The Art of Loish

REVIEW: The popular animator and illustrator shares her art and some fascinating insights into her creative process.

5 Star Rating

Our Verdict

Containing sketches, work-in-progress, early experiments and packed with beautiful art, this is a book to be treasured.

For

  • Breathtaking artwork
  • Practical tips
  • Covers artist's process and evolution

Against

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A freelance animator and illustrator from the Netherlands with more than a million Facebook followers, this is Lois van Baarle's first art book. But it's by no means just a collection of her work. 

This 156-page coffee table book, which began as a Kickstarter project, carefully traces this talented artist's process and evolution, beginning with her first drawings as a child, through to early digital experiments and student projects, and on to her present-day client creations. Her evocative portraits of wide-eyed young women in particular take your breath away, with a combination of softness and intensity that makes her style truly unique.

The Art of Loish is full of practical advice

The Art of Loish is full of practical advice

All this amazing art is accompanied with notes from Lois on her inspirations, her process, and even where things could have been done better. Packed with more practical advice than even some 'How to' books we've seen, she shares tips on everything from choosing colours to sketching characters, and much else in-between.

And of course, there's lots of eye-catching artwork, including early sketches, works-in-progress, storyboards and finished creations. Beautifully produced on matte paper and protected in a bespoke cardboard sleeve, this is a book to be treasured.

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 141; buy it here.

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The Verdict
10

out of 10

The Art of Loish

Containing sketches, work-in-progress, early experiments and packed with beautiful art, this is a book to be treasured.

Tom May

Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World, T3.com and Tech Radar. He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.