“I was really excited,”
says Jason Chan, who
was finishing college at the
Academy of Art University
in San Francisco and
starting his internship at Massive Black,
where he would help define what
great digital illustration looked like
for the next eight years.
“At the time, digital art seemed like
something only people on the internet
did. You were hard pressed to find any
resources on the matter outside of the
internet. I’d been interested in digital
painting for a number of years and all
my education and sense of community
came from various websites. Finally,
seeing a magazine dedicated to the
medium made me feel legitimised.”
But of course digital art has its roots,
and you can’t talk about artists likeJason and cover star Loish without
mentioning artists who came before,
who mostly used traditional media.
“I was thrilled to see an art magazine
focusing on the techniques of artists
who I personally enjoyed,”
says Brom. “It was a long
time coming!” It’s certainly
been a blast balancing the
traditional and digital
worlds of fantasy art over the years.
“I think the magazine does a great
service honouring original illustration
and classical concept designers,”agrees Jon. “Many young artists
have discovered the likes of Frazetta,
Ralph McQuarrie, Syd Mead and
Bernie Wrightson because of the
magazine’s spotlight on them.”embrace tHe unknown
For Sparth, the future of the industry
is bright, so long as digital artists
continue to embrace the unknown- a characteristic that marked this
community from the beginning. “It’s
not all roses,” he warns. “A lot of artists
have been borrowing established
techniques but lack innovation, which
has driven art styles into a similar,
redundant look.”
It doesn’t help that clients also want
this established look, because it makes
their job easy. “Photos have become
the ultimate concept art tool with a lot
i was thrilled to see an art magazine
focusing on the techniques of artists
who i personally enjoyed
Mike was also online a lot,
making life-long connections through
the creation of art, yet still welcomed
a good old-fashioned monthly paper
resource. “I thought it was great that
there was a regular mag, which would
bring together curated content and be
a collectible at the same time,” he says.
“The internet is naturally exploding
with new content, but just like how
readers are returning to printed books
versus e-readers, there’s always going
to be a place for a tactile magazine
that you can actually hold.”Jason leading the
charge again, this
time for issue 4’s
Gothic Art special.An ImagineFX favourite,
Jason’s art has never stood
still, exploring all genres
and myriad styles.This is one of
Loish’s early
images, when
she featured in
FXPosé back in
our second issue.Here Jon shares
an “old post-
apocalyptic image”
from back in the day.ImagineNation News
20 August 2017