Learn surreal painting secrets with ImagineFX

ImagineFX 161 cover featuring a woman with a half buzz cut emerging from swirling abstract shapes

Master the techniques of famous surrealist painters with the latest issue of ImagineFX magazine - on sale today. Inside the pages of issue 161 you'll discover how to turn abstract ideas into strong character art, plus you'll learn how surrealist artists whipped up a strong sense of atmosphere. There's more to it than painting melting clocks!

Buy issue 161 of ImagineFX here!

Elsewhere in issue 161 we pay a visit to Jake Parker's studio, celebrate 25 years of Magic: The Gathering, and reveal how to build up a ghostly scene with paints in our traditional artist workshop. On top of this there's the usual news, reviews, and reader art that you've come to expect from the world's leading digital art magazine.

Take a look at this issue's lead features below.

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Staying smart on social

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Time to log out?

Getting distracted by social media is a problem for everyone, but artists in particular struggle to manage their time online. We talk to artists from all walks of life to discover how they strike a work and social media balance, and hear how the online platforms can be used in a proactive way.

Inside the mind of Allen Williams

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Pay a visit to the illustrator's subconscious in our interview

American illustrator Allen Williams' fascination for drawing started at a young age as his family moved around the country. We talk to the artist about how he teases imagery from his subconscious using prose and poetry.

Sketchbook insights

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Get a behind the scenes look at the work of top artists

Few things are more tantalising than taking a look inside the pages of an artist's sketchbook. Here you get to see them at work as they figure out various drawing challenges. In this issue we take a peek into the sketchbooks of Tobias Kwan and Daria Theodora and discover what makes them tick.

Revisit a surreal master

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This workshop pays tribute to one of the most inspiring surreal artists

The work of Zdzislaw Beksinski has been revered as some of the best surrealist art of the 20th century thanks to its haunting atmospheres and sinister, baroque characters. In this workshop we revisit this master and learn how we can emulate his style in our own digital and traditional paintings.

Storytelling art

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Learn how a single image can take you on a complete journey

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, which means that artists can spin entire stories from one single well-crafted image. In this in-depth workshop we explore how a carefully curated mix of character design and world building details can say more than pages and pages of text ever could. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...

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Dom Carter

Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.