John Cooper
Explorer
FANTASY CLIP ART
By Kevin Crossley
Andrews McMeel Publishing
$19.95, 128-page hardcover with CD-ROM
Fantasy Clip Art is a bit of a stretch beyond my usual reviewing fare, as it's not really an RPG supplement, although it can certainly be put to good use in most RPG games. It's a book that explains the technical side of fantasy illustration using products such as Photoshop, taking you step-by-step through the processes of selecting various pieces of clip art (provided on the accompanying CD-ROM), assembling them into the desired structure, and then coloring them in. All levels of expertise are covered, from simple block coloring to very detailed shading and highlighting effects.
The cover, not surprisingly, is by the author, Kevin Crossley, featuring several images that can be constructed using the graphics on the accompanying CD-ROM: a rather barbaric male human adventurer and female elf (both in full color), with black-and-white graphics of a dragon and several hand weapons thrown in for good measure on the front, while the back cover has a full-color reptilian monster and a simple line drawing of another female elf. This is a cool way to represent the various stages of finished artwork that the book steps us through, and I like the fact that the background is reminiscent of graph paper (a big player in most RPG games, and an appropriate image for a fantasy book on this subject). Coolest of all, however, is the fact that the accompanying CD-ROM "plugs in" to a holder on the inside front cover of the book, allowing its upper surface to be seen through the round, plastic "window" in the center of the book's cover, and that the image on the CD-ROM matches exactly the "missing" part of the cover that was taken out to accommodate the window. (Of course, obsessive-compulsive types like me are going to have to make sure the CD-ROM lines up exactly to match the rest of the front cover's image, but that's a small price to pay.)
Equally unsurprising, Fantasy Clip Art is filled with many images of illustrations made possible from rearranging the files of clip art on the CD-ROM. Besides that, though, there are many photos of different types of equipment (computers, scanners) and screenshots of the programs you're likely to be using when using this book. (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Corel Paint Shop Pro are recommended on the front cover, although I imagine the CD-ROM can be used with other graphic programs.)
[I should probably insert here the guilty admission that I do not own Photoshop or any other graphics program, and thus was unable to make the most of this product. This review, therefore, is based simply upon me having read through the book and examined the artwork provided.]
Fantasy Clip Art begins with a 4-page introduction going into the history of fantasy artwork and stepping the reader through the features of the CD-ROM. The next section, "Digital Fantasy," introduces the reader to the digital artwork process, with an emphasis on how to run the Photoshop/Photoshop Elements program and get the most out of the program's tools. There's a short discussion on color theory and several step-by-step demos of taking an image from simple line drawing to full-color finished product, complete with shading and highlighting. Then, the rest of the book (80 or so pages out of the book's 128) is dedicated to specific examples of various characters made using the files on the CD-ROM. Each character demo shows the complete list of possible items from that archetype (barbarian, female adventurer, male elf, orc, horse, dragon, etc.), and, best of all, which particular selections from the menu were chosen to make that particular image, should you wish to duplicate it yourself.
As a how-to book, Fantasy Clip Art gets high marks from me. On the proofreading and editing front (and what John Cooper review would be complete without a discussion about proofreading and editing? - at least there were no stat blocks for me to check!), it gets outstanding marks; it's amazing to see the vast difference between RPG books and professional publications outside the RPG world on such fronts. However, I'm afraid it slips a couple notches down on the versatility front.
Allow me to explain. Kevin Crossley is a very talented artist, no doubt about it. And while he occasionally allows himself to stray into the realms of the absurd in his prose (he actually makes reference to creating a dragon so fearsome-looking that you'll be forced to "leave the room and cower in the cupboard under the stairs for a while"), he has an easy-to-understand writing style and his enthusiasm for his craft is evident. However, it's his artistic style - or at least the style evident in the images included in this book - that hamper its overall effectiveness. (Perhaps "hamper" isn't the word I want, but it certainly limits the overall usefulness and versatility of the product.) A title like "Fantasy Clip Art" is generic enough that it implies a broad range of images along the entire fantasy spectrum, but for the most part, Kevin limits himself to the "gritty barbarian" end of things. Using the clip art in this book will certainly allow you to create fearsome orcs, bloodthirsty barbarian savages, hulking ogres, and slimy, tentacled beasts from Hell. If your character concept would look perfectly in place on the set of "The Road Warrior" or inhabits a post-apocalyptic game like "Gamma World," or was raised by a tribe of savages, you're all set. However, if you'd like to create, say, a shining knight, you're pretty much out of luck. On page 127, there's a set of illustrations depicting the 10 swords and 11 daggers you can pick and choose to place in the hands of your character. Of the 10 swords, 9 of them look like they were carved out of a block of stone - there's nary a straight edge to be seen. "Sword 5" is the only one that looks like it was painstakingly crafted by a weaponsmith, and it's a curved sword inappropriate to a knight. In fact, the daggers aren't much better; if you wanted a "normal" sword for your Sir Galahad, you're kind of stuck with "Dagger 3" - the only "normal" looking one of the lot - and maybe selecting the blade and stretching it out to longsword dimensions. It's a shame, too, because the concept carries over to the rest of his selections: those who prefer the "classic" look of Jeff Easley or Larry Elmore as opposed to the "dungeonpunk" style of D&D Third Edition are liable to be a bit disappointed in their options with this product.
Fantasy Clip Art could have been a book that I heartily recommended without reservation. Instead, I'll recommend it with the warning that the artwork provided is definitely skewed towards the "Mad Max" end of the fantasy spectrum. If that's not your thing, you may not get a whole lot out of the artwork, but the techniques of Photoshop manipulation, coloring, and shading are still useful to anyone interested in learning how to do such things. I give Fantasy Clip Art an overall rating of "4 (Good)."
