I’m a big fan of art books and have a pretty neat little library in my studio (if I do say so myself).

And although my studio library has art books ranging from art history, tutorials, figure drawings, and art books of specific artists I like, I’d really love to expand it into more digital painting and drawing books soon.

So, I started my research and set out to create the most comprehensive list of the best digital art books for beginners and professionals alike.

Learning through the best books or simply flipping through them to get an instant inspiration boost is definitely one of my absolute favourite things to do. It’s like a super-power move for an art block cure!

I’m confident you’ll find one (or ten) art books worth reading in this list.

Here goes.

Table of Contents

Quick Tip: If I mention artists within the book, Google them! Discover their art and see for yourself if you’d love to learn from them 🙂

Best Digital Art Books For Complete Beginners

#1. Art Fundamentals (2nd edition)

Art Fundamentals 2nd edition: Light, shape, color, perspective, depth, composition & anatomy is a revised edition of a famous old version of this book. It’s filled with concepts and theories every beginner artist needs to understand and use in their arsenal.

It’s written by industry experts and covers the basic, and yet most important, aspects of every art masterpiece:

  • Color
  • Light and shadow
  • Composition
  • Perspective and Depth
  • Anatomy
  • and more.

It’s full of complete beginner-friendly tips, tricks, techniques and valuable advice worth learning. A great beginner’s guide to the basics of digital painting.

#2. Beginner’s Guide to Creating Portraits

Beginner’s Guide to Creating Portraits: Learning the essentials & developing your own style is a wonderful intro to portraiture for digital art beginners.

It begins with the basics of drawing people: anatomy, colour, light and perspective. Yet, this book aims to teach you everything you need to know to create your own stylized, memorable, compelling characters.

It’s filled with various approaches to digital workflow, skin rendering techniques, and works in all genres (sci-fi, fantasy, historical, etc.). An excellent step-by-step guide from industry professionals.

By the way, my Patrons get access to my digital art courses:

  • Getting Started With Digital Art
  • Drawing Anything
  • Fun Perspective
  • Light and Shadow: Rendering in Digital Art
  • And more!
  • Check them out HERE.

#3. FORCE: Drawing Human Anatomy

FORCE: Drawing Human Anatomy is one of the best anatomy books for beginners and intermediate artists (in my opinion).

There are anatomy books for medical students, and then there are anatomy books for artists – this one is the latter. Mike Mattesi explains human anatomy not as a static object but as movement, energy and force – precisely what we want to accomplish in our figure drawings.

If you want to learn more about anatomy, you can also check out some of Proko’s free art lessons, they are incredibly helpful!

Note: I only include books on this list that are made in digital art format or include digital paintings. But there are many more wonderful art books created with traditional mediums that would teach you a lot of concepts that you can apply in digital art!

Best Digital Art Books for All Artists

#4. Digital Painting Techniques Vol. 1-8

“Digital Painting Techniques” is an 8-Volume art book series by 3dtotal Publishing filled with art tutorials, tips and techniques for and by digital artists.

Not all of them are for sale at the moment as the publisher printed a limited number of books for each volume. Yet, you can still find some of the books for sale.

I had the pleasure of flipping through all of the volumes at my art university’s library. I have to say; they are so well done!

Each of the eight volumes features a series of tutorials by professional artists who share their work process or specific art process in detail.

For example, Digital Painting Techniques Volume 8 features Loopydave, Randy Bishop, Daarken, and many more professional artists and illustrators.

In this book, they share their insights and expert advice on developing characters, costume design, vehicles, cityscapes, creating custom brushes, and a variety of painting techniques.

These are great for learning new skills, new art techniques and just looking at awesome digital artwork.

All of the volumes are done in a similar design format of writing and step-by-step process images.

To see what I mean, take a look at a flip-through of Digital Painting Techniques Vol.6 by Parka Blogs:

Overall, I think any of these volumes are packed with wonderful digital painting tips and tricks from professionals that are worth discovering.

