This is another book from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s Dreamscapes series. The title of the book indicates that it will be based around mythical beasts and magical creatures, once again all to be rendered in watercolour. It starts out pretty much the same as her other two books do and I was a bit disappointed to discover that the basic lessons section seemed to be made up almost entirely of content from her other books.
After the basics section the book is then divided into several smaller sections each dedicated to a different type of mythical creature or magical realm. Thankfully these are full with lots of original ideas and techniques looking at things like painting a daytime sky or creating cloud formations. The sub sections are each split into several subsections, beginning with mini lessons, tips and techniques before going into a more detailed step by step tutorial where you can put into practice some of the techniques learned so far. The book has lots of useful content, especially for the aspiring watercolour artist.
Stand out parts include the ‘moon’ section features painting moonlit clouds and different techniques for painting starry skies
The ‘witch’ section has a very good feature on how to indicate patterns on fabric.
The ‘phoenix’ section gives tips on painting flames.
The ‘tree spirit’ section has an excellent tutorial on how to meld flesh and wood.
As well as the sections mentioned above there are sections on ‘the bard’, ‘the trickster’, ‘the unicorn’, ‘the dragon’ and ‘the siren’. Each one is treated in pretty much the same way.
It’s another competent and informative book and when combined with the other two books they form a very comprehensive guide to rendering a fantasy world in watercolour.
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