Good concept art books?

News & General Discussion
1

Looking for some inspiration. Anyone have any recommendations? Hopefully sci-fi themed. Architecture/characters/robots/creatures. There are alot of books out there, and funds are limited :x

2

Google for sure can help here…

3

How can google tell me which books you like? Thanks for the response though. It was helpful.

4

It can help you in the way that you can discover designs you enjoy. For instance you could join lists which features paintings/renderings or architecture for SF art. These lists often also have forums with people dealing with these subjects…

5

Many established sci-fi artists have art books you can buy. They’re usually really expensive, so getting a good cross section of styles is gonna be big bucks. Is there anyone in particular whose style you really like? Also, what sort of theme are you interested in? Something gritty and realistic like Blade Runner? Wet, gross and fantastic like Giger?

6

I have a couple books by Stephan Martiniere http://www.martiniere.com/ which are great. Gritty and realistic is the style I like. Blade Runner rules :smile:

7

It’s not a book, but I’ve been inspired by this artist and some others on the ArtRage forum:
http://www2.ambientdesign.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2782

Cheers,
-Jon

8

You can find a lot of good stuff here

http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/concept_art/

And for some sick inspiration
http://massiveblack.com/mbNew/html/illustration1.shtml

take care
~t

9

Check out people’s portfolios on there or check the forums. Lots of great stuff there.

10

Thanks for the links guys. Good stuff :smile:

11

Like Tito already said, the Ballistic books are awesome. Not only for ideas and inspiration, but reading about the artists and seeing the progress in the images can motivate you too.

And http://www.conceptart.org/ is also a great source for inspiration.

12

Those ballistic books look amazing :shock: . I’ll definitely be buying a couple of those.

13

I can second http://www.conceptart.org/. I’ve posted a few of my sketches there whiles ago and also hang on on Sijun as well. There are some truly truly brilliant artists though on conceptart and it’s my first stop for art each day.

14

I’d also check out deviant art. lot of stuff there.

15

I visit cgtalk.com regularly. Lots of amazing stuff there.

If you can find a copy: “Colorvision” by Ron Cobb. Any of the “Art of Star Wars” books (you only need one, they’re kind of redundant).

16

Thanks. I actually bought a star wars cross sections book yesterday. Haven’t received it yet, but it looks sweet. I’ll check out colorvision too, and all the links everyone posted :smile:

17

Colorvision is selling for north of $50 second hand… Ouch. I hope my copy isn’t lost…