I studied art and Illustration for my degree. So it's not much of a surprise that I have a lot of art/design/illustration books. But I also have a lot of faerie/folklore books.....and so somewhere in the middle are the faerie and fantasy art books! (I probably spend too much money on books)
Anyways, I thought why not write a blog entry about my favourite ones? and write about a different one in each blog post? So here is my first one ;D
1) My all time favourite faerie artist has to be
BRIAN FROUD. His work has been used as the inspiration for creatures in 2 of my all time favourite films; The
Dark Crystal and
Labyrinth. (both in conjunction with Jim Henson's Creature Shop). If you own the collectors edition DVD of Dark Crystal, you definitely have to check out the special features; there is a special documentary about the design work behind the dark crystal and you can see a lot of Froud's sketches and input.
One of his most famous art books is simply titled 'FAERIES', in collaboration with Alan Lee. If you like faerie art work or British folklore I would strongly recommend this book. It is just full to the brim with sketches, paintings and information on british folklore, on the stories, where they originate from and descriptions of creatures.
"This enchanting book explores the realm of elves, pixies, leprechauns, dryads and other mystical creatures. Nearly 200 extraordinary drawings and full colour paintings combine to produce a book which has stood the test of time since it was first published" - Kindred SpiritBrian Froud's drawings are so unbelievably detailed and beautiful. The creatures and characters he creates are just so imaginative, it really brings them to life. Basically I would recommend all of his books :D lol. He's my favourite not just because he is an amazing artist, but because of the great childhood memories I have of his characters from The Dark Crystal (some of the external shots were filmed in Leicestershire, which is the county i live in) and Labrynth and what an impact they had on me. The ease with which he will just create an exciting new character, and the level of detail, it's just something I find inspiring.
His website ->
www.worldoffroud.com
Dark Crystal Sequel NewsA sequel titled "Power of the Dark Crystal", has been in pre-production for several years, and is estimated to be released sometime in 2011. Genndy Tartakovsky agreed to direct on two conditions: that the film would utilize live-action puppets as well as computer animation, and that Brian Froud would return to design the characters.[2]
Nicole Goldman, vice president of marketing and publicity for The Jim Henson Company, spoke of the film's status on the January 14, 2008 installment of the Henson.com podcast, stating:[7]
| “ | ...[The film] is deep in development here, and we are as committed to it as ever. We are still planning our original vision of a film, which is a theatrical release... We are anticipating a beautiful blend of puppetry and animatronics with CG animation backgrounds as we've said all along... We're all very excited to see the film come together, and we'll be sure to update the fans to the progress as we have those updates confirmed. So stay tuned for more information on Power of the Dark Crystal![7] | ” |
