Favorite Fantasy Artist - Round Table

Sharby

Who's your favorite fantasy......and no it's not what you're thinking people, we're talking artists. Doesn't matter who or from when, 70's, 80's, 90's, today (just not yourself :wink:

) . Which "fantasy artist" did you like the most when you were growing up (or like some of us "still" growing).

For me there were a couple, the big one of course being Frank Frazetta. There was something about his figures, expressions, poses etc that I just loved as kid/teen, and not just because most of his figures were scantilly clad women, but it helped. They all seemed to have this warm, soft pastel feel to them (again the pictures, not the women).

Then once I got hooked on D&D there were of course Larry Elmore and Jeff Easley. Now which one I like better between those two are a toss up, most of the drawings/sketches I did were kind of a combination of both of their styles. (But Larry is probably a few steps ahead).

Now not that I'm moving away from doing superhero pics but since I've started delving into the fantasy side again I get to "rediscover" all these great pieces of artwork again that I haven't seen for ten/fifteen years. Plus I can appreciate the scantilly clad women on a higher level now.

OrcaDesignStudios

Luis Royo. A lot of his stuff just blows me away, but my favoruite is "Kiss of Fog" (or something like that).
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Mizrael · Forum Member Joined: Jan 18, 2004 Posts: 258

Michael Whelan, From Anne McCaffery's Pern
The Brother's Hildebrandt, From Terry Brook's Shanarra Series

OrcaDesignStudios

Actually, you know who else was really good? TwinCruiser. I don't remember their real names, but they were twins who worked as a unit -- one did pencils, the other did the painted colours. They did some stuff for Dreamwave's Transformers books, but what I remember most is the WarCraft stuff they did. One of their Orcs is what set my whole Clan Wars idea in motion. Unfortuately, one of the brothers died in 2004 and to the best of my knowledge, the remaining brother "retired."

Ah, found their website again after a quick search. René and Michel Koiter.

http://www.hallsofcreation.com/
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Mizrael · Forum Member Joined: Jan 18, 2004 Posts: 258

Their work looks very similar to the Brother's Hildebrandt at first glance. I can see why you liked it.

Vadlor · Forum Member Joined: May 09, 2003 Posts: 328

My Holy Trinity:
Frank Frazzetta (did you know this guy lost the ability to draw with his right hand because of 4 (consecutive) heart attacks so he learned to draw with his left hand equally good?)
Boris Vallejos (The next best thing to Frazzetta)
Julie Bell (The next best to Boris, her husband).

Luis Royo's women are amazing. His men are also good, but Royo's ability to portray warrior women gained him his fame.

Chris Aquilleos it's also a very good illustrator in the lines of the above mentioned. He did a female version of Captain America that is simply beautyfull.

Being a long time AD&D player, can't forget about Larry Elmore. I had his sketchbook and his work, both in color, ink, and pencil it's incredible.

Going out the realism, not only a very good comic-book artist, but Simon Beasley it's great fantasy illustrator. Actually, most of his comic-book are fantasy illustrations

Well, you can't rule out Moebius (a.k.a. Jean Giraud). Another comic-book artist/illustrator. I think his most known work are the conceptual art for Alien (the space suit of the first movie is his design), and the whole look of "The Fifth element". Another comic-book artist/illustrator in the line of Moebius I really like it's Enki Bilal.

But if your looking for dragons, there is one artist no-one should ignore: Ciruelo. I met him at Fantabaires (a comic book convention in Buenos Aires) in 1999. Really nice guy. He even has a unique medium/style which is called "Petropictos". He paint on rocks but not "drawing" but rather using the natural lines and crevices of the rocks. I've seen a couple of this and they are really amazing. I missed for two days the oportunity to see a full exhibit of this in Buenos Aires a couple of years ago.

And last but not least, (this one is for you, my dear PCG), Yoshitaka Amano. No Final Fantasy player/lover should forget to mention him. Take a look if you can to his Wolverine-Elektra crossover. Very beautyfull book.
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Vadlor · Forum Member Joined: May 09, 2003 Posts: 328

PCGaijin

Well....almost everyone is been mentioned, but here I come:

Moebius, and Gir (same guy, different styles, both rock)
Yoshitaka Amano (can draw two lines and with that shake your floor)
Reiji Matsumoto (wasn't very good with the characters in particular when he started, but his lines grew more confident with time, and his personality and story-telling stick with me since I'm five)
George Perez (this man made me obsesive with eyes and curls)
Alex Ross (made me believe that learning how to paint could actually buy my way into comics)

I bleieve that's mor or less it, I know there's ppl missing, but my memory always fails in this kinda stuff.
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Aremis · Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:26 pm Post subject:

For me the first that got me into it I would need everyones help here to give me the name - He drew the cover of an old D & D playbook, one of the vampire ones, with the vampire dude holding the scantily clad in a tattered dress in his arms. That cover inspired me to pick up pencils and start drawing, and never stop.

Those that helped me pursue it further have already been mentioned.
Boris And Julie - They made me realize that art can come to life in so many ways.
Same with Frazzeta, albeit I always prefered Boris over Frank's work.
Alex Ross when it came to painting. He made me realize that painting wasnt just old school, and his colors, so muted and undertoned, are always amazing.
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the3dgm

I grew up watching my favorite fantasy artist develop, Boris Vallejo, no s at the end of Vallejo by the way. He was the person who made me want to learn to draw and paint, unfortunately, I never possed the abilities, thank goodness for computers and the modelers and texturers out there who allow me to play at it!

I would probably place Frazetta and Royo in the same league with Vallejo and that league would be Fantastic.

The only other artist that comes to mind, that I enjoy, is John Bolton, I don't know if he has been mentioned yet, but, he has also done some wonderful work.

Well that's my two cents. I'll check out the twins now.

BtaraKtahn · Forum Newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2004 Posts: 7

I absolutely LOVE Luis Royo's work. He's got an amazing way with light and texture (also, the realism of the characters is incredible).

I also have a soft spot in my heart for the illustrations of Howard Pyle.

madmaxh · Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject:

Along with Frazetta, I'd have to say Barry Smith (now known as Barry Windsor-Smith), who did the original Conan comics for Marvel. His attention to detail is mind blowing.
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LarryT563 · Forum Newbie Joined: Jan 15, 2005 Posts: 1

TYhere is only one!
Boris Valejo!
Given a second choice, it would have to fall to his wife (?) Julie Bell!

Not to take anything away from the other great artists mentioned in this thread, many of whom I greatly admire, there is no one that can best Boris.

Satan-Hall · Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:53 pm Post subject:

Frazzetta. That's about it.

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onimusha · Forum Newbie Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 7

For me it's a toss up between Brom and Borris Vallejo.

I always liked Vallejo over guys like Frazetta because of his clean lines and the realism of his figures.

No one portrays the feeling of a powerful figure like Brom. His characters looked like they could step out of the page and break you in half.