So what is your favorite fantasy art work (single piece: painting, bronze, whatever)? And if you can, a little about why? I actually need to do a little research to try and answer my own question. I'll get back to you and I
I have always like this John Carter of Mars picture because it just seems to convey so much of what one sees in the books. He's one of my favorite sword & science characters and this picture just draws me in and makes me think of all the battles he fought and won to "get his lady."
Tramp's AD&D PHB cover. Do I really need to post a picture? To me, it just invites so many questions that it pulls me right into the D&D mindset. Who is that an idol of? Where is that dungeon? Who built it? Why are there lizard dudes there? Do the guys prying the eyes out think they get them gems for themselves? What the hell is going to happen if they pry the eyes out, meaning, are they in for some demonic retribution or a curse? and so on... After that, I'm all about Frazetta.
Honestly, its things like that which make me like this style of art. Her legs are what we call "thick" and they look real....not these slim things with no plumpness to them that is so often drawn and idealized in modern culture. This type of artwork just has a realistic feel to me and when I look at women like this I can actually believe they can survive in a rough & tumble world.
Flying Elephants (with dragonfly wings!). Floating Islands! Castles! Guys riding Dragons. Relayer. Why - Roger Dean, of course. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I'd call anything my favorite. But his work was certainly the most influential on me when I was a young lad...
Oh, yes, I'm sure that bikini increases her survivability greatly in a rough & tumble world. I think you're just looking at the changing times. That painting isn't recent... maybe 70s or early 80s? What people felt was attractive then is far different than now.
You're probably right. I guess I'm just stuck in the past.....where's my disco shirt and bell bottom jeans?* Seriously, the reason I think I like that particular work so much is that it's very similar to the descriptions found in the books. My concept on survivability, though, has to do with the fact that she's got some meat on her bones and it doesn't come off with an overly muscled look. Not being the athletic type, I was surprised to find out that a thin layer of fat over muscle actually helps with insulation so that helped frame my comment. As to other artwork that I've enjoyed, I would have to say that whoever did the artwork on the early cover printings of the Belgariad by David Eddings (and if you know please tell me) did a wonderful job. I've enjoyed those covers and would love to have them in prints. *Okay, thanks a lot for bringing back some really horrific memories of the 70s. My parents ran a nightclub during that period and I saw some of the craziest clothes you'd ever see!
OH, NO!! Geek Preacher doin' the Hustle!!! :shock: Gotta save that thought for the lounge in the hotel at GC3. :lol:
Wow, tough to say. I don't think I can pick just one, but if I eliminate actual gaming art, I might have to go with one of Vallejo's Conan's. This one always was a fave of mine, at least partially because I like the story it's from:
Michael Whelan's Stormbringer cover (for the DAW paperback) was always one of my favorites. The Erol Otus D&DG cover and, well, a lot of Otus's artwork, really. And, damn, I miss Dave Trampier. Adam
I don't really have a favorite. So many good artists, so much good fantasy art. How does one pick a favorite?
That would be Laurence Schwinger. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?25806 Doesn't seem to have much of a web presence, though.
Frazetta's Fighting Man of Mars (right now)... but I bounce around between different pieces, depending on the season. http://frankfrazetta.org/viewimage.php? ... ofmars.jpg
It's hard not to love the classics in fantasy art, but I've been really digging the new art coming out of this 3 man enterprise: http://threeheadedtroll.com/jaybird/ http://threeheadedtroll.com/atom/ http://threeheadedtroll.com/glad/ Their blog which has some newer stuff in it is here: http://threeheadedtroll.blogspot.com/
So who am I missing? And no I haven't gone through all the book looking for pic credits, yet Great Fantasy Artists (alphabetically): Ed Beard Jr. - http://www.edbeardjr.com/ Clyde Caldwell - http://www.clydecaldwell.com/ Roger Dean - http://www.rogerdean.com/ OR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dean_%28artist%29 Jeff Easley - http://www.jeffeasley.com (just a short blog currently) OR http://ofearna.us/art/easley.html Larry Elmore - http://larryelmore.com/ Frank Frazetta RIP - http://frankfrazetta.org/ or http://www.frankfrazetta.net/ Todd Lockwood - http://www.toddlockwood.com/galleries/ Keith Parkinson RIP - http://www.keithparkinson.com/main.php Ruth Thompson - http://www.tarnishedimages.com/home.htm Boris Vallejo - http://vallejo.ural.net/