Posts Tagged: Marc Simonetti

Art by Marc Simonetti

Art by Marc Simonetti

Michael J. Sullivan revealed the cover art for The Death of Dulgath, the third volume in his Riyira Chronicles series, with artwork by French artist Marc Simonetti.

Marc Simonetti is one of my favourite fantasy artists, and his work here is just sublime. It should surprise no one that I’m much in favour of the shift away from the photo-realistic, figure-based covers that Orbit produced for the first two books in the Riyira Chronicles series. Sullivan agrees. “I never felt that the models used for the other pair were a good representation of how I saw Royce and Hadrian. But, by the time I saw them it was far too late to do anything about it,” he said on his blog. “For [The Death of Dulgath], we wanted to keep Royce and Hadrian’s back to the camera and focus instead on Castle Dulgath, a run-down abode on the edge of the sea and the site of the majority of the novel.” Read More »

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Since the passing of Josh Kirby in 2001, Pratchett’s series has gone through a long search for a new artist that could match the verve and energy of the legendary artist’s interpretation of Pratchett’s beloved world. At long last, it looks like we’ve found the answer: French artist Marc Simonetti. From Gone with the Wind, to Abbey Road, to The Wizard of Oz, Simonetti’s artwork features the same level of tribute and sophisticated satire that makes Pratchett’s work such a joy. If there’s ever been so perfect a pairing of author and artist, I’m unaware.

Above is just a small part of Simonetti’s Discworld art collection, and many more paintings, which are used for the UK covers, are ava on Simonetti’s website. Whether you’re familiar with Discworld or not, Simonetti’s art is an achievement in itself, and well worth spending some time with.

Every once in a while, an artist nails the artwork from the book they are covering. Marc Simonetti does it on an alarmingly regular basis.

Marc Simonetti's Artwork for MistbornMarc Simonetti's Artwork for MistbornMarc Simonetti's Artwork for MistbornMarc Simonetti's Artwork for Mistborn

This artwork, created by Simonetti for the Brazilian edition of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, is gorgeous, and the most accurate to imagery that I had in my mind’s eye when reading Sanderson’s trilogy. That Mistcloak! Those Inquisitors! Kelsier’s grin!

Known among fantasy fans for his work on foreign-language versions of many of fantasy’s biggest series, like Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles or Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, it’s about time that Simonetti makes the leap to working with some of the big North American and British publisher on the first run major fantasy releases from those authors. The guy’s good enough that his art should be on bookstore shelves everywhere.