Anthony J Foti — Fantasy Art Illustrator for Games & Publishing

Modern portrait and print illustrator Anthony J Foti is one of the biggest names on the fantasy art scene, creating imagery for leading tabletop, roleplaying and online games as well as book jacket illustrations. His digital paintings are full of magic, mystique and action, and can regularly be seen in ImagineFX Magazine and Fantasy Flight Games’s Star Wars lines.

Anthony lives in the Bay Area of California, and is inspired by animation production art and books as well as Japanese art books. Other influences range from portrait painters to contemporary children's book illustrators. He went to South Orange County School of the Arts in Dana Point, and attended San Jose State University's Animation and Illustration programme.

Approach

Though most of his images begin with 30 or 40 thumbnail sketches, the bulk of Anthony’s work is done digitally. He’ll often shoot reference photography once he’s worked out a composition. Then he paints the image digitally.

Style

Anthony’s artwork is reminiscent of the Academic style of painting, but with flourishes comic book art and pulp illustration. He adapts the look and finish to whatever is most appropriate for the project and how much realism is required.

Client list

Some of Anthony’s clients include Fantasy Flight Games, Wizards of the Coast, ImagineFX, Games Workshop, Scholastic, Coca-Cola, Oxford University Press, National Geographic, Penguin Random House and Hitpoint Studios.

Fantasy illustration of Mirialan character