#5. Artists’ Master Series: Color and Light

Artists’ Master Series: Color and Light – is a fantastic book for those looking to take their artwork from beginner and intermediate level to expert level with the use of colour art theory.

It features in-depth illustrated advice, step-by-step tutorials and case studies of advanced colour techniques not shared anywhere else.

You will learn from Charlie Pickard, Djamila Knopf, GUWEIZ, Nathan Fowkes and others. (I bet you recognized at least one of these names).

#6. Beyond Art Fundamentals

Beyond Art Fundamentals is geared towards intermediate and advanced artists who want to take their artworks a step further. You should consider getting it after you’ve already learned the basic techniques and mechanics of making art.

This book offers advice and guidance on improving art storytelling, mood, emotion and atmosphere. With these elements present in your art, you can make it truly memorable and recognizable.

It features an impressive amount of stunning artwork and unique tips.

Art Books for Concept Artists and Character Designers

#7. Fundamentals of Character Design

Fundamentals of Character Design: How to Create Engaging Characters for Illustration, Animation & Visual Development.

Discover what makes characters appealing and memorable and how you can design characters like this through visual and analytical approaches.

Learn from talented professionals about key principles of character development as a visual language through shapes, proportions and exaggeration.

Discover the industry’s secrets for drawing anatomy, gestures, costumes and expressions like a pro.

By the way, my own Character prompt ideas generator is great if you are feeling stuck and it’s completely free to use. Check it out!

#8. Master the Art of Speed Painting: Digital Painting Techniques

Master the Art of Speed Painting: Digital Painting Techniques is aimed at professionals and those training to be professional industry artists.

Matte painters, artists working for movies, and video games, and those aiming to one day work for such demanding industries need to be able to work quickly.

This book features great insights on helpful time-saving tips from industry professionals and time-specific guides to implement into your work process.

Includes useful tips on matte painting, concept design and digital painting software.

#9. “The Art of…” Books

Concept artists and character designers play a huge role in movie and video game studios. If you are into characters and concepts, you should definitely check out some of the many ”Art of…” book titles!

I own quite a few books like this myself and always feel super inspired when looking through the pages. These books are often filled with sketches, first design and concept ideas, notes, stories, storyboards, and so much more.

Definitely worth having some in your personal library. Here are just a few of many:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie

The Art of Tangled (Disney x Chronicle Books)

The Art of Pixar: The Complete Colorscripts from 25 Years of Feature Films 

The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian

The Art of The Batman

Avatar: The Last Airbender The Art of the Animated Series 

#10. Character Design Quarterly

A perfect boost of inspiration and learning for character art enthusiasts.

Technically these are print magazines, but they are so wonderfully done and provide a lot of inspirational and educational content, so I thought to mention them here too.

There are currently 20+ issues, and they are still being released four times a year.

Each issue is unique and offers tutorials, articles and interviews with some of the most talented professional artists. They are great for both beginner and expert artists.

Here are just a few of the issues:

Character Design Quarterly 20

Character Design Quarterly 18

Character Design Quarterly 15

Character Design Quarterly 12

Art Books for Digital Drawing

#11. Sketchning from Imagination Series

Sketching from Imagination is an important art skill that takes years to learn and master for many.

Whether you are into digital drawing, traditional sketching that you later scan and continue working on in digital software, or both – these books are a wonderful starting point.

Each one is filled with sketches of various artists and explanations of their thinking and process, and it’s all on various themes. These are some of the best drawing books out there, so pick what you are into and dive into the world of imagination.

Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing

Sketching from the Imagination: Characters

Sketching from the Imagination: Anime & Manga

Sketching from the Imagination: Fantasy

Sketching from the Imagination: Dark Arts

Sketching from the Imagination: Creatures & Monsters

Sketching from the Imagination: Sci-fi

Sketching From the Imagination: Magic & Myth

Art Books by Painting Software

#12. Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Procreate: How to Create Art on an iPad

Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Procreate is an amazing place to get started with creating digital art on your iPad. This book starts out with an intro to the software itself – Procreate.

If you own an iPad and haven’t tried Procreate app, you should definitely give it a try! It’s my go-to, and I absolutely LOVE IT!

And this book act as an awesome comprehensive guide to Procreate for all skill levels.

The book walks you through the user interface, settings, brushes, and various other features.

The rest of the book is definitely my favourite part, the Projects! A few incredible Procreate artists share with us their process of working with this app.

  • Illutration – project by Izzy Burton
  • Character Design – project by Aveline Stokart
  • Fantasy Landscape – project by Samuel Inkilainen
  • Fantasy Creature – project by Nicholas Kole
  • Traditional Media – project by Max Ulichney
  • Spaceship – project by Dominik Mayer
  • Plein Air – project by Simone Grunewald
  • Sci-Fi Creatures – project by Sam Nassour

Plus, in the book, you’ll find a special link to downloadable Procreate resources so you can follow along with the artist’s tutorials.

I really enjoy the flip-through video below that showcases how this book is structured and gives you a sneak peek at what you can expect from it.

Overall, I think it’s a great book for those looking to master Procreate App.

#13. Beginner’s Guide To Procreate: Characters: How to create characters on an iPad

Beginner’s Guide To Procreate: Characters (click me to see a flip-through of the book) is similar to the book above, except it focuses on character design and creation in Procreate App.

It’s 216 pages of pure character design inspiration goodness.

The book covers various topics and is broken down into 4 distinct parts:

  • Part 1: Getting Started
    • Learn the ins and outs of working with the Procreate app as a whole. It includes things like settings, layers, brushes, actions and more.
  • Part 2: Character Design Focus
    • Workflow
    • Eyes
    • Lips
    • Noses
    • Ears
    • Hair
    • Materials
    • Liquify
  • Part 3: Tutorials
    • These are 6 different step-by-step character design tutorials by six professional artists.
  • Part 4: Breakdown Gallery
    • This is the part of the book where more artists show their works at four different steps of the process and how they got to the finished piece.

This book also comes with free downloadable content of various Procreate resources from the featured artists. (instructions for their download are within the book).

Overall, I think this is a great book for artists who want to focus on creating characters and use the Procreate App on iPad.

#14. Digital Painting in Photoshop: Industry Techniques for Beginners

Digital Painting in Photoshop: Industry Techniques for Beginners: A comprehensive introduction to techniques and approaches is a great book for those who want to learn how creative professionals use Adobe Photoshop.

Inside, you will find an in-depth explanation of how to use the customizable Photoshop interface as a digital painter. All of the tools, brushes, layers, and actions are covered.

The book is comprised of 5+ parts.

  • 1. Introduction to Digital Painting (by Markus Lovandia)
    • Explore what is digital painting.
    • Hardware and software guides.
  • 2. Introduction to Photoshop (by Markus Lovandia)
    • Photoshop interface, tools, layers, brushes.
    • Photoshop in action.
  • 3. Fantasy Lanscape (by James Wolf Strehle)
    • setting up canvas,
    • using layers,
    • custom brushes,
    • layer masks,
    • value structure,
    • atmospheric lighting,
    • refining details,
    • magic effects.
  • 4. Alien Crash Site (by Matt Tkocz)
    • adding photos,
    • manipulating assets,
    • blending photos into paintings,
    • using channels,
    • saturation and dessaturation,
    • color adjustment,
    • transform tools,
    • managing layer structure.
  • 5. Steampunk Explorer (by Daria Rashev)
    • using hand-drawn sketches,
    • using selections,
    • clipping masks,
    • layer blending modes,
    • merging and sampling layers,
    • match color adjustments,
    • creating reflections
  • + Basic Functions (by Markus Lovandia)

As you can probably tell by now, the book can be broken down into 2 parts:

  • Getting to know Photoshop as the software.
  • 3 in-depth gidital painting tutorials from 3 artists.

