Do you use just one tool for your digital illustrator work? Then you're probably missing a trick. To be a truly great digital artist you need to keep your mind open to all possible techniques and tools - and that's exactly what the sci-fi and fantasy artists featured here have done.
They're all fans of Corel Painter, currently on version X3 (opens in new tab), and use it in their day to day work, often in conjunction with other tools like Adobe Illustrator. Here we've brought together 10 sci-fi and fantasy illustrations that show how it's a tool worth taking seriously...
01. Forest Spirit by Fiona Sansom
A freelance illustrator based in London, Fiona Samson (opens in new tab)'s favourite themes are fantasy based. This beautiful illustration of a forest spirit was created in Corel Painter 12.
02. Steampunk Inventor by Cliff Cramp
Cliff Cramp (opens in new tab)'s clients have included LucasFilms, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Penguin Books, and his work has appeared on some of the most recent Star Wars Blu-Ray covers (opens in new tab). We love this serene yet quirky take on the Steampunk genre.
03. The Gift: Simon Dominic
Simon Dominic (opens in new tab) is an English freelance illustrator and concept artist who works on book and magazine covers, story illustration, game and card art, workshops and magazine articles. Simon paints digitally using Corel Painter and Art Rage Studio Pro, and this epic fantasy scene is typical of his inspiring work.
04. Machine Flesh by Daryl Mandryk
Daryl Mandryk (opens in new tab) is a freelance artist specializing in the entertainment industry with clients including Warner Bros, Lucasfilm and EA. Based out of Vancouver, Canada, he has over 11 years of experience creating art professionally for games, film, print, and the web. The urgency of this action-packed scene simply can't fail to grab your attention.
05. Achilles: John Malcolm
Scottish digital artist John Malcolm (opens in new tab) uses Corel Painter as his main illustration tool, and also posts Painter tutorials on his blog and YouTube channel (opens in new tab). We love this Victorian-era scene of a giant robot bringing back the spirit of Greek warrior Achilles.
06. Four Horsemen: Erik Holmen
As with the previous example, when futuristic sci-fi meets classic sci-fi it can be an artistic match made in heaven. And so it is with this eye-opening creation by Erik Holmen (opens in new tab), an industrial designer who also likes to engage in 'concept fun'.
07. Junichi Fujikawa
Japanese digital artist Junichi Fukushima (opens in new tab)'s illustration Sunset Clouds is typically inventive and bizarre. His genius is to make the weird juxtaposition between a beautiful girl and a winged cat, sat atop a giant, rusting robot, seem natural and serene.
08. Gaia: Douglas Sirois
Using Corel Painter and Photoshop, Massachusetts artist Douglas Sirois (opens in new tab) has illustrated and designed everything from children’s book covers and CDs to clothing, and his clients include MGM, Fox and Image Comics. This etheral vision of Gaia, the Earth Goddess, just takes our breath away.
09. The House of Yeel
Artist Howard Lyon (opens in new tab) designed this illustration for the cover of The House of Yeel, a fantasy novel by author Michael McCloskey. A beautiful and intriguing vision that makes us want to read the book right now!
10. Do Androids dream?
Patrick Jones (opens in new tab) primarily uses Corel Painter for digital art and traditional oil paint for real world art. This artwork was commissioned for a new release of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the Philip K Dick novel on which the Bladerunner movie is based. It was pencil-sketch rendered in Corel Painter using oils, chalks and blenders.
Learn more about Painter
- Painter X3 review (opens in new tab)
- 10 new Painter X3 features (opens in new tab)
- The 10 best plugins for Corel Painter
- Painter X3: Perspective Tools (opens in new tab)
- Using the Reference Panel in Painter X3 (opens in new tab)
- Easier brushes in Painter X3 (opens in new tab)
- Top 10 techniques for using Corel Painter (opens in new tab)
- 10 inspiring artists using Painter today (opens in new tab)
