Art Tutorials

Among the many sketches filling Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, a curious scribble stands out. The head of a dragon, wide-eyed and ferocious, this scribble was initially meant to be incorporated into the design of a costume.  But what seems most peculiar is not the subject matter, since dragons have been the source of inspiration for centuries.  No, what makes the drawing and others like it so engaging is the fluid strokes, the powerful individualism of the dragon’s head.

Birds-they’ve always had an ethereal quality about them, captivating the minds of many for hundreds, even thousands of years. Art has always been a significant part of my life; as a young child I had an insatiable need for artistic expression and inspiration. Bits and pieces derived from my own imagination would be, and still are, coalesced with the fantasy and animal worlds-especially the realm of birds. Every thought-provoking movement a bird would make, I would mentally record, simply enamored by its beauty. From bald eagles locking talons and plummeting back down to the earth in a nuptial dance, to the celestial song of the hermit thrush, birds are a little piece of fantasy living in the real world. Today, fantasy artwork depicting these aesthetic creatures has become noticeably more abundant.

When Epilogue.net, an online community of science fiction and fantasy artists, held an art contest for its renaissance celebration, the staff was bowled over by the response. Artists from the far corners of the globe contributed their visions of rebirth and renewal. The image concepts were as varied as the media used to render them. Phoenixes and fairies cavorted in charcoal, oils, acrylics, watercolors and even purely digital mediums, pouring out in a torrent of color and creativity.