Review: Beginner's Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures and Concepts

Fans of 3DTotal's CG training books have long been asking for one focusing on old-school graphite. Well, now that call has been answered.

In this 206-page Beginner's Guide to Sketching book, 10 pro artists including Rovina Cai, Justin Gerard, Nick Harris and Rebeca Puebla, take you through how to draw the fundamentals, from pencil art, gesture drawing and finding simple shapes to mastering line quality and shading. The cover doesn't make it obvious, but the book's mainly geared towards the creation of concept/ fantasy art – and that's fine by us!

The artists explain how and when to use different sketching materials; share top tips; show you how to draw everything from hands to an alien slave; and set practical exercises. There are also master projects that show how it all gets put together – how to progress from early concepts, through poses, designs and costume elements, to a completed scene.

Despite the title, novices might find much of this too challenging. Yet artists ranging from students right up to advanced level should find much of value here, both in terms of refreshing your core art skills and raising your fantasy concept art to the next level.