Let’s face it: One of the very reasons we love drawing fantasy is the fact that the possibilities are virtually unlimited! You can populate your world with all kinds of great creatures, weird foliage, cityscapes as far as the eye can see and so much more. You want humanesque characters with wings? Why not?

Here are ten awesome resources for creating great fantasy backgrounds and companions for your characters.

1. Dark Art: How to Draw and Paint Witches and Worlds
2. Dreamscapes: Creating Magical Angel, Fairy and Mermaid Worlds With Watercolor (e-book)
3. Ink Bloom, Draw and Paint a Fantasy Adventure
4. OtherWorlds, How to Imagine, Paint and Create Epic Scenes of Fantasy
5. DragonWorld, 120 dragons with advice and inspiration from 38 international artists
6.  The Explorer’s Guide to Fantasy Creatures
7. 100 Ways to Create Fantasy Creatures
8. DragonArt
9. Dreamscapes, Myth and Magic Demonstration: The Dryad Digital Download
10. John Howe Fantasy Art Workshop

And you want to know what’s even cooler? We have some great sales events coming up in the next several days starting with free shipping on Thursday. And with the temperatures cooling and the holidays coming, it’s kind of like I made your Gift Wish List for you!

Captain America rocked this weekend, even moreso than Harry Potter. See it if you haven’t!

Today is the last day for free Creating Comics from Start to Finish and Comic Books 101 ebooks and 50% off books in North Light Shop as Comic-Con comes to an end. So get get ‘em!

Captain America: the First Avenger comes out today! So excited! Now that Harry Potter is finished, I need something new to distract me and I’ll definitely be there to watch Steve Rogers transform and kick some butt. Watch the official trailer here then go see it!

Don’t forget Comic-Con specials are still available. Free ebooks and 50% off certain titles in the North Light Shop! Happy Friday!

In honor of Comic-Con 2011, starting today through Monday (7/18-7/25), IMPACT books is giving away two free ebooks: Creating Comics from Start to Finish and Comic Books 101!

These ebooks are offered through iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Google, Sony, and Amazon. Just click on where you’d like them from and they’re yours FREE!

Creating Comics From Start to Finish

-iTunes

-Barnes & Noble

-Google

-Sony

-Amazon

Comic Books 101

-iTunes

-Barnes & Noble

-Google

-Sony

Also in celebration of Comic-Con 2011, these titles are 50% off in the North Light Shop:

Creating Comics from Start to Finish

Comic Books 101

DragonArt

Shojo Fashion Manga Art School

Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comic Studio

Dracopedia

DragonWorld

Sketch Card Mania

Hurry to get yours before Friday!

Comic-Con is almost here! All the madness begins Thursday, the 21st, in San Diego and IMPACT will be there. The lucky people who go can attend Preview night on Wednesday to snatch all kinds of exclusive gifts. CNN.com gave us a sneak peak of these perks including never before released Indiana Jones action figures and Mattel’s very first Voltron figure.

But, in the spirit of Comic-Con, IMPACT isn’t making us wait until Wednesday for exclusive deals. Starting this Monday (7/18) through Friday (7/25), Comic Books 101 and Creating Comics from Start to Finish will be FREE ebooks. Also, there will be the some of the best IMPACT titles, including DragonWorld and Shojo Fashion Manga Art School, offered for 50% off in the North Light Shop.

So, remember to go watch Harry Potter this weekend (like anyone really needs reminded) and keep checking in for the links and full list of on-sale titles starting Monday!

Check out this sneak peek into the soon to be released DragonWorld, featuring some of the world’s most popular deviants! IMPACT Books editorial director, Pam Wissman and editor Sarah Laichas scoured the pages of deviantART to find and contact some of the best dragon artists out there and assemble some of their best work into this beautiful collection.

Click here for the digital preview on the F+W Media Scribd page! Stay tuned for more!

In Angelic Visions: Watercolor Details you’ll follow along with IMPACT author and watercolor artist Angela R. Sasser to learn how to paint skin tones that glow and shimmer. Angela demonstrates a variety of basic skin tones as she paints angels and elves, layering color to create depth and luminosity for figures that come to life on the page. In this preview you will learn how adding deep shadows and an outline bring out the features of the face and give form to the figure. Visit ArtistsNetwork.tv for access to the full-length video. And stop by the NL Shop to purchase your copy of Angela’s accompanying book, Angelic Visions.

You’ve probably heard it fifty times over by now and it’s true. Wizard and ToyFare magazines will stop appearing in print immediately in favor of online only Wizard World.

Our friends over at Comics Buyer’s Guide report President and CEO Gareb Shamus as saying “Wizard World will give consumers the content they want in a magazine format with which they are familiar … It is a natural evolution for us in this market.”

We’ll chalk this up to another page in the history of comics…maybe the Comic Books 101 guys will have to start thinking about another edition soon…hmmm?

Thoughts?
Mona

Learn more about the comic book industry with:

Andy Schmidt

Peter David

Don’t panic, but you have about a month left to master your face painting skills before Halloween! And with help from IMPACT authors Brian and Nick Wolfe, co-authors of the Extreme Face Painting, your little goblins and ghouls (or yourself) will be donning fiendish skulls and tiger stripes in no time.

With one click you can download 30 minutes of video instruction. In this 30-minute artistsnetwork.tv video workshop, you’ll learn tips for detailing and adding dimension to your faces, when and how to paint with a sponge or a brush, and more. Follow along with this preview to make your skulls look more angular and emaciated—shading black on top of all the darkest darks will push these areas deeper into the head, making the lighter areas pop even more and giving dimension to the skull.

If you like the video, it’s included in its entirety in the Extreme Face Painting book. The book is made up of 50 step-by-step demos—one half features friendly subjects (like birds, puppies and princesses), while the other is a fiendish array (like vampires, zombies and mummies).

Join Today and SAVE!

ArtistsNetwork.TV features art advice and techniques from some of your favorite comic and fantasy artists in a variety of media and skill levels. You can watch videos 24/7 from the comfort of your home—like Dragonart: Digital Dragons with J “NeonDragon” Peffer, Extreme Face Painting with the Wolfe Brothers and more!

PLUS, use coupon code CF25 and you’ll save 25% off of any subscription you purchase through 12/31/2010! Use your special discount & subscribe now! You can subscribe to our full library, by video, or by medium!

Watching artists in action is not only a great way to learn new techniques, it’s a sure way to get inspired and get making great art! With ArtistsNetwork.tv you’ll have all of this as top artists share their secrets with you!