How To Draw Fallen Angels by Mike Butkus and Michelle Prather (art book review)
Looking at the title, ‘How To Draw Fallen Angels’, the word ‘Fallen’ doesn’t really sink in that this book, text by Michelle Prather and art by Mike Butkus, is about some of the residents of Hell. As Prather reveals, even those from Heaven aren’t particularly nice neither and both sides appear in different countries over the world. You do have to wonder what angels and dragons have in common that they spur the imagination to think of them in unrelated ways. Angels come in many different forms and sizes and not all have wings.
Butkus choice of art supplies is less standard. What I know of vallum paper is that apart from being a tad transparent, it does break up after a while according to American comicbook inkers. However, it is durable enough and as Butkus points out he also uses a light box for copying where transparency is useful and the rather expensive Photoshop to augment his art. From a critical point of view, both items are expensive pieces of kit for the amateur artist, although you can buy a USB powered A4 lightbox these days, and I wish he gone into more details on alternatives. I suspect most artists will go for the first sketch they get right than copying it onto another piece of paper. There are also a lot of cheaper decent art software out there if you want to go digital. Well and truly, you’re watching how Butkus does his art and giving tips from it rather than help you at the drawing or painting stage.
Further in, Butkus shows more of his equipment and he uses 3 monitors as well as what appears to be a graphics tablet that he can see what he is drawing which is going to be well above the expenditure of many artists. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, if you are going to go digital art, the key ingredients are a decent video card and a combined computer RAM/memory of 16-24gB and the likes of Corel Paintshop or Manga Studio 5/clip Studio Paint Shop 5 will do all that you need and even has the same command as the far more expensive Photoshop so you should be able to stay within a suitable budget and build up gradually.
As clever as Butkus’ art is, I have a feeling that Prather’s research into fallen angels will be an even bigger asset in getting you started into any investigations of these creatures. For the art, if you’re beyond being a beginner, then there should be sufficient tips to enhance any work that you do.
GF Willmetts
December 2016
(pub: Walter Foster Publishing/Quarto. 128 page illustrated very large softcover. Price: £12.99 (UK), $19.95 (US), $24.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-60058-221-9)
check out website: https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781600582219/How-to-Draw-Fallen-Angels.html?direct=1
