Favorite Fantasy Artist - Round Table

Archangel_Gabriel · Forum Newbie Joined: Jul 08, 2002 Posts: 1 Location: Maine

Frank Frazetta, Jeff Jones, Barry Windsor Smith, Brom.

RenderMancer · Forum Newbie Joined: Sep 15, 2002 Posts: 2 Location: SoCal

How come nobody has mentioned the absolute master - Thomas Kinkade

Boris, Julie, Royo, Rowena, Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, Chris Achileos and Michael Whelan. All of those are somewhat responsable for me getting into fantasy art.
For Sci-Fi I would say Chris Foss, David Hardy and Rodney Mathews.
For pen and ink illustration, nobody comes close to Bernie Wrightson. Check out the work he did for the illustrated Frankstein.

mookiejr · Forum Newbie Joined: May 15, 2004 Posts: 1

Absolutely Frank Frazetta hands down. Whether it's sculpture, oils, watercolors or comic strips he does excellent work. There is a painting of his called 'Masai Warrior' which he finished shortly after his first stroke. He painted the face using his left hand for the first time and it's perfect.

PsychaDurmont · Forum Newbie Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 1

Personally what really got me into art were Margaret Weiss and Tracy hickmans books of Dragonlance which were illustrated by a group of fantastic artests (Larry Elmore was my personal favorite then more recently Matt Stawicki (sp?)), I Liked Boris Valejo's works and have some of his art books but I am now more into Brom. Also Dee Dreslough is great with her Gryphons and Dragons (an artest that I discovered completely by accident online)!

Chasart · Forum Member Joined: Sep 13, 2002 Posts: 27

Ah, I'll drink up anything I can get my hands on. My favorites tend to stretch far into the pre-fantasy art category. Dali, Bosch, Klimt... even Elvgren, Vargas and Nagel.

For top fantasy-art names, I'd pick Giger, Sorayama, Olivia, Serpieri, Saudelli and Kaluta. For illustration works, Milo Manara and Esteban Maroto are by far my favorites (and their watercolor works are even more captivating), and Michael Manning is an amazing new guy to watch.

I'm also quite partial to the Barron Storey clan: Dave McKean, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ian Miller....

And for us comics folks, we can't forget Berni Wrightson, who singlehandedly pioneered the etch style popular today, although his was far darker, more textured, had more depth and effectiveness. There's also Frank Miller, who carried the torch after Wrightson, injecting a lot of pre-manga Japanese comic influences a la Lone Wolf and Cub.

For all the Boris mentions, I'm surprised that Ken Kelly's name didn't come up -- less known but a far more consistent trooper in that style. And yes, I do enjoy most of the names previously mentioned, although Frazetta is by far the most inspiring when you get to know more about him, his quotes and his life. And ditto on Matthews... for all the angular and spiny landscapes that have come since, no one was ever able to match the drama of his.

I also delve into a lot of kinky artists (Bill Ward, Robert Bishop, Coco) and the exploratory art of John U. Abrahamson or Susi Medusa Gottardi. But that's just me.

Chasart · Forum Member Joined: Sep 13, 2002 Posts: 27

And I just wish I had an inkling of the talent and ability of any one of them.

eferrier

Hate to sound repetitive, but for me it has been:

Frank Frazetta
Boris Vallejo
Luis Royo

Obviously I also like Julie Bell.

I like the style and stories of Juan Gimenez too.

Eddie

Trinity7 · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 9

lets not forget Brom ......Royo's women are xquisite...and what can you say about Valejo, Bell and Franzetta..... you are asking me to choose one!?....lol...couldnt do it if i tried.....all the artist above have inspired me in different ways...one for shading,, the other for content...color usage.. ect......its likes Lays chips....just can't choose one...

Trinity7 · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 9

oh and i almost forgot....Mobius and for the old masters it always has been and always will be Dali...there are a lot of artists that i dont know the names of but know their work who are really good too......

malvarco · Forum Newbie Joined: Jul 22, 2004 Posts: 1

Frank Frazetta, no second opinion for me.
I'm still impressed with his Vampirella covers.

Trinity7 · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 9

Vampirilla is the first exposure I had to fantasy art and why I luv Franzetta but alot of the others are no slouches and inspire me to do as well (dont know if i will ever make it but......) i also forgot to mention Olivia and the work of Michael Turner for the Image Comics.....Just keep comming up with them....

Josephus · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:

Boris Vallejo was the first fantasy artist I was really exposed to; his covers for the '70's Sci-Fi Book Club's versions of Philip Jose Farmer's "World of Tiers" and Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber" stick in my memory, in particular.

Since then, there's been several artists who I've admired greatly: the Brothers Hildebrandt (I have their illustrated "Dracula", and the color plates they have in it are all works of art), John Bolton (the original "Books of Magic"), Alex Ross (geez, just about anything he does), George Perez (especially his work on "Crisis of Infinite Earths" and "Wonder Woman"), Dave McKean (all those imaginative "Sandman" covers), Charles Vess ("Sandman", mainly) Tony Harris ("Starman") and Michael Zulli ("The Last Temptation of Alice Cooper" and, yes, "Sandman" as well) stand out.

Trinity7 · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 9

a lot of them stand out....so many great artists and so little time...i just found out today that my son (who is living with my mom right now) is applying for to the school of the arts for highschool kids in the city i use to live in. maybe he wil become one of those great artists.....(sorry just had to share that

takes after his mom he does...lol)

Mircea · Forum Member Joined: Jun 02, 2002 Posts: 36

madmaxh · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject:

I'd have to add M.C. Escher to the list. That guy did stuff with woodcuts and pencils that still blow my mind.
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