The single most common, and most difficult-to-answer question that I am asked is, “How did you get started doing fantasy art?” Most of the time, this is by people who want to do so themselves. I can only tell you what worked for me. Everyone is different, and my way of working and thinking may be nothing like your own. There’s no one way to go about it, but hopefully I can give a little guidance to the neophytes out there.

DO NOT DO THIS FOR THE MONEY. You will be disappointed. Fantasy art, as with any art, is a labor of love. Some artists are lucky enough to be able to make a living out of it. You’ve got to be Good. You’ve got to be Fast. You’ve got to be Reliable. And you’ve got to have a huge mattress full of money for when the companies you work for are none of the above in regards to paying you. There’s also the problem that the art supplies you may need to buy, depending on the type of work you want to do, can be expensive.

ART IS A LOT OF WORK. In order to get better at it, you’re going to have to work at it. There are some people who are naturals at this, but they are probably not reading this article. Most people are going to have to have the dedication to work hard and constantly. You’re going to have to be able to push yourself through those frustrating times when nothing seems to turn out right, and just keep working. This is the hardest part.

SHOWING YOUR WORK CAN FEEL LIKE PUTTING YOURSELF ON PUBLIC DISPLAY. Once you start producing a good amount of work, you’re not going to want to keep them all to yourself. You’re going to want to share them with others. This is a great thing, because constructive criticism can really help to push an artist past their problem areas. It allows them the chance to become a much better artist. However, constructive isn’t the only kind of criticism out there, and it takes a strong heart to be able to learn to take even the valuable comments. If you start to do things like posting the art to the Web, or at fantasy convention art shows, or decide to show your portfolio around in an attempt to get illustration work you’re going to face some rejection. You need to be prepared for that. You should also be prepared to be able to decipher the difference between good criticism and bad. Is their point valid, or are they trying to force your work into a pigeonhole that it does not fit into? The only way to learn to tell the difference is to receive a lot of both.

So, it’s a lot of work, can be humiliating, and doesn’t really offer much in the way of pay. Now that you’re appropriately discouraged, let’s get down to the good stuff.

DRAW! If you want to draw fantasy art, then you first need to have some knowledge or experience drawing. If not, you’re going to have to start learning the bare basics before you can do fantasy work. Since there are so many books and lessons that cover beginning drawing, I’m going to assume that the reader of this article already has some drawing experience.

Draw all the time. Be dedicated. You won’t be able to progress at your optimum pace if you only draw only once a week or a couple of times a month. You will need to be drawing constantly, especially in the beginning stages. They don’t have to be good drawings, or fantasy drawings, or even finished drawings, just so long as you learn from them. This will get your fingers and brain working more easily as a team, so that you don’t spend time worrying about the way you make your marks on the paper, only what those marks mean to the finished piece.

How-to art books can be very valuable, even if they are not fantasy-oriented. Basically, if you're doing fantasy art you'll be drawing people, animals and landscapes (backgrounds) and so all the principles in the "normal" how-to books are still valid. Light behaves the same in the real world as it would in a fantasy world. Mostly. And you’ll need to know how it’s SUPPOSED to behave in order to do strange “fantasy” things with it. A lot of people have trouble with this aspect, but really, the better you can draw “real” things, the better you’ll be able to make stuff up as you go along. There are a lot of how-to books about fantasy art available, but be sure not to make those the only ones in your collection. Most of the fantasy art books don’t go into any real detail on extremely important things like composition, perspective, proper lighting and how to handle it, anatomy, and color theory. And they really don’t cover the techniques and tricks you’ll need to learn to master your chosen medium.

Start with what you are already comfortable with. If you jump straight in to something that that you aren’t familiar working with, you may get discouraged. Don’t try to go from drawing real people’s portraits into trying to paint a battle scene with a knight on horseback, a dragon, two armies and an exploding castle. You’ll go bald, get frustrated, and not want to draw for months. Not to mention that if you’re going to make such a big jump so dramatically, your work will probably come out unoriginal, clichéd or very similar to another artist’s style. Break yourself into it gradually. With every new aspect of fantasy that you add to your art, you will be blending those aspects into your own art “vocabulary”, and you will be building your own unique style. You might not notice the style at first, but other people will, and that’s what will make your work distinctive.

How do you do this? If you have been drawing people, continue, but start adding fantasy elements to them. Make their ears pointy. Make their eyes a little more exotic-looking. Give them historical or fantastical clothing or jewelry. Put some wings on them. Place them in a fantasy-type of background. Allow yourself to ease into fantasy art slowly. Some people start out drawing animals. You can add wings or jeweled elements to animals as well to bring your work into the fantasy realm. If you love to draw horses, for instance, add wings or horns to them. Add decorative reigns, saddles or tack instead of the normal plain, everyday ones. Ribbons and designs can bring a fantasy element into animal art very easily. If you’re a landscape artist, then start adding castles or fantastical cities in the distance, perhaps tucked behind a mountain. Start adding things in that don’t normally belong…in a winter scene, add a tree in the full greens and golds of summer. Or in a dark, deep green forest, add a single tree with a blaze of autumn leaves in golds and reds. Designs can be “carved” into tree trunks. Mysterious standing stones can be placed into a landscape to add a mystical quality.

Keep a LOT of reference around, for inspiration and for fact-checking. The best fantasy is grounded in reality. You'll also want to surround yourself with fantasy art. Most of us already have done this before we decide to go down that route. Spend some time on the Net looking at all the different artists. Figure out what you like and don't like. But keep in mind that you can learn even from artists you don't like. The choices they make and the reasons for them can help you in your work.

Do yourself a favor and check out the Spectrum series of books. The 11th one is about to come out, and a lot of stores keep a chunk of the series in stock. They are collections of some of the best fantasy art being produced each year, and they are amazing for inspiration and to just get a good feel for the kind of work or styles that are popular that year.

If you want to become a fantasy artist because of your love of fantasy novels, be sure to keep reading them. They can be an invaluable resource to generate inspiration. This should be obvious, but I actually fell victim to this myself. I had stopped reading in favor of making artwork, and a lot of my inspiration slowly dried up. The more active you can keep your brain, the more creative you will be overall. The mythology and historical sections of the bookstore should also be mined for their valuables. The more versed you are in history, mythology, and even fairy tales the more symbolism and deep cultural reference you’ll be able to scatter through your work. Anything that you can add to your work to make it richer and more accessible to others is more than worth the time it takes to learn it.

Most of all, do what you like to do. Have fun. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. A lot of things that you might think of as mistakes can teach you new techniques and ways of looking at your art. This is something for you; don't worry about making your first few perfect. Just do them. Draw and have fun, and learn. Eventually, you'll get used to it, and it won't be a struggle to come up with ideas or to get them down on paper. Most of the time. We all have those bad days where it’s a struggle, but the great artists are the ones who keep going through those bad times and come out the other side with much more knowledge and comfort with their work.

Don't worry if you find yourself mostly happy with your pictures, but keep getting hung up on one or two flaws. That means you're still learning. Every time I do a painting, within a month or two I will begin to start seeing flaws. That just means that I've learned since I did the painting, or while doing the painting, and that I'm getting better. The same will happen to you if you keep at it. It's a good thing.

This article is copyright 2004 Michelle Parker. Feel free to links to this article, but this article may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted without the written agreement of the author. If you must print out this article for personal use, please include this statement, including this address of the source page, www.knotwyrks.com. All graphics, images and works copyright © 2004 Michelle Parker , and may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any manner. Do not provide links to individual images. Do not copy any images to put on your website without first contacting the artist and gaining permission. Please see the FAQ for terms of use.