Beginner’s Guide to Sketching: Robots, Vehicles & Sci-Fi Concepts

Brush up on your basic drawing principles and learn how to develop them into futuristic creations with this practical guide

It’s a strong primer that both new and seasoned artists would benefit from reading

Editor Marisa Lewis Publisher 3dtotal Publishing Price £24 Web www.3dtotal.com Available Now

Science fiction is a constant source of inspiration for traditional and digital artists – just take a look at our regular FXPosé sections. However, these ideas can be just as intimidating as they are fascinating if an artist doesn’t know how to realise them on the page. With this guide though, 3dtotal Publishing has brought together a collection of 16 leading sci-fi illustrators and concept artists to lay down the fundamentals of drawing and help readers make the leap into the other-worldly.

What separates this companion from others in 3dtotal’s range, including a guide to characters and creatures, is a focus on drawing ‘hard- surface’ concept designs. Or to put it another way, the industrial surfaces that give spaceships, mechs and robots that sleek, manufactured feel. And while these techniques are used here to realise outlandish creations, they can also be easily transferred to more domestic mechanical objects.

Broken down into four main sections, this book walks artists through the basics of selecting drawing materials (including a rather worrying observation that some art students question to need to draw by hand), all the way through to advanced projects that demonstrate how software can accentuate your illustrations. The two chapters in between include a look at projects that put theory into practice, and a section that explores how ideas can be quickly iterated and brought to life.

It’s the ‘Getting Started’ chapter, though, that contains the art theory substance which illustrators would do well to study. Covering core techniques such as lighting and perspective, this section is a strong primer that both new and seasoned artists would benefit from reading. Later chapters demonstrate how these concepts can be pushed and tweaked to create everything from lunar buggies to robot house servants, but if you haven’t got the basics down, your efforts are going to suffer.

It’s not all rigorous art exercises, though. Dotted throughout the projects are insights from the contributors that remind you to keep your concepts grounded, even if you’ve mastered the drawing essentials. After all, the best science fiction vehicles and robots contain an element of realism and practicality that help viewers accept what they’re seeing. And with the aid of these practical illustration tips, you’ll be able to start doing just that, too. Ra ting ★★★★

From sketch to fully realised concept… John Frye passes on his expert knowledge. Qianjiao Ma covers the use of perspective and lighting as he sketches the interior of an abandoned spaceship.

Concept designer and illustrator Ang Chen generates a range of flat thumbnails, before choosing to develop one into a distinctive wheeled household robot.

John Frye covers the essentials of lighting and materials using a variety of basic objects.