Here’s another first on this blog – my first Featured Artist post! As you may be able to tell from some of my other posts, I’m a big fan of art, and even try my own hand at it from time to time. So, in an effort to support some of the many talented, up and coming artists, I will be featuring a new artist every 4 weeks or so!

So, let me introduce you to our first Featured Artist: Miss Lois van Baarle, aka loish.

Steel Turquoise

Lois has a really unique style that fuses elements of comic art (with a subtle anime influence), with beautiful brushstrokes, detailed rendering and wonderful use of texture. Her work has an earthy feel, while much of her subject matter is either filled with or lightly touched by whimsical fantasy.

I had the chance to conduct an email based interview with Lois. I think her answers will shed some interesting light on who she is as an artist, and about some of the inspiration and techniques behind her work.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started into the world of art.

I have been drawing ever since I was small and always considered it a passion of mine. Drawing remained a hobby until I realized in high school that pursuing art as a career might be a good decision, so I went to study animation, figuring it would help me to develop the aspects of my art which were lacking at the time (story, dynamism, personality). So I studied animation for 5 years (1 year in Gent, 4 years in Utrecht) and now I am ready to start my career.

Angey

You have a very unique style. Can you tell us a bit about that? Do you draw upon any particular source of influence or inspiration?

I have a lot of different inspirations. As a child and also today, Disney has played a huge role. One of my main inspirations is Alfonse Mucha, an art nouveau artist. I’m also hugely inspired by a lot of french comic styles, particularly that of Aurore Black Cat. Via Deviantart, an online art community, I come into contact with a lot of artists that inspire me as well.

Pinup Ariel

Most of your art seems to use textures. Can you tell us a bit about how you approach textures?

I started using textures as a way to make my digital painting look more organic and stylish. I also really enjoyed the ways in which textures can influence the color of the piece, changing the tint slightly and bringing it all together a bit more. Soon enough I became addicted and now I always use them. I definitely prefer more organic styles to slick digital painting, and I feel that textures help achieve this effect. Lately, I apply many different textures at an early phase and paint over them, integrating them into the piece more.

Cinderella Coloring Page

What about colour? Your art all feels very rich and earthy. Somehow, even your blues feel earthy. Why do you think you might be drawn to a particular colour palette?

I have definitely always loved the color blue. I find it refreshing and beautiful. So I’ve always used this color in my work. I started painting with more browns at a certain point, enjoying the organic effect it gave to my work, and with the added effect of textures, my work tends to have a very earthy feel. I like this effect so I stick to it.

I’ve noticed that several of your characters have at least partial dreadlocks. Is there any significance to this?

No, I just find dreadlocks extremely fun to draw. Also, it gives characters a more edgy look.

Smoking Fish

What can you tell us about you are currently working on?

Well, I just graduated (about 2 weeks ago) and will be receiving my bachelor and master’s degree in a few days. After that I figure it’s time to get to work! I’m not sure what I’ll be doing just yet. I want to work with comics as well as animation projects and freelance concept art, but we’ll see, I guess!

Peacock

Any future plans you can talk about?

Not really… Except for the Trichrome Project, which is the project I began with my graduation work. It is a fictional company for which three animated shrots must be made. The first one, Trichrome Blue, is my graduation animation, but the other two have yet to be made. I’m very excited about creating them!

Evening Glow

Finally, do you have any advice for young/aspiring artists?

Always aim to be the best! It’s amazing how far you can get with practice and determination. Never give up :)

Bubblegum

Thanks Lois, for taking the time to answer these questions, and for agreeing to be my first Featured Artist. I hope all you readers enjoyed this post, and that you will check out Lois’ website and her presence on deviantArt.  You can also check out her sketchblog, catch some of her animation on YouTube and follow her on Twitter.

As an added bonus, I’ve also included Lois’ Trichrome Blue short animation here. Be sure to watch this when you get a moment. It’s really beautifully done, and I’m excited to see the next two installments!

So that’s it for this featured artist post. I hope that you’ve enjoyed looking at Lois’ art as much as I do! If so, leave a comment and let us know which one is your favorite!

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I haven’t posted anything for a couple days now. I’ve been busy helping redecorate our living room/dinning room. Basically we just painted a couple of walls and hung some new artwork that we purchased on the weekend. However, I am taking a few minutes to post this incredible image that I came across.

Lately, I have been working through Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. I read the first five about two years ago, and picked Lord of Chaos up a few months ago. Currently, I am reading A Crown of Swords and loving the fact that most of it is from the perspective of my favorite characters so far (Perrin, if you must know). Anyhow, as I usually do with every series I read, I have also been perusing the internet to see if I can find any cool art (fan or otherwise) relating to these works. It was in one of these searches that I came across this absolute gem:

Moiraine Damodred by Pyji

The painting is of Moiraine Damodred of the Blue Ajah, the first of the Aes Sedai that we meet in the series. I won’t get into much more detail than that, since this post really isn’t about the books.

The point is that this is the single best piece of Wheel of Time fan art that I have ever seen. The style of the painting is really grungy, which I like, and the costume is really well designed. I also love the way that Pyji managed