Imagine FX

Editorial Editor Rob Redman rob.redman@futurenet.com Art Editor

Editor’s letter

Discovering fresh ways of working can make a

FX Posè

THE PLACE TO SHARE YOUR DIGITAL ART

The Rookies

Discover your potential with The Rookies, the launchpad

The Gallery

SHOWCASING THE FINEST TRADITIONAL ARTISTS

New horizons

Think different Tanya Combrinck looks at the tools that are helping 2D artists push their work into exciting new realms and dimensions

Aaron Blaise

Wild side The artist takes us on a safari around his hybrid studio that’s full of pencils, paint, tablets and cameras

Lake Como Comic Art 2026 reveal

Mamma mia! Italian lakes, Alpine views and Liam Sharp’s Conan portfolio are all good reasons to visit this comic con

Letters

YOUR FEEDBACK & OPINIONS

THE ART OF MATTHEW SAVAGE

The film, TV and video game concept artist discusses his career path and creative process with James Clarke

Jae Park

The video games concept artist has filled his sketchbook with stoic-looking characters and fun-loving critters

DRAW ON EMOTION AND SYMBOLISM

Katja Škorjanc brings aspects of Slavic folklore into her art – not just to make it look ‘nice’, but for greater meaning

MAKE USE OF SHAPES, COLOUR AND LIGHT

Raymond Tan takes us through the creation of an ominous scene from his upcoming graphic novel

CONCEPT A MOODY CYBERPUNK SCENE

Oleg Topor uses a variety of creative techniques to portray a meeting of criminals in the depths of a futuristic city

MAKE USE OF FILTERS

Concept artist Brandon Liao gives insights into his visual development work on Spectre Divide

A VIDEO GAME CONCEPT

1 Prepare the photo base With a composition

PAINT LORE-DRIVEN CHARACTER ART

Lucas Lacerda creates unique characters with depth, using lore and a world-building approach to guide his design choices

SEEK OUT NEW APPROACHES

Discover how Ivan Shavrin brings the energy of his initial sketch into the final art for a book cover

Best laptops for digital artists

The latest digital art resources are put to the test by the ImagineFX team…

Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310

GLOSS OVER Artists and photographers who create gallery-quality prints of their work will want to make room in their studio for Canon’s latest printer

Secretlab Magnus Evo

REAL STEEL Does this pro sit-to-standing desk rise to the occasion?

Geekom A9 Max

COMPACT COMPUTING The A9 Max offers almost identical performance to its Intel-powered sibling, muddying its USP a little

Acer Swift Edge 14 AI

WHITE KNIGHT This beautiful laptop delivers on design, but what about the amount of computing power on offer?

Illustrating Fantastical Animals with Procreate

BEAST QUEST Julia Körner’s creature creation course will help you along your concept art journey

Brushing up…

We put three packs through their paces to find out whether they’re worth downloading

Wadim Kashin

Wadim is a concept artist who likes to play with unconventional shapes when depicting buildings, machines and anything that bends the rules. “By mixing abstraction with realism, I get the clearest idea.”

Ryan Bown

Ryan is a professional artist with over 25 years of experience that spans two industries. With a love for fine art and video games, he decided to fuse both passions. Currently, he teaches production art at The University of Utah.

Piotr Gajda

Piotr is a trained civil engineer with a lifelong passion for illustration. He particularly likes modelling, and bases his work on 3D scenes in order to create atmospheric, story-driven images.

Karim Yasser Ahmed

Karim is a senior lighting artist with over seven years of experience in AAA games. He loves working on environment lighting: “I treat my environment as a canvas that is getting lit as a painting, and I truly enjoy this process.”

COLOUR YOUR 3D ARTWORK

ZBrush, Blender & Procreate

LET THE STORY LEAD THE DESIGN

Nelson Tai takes cues from his personal sci-fi project when constructing a hard-working droid

MAKE A 3D OBJECT SEE-THROUGH

Adjusting a model’s transparency in 3D applications is easy and complicated at the same time, reveals Mike Griggs

ENHANCE ANY 3D MODEL BY APPLYING TEXTURES

Ant Ward explains how UVs and texture maps are an easy way to add detail to a 3D object

RIK SCHUTTE

Blender Studio’s lead animator talks about the influence of video games and changing sources of inspiration