John Howe - John Howe fantasy art workshop

CELTIC MYTH

SKILL PILLARS

A DAVID & CHARLES BOOK
Copyright David & Charles Limited 2007

David & Charles is an F+W Publications Inc. company
4700 East Galbraith Road
Cincinnati, OH 45236

First published in the UK in 2007

Text and illustrations copyright John Howe 2007

John Howe has asserted his right to be identified as author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The publisher has endeavoured to contact all contributors of pictures for permission to reproduce. See page 120.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-009-7 hardback
ISBN-10: 0-60061-009-9 hardback
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-010-3 paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-393-7 (EPUB)
ISBN-10: 0-60061-010-2 paperback

Printed in Chna by for David & Charles
Brunel House Newton Abbot Devon

Commissioning Editor Freya Dangerfield
Senior Editor Jennifer Fox-Proverbs
Art Editor Sarah Underhill
Production Controller Beverley Richardson
Photographer Kim Sayers
Project Editor Beverley Jollands

Visit our website at www.davidandcharles.co.uk

David & Charles books are available from all good bookshops; alternatively you can contact our Orderline on 0870 9908222 or write to us at FREEPOST EX2 110, D&C Direct, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4ZZ (no stamp required UK only);
US customers call 800-289-0963 and Canadian customers call 800-840-5220.

OK lets be totally honest.

This book has depressed me really depressed me.

Let me explain.

I thought I could draw, I thought I could paint, and I believed I had a vivid imagination but, having studied this book for the last few hours I realize I have been fooling myself. Ive been living in a fantasy world. Here is the real thing a man who draws beautifully, paints like a Leonardo, and is able to imagine worlds that I gave up dreaming about long ago. Not that I wanted to give up dreaming about them but, unable to render them as I saw them in my minds eye, I shut them out. So you can understand my depression at being reminded of my failings.

Nevertheless, John Howe is the kind of artist the world desperately needs. An ancient pagan returned to live among us. A wizard from the North West. He looks deep into flowers. He knows their inner lives. He understands moss. He knows that stones harbour spirits. He can taste the flavour of a wind. He has felt how deep water can cut. He has seen the sky fall. Yet, with a wave of his brush, he defies gravity and tames the elements. He makes all of this real so real that I want to dive in and never come back. Im a child again willing to adventure into these worlds. He makes me believe once again, that there are still heroes and great deeds to perform.

With this book he inducts us into the secrets of how he breathes life into his imaginings. He encourages us to develop the skills that will allow us to render our dreams on paper. Hes very articulate. Wonderfully open and clear about the way he develops his ideas. He invites us into his studio. Shows us his techniques. Nothing is withheld. Or so he wishes us to believe. But these are clever diversions. The real secret is never revealed.

Unfortunately for him, he has unwittingly left a clue to the truth of his magical skills. Look closely at page 27. And again at page 43. Do you see it? The giveaway clue. No? Look again. Note the way he holds his stylus and pencil. Is it between the thumb and forefinger? Like a normal person? No! Do you know why? Ill tell you. Its clear as day beyond a shadow of a doubt that John Howe has made a pact with the devil!!!! Shocking? Yes but true! How else could a human being create such sublime art?

Dont let him blind you with moist pages for watery skies or toothbrushes for spattering sea foam. The secret is in the way he holds the brush. I have been trying for some hours now and am slowly getting the hang of it. Ive also turned off the lights and have been burning sulphur and chanting incantations to the demonic forces. I think its beginning to work.

So, look out John Howe. Im on your tail. Im giving up directing movies and am going to show the world that I too can paint wonderous worlds of imagination and dreams. And Im going to beat you, John Howe! You should have cropped those photos more carefully.

GREEN FACE
Green faces or Green Men are one of the most fascinating, inscrutable and enduring motifs in medieval art, from Celtic forest spirit to high Gothic flamboyance.

I wanted to call this book How to Draw Like Me Its A Cinch Anybody Can Do It, but the editors seemed strangely reticent. (They said it was too long, so we agreed on a different choice of words.)

Its almost what the book is all about, but not quite. I will ramble on endlessly about how I draw and paint, but its really all about how to draw like YOU. If youre reading this introduction, and wondering if buying this book would be money well spent, Ill try to save you some time.

If you know how to draw already and you are quite satisfied with the results, then this book is not really for you. If you feel that figurative and narrative imagery is dull, this book is not for you. If you feel that mythology and fantasy have little to say to our modern world, then this book is most definitely not for you. If you are searching for off-the-shelf methods and surefire technical tricks of the trade, then this book is not for you. If you believe pictures should speak for themselves, Im tempted to tell you to buy it, because there are lots of images in it. However

If you find your mind is full of images and that they keep escaping from your fingertips, then this book may be for you. If you are unsure of the direction your artwork wishes to take, but know you should be heading somewhere, then this book may be a signpost of a kind for your journey. If you find pleasure in telling stories in pictures, then this book may help you. If life has obliged you to leave pages of yourself unturned, and youd feel better with a little company for a chapter or two, then perhaps this book is for you.

I should say right from the start that I dislike most How To books, unless they are purely technical, and concern themselves with spark plugs, hot water pipes or computer software. I dislike the temptation to reduce an intuitive and intensely personal process to a series of steps or a recipe. I am dubious about assemblages of rectangles and circles that magically turn into horses, tigers or trees. I moan when I see famous paintings divided into arbitrary circles, triangles and (fools-) golden means.