REVIEW: CDQ: Character Design Quarterly, 29 (magazine issue)

Character Design Quarterly is a magazine, although each issue has its own ISBN and it's possible to purchase individual issues, which is how I ended up with this one.

Review:

It doesn't matter which issue of Character Design Quarterly you pick up, you're always going to end up with quality artwork and character design advice and tutorials. This issue features:

- An interview with Ben Eblen, the cover artist, about his art and career
- A step-by-step look at Eblen's process for creating the cover art
- A step-by-step look at Sarah-Lisa Hleb's process for creating a "shy sheep" character
- A step-by-step look at Corah Louise's process for creating four members of a Victorian family
- An interview with John Loren
- Paul Joseph Nicholson's tutorial for expressing personality in your character designs, using a hare and tortoise as examples
- A step-by-step look at Iz Ptica's process for creating a character using the prompts nature, party, and tiny
- Andy Na's tutorial for using color to amplify emotions and draw the eye
- An interview with Poopikat (Kate Pellerin) about her art and career
- A gallery of artwork by artists Dan Sprogis, Kenny Leoncito, and Haiyang Sun
- Laura Dumitriu's tutorial for creating different looks (sporty, casual, elegant) for characters, using a couple different characters as examples
- Erica Hodne's step-by-step process for designing a Robin Hood character
- (Inside the cover flaps) Lorenzo Etherington's tips for drawing rabbits and hares (which, thinking back to a needle felted rabbit I created, also contains helpful information for 3D work)

As always, a really nice publication with lots of tutorials and tips and fantastic artwork.  

REVIEW: Character Design Quarterly, 23 (magazine issue)

Character Design Quarterly is a magazine, although each issue has its own ISBN and it's possible to purchase individual issues, which is how I ended up with this one.

Review:

I enjoyed the other issue of this publication that I read, so I decided to pick up a few more. This issue features:

- An interview with Kenneth Anderson about his art and career
- A step-by-step look at Kenneth Anderson's process for creating the cover art
- A step-by-step look at Angel Ren's process for creating a white lion rock guitarist
- An interview with Dave Guertin
- A step-by-step tutorial on Kaining Wang's process for creating a pair of characters meant to work together as a team in an ongoing narrative
- A tutorial from Nathanna Érica focused on color schemes
- A gallery of artwork by Raahat Kaduji, Paige McMorrow, and Maxine Vee
- A character design tutorial from Michaela Nienaber, focused on the creation of a stylized anthropomorphic character using the keywords "engineer, plant, excite."
- An interview with Jackie Droujko
- A tutorial from Eléonore Pelluau on the creation of an anthropomorphic vegetable character intended for a younger audience
- A step-by-step look at Marjolaine Roller's process for creating a reimagining of the Bluebeard character for a younger audience
- Insider the cover flap, there's a tutorial from Lorenzo Etherington on creating flip-shape characters

I don't have anything new to say about this. As usual, it's got great artwork and a nice look at several different artists' process for creating various kinds of characters.

REVIEW: Character Design Quarterly, 25 (magazine issue)

Character Design Quarterly is a magazine, although each issue has its own ISBN and it's possible to purchase individual issues, which is how I ended up with this one.

Review:

If you have any interest in how artists progress from a prompt or an idea to a completed character design and illustration, I highly recommend this. The artists in this issue include Lynn Chen (the creator of the issue's cover art), Simone Grünewald, Cam Kendell, Aurélie Lise-Anne, João Moura, David Navarro, Roger Pérez, Anastasiia Platoshyna, Alex Relloso, and Jennifer Voigt. There's also a creature teeth tutorial created by Lorenzo Etherington under the cover flaps.

The issue includes:
- a detailed step-by-step look at the creation of the cover art,
- a step-by-step look at the creation of "a family of circus performers on vacation,"
- some info on the creation of an owl character, an interview with Simone Grünewald (who was involved in the games A New Beginning, the Deponia series, and The Pillars of the Earth),
- a detailed look at the creation of a wizard character,
- some tips from Jennifer Voigt,
- a gallery of art by Eunbi Kang, Ben Eblen, and Shannon Hallstein,
- a step-by-step look at the creation of an illustration using the prompt "wind, adventure, youth, light,"
- an interview with Cam Kendell,
- some tips on using lighting to create different moods,
- and a detailed look at the creation of an "embittered, eccentric old man and his animal sidekick"

Not only is the artwork a treat for the eyes, the detailed process information is fascinating and makes me itch to play with my art supplies.