Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig

My reaction to moving through this book was a little unexpected.Usually when I go through a good art book the artist that I am is a little discouraged, my own progress being lacking when compared to my mentors and some of my peers. However, my reaction to this book was a bout of chills and an exhuberant desire to draw like mad. One might conclude that I was underwhelmed, disappointed- a sense that I'm "much better than this loser". Instead, I was impressed in ways that have a hard time meeting any valued description.Iain McCaig does not make it look simple.He makes it look deep, fascinating and utterly approachable. He's an example of what being excited about one's work should look like.I have to recommend this book to artists, particularly those struggling to find a reason to put pencil to good paper (any paper to take a mark is good paper). This is not your run-of-the-mill "art book". It's a celebration of the act of creation in which every mark the artist makes is potentially a portal to a world you want to visit, whether for good or for ill. The creature images run from whimsical in nature to terrible if ever met. The people are heroic, horrific and all points in between. Examples of sketches run throughout the book but they are eleborate, evocative hints when they are run up against full blown painted productions of characters and the worlds where they live.I see a little Claire Wendling here and the recent work of Mathieu Lauffray there and this is all good. It's not that McCaig is copying anyone or vice versa. It's that they (and others not named) have such an obvious, shared passion for their work that it is an inspiration to both stragglers and jaded professionals in the field (or, at least it should have that effect).I can only hope there will some day be another book.My last comment is to see this man's production work for the upcoming film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars", leaves me anxious. Can, or will the film look this good? And his depiction of the actor to (possibly?) play John Carter is more than a little inspiring.

This man is a genius, a true rare gem of an illustrative storyteller.It's not a teaching you how to draw book, nor is it just a portfolio showcase of his life's work, its... something else. It's more raw and rare, and you get to peek into his world, you get to plug into his imagination and see things the way he creates.There are a lot pencil sketches, prisma marker roughs and some rough digital art pieces.Here are the things that made me rate it at 4 stars instead of 5 stars:- I don't like the overall graphic design of the book, it's lacking a solid visual coherence and continuity.- The art work is mostly rough concept sketches, not many final pieces...- ...and it does not include many of his earlier works such as the Final Fantasy game book ones, those amazing pen and ink illustrations I absolutely adore.Otherwise, Iain McCaig's Shadowline is fantastic book that really let's you into his mysterious and fantastic inner creative worlds.

i love the artwork in this book. McCaig is one of my biggest inspirations and his stuff is beautifully laid out in this volume with quantity.I say the book is interesting because McCaig didn't just write a straight biography and procedure here. True to his storytelling roots, he created a world to explain his ways and ideas and then presented it through the report of a fictional character that he created to interview himself...He also has a very awkward photo of himself in the front. It's all rather strange, but it was so interesting and original that I had to buy a copy for myself to read his whole "story."the book also comes with fun little "lessons" in the back with exercises to practice drawing, neatly tucked in envelopes. It makes the package quite interactive.the page stock is great quality and so is the print, but my biggest gripe is the binding doesn't feel like it will hold and i'm too afraid to open the pages all the way. which is a shame because sometimes you just want to lay the book open to enjoy the larger images.

The media could not be loaded.  Iain McCaig has been creating art for movies for a long time. This book contains illustrations created for Star Wars prequel, Harry Potter and his concept art for other projects. Most of his work belong to the fantasy genre.In this book, a fictional interviewer called Bryon is created to introduce readers to the artwork and bring them into Iain McCaig's imaginative world. It's pretty amusing and reads like some fantasy adventure. My minor quibble would be there isn't a biography of his illustrious career.Insight Editions is the publisher of this thick and big book at 240 pages. It's hardcover with a beautiful matte dust jacket.There are plenty of glorious concept art, mainly character designs, paintings and sketches. Each is reproduced brilliantly on the glossy paper, showing intricate details of ink, pencil or colour strokes as well as the texture of the medium. While there are digital paintings, most of the illustrations featured are done using traditional medium, showing texture and grain. The large pages enhance the viewing pleasure.This book is highly recommended to fans of Iain McCaig, fantasy artists, concept artists and character designers. It's very inspiring and overflows with creativity.(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

作画のテクニックを学ぶにはいい本です。

I expected more. I love the artist's work, there is no question about that. However, I expected more from the book. Somehow, I feel there was not enough artwork. I also feel that there are many pages where the artwork was sized up and as a result it does not look as cohesive. I fell in love with Ian McCaig's work as I looked through The Attack of the Clone's Art Book, and I was too excited about purchasing this book.I'm not sure I like that the book is a fantasy story about Byron the intrviewer who falls into Ian McCaig's imaginary world, Shadowline. I think the idea is very creative, and I have enjoyed the beginning. However, as a standalone fantasy, the story it is weak. It's disjointed. I'm not sure how to explain... It is as if we fell into this incredible world where we caught glimpses of characters and settings, but we were snatched away before anything really made sense. The sporting cast of characters come across as rather flat. In the end there are more questions than answers. What is the deal with the mouse? Is the Centaurine McCaig's muse? Why does McCaig become a monster? Why a pigmy T-Rex? ... I'm sure all of this makes sense in the author's mind, but I cannot connect the dots; in the end the story left me dissatisfied.While reading the book, I hoped to find out more about the artist; I hoped for some funny anecdotes from his life, his struggles and triumphs, words of wisdom... I bought this book because I watched McCaig's Schoolism interview. I fell in love with the guy. I expected more of that guy in this book, but he was barely in it.I did like the tiny lesson booklets included in the book, though most of these lessons were not new to me.In conclusion, this is not a bad book. I was disappointed, because it could have been so much better.

It's Ian McCaig. Dare I say anything else? it's one of my most prized possesion. It's a big book.

Fans de concept art et concepts artists, vous ne pouvez pas passer à côté de ce petit bijoux!L'objet en lui même est magnifiquement présenté dans une jaquette glacée.La qualité d'assemblage du livre le rend très agréable à tenir et à feuilleter.Quant à son contenu...que dire... : du concentré de bonheur à chaque page.Les repros sont superbes, les couleurs lumineuses!Même les crayonnés (très présent chez Iain McCaig) sont très fidelement reproduit : sur un papier mat, on aurait l'impression de pouvoir gommer les dessins! Une Ode à Iain McCaig et à son talent qui comblera les fans et les amoureux d'illustrations et crayonné.Très bel ouvrage et très épais, ce qui ne gâche rien!Et malgrè l'épaisseur, on voudrait pouvoir continuer à tourner les pages encore et encore....

It is a beautifull book. It has a sum of picture drawings that have a great quality. Not a lot of Star Wars drawings, but a lot of drawings from Iain imagination. I began to read the book, it has an interesting story, I love the way Iain sees art as a door to another world.