Press uses contractual and technical measures designed to prevent advertising partners from accessing information regarding specific title selections you make, URLs you land on, or shows you have watched on our service. We do not share information about title selections or your shows you have watched on our service. The advertising cookies associated with our service belonging to our advertising partners as listed under cookie details. Please choose your settings for advertising cookies below. If you want to opt out of the advertising cookies across all websites, go here.