For the writing of my term paper on digital painting and my master thesis on the topic of character design I’ve bought and researched in some actual magazines. As in Germany the amount of magazines on the production of two-dimensional and three-dimensional digital art is limited, I also bought some international ones.

“ImagineFX” (Future Publishing) – The best magazine I could find on the topic of digital painting. It contains a place to share digital art with the readers, workshops on how to create and improve your work, questions get answered and you can get an insight on the sketchbook of a different artist in every magazine. At the end you also can find some information on actual products or books, apps and DVD suggestions. The magazine includes a disc with additional videos, brushes and templates.

“2DArtist” (3Dtotal) – Sadly, the only German magazine on digital painting shut down in 2012 due to financial problems. Like the ImagineFX, it contained information on actual products, apps, books, DVDs, workshops and tutorials on specific topics and basic knowledge. To give artists the possibility to show their work it also contained a gallery and a sketchbook.

“3D World” (Future Publishing) – A magazine for three-dimensional productions and art. It has information on recent events in the animation industry, shows portfolios, galleries and showcases whole project of artists. It gives tutorials on specific parts of the creation process and the post-production, answers questions and reviews actual products and software. The magazine also comes together with a disc which contains additional materials, assets and information, or you can download these files online.

“3DArtist” (Imagine Publishing) – This magazine as well concentrates on three-dimensional productions and art. It contains a gallery for artists too and many information on the actual three-dimensional world community and industry. It features actual productions and reviews software, gives workshops, tutorials and step by step descriptions on parts of the production and answers questions.  The magazine also comes with a disc which contains additional videos, tutorial files, models and assets.

“Digital Production” (ATEC Business Information) – Another german magazine, concentrating on the productions of digital films in general. Here you will not find so many information on how to work on own small projects, but you can get an insight on how the industry works with articles about films, games, projects, software, techniques, education and the industry in general.

“3D Art Essentials” and “Anatomy Essentials” (FuturePublishing) – I also liked those specialised one issue magazines.

With “3D Art Essentials” a nice overview was given on the three-dimensional art part. Its content is divided into characters, environments, creatures, vehicles, workshops and style. It also contains three features articles about computer generated illustrations and rendering tips. I especially liked the article about effectice concept prototyping, the article about the systematical use of colors in recent productions and the article about painterly rendering techniques. You can also download additional content online.

The magazine “Anatomy Essentials” concentrates on anatomy in general. Its content is divided into the human anatomy, its movement, animal anatomy and the combination of traditional and digital workflows. Although I find the whole anatomy topic very interesting and inspiring, the last part especially caught my attention as it shows how artists benefit from different mediums and their combination possibilities. The magazine also comes with a disc containing additional videos and workshop files.

“The 3D Art & Design Book” and “Digital Artists Collection” (Imagine Publishing) – Two more specialised one issue magazines.

“The 3D Art & Design Book” again shows an overview on on the three-dimensional art in general. The content is divided into the topics: character, vehicle, architectural visualisation, design, masterclass and a helpdesk. I especially liked the articles from Oliver Bucheron on his character design process. The magazine comes again with a disc containing additional reference images, tutorial files, videos and podcasts.

The “Digital Artists Collection” magazin concentrates on two-dimensional art and divides the content by programs into: Photoshop, Painter, ArtRage, Illustrator, iPad/iPhone and a helpdesk. The iPad/iPhone part got the most of my attention by introducing different apps and artists who create a variety of illustrations with them. Again a disc is included with textures, stock images, tutorial files and special brushes.

 All in all I’m more aware now of the specialised magazine section in every press shop. 🙂

While I was still writing on my master thesis I’ve used the possibility to buy issues of some magazines in their digital version directly from their website. Although this helped to quickly scan the issues for matching content on several topics, I really enjoy skimming through all the pages by hand in the original versions.