This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.
Having trouble coming up with something to draw? No worries - while you'll eventually learn how to start from a tiny seed of a thought and gradually nurture it into a complex concept to explore through design and illustration, it's perfectly fine not to be there just yet.
For now though, here's an idea that might interest you.
As Old as Stone
Just as matter is never truly destroyed, so too do the creatures of this world never go extinct - they merely change their form. Or at least, that was the hypothesis of Professor Theodore Paddington, once renowned wildlife biologist who had recently published his suspicions. He posited that the creatures who had disappeared from the surface of our planet merely delved deeper under its surface, adapting to their new environment, rather than falling off the record as an evolutionary dead-end.
Sadly, the peer-review process was far from kind to our dear professor. Rather than considering his ideas on their merits, most rolled their eyes and declared him mad, having read far too much Jules Verne.
That was the last the world had heard of Professor Paddington- at least, it was until years later, he stumbled from a cave in Equatorial Guinea. He was dehydrated, mumbling incoherently about having been right. This was not unexpected, given that the world had already deemed him insane, but what he clutched in his hand as he emerged caused his detractors to cease their ridicule and take a second look.
What he held was a tooth. A very large tooth, from a creature known to have gone extinct millions of years prior. The fact that it was fresh, with bits of flesh and specs of blood still covering its root, was not the primary thing that gave them pause, shocking as it was. It was overshadowed by the fact that this tooth was not entirely organic. It was not a fossil, but amongst what was clearly the enamel were striations of granite, flecks of copper, and even bits of what appeared to be diamond.
Secretly hoping to prove him right, you joined an expedition launched with the express purpose of exposing Paddington’s lies and to set the matter to bed once and for all. To the dismay of the rest of your team, what you found has set our understanding of evolutionary biology back to its infancy.
What did you see? Herds of ankylosaurus with ridges of quartz along their backs? Massive megalodon with teeth of obsidian, lurking in the vast oceans that lay beneath the crust? Giant ground sloths dragging their enormous frames through complex networks of caves with claws of rusted iron?
Show us, that we might know what monsters lurk under our very feet.
This one isn't doing it for you? How about this one instead: Fantasy Ice Cream Cart >>>
The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
The Art of Brom
Here we're getting into the subjective - Gerald Brom is one of my favourite artists (and a pretty fantastic novelist!). That said, if I recommended art books just for the beautiful images contained therein, my list of recommendations would be miles long.
The reason this book is close to my heart is because of its introduction, where Brom goes explains in detail just how he went from being an army brat to one of the most highly respected dark fantasy artists in the world today. I believe that one's work is flavoured by their life's experiences, and discovering the roots from which other artists hail can help give one perspective on their own beginnings, and perhaps their eventual destination as well.