As for the tutorials, it’s not a simple step-by-step picture process of how they painted the artworks. Rather a very well-explained process filled with hacks that can only be learned through experience (or by reading this book).

Overall, this is a perfect book for those who want to learn to paint digitally in Photoshop.

Save me to your Pinterest board!

#15. Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop (2nd Edition)

Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is an updated version that covers Photoshop’s new tools and features. This book takes you from installing Photoshop all the way to learning multiple hidden features and settings.

A large 282 pages edition covers many topics in the following chapters:

  • Getting Started
    • Basic tools and techniques, advanced techniques.
  • Tutorials
    • Grayscale to color, custom brushes, photobashing, speedpainting.
  • Textures and Effects
    • Clouds, rain, metal, fur, eyes, skin, glow, cloths and much more.
  • Inspiration Gallery
  • Art Fundamentals
    • Shape and value, color, light, perspective, composition.

In addition to all of the great information and inspirational images, this book features various exercises throughout the first chapter. This is an awesome motivator to apply what you are learning!

Plus, you get access to downloadable resources that come with this book.

Overall, a great choice for those wanting to learn how to use Photoshop for digital painting and to learn new digital art techniques.

#16. Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop: Characters

Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop: Characters has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a few years now. Still, I find myself flipping through it and looking at particular chapters almost on a yearly basis.

I first got it because it features Charlie Bowater, a concept artist whose work I enjoy a lot, and I was happy to discover other awesome artists within its pages.

This book is a perfect companion if you want to paint detailed and convincing characters. The tutorials feature topics such as:

  • Getting started with Photoshop.
  • Establishing your character (form, anatomy, composition, storytelling, etc.)
  • Character generation (body types, skin, face, hair, costume, background, etc.)
  • Creative workflows of 4 character paintings.
  • Quick tips on painting hair, skin, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, fur, clothing and accessories.

Overall, it’s a great book for beginner and intermediate Photoshop artists who are looking to design and paint better characters.

Art Books by Famous Digital Artists

We all have some sort of crush on our favorite talented professional illustrators. In this section, I feature some of the most famous digital artists as well as some of my favorite digital artists who have published an art book of their own.

Feel free to browse this section to find your favorite artists and discover new ones. Still, if you have a favorite artist of your own who also published an art book but they don’t appear on this list – leave their name in the comments section.

#17. The Art, Sketchbook and Style of Loish

Yes, technically, those are three separate books, but they are all from one incredible artist – Loish. And, unless you’ve been living under a rock – you have heard of Loish.

Loish is a sensational artist who basically “broke-the-internet” with her 2.4+ million Instagram followers. There’s definitely something anyone can learn from her story and art.

Loish published 3 incredible books for us to enjoy, and yes, I bought them all for my collection :).

The Art of Loish: A Look Behind the Scenes is the first book Loish released. In this book, we learn more about Loish’s story and see some of her earliest works (her childhood sketches are adorable!).

Loish shares her journey to developing style, methods of work, as well as many tips and tricks she uses daily.

This book is absolutely gorgeous and filled with many artworks, explanations and tips.

The Sketchbook of Loish: Art in progress is the second book by Loish. It’s different from the first one in that it focuses mainly on her sketches and their role in her finished art.

In this book, we peek inside her sketchbook to discover her explorations of gesture, stylization, character construction and more. We look at her traditional and digital sketches and how she effectively combines the two mediums to produce stunning results.

It also includes multiple quick tips and tricks, reference studies, exclusive artwork, personal concepts and more. A truly inspiring and educational read!

The Style of Loish: Finding your artistic voice is the third book in this series (Preordered for August 2022). While I’m writing this article, this third book is on the way to my house, so I haven’t had the pleasure of reading it yet. But I’m so excited to!

In this final book, Loish explores her style’s origin, influences and features. She looks deeper into the motivation behind her work and provides a unique opportunity for us to get inside her head.

