Book Review: CG Scenes From Sketch to Finish

From sketch to finish

CG Scenes From Sketch to FInish is an artbook that looks at the creation process of environment concept art.

28 artists are featured in this 192-page paperback. The artworks featured are very beautiful. I like this book more than CG Characters From Sketch to FInish which is the other book in the series.

For each painting, around 5 pictures are shown in sequence for the creation process which starts from a draft or block in, layout, to the finished coloured versions. 5 pictures is not that much considering some of the paintings are quite detailed. Some of the sequence pictures are quite similar to the previous one, so at times it can be difficult to see what has been added or modified, and there aren't any instructions below each picture.

The only text comes in the form of descriptions about the paintings and the highlight of that piece. There are also artists interviews but they talk about tools and techniques, but not specific to any piece of work. Short drawing tips appear occasionally.

I suppose the purpose of the book is to get a rough idea of how these artists work. It might give some ideas on where to start if you're having a creative block. It's definitely not as detailed as the Digital Painting Techniques series of artbooks.

It's a pretty cool book. The artworks are great. There's a good mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, mythical environment art.

The artists included in the book are: