At IMPACT Books, we’re all about the cool art. Check out this great sketch, by Emily Fiegenschuh!

Paki the spiral-tailed glider

Taken from The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures.

It’s been an exciting week here at IMPACT Books as we’ve been deep in preparation for the release of Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley. And what a release it’s already been, hitting the Barnes & Noble bestseller list with their 50% off sale on Tuesday.

And with 12 out of 12 five star reviews at Amazon currently, this book is something we’re proud of. We’re so grateful that you’ve responded in such a positive way to Mark’s (and our) hard work.

In face, Mark made a really cool wallpaper in thanks for all your help spreading the word; you can get that here!

Our rad Education Manager Jen linked us to this really cool story about a disappearing art form–billboard muralists. We’re not sentimentalists here, we love our eBooks as much as print, but I do hope this art form sticks around, at least to some degree.

This video is just plain awesome! Every time I watch it, it makes me crave sweets, but who could really eat that? It’s too pretty!

We were also fascinated by these images showing the long exposure patterns from airplane take offs.

So, what about you? What grabbed your attention this week?

Find out more about IMPACT Books by liking us on Facebook and following us on Pinterest and Twitter!

Find out more about IMPACT Books by liking us on Facebook and following us on Pinterest and Twitter!

Angelic Visions author Angela Sasser is doing monthly giveaways of her book through GoodReads Giveaways. Stay tuned to her blog or on GoodReads for when February’s comes out. In the meantime, check out some of these tips on doing ornamental wings.

JEWELS IN COLORED PENCIL
1 Start with a sketch of the jewel. Pearlescent rounds are a simple, elegant shape. Outline the jewels with the darkest
colors in your palette. In this case, I’ve used Dark Umber for the jewel rounds and golden chains.

2 Add shadows to the jewel with Tuscan Red and touches of Dark Umber for the deepest shadow. Add shadows to the
gold chain with Sienna Brown, using Dark Umber for the darkest shadows.

3 Add the jewel midtones with Crimson Red and to the gold chain with Canary Yellow. Layer in Light Cerulean Blue at
the edge of the shadow for reflected light.

4 Burnish the highlights of the chain with White and Sand. Smooth the jewel, using Pink Rose and White to blend the highlights and Cloud Blue to blend in the reflected blue light. Pick out any lost detail with the midtone and shadow colors.
For more on how to draw angels–decorations and al–pick up a copy of Angelic Visions from our store. 

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Michelle Pfeiffer, among others, have joined Tim Burton in the remake of popular soap opera of Dark Shadows. Find out the full cast, the plot and see some photos at IMDB. One thing seems reasonably sure: this is one vampire that won’t sparkle.

Of course, here’s a look at the original black and white opening credits. What do you think? Can Tim Burton pull it off?

You might also like:
100 Ways to Create Fantasy Creatures by Francis Tsai
Creature Features by Randy Martinez

Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s appropriate that today, I’ve spent most of my afternoon working on a book about dragons. Hint: it’s from one of IMPACT Books’ best-selling, most-loved authors and the art, as usual, is gorgeous!

The Daily Mail has a great gallery of images of the celebrations happening in the East, and the colors and celebrations are absolutely captivating! I think it’s a sign that this is going to be a prosperous, great new year!

So why not celebrate by picking up a copy of one of these three favorite IMPACT Books?

• Dragonworld
• DragonArt Evolution
• Dracopedia

Here at IMPACT headquarters nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a copy of Dracopedia. That’s why we’ve put together a list of our favorite dragon books, DVDs and downloads. Make all the dragon-lovers on your gift list happy with these top picks:

1. DragonArt

2. DragonArt Fantasy Characters

3. DragonArt Evolution

4. Dracopedia

5. DragonWorld

6. Fantasy Artist’s Pocket Reference: Dragons & Fantasy Beasts

7. Sketch Dragons

8. Drawing Dragons (DVD, also available for download)

9. Digital Dragons (DVD, also available for download)

10. Dreamscapes Myth and Magic Section: The Dragon (digital download)

It’s been a great year at IMPACT Books and we’d like to share some of our highlights with you! Learn how to draw some of our most popular subjects with the help of these free tutorials and then gift someone with your artwork–and a copy of one of the books they come from, too! When learning a new skill is this fun, everyone benefits!

Check out Supittha Bunyapen’s tips for Cloud Do’s and Don’ts, then go in-depth with a skin color tutorial using Copic Markers. You can pick up a copy of her book, Shojo Wonder Manga Art School for more great lessons.

Like Unicorns? Want to learn how to draw one? You can with this great tutorial from Denise Vasquez and Randy Martinez’s Sketch Card Mania.  You can follow that up with Emily Fiegenschuh’s tutorial on how to draw a flying fish from The Explorer’s Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures.

If graffiti is more your style, check out Scape Martinez’s demonstration on how to create your own abstract letters. Scape Martinez shares his vast graff knowledge with you in Graff and Graff2.

Extreme Face Painting went wild this Halloween, but makeup special effects can be used for all kinds of reasons and seasons. If you have your own Miss Piggy, why not show up to a screening of The Muppets in fine style?

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!

The Elephant in the Room

Artist Brittney Lee is a woman after my own heart: Her blogspot profile reads “I love drawing and chocolate.” Well, I can add that I love the art of Brittney Lee to my sentence, and I have no doubt that you’ll be blown away, too. Check it out.

Her works remind me of chocolate, in fact. She uses color in such a rich, vibrant way, and the work is sweet, but not artificially so.

For books that show you great techniques for collage, animated and comic art, check out these IMPACT and North Light books:

• Dreamscapes, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
• New Creative Collage Techniques, by Nita Leland
• Draw Furries, by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges
• Cartoonimals, by Harry Hamernik