Welcome to B&W: take two

We had such a great response to issue 126’s exploration into the gorgeous world of greyscale, that we couldn’t wait to start on our second black and white cover. Working in B&W is useful because it forces you to think about values and what-not, but there’s also something uniquely striking about it. A poet might wax wofty about it revealing the quintessence of an artist’s intent… thank goodness I am not a poet. I am, however, chuffed to bits to have worked with Karla Ortiz for our cover. Tasked to make good with some of my vague babblings of “skilled assassin”, “black woman”, “cool dagger” and “big window”, Karla painted a phenomenal piece for you to recreate on page 62. (Don’t you just love the assassin’s attitude? So cool.)

Flick to page 70 now and there’s a reclining lady awaiting! Stéphane Richard uses Keyshot, ZBrush and Photoshop – and lessons learnt from Old Masters – to create an image rich with detail. It’s the most sumptuous painting I’ve seen for a while, and the workshop is a fascinating look into how he achieved it.

Talking of ZBrush, we’re kicking off a new series on the software on page 68, as we’re aware that competence in 3D is becoming more expected of concept artists these days. But, whether you’re going pro or not, getting your hands digitally dirty with virtual clay is great fun. And to bring a little colour into proceedings, check out Loish’s art on page 42 and the workshop on colour and light on page 84.