|
-
Hivemind social net
-
News
- Features
- Blogs
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Google Toolbar scifi
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Imaginistix by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell
01/01/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Paper Tiger. 192 page illustrated hardback. Price: £20.00 (UK). ISBN: 9-781843-404057. Buy Imaginistix in the USA - or Buy Imaginistix in the UK  check out website: www.anovabooks.com and www.papertiger.co.uk
Paper Tiger have been awfully quiet on the fantasy art-book side lately although this one has just come out in time for those who want their annual fix of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell's art.
It also looks like someone's taken my query in previous book reviews to heart and this time there's a section devoted to their calendar work and how much in recent years has been unfettered by cover demands rather than material used elsewhere. Considering how little of the books which feature their cover art that gets released over here, I expect they would forgive this reviewer that assumption.
What does make this book especially interesting is that this is nearly all work that hasn't been used in previous books. Considering the volume of work both artists produce annually that shouldn't have been that difficult to do. Even more remarkable is the range from including a couple portraits of James Marsters and Jennifer Garner to some advertising work.
The text by Anthony and David Palumbo also gets second billing compared to the amount of art in this book. This is very informative about both Vallejo and Bell's introduction to commercial art but ends so abruptly at the end of each section that I wonder if this was an editing decision or if the Palumbos have any inexperience with rounding topics off. Whatever. This should not distract from the bulk of this book.
There are also some preliminary work shown. Bell particularly points out that her initial sketches for book covers are only a couple inches square to ensure the design has the maximum impact. Considering one of the photographs shows the size of the painting, little more than A3, it's a shame that the size of the paintings as well as the year is omitted from this book. Although this information would be of little use to those who like looking at pictures, I'm sure if would be useful to artists looking at both Vallejo and Bell for inspiration and technique to put things in context and realise they don't have to work at enormous scale. Mind you, enlargements of sections of some of these paintings also shows how the attention to detail isn't lost at any scale.
If you're into Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell's artwork then you should already be eagerly be off buying this book to enjoy yourself. The few snippets included here doesn't do justice to the larger version.
GF Willmetts
|
|
