Fundamentals of Creature Design

Modern tarot enthusiasts come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures around the world, and artists in particular have become fascinated by the mythical imagery of the cards. Tarot, originally a popular card game in fifteenth-century Italy, came to be used for bringing the subconscious to the conscious; a way of espying the holder’s deepest thoughts and desires. Whether you view tarot to be a spiritual outlet, a psychological tool, or an artistic medium, there’s no denying its popularity. You need only look to Kickstarter for confirmation, which sees tarot cards dominating the Art section’s ‘Trending’ page. Many popular artists have contributed to this growing trend, including such beloved names as Djamila Knopf, Abigail Larson, and most recently Guweiz, with his successful crowdfunded book campaign including a highly demanded luxurious tarot deck. 

Each item in tarot art has a specific meaning, and this book’s artists showcase their own unique interpretations while guiding the reader through their ideation techniques and design choices. Talented contributors include Núria Tamarit, the Valencia-based illustrator of books such as Season of the Witch and Daughters of Snow and Cinders, and Faith Schaffer, the Los Angeles-based designer known for Disenchantment and The Owl House, who reveal the processes behind finished illustrations that are rich with symbolism. 

The book features an insightful introduction from bestselling author Sasha Graham, the world-renowned tarot expert behind the acclaimed Dark Wood Tarot deck. Finally, there’s a gallery of tarot-card art created by successful artists in the recent past. The result is a special, keepsake art book that combines an intriguing glimpse of the history of tarot with inspiring, artist-led design processes and a stunning selection of never-before-seen tarot art.

Character Design Quarterly (CDQ) is a lively, creative magazine bringing inspiration, expert insights, and leading techniques from professional illustrators, artists, and character art enthusiasts worldwide.

Each issue provides detailed tutorials on creating diverse characters, enabling you to explore the processes and decision making that go into creating amazing characters. Learn new ways to develop your own ideas, and discover from the artists what it is like to work for prolific animation studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks.

The cover for issue 36 has been created by Nada aka Nadaskii, a Middle Eastern artist who takes inspiration from music, film, and the sea. Her surreal, peaceful art style has gained her a loyal following online and she has 132K followers on Instagram.

Christina Tyzhuk is a traditional artist from Ukraine, who uses tempera paint to create bold and colourful illustrations. In this book, readers will discover everything about her creative journey, from the first time she picked up a paintbrush, to how she fostered a huge online following (550K on Instagram and 601.7K on TikTok).

Some works of art speak for themselves, needing no verbal or written explanation. Viewers can use their imagination to fill in the gaps, painting a story of their own. But what is often overlooked is the person behind the painting. As such, this book has been an incredible opportunity for Christina to reveal her inner world more deeply – all her illustrations to date, and all the emotions that fuelled their creation.

You will find multiple galleries, the artist's favourite tips and techniques for using tempera paints, and five brand-new exclusive tutorials. Christina reveals a lot about herself for this special project, such as what motivates her, her inner fears, and small victories that she quietly celebrates. This is a must-have Art Of book for any fan of traditional artwork or aspiring painter.

This book offers a deep dive into designing imaginative environment art for the entertainment industry: using light, colour, composition, and perspective to create impactful landscapes and locations that immerse the viewer. With a mix of theory, tutorials, and insightful, often funny, anecdotes from his career across many high-profile studios, author-artist Nathan Fowkes makes this challenging subject accessible for artists of every skill level.

The discerning chapters inside include those on the environment development process, the emotional language created by shapes and lines, and the design of landscapes, spaces, props, architecture, atmosphere, and weather. Nathan also takes readers step-by-step through his own successful process and demonstrates how to achieve the 'wow' factor. Most of the art featured art has been created digitally by Nathan himself, with some examples sketched in pencil.

Nathan is a veteran industry-entertainment artist who made his break into the industry painting the backgrounds for animated DreamWorks classics such as The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado. He has since been key to the visual development of many major animations, including How to Train Your Dragon and the Shrek franchise. On top of his feature-film work, he gives regular guest lectures, teaches multiple popular Schoolism courses, exhibits his paintings in gallery shows, and is a sought-after consultant for numerous game studios, including Riot Games, Ubisoft, and Blizzard Entertainment.

Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker – The Concept Art of Bryce Kho is the art book for the Sea of Stars DLC, an extremely successful fantasy role-playing game created by Sabotage Studio and illustrated by renowned concept artist Bryce Kho.

Sea of Stars was released on all platforms in August 2023. It has since been played by over 6 million players worldwide and won ‘Best Independent Game’ at The Game Awards 2023. Throes of the Watchmaker was released for free in May 2025 as a thank-you gift to the fans of the game who made it such a success.

Bryce Kho has been on the Sabotage Studio team as lead concept artist since 2020. Known for his colourful and complex, retro-anime inspired illustrations, it’s no mystery as to why Bryce and Sabotage Studio collaborated to make this turn-based RPG inspired by the classics. Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker – The Concept Art of Bryce Kho showcases all the incredible characters that Bryce has lovingly brought to life through discussions with creative director Thierry Boulanger, and is a book to enjoy for gamers and art-lovers alike.

To find out more and buy the game, check out Sabotage's Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244090/Sea_of_Stars/

The Sea of Stars game is also available on Nintendo Switch, PS4/5 and Xbox Series X|S + Xbox One.

Bryce's portfolio spans a range of roles including illustrator and concept artist, contributing to projects such as Homestead Arcana and Aegis Defenders. After a first collaboration with Sabotage doing illustrations for The Messenger, Bryce joined the team as Lead Concept Artist to handle all things concept art and character design on Sea of Stars, a retro-inspired RPG that has captivated over 5 million players worldwide. The popularity of 3dtotal's recent publication Sea of Stars: The Concept Art of Bryce Kho (over 12,000 copies sold), which is based solely on his work for development of the video game, has raised the artist's profile and proven his popularity among our readership and further afield. 

In Overflow: The Art of Bryce Kho, based entirely on the artist's personal art career and journey, he takes the reader behind the scenes into his studio and personal sketchbooks, and also reveals his creative process from start to finish in detailed step-by-step tutorials. Existing fans will be thrilled to discover new insights into Bryce's working methods and creative story, while those just discovering his art will love delving into galleries of his artwork, new and old.