REVIEW || ImagineFX | Issue 130 - January 2016

Detail of Art by Ross Tran from ImagineFX Anniversary Cover

I couldn't wait to open my January 2016 10th Anniversary Edition ImagineFX (Issue 130) with the painterly Frazetta inspired cover art by artist Ross Tran, and interviews with Craig Mullins and Karla Ortiz prominently displayed on the spine.  I think I am going to have to buy a floating magazine frame to preserve and display this issue!  To be sure, this month's magazine did not disappoint.

The FXpose artists that stuck out to me were Mathias Zamecki (p. 10) with a painting of ruins and knights, and even more medieval work by Sean Sevestre (p. 18).  Article, "The Rise of Digital Art" (p. 20), covered positive and negative developments since the dawn of the digital age and with VR just entering the limelight, the future of digital art is only beginning.  One difference between then and now, the article points out, is that artists not only gleaning more inspiration online, but also making connections and learning from in-depth tutorials.  The new online digital artist gallery, community, and job site, ArtStation, is one ways artists can connect.  Founder, Leonard Teo boasts of the website's ability to link artists to both potential clients and businesses.

I always enjoy the studio tour section, with so many wonderful ideas on how to set up a space and plenty of inspiration galore.  A look inside artist Long Pham's home studio (p. 28), gave me confidence that my own home desk space is enough to get a good job done.  There are similarities to my own, especially when compared to other studios I have seen featured; it is small, clean, well organized, and utilitarian.  Honestly the perfect space for me!  Things of note were his traditional drawing tools on hand, preference of an Intuos 5 over a Cintiq (something I have been pondering), a filing drawer for reference material and sketches, and a fancy camera for photographing reference and practicing composition.  Thanks for the tour Long Pham!

OKAY Craig Mullins interview (p. 42)!!!  YESSS!  Gorgeous artwork on every page of this article, of course, especially love seeing it in print.  His story is inspirational, especially to those who have a past and even present of struggling (like me), as he has humble beginnings; never being top of his classes, including in high school, Pitzer College in Clairemont, and even the prestigious Art Center.  He finally got away to both put in time and hard work on his own, and to digest at his own pace everything he had learned previously and when he came back he was getting straight A's!  After his schooling he successfully worked for major studios and on top of that lived the dream, moving to Hawaii and onto freelance.  Craig says that in taking a step away he enjoyed opening up his sphere of influence, rather than solely being bombarded by co-workers and company ideas.  Loved the quote about his work on the recent film Noah, "Craig would draw it, and the crew would build it."  Alas, sad to discover, in reading about his reservations on working for the film, that Mullins is an atheist... please let me change your mind!!!  Another tip from Mullins I can totally relate to lately is to, "cut out distractions and be better at what you do."  That's kind of a motto I have silently adopted in the last few years.  His latest endeavors involve teaching (soon to be tutorial on Schoolism!!!) and going back into traditional drawing and painting, which in the latter I am anxiously anticipating a revived Golden Age!

Ok this is too much to handle, flip the page to Karla Ortiz (p.50)!!!  Oh the irony of being back to back with Craig Mullins in the same issue as from hearing Karla speak live I know they both have humble beginnings!  She got her big break in 2012 and just turned thirty, encouraging anyone?  Working for Marvel, Magic the gathering as well as book illustrations and teaching various workshops, she has her hands full.  She talks about in the future she wants to split her time between fine art, which allows more personal growth, and concept art.  Loved getting a glimpse into her traditional portfolio and process (p. 54), hearing about her family of artists history (reminding me of my own), as well as seeing her works in print too.

After all that awesomeness, I just don't have any time to read the workshops, but will catalogue them for later, especially Ross Tran's process on the cover art (p. 64), Craig Mullins' scene of awe and beauty (p. 68), Raphael Lacoste's film environment design (p. 92), and a large workshop on Photoshop tools (p. 98).  After reading some of the reviews, the Jot Dash or any stylus from Adonit look worthy of checking out, as well as the workshop by Brian Yam (p. 111).

Did I mention I love this issue?!