| Majestika:
The Art Of Monte Michael Moore pub: Paper Tiger.
128 page hardback. Price: £20.00 (UK), $29.95 (US), $46.95 (CAN). ISBN:
1-84340-185-1. check out website: www.papertiger.co.uk
This
is a self-proclaimed fantasy cheesecake book by the artist Monte Moore. His work
is mainly in cards, like 'The Gathering', than book covers and is therefore more
dependent on figurework than scenery as well as meeting tight deadlines.
Moore
also displays through his writing his philosophy of going after publishers for
work which is something all neo-artists ought to read, not to mention a whole
chapter in how to prepare a painting which is quite informative. If you want to
improve your use of blending stumps and a variety of erasers to highlight rather
than to rub out detail, this will be of interest. 
If anything, his real weakness in this book is the lack of variety and development
in poses that struck me the most. The majority are very much foreground and in
a linear pose. Whether this is a problem with the type of commissions or only
what is shown here is debatable but his failed comicstrip here displays a similar
problem. 
Moore
admits that he admires the work of comicstrip artists but fails to appreciate
that it is the variety in scenes rather than body close-ups that makes comicstrips
work. Still, he has to be admired for showing his failures as well as his other
bodies of work so to speak.
The appeal of this
book is likely to be for those with an interest in games like 'The Gathering'
and those who want some mild titillation from the cheesecake poses. For others,
I think it would be best to check this off the shelf as to whether the work is
to your taste. As Monte Moore is a regular convention-goer, it might also be worth
kicking him a little to do a book which covers more of the range of his artwork
than seen here.
GF Willmetts
|