Editorial
Happy New Year and welcome to Issue 037 of 2DArtist magazine! Being the start of a new year and all, I thought I would give a little insider info as to what you can expect from us this year. We’ll soon be kicking off a brand new series, created by Dwayne Vance and Hoi Mun Tham on rendering vehicles. This is going to be a five-part series that takes us right from the thumbnail concepting stage through to final renders, and the vehicles – well, I’ll keep you in suspense on that bit of info as I think you’ll like what’s in store. Another great series we’d like to start this year is on 2D character creation – not your everyday anatomy practice, but something with a little bit more ‘bite’. So if you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution for 2009, then how about: practice painting (and buy a subscription to 2DArtist magazine)? (Worth a shot, huh?! *winks*) If you buy now then you’ll be sorted for the entire year, so have a read through this month’s issue and if you like what you see, why not invest in us for 2009?

OK sales speech over; let’s get back to the January issue – so what’s in store? Well, we have two interviews this month – our first one with freelance artist, Tomasz Jedruszek, who has worked for a variety of big names – Fantasy Flight Games and White Wolf Publishing to name a couple. We caught up with him for this month’s issue to find out a little about what caused his career shift from architecture to illustration; check out his stunning portfolio on page 7. Our second artist interview is with Jim Maxwell, matte painter and concept artist who has worked on some great feature films of late – Mr & Mrs Smith and The Incredible Hulk being just two. So for a glimpse into the world of matte painting and concept art for high profile projects, check out page 23.

Bringing the sketchbook back to you this month we have a great article for you from Justin Albers, who kindly gives us a sneak peek at the fantastic sketches that can be found in his “junkyard collection of ideas and designs” (page 35). You can also find Justin’s work gracing the tutorial pages in his latest speed painting interpretation of the topic, ‘The approaching swarm appeared biblical in scale and straight from a nightmare’. Check out page 75 for Justin’s take on the subject, alongside in-house artist, Richard Tilbury’s answer to this month’s brief.

Our other tutorials have been created by Chee Ming Wong, who this month looks at capital ships as part of his in-depth look into space transport design (page 83). And because we’re tutorial crazy here at 2DArtist, we also asked Joel Carlo to create an article for us which takes us back to basics on composition (page 69) – what better way to start the year than to get a better understanding of one of the key components of image making? Finally, to wrap up the teaching section of this issue, Soheil Danesh has generously provided for you all a look at the creation of his beautiful Flower Concept, on page 97. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, enjoy the issue and catch you next month! Ed.