Also, the book is filled with advice, tips and tutorials that are made to help the reader (that’s us!) discover their own unique style.

#18. The Art of Ilya Kuvshinov – Momentary and Eternal

Ilya Kuvshinov is a Russian illustrator and comic artist based in Japan. He is a universally recognized artist with over 2+ million Instagram followers, and he has 2 published art books available for us to enjoy.

MOMENTARY: The Art of Ilya Kuvshinov is the first book collection of his work. It features his art of beautiful girls in a manga-influenced style, often surrounded by Japanese landscape illustrations.

Inside, you will find finished artwork, as well as sketches and written commentary by Ilya.

ETERNAL: Ilya Kuvshinov Illustration Works features over 300 new artworks, as well as some of Ilya’s commercial work.

It’s a truly beautiful and visually-pleasing art book that inspires me each time I flip through it.

Currently, I have it standing open on top of my bookshelves Open on one of the many gorgeous pages. It’s a cool way to switch up the interior design whenever I flip through it.

#19. The Art of Guweiz

The Art of Guweiz is a book by a Digital artist Zheng Wei Gu (AKA Guweiz), who creates urban fantasy world Illustrations with incredible detail and in a manga-inspired style. With over 1+ million subscribers on Instagram, his edgy work became well recognized.

In this book, he takes us to the very beginning and shares his creative journey and the work process behind some of his most famous works.

The book is filled with step-by-step tutorials, techniques, tips and secrets to making truly original stylized art.

#20. Expedition Sketchbook: Inspiration and Skills for Your Artistic Journey

Expedition Sketchbook: Inspiration and Skills for Your Artistic Journey is a beautiful art book by Laura Brouwers or Cyarine, as known on Instagram to her 1.6+ million followers.

In this book, Laura talks about developing a personal style, traditional and digital mediums, becoming a professional artist and more.

It’s filled with her art, doodles, tips, guides, as well as projects and challenges to sharpen your art skills.

#21. NIMA – The Black Lotus by RossDraws

NIMA – The Black Lotus by RossDraws – is a cinematic, one-of-a-kind art book by Ross Tran, an experienced artist and a social media superstar (for artists, at least). This book is a mix of his artwork, concepts, and manga.

Flipping through the pages, you will see RossDraws original world, character, themes, and the main protagonist called Nima. This volume is like the first chapter of her story.

#22. Polaris: The Art of Meyoco

Polaris: The Art of Meyoco – an illustrator based in Southeast Asia who’s gained popularity on Instagram with over 1.2+ million subscribers.

This book features 240 of her pastel-coloured illustrations. She also shares a bit about the story and the concepts behind some of them.

A beautiful and inspiring art book to flip through and gain artistic insight into this artist’s world.

#23. Sketch with Asia: Manga-inspired Art and Tutorials by Asia Ladowska

Sketch with Asia: Manga-inspired Art and Tutorials by Asia Ladowska – a great 168 pages art book by a popular manga-inspired artist.

In it, you will discover an in-depth exploration of her process, together with a collection of her finished artworks.

She also shares techniques, advice and her creative journey with us within these pages.

#24. Windows to Worlds: The art of Devin Elle Kurtz

Windows to Worlds: The art of Devin Elle Kurtz – an art book journey by an incredible illustrator. Color and light in her work are absolutely amazing and just pop out of the page.

Devin shares her tools and techniques in the first two chapters. The remaining are her reflection on her work process with colour, light and storytelling.

A fascinating read that will inspire you to tell your own stories in your own unique voice.

You can also watch some free CreativeLive courses in their “LIVE” section to learn more new skills!

Summary

I hope you enjoyed my picks for the best digital art books!

There are many good books for everyone’s preference, and there is no wrong choice when it comes to picking one for you.

If I were to include all of the incredible art books published by all of the talented artists – this post would never end! Instead, I picked some of the most popular and my favorite ones.

But I’d love to hear about some of your favorite titles!

Leave them in the comments section below :).