Hell Beasts: How to Draw Grotesque Fantasy Creatures

by Jim Pavelec

Draw the stuff of which nightmares are made. If you harbor a love of imagery most foul, of demons and monsters and devils of all sorts . . . then welcome to the book from hell. Within its pages lurk... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581809263
• ISBN13: 9781581809268
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Impact
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Original ideas and illustration

"Hell Beasts" by Jim Pavelec represents a book filled not only with original and entertaining illustrations, but with information on many mythological creatures, some not so well known. I enjoy reading about these creatures, and will use the book as resource for my own artwork.

an excellent resource and inspiration

Mr. Pavelec's book is an excellent resource for anyone in (or interested in) the fantasy art niche (though, the lessons is just as valid for any type of art, I believe). Though the book is loaded with all sorts of tips about making convincing and interesting creatures, I'd say the underlying focus is on the composition of a figure. Jim displays in many examples how to focus on the primary action or energy of a pose, even if the pose isn't inherently dynamic. The viewer gets to see many paintings evolve from thumbnail sketch to a completed illustration, along with a side commentary about why he makes his choices. When I was starting out, I would have begged. borrowed or stolen to get my grubby paws on this book. Even as a reasonably seasoned professional, there are still a number of pearls residing between the covers.

For any would-be comic or graphic novel artist

HELL BEASTS: HOW TO DRAW GROTESQUE FANTASY CREATURES is for any would-be comic or graphic novel artist: it tells how to create and draw monsters, how to make selected monsters even creepier, and how to draw upon imagination to create new monsters. It's a pick not just for graphic novel and comics collections, but for any general-interest lending library reaching out to young would-be artists.

Brilliant!

This is an extremely well illustrated, and well put together manual on how to draw hellish fanasty creatures. Jim Pavelec's representations of abstract and chaotic beings such as the Demogorgon, Leviathan, and Basilisk (to name a few) are quite phenomenal. His creations are not typical of the common how to draw monsters, dragons, etc.-type books. His hell beasts are one-of-a-kind, carefully crafted works of art. It is very reminiscent of Frazetta. One feature that I especially love about this book is the mythology behind each creature. Jim pulls many of his beasts from Japanese folklore, European folklore, and Greek and Roman mythology, and provides detailed descriptions of their origins. Jim Pavelec is definately a master of his art. I highly recommend this book!

Jim Pavelec (aka Iced tea guy) rocks.

I'm not much for the entire fantasy genre and neither do I have the imagination for such macabre concepts. With that being said, let me continue and make you understand why I am writing a review, and a positive one at that! Jim Pavelec is an amazing artist. I've read instructional art guides before and I never really got much out of them. Out of this one, I received way more than I bargained for! He covers the basics and the tools that you'll need to do what he's about to cover. At the end of the book, he says that he has many inspirations and that it is okay to use that inspiration from other artists to create something of your own. In finding your niche, you can go through many. That may or may not make sense, but it did me a hell of good! I never knew these monsters had names! It was 18 bucks well spent, thank you very much. It made me want to become an illustrator and offer services to paint nasty aquatic on bathroom walls. I could write another page on how happy I am that I bought this book and the nightmares that Mr. Pavelec's creations dwell in, but I have walls to paint.