By Kevin Crossley
Andrews McMeel Publishing
$19.95, 128-page hardcover with CD-ROM
Fantasy Clip Art is a bit of a stretch beyond my usual reviewing fare, as it's not really an RPG supplement, although it can certainly be put to good use in most RPG games. It's a book that explains the technical side of fantasy illustration using products such as Photoshop, taking you step-by-step through the processes of selecting various pieces of clip art (provided on the accompanying CD-ROM), assembling them into the desired structure, and then coloring them in. All levels of expertise are covered, from simple block coloring to very detailed shading and highlighting effects.
The cover, not surprisingly, is by the author, Kevin Crossley, featuring several images that can be constructed using the graphics on the accompanying CD-ROM: a rather barbaric male human adventurer and female elf (both in full color), with black-and-white graphics of a dragon and several hand weapons thrown in for good measure on the front, while the back cover has a full-color reptilian monster and a simple line drawing of another female elf. This is a cool way to represent the various stages of finished artwork that the book steps us through, and I like the fact that the background is reminiscent of graph paper (a big player in most RPG games, and an appropriate image for a fantasy book on this subject). Coolest of all, however, is the fact that the accompanying CD-ROM "plugs in" to a holder on the inside front cover of the book, allowing its upper surface to be seen through the round, plastic "window" in the center of the book's cover, and that the image on the CD-ROM matches exactly the "missing" part of the cover that was taken out to accommodate the window. (Of course, obsessive-compulsive types like me are going to have to make sure the CD-ROM lines up exactly to match the rest of the front cover's image, but that's a small price to pay.)
Equally unsurprising, Fantasy Clip Art is filled with many images of illustrations made possible from rearranging the files of clip art on the CD-ROM. Besides that, though, there are many photos of different types of equipment (computers, scanners) and screenshots of the programs you're likely to be using when using this book. (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Corel Paint Shop Pro are recommended on the front cover, although I imagine the CD-ROM can be used with other graphic programs.)
[I should probably insert here the guilty admission that I do not own Photoshop or any other graphics program, and thus was unable to make the most of this product. This review, therefore, is based simply upon me having read through the book and examined the artwork provided.]
Fantasy Clip Art begins with a 4-page introduction going into the history of fantasy artwork and stepping the reader through the features of the CD-ROM. The next section, "Digital Fantasy," introduces the reader to the digital artwork process, with an emphasis on how to run the Photoshop/Photoshop Elements program and get the most out of the program's tools. There's a short discussion on color theory and several step-by-step demos of taking an image from simple line drawing to full-color finished product, complete with shading and highlighting. Then, the rest of the book (80 or so pages out of the book's 128) is dedicated to specific examples of various characters made using the files on the CD-ROM. Each character demo shows the complete list of possible items from that archetype (barbarian, female adventurer, male elf, orc, horse, dragon, etc.), and, best of all, which particular selections from the menu were chosen to make that particular image, should you wish to duplicate it yourself.
As a how-to book, Fantasy Clip Art gets high marks from me. On the proofreading and editing front (and what John Cooper review would be complete without a discussion about proofreading and editing? - at least there were no stat blocks for me to check!), it gets outstanding marks; it's amazing to see the vast difference between RPG books and professional publications outside the RPG world on such fronts. However, I'm afraid it slips a couple notches down on the versatility front.
Allow me to explain. Kevin Crossley is a very talented artist, no doubt about it. And while he occasionally allows himself to stray into the realms of the absurd in his prose (he actually makes reference to creating a dragon so fearsome-looking that you'll be forced to "leave the room and cower in the cupboard under the stairs for a while"), he has an easy-to-understand writing style and his enthusiasm for his craft is evident. However, it's his artistic style - or at least the style evident in the images included in this book - that hamper its overall effectiveness. (Perhaps "hamper" isn't the word I want, but it certainly limits the overall usefulness and versatility of the product.) A title like "Fantasy Clip Art" is generic enough that it implies a broad range of images along the entire fantasy spectrum, but for the most part, Kevin limits himself to the "gritty barbarian" end of things. Using the clip art in this book will certainly allow you to create fearsome orcs, bloodthirsty barbarian savages, hulking ogres, and slimy, tentacled beasts from Hell. If your character concept would look perfectly in place on the set of "The Road Warrior" or inhabits a post-apocalyptic game like "Gamma World," or was raised by a tribe of savages, you're all set. However, if you'd like to create, say, a shining knight, you're pretty much out of luck. On page 127, there's a set of illustrations depicting the 10 swords and 11 daggers you can pick and choose to place in the hands of your character. Of the 10 swords, 9 of them look like they were carved out of a block of stone - there's nary a straight edge to be seen. "Sword 5" is the only one that looks like it was painstakingly crafted by a weaponsmith, and it's a curved sword inappropriate to a knight. In fact, the daggers aren't much better; if you wanted a "normal" sword for your Sir Galahad, you're kind of stuck with "Dagger 3" - the only "normal" looking one of the lot - and maybe selecting the blade and stretching it out to longsword dimensions. It's a shame, too, because the concept carries over to the rest of his selections: those who prefer the "classic" look of Jeff Easley or Larry Elmore as opposed to the "dungeonpunk" style of D&D Third Edition are liable to be a bit disappointed in their options with this product.
Fantasy Clip Art could have been a book that I heartily recommended without reservation. Instead, I'll recommend it with the warning that the artwork provided is definitely skewed towards the "Mad Max" end of the fantasy spectrum. If that's not your thing, you may not get a whole lot out of the artwork, but the techniques of Photoshop manipulation, coloring, and shading are still useful to anyone interested in learning how to do such things. I give Fantasy Clip Art an overall rating of "4 (Good)."
