How ImagineFX has been inspiring and championing the digital art community for 20 years

The year 2026 marks two decades since ImagineFX burst onto newsstands, making it the perfect time to look back at two decades of serving the art community.

If you’re a long-time reader of our sister magazine ImagineFX, it may only feel like yesterday when it first appeared in the shops to inspire artists, highlight new talent and champion the work of industry leading professionals. And whether you work with pencils or pixels, we sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as we have.

Ever since the inaugural issue was published in 2006, it’s been the magazine’s goal to bring the artistic community together with fascinating interviews, deep dives into art techniques and key product reviews that can elevate your craft. If we’ve helped even just one of you to take your work to the next level, we consider our mission accomplished.

Birthdays are the perfect time to take stock, though. And to celebrate, the team decided to look back on some of their proudest moments. From exploring the studios of art heroes to covering the latest developments in the industry, it’s been a busy 20 years.

Whittling down the top picks was tough, but the one thing that unites them is the passion of the community that we continue to be grateful for. It’s been a real honour to have you along for the ride. Here are just some of the highlights of the story so far. If you don't already, Subscribe to ImagineFX today to receive the magazine every month.

Issue One of ImagineFX

Digital art was still in its early stages in 2006, but the first ImagineFX issue, with cover artwork by Kyung-Min Cho, tapped into people’s desire to learn more. Inside were the likes of George Hull, Don Seegmiller, Henning Ludvigsen, Frazer Irving, Robert Chang, and children’s book illustrator Jonny Duddle, all keen to pass on their knowledge.

Studio tours

Issue 43 saw ImagineFX’s first Artist in Residence feature, when it visited Lee Carter’s studio. The section has gone on to profile a variety of creative setups ranging from the tidy to the chaotic, from comic artist Joe Quinones to Disney legend Aaron Blaise. Magic: The Gathering artist Steve Argyle described his studio as “a decadent little corner crockpot of clutter, slow roasting Heaven and Hell.” Since then it’s gone on to visited

Going digital

In October 2011, ImagineFX broke new ground by being one of the first magazines to launch a digital edition on Apple’s Newsstand platform. Today, readers can enjoy a new issue the instant that it’s published on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac or ebook.

Procreate lands on iPad

2011 was a digital art game changer thanks to the launch of Procreate. The affordable iPad art app has been used by Kyle Lambert in his iconic Stranger Things poster (see ImagineFX issue 140) and Doug Chiang’s Star Wars concept art. In issue 232, we looked at how the world of animation could be shaken up with the release of Procreate Dreams, which is also very reasonably priced.

Roll for wisdom

We weren’t the only ones celebrating a landmark birthday recently. Dungeons & Dragons turned 50 in 2024, and to mark the occasion ImagineFX dedicated issue 247 to the popular tabletop role-playing game.

Complete with a cover by Larry Elmore that pays homage to his iconic box art, this special edition looks back on D&D’s rich artistic history with insights from the likes of renowned fantasy author and artist Tony DiTerlizzi, who pins the success of his career on the game. Ralph turned turned Horsley – who would eventually go on the work on the property – shares how D&D changed the direction of his art when he started playing at age 13.

Meanwhile, creature designer Alexander Ostrowski reveals how he updated its classic dragons for a modern audience while staying true to their storied history. Topped off with insights from Anne Stokes, who proudly flies the flag for painting “kick arse” girls in armour, this issue was a true delight for the team to put together.

Cover artists

One of the regular high points of collaborating with industry leading artists is seeing the covers they lovingly create.

Each issue has a goal or theme in mind, whether it’s the mighty Loish helping us to celebrate issue 150, Asia Ladowska explaining her manga art skills (issue 172), pro ling a titan like the late, great Kim Jung Gi (issue 178), Karl Kopinski’s tips to get better at drawing (issue 192) or advice on painting Catwoman from comic artist David Nakayama (issue 229). Over 20 years, that’s a lot of standout cover art – and artists!

Sketchbook insights

Finished artworks are all well and good, but there’s also plenty to learn from raw drafts. This is the thinking behind our regular sketchbook specials, which invite pros such as Ben Mauro, Rain Rouhani, Achy Bright and Jennifer Park among many others to share their rough drawings and doodles.

Elsewhere, issue 235 saw legendary life-drawing illustrator Glenn Vilppu pass on his advice, which launched our ‘how to draw…’ series for artists keen to master the portrayal of the human form.

Visionary artwork

Recently we’ve had a raft of talented artists appear in ImagineFX, who have all worked on film, TV shows and comics. Whether it’s the art of Dune (issue 207), the iconic Alien films (issue 248) or Mike Dorey, Dylan Teague and Toby Willsmer – all artists who have drawn for 2000 AD (issue 211) – fictional franchises continue to inspire.

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