Posts Tagged: Art

A Map for Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

A Map for Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, art by Dave Senior and Laura Brett – Click to Embiggen

Abercrombie on the map:

The Heroes was very focused in time and place, detailed, forensic almost, the ground all important – faux military history, in a sense, so the map needed to look detailed, professional and precise as well, with the positions of units added in for an extra veneer of military exactitude. This time around the story is taking place in an expanse of largely unmapped, scarcely settled wilderness so it made sense that the map be much rougher, less accurate-seeming, more woolly and suggestive without too much worry over blank spaces, a drawn on the back of a beermat by a fella with a big beard sense.

We all like a good map, don’t we? I do appreciate, too, that there is a slight red cast to the colour palette used for the map, making this, literally, a red country.

Noir Mario Portraits by Anthony Jones Noir Mario Portraits by Anthony Jones Noir Mario Portraits by Anthony Jones

Anthony Jones, a concept artist and faculty member at Red Engine Studios, is the man behind these creepy (awesome) noir-ish portraits of that classic Mario characters we all know and love (well, I dunno whether I love Wario, but, yeah…)

Jones explains the project:

I’m developing a story for a spin off of Super Mario Bros! So far I’m calling it “Mario”

Mario – Is a beat down Plumber and leads a lonely but modest life. He can barely pay his rent and is coming off a drug called “Star.” little does he know that he is destined for great things

Peach – She is a successful actress/model and is working her way to the top! unfortunately most of her fame has been due to the help of mob boss Bowser, which leads her into some trouble later on down the road.

Luigi – Is the brother of Mario. They used to work together until something took a hold of Luigi. Although Mario was able to control his addiction to “Star” Luigi couldn’t. Now living in the streets lost and confused he has forgotten who he is and where he comes from! Always finding the next fix Luigi slowly deteriorates.

Mario Portraits by Anthony JonesMario Portraits by Anthony Jones

More of Jones’ artwork, including more Mario portraits and a lot of tremendous concept art (some of which is inspired by John Harris, one of my favourite Science Fiction painters), is available on Robot Pencil, his official website.

What if Darth Vader lived in Feudal Japan?

Inspired by a simple question, artist Clinton Felker has produced a range of Samurai-influenced portraits of our favourite Imperial baddies (and a bounty hunter).

Kurosawa would be proud. More of Felker’s artwork can be found on his blog. Prints of his artwork are also available.

Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks, Wards of Faerie

Art by Todd Lockwood

One of the most exciting things about the upcoming release of Wards of Faerie, a new Shannara trilogy by stalwart Fantasy writer Terry Brooks, is that, for the first time since The Wishsong of Shannara, in the ’80s, the novel will feature artwork to go alongside Brooks’ story. It’s doubly exciting because they chose one of my favourite artists, Todd Lockwood, to do the art. I’ve always felt that Lockwood and Shannara would be a good mix. Having read Wards of Faerie, I think he nailed the feel and look of Brooks’ characters and world.

The above image is kinda small, but Lockwood also made some detail shots available, to give us a closer look at some of the characters.

Khyber, Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks, Art by Todd LockwoodWards of Faerie by Terry Brooks, art by Todd Lockwood

Great work. I can’t wait to see the rest when Wards of Faerie comes out this summer. I know Brooks gets a hard time nowadays, and he’s been writing some hit-or-miss novels for the past several years, but Wards of Faerie is one of his better novels and I hope other fans are as excited as I am to see where he takes the trilogy.