This book is so aptly named, as all the illustrations have a dream-like quality. It’s the combination of mythical creatures and watercolour that does it. Moody hues, blurred lines and an ethereal je ne sais quoi. I’ll be honest – Although I love the atmosphere they create with their delicate lines and subtle colours, I’ve never really worked seriously with watercolours before. The odd dabble here and there in school and college, but that’s about it. On one hand, while I would like to get into watercolour, but on the other, I don’t have the inclination to work physical media to the point of completion. I am having a torrid love affair with the digital. Sure, foreplay is done on paper, in sketchbooks, with pencils and marker pens, but the real connection – that feeling of intimacy – comes when I scan my doodles into 1’s and 0’s, and manipulate them on the screen.
That’s not to say this book is useless to me – I would never say any art book is totally useless – I definitely picked up a few pointers, and of course, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s art is utterly beautiful and inspirational. The subject matter ranges from Egyptian mythology to Scottish folklore, and from Japanese mysticism to plain old romantic imagination. All manner of beasts, cats, birds, dragons, unicorns, foxes, butterflies, all brought to life with a twist, a spark of thought put into differentiating them from the norm. Composition is varied throughout as well, some pieces are based around a moment, some a general feeling or mood, some are solely to show off the majesty of animal depicted. I’m using ArtRage quite a lot at the moment (partly because Photoshop is way out of my price-range, and I’m also kind of avoiding it on principle), and I’ve found that I can replicate the look of watercolour with it, thanks to it being a paint simulator rather than a graphic manipulation program. It’s not 100% accurate with digital paint, but I can apply some of the teachings to my work. The use of layered colours for example, working from light to dark, is as applicable to ArtRage as it is to traditional methods.
While a small selection of the actual painting tips were irrelevant to me, the main thing I picked up from the book is to just let your imagination run wild. Don’t be bound by ideals. The canvas is your world, you are it’s God. You can create anything you want on there, anything you can imagine. Don’t worry about going over the lines, don’t strive for a neat little perfect picture. Create a world, the messier, the better.
Life is chaos – the images you create will be more believable and have more personality if they are not perfect.
