Fantasy Art Essentials

Whether you’re an admirer of fantasy art, or you want to get to grips with its techniques in your own work, this ultimate guide is for you. Featuring galleries of inspirational imagery and classic interviews with undisputed luminaries of the fantasy art world like Rodney Matthews, Boris Vallejo, Brian Froud and many more, it’s packed with incredible artwork that shows off the talents of some of the world’s most famous fantasy artists. And that’s not all; each interview is backed by a guide to the styles and techniques in question. There are even artists who’ll show you some of the secrets of the late and much-lamented Frank Frazetta, or the magic of faerie illustration. Plus, there’s a Core Skills section at the back that’s packed with the essentials you need…

The Peruvian prodigy Boris Vallejo, a professional artist since the age of 16, was amongst the core number of artists that defined the ‘classic’ fantasy art of the 1960s, making his name with his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan The Barbarian and Doc Savage. In the 1990s bodybuilder, model and painter Julie Bell married Boris, and since then they’ve produced a prolific body of hyperrealist fantasy art, that celebrates the fantastical body beautiful with dynamic heroines and mythical creatures galore. With a slew of art books and calendars to their names, the couple continue to push each other on, working together for a variety of commissions, from ad campaigns to Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell 3 cover. www.imaginistix.com “We very much inspire each other, our minds work similarly in all…

It’s easy to forget the influence the man behind fantasy’s most famous alias has had on comics and sci-fi art. Having plucked the name Moebius out of the air at 22, Jean took comics into a new world touched by the surreal and led by the metaphysical. He then went on to help epitomise the face of modern sci-fi. Making his name with the 1960s comic strip Blueberry (initially using the pseudonym Gri), Jean then formed the United Humanoids in the 1970s, a group responsible for the original Heavy Metal magazine. With Arzach, Moebius popularised a text-free, non-linear comic style. He was then hired as a concept artist for the films Alien and TRON. Moebius died in 2012, but his distinctive art legacy is assured. www.moebius.fr “When I started, I…

Whether you love or loathe his darkly stylised art, if you’ve the slightest interest in digital art, the chances are you’ll recognise at least some, of HR Giger’s work. From the 1970s onwards he transformed himself from an obscure Swiss surrealist to mainstream Academy Award-winning artist for his iconic work on Alien. Commonly combining themes of elemental eroticism with an aesthetic that involves biomechanical mixtures of machine and alien flesh, his unique style has inspired countless artists. 1998 saw the creation of the Giger museum, at Château St. Germain in the ancient walled city of Gruyères, south-west Switzerland. With this venture Giger signalled a change in his attention towards sculpture and architectural design, which he studied at university. Giger retired in 2008, and put painting to one side in favour…

The twin brothers Tim and Greg Hildebrandt may have found fame within the fantasy art world with their classic promotional Star Wars poster, but the two had been professional artists and recognised by industry artists for 20 years before. Bred on Golden Age comics and Disney, the brothers wanted to be animators. After working in that field on industrial and commercial films, in 1969 they switched to illustrating children’s books for six years. Then came along a competition to paint a Lord of the Rings calendar. The brothers’ winning paintings made a strong impression, and the third in the calendar series sold more than a million. Later, asked to paint a Star Wars poster eight days before the film’s release, their image became an instant classic. A career in comics,…

“To me Conan wasn’t a fictitious cover of a book. He was once a living entity” Ken developed his art chops working on horror comics, but it was his work on the cover of rock band KISS’s first platinum album Destroyer that fired him into the big time, introducing him to a whole new world of fans. More than 40 years later, Ken’s KISS artwork is still popular on his website. But before the iconic rock images, his work on horror comic titles like Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella was shown alongside art by Frank Frazetta and Neal Adams. Frank was Ken’s tutor in commercial artistry and even reworked Ken’s first commissioned piece. As KISS became superstars, Ken was making his name as a book artist great, producing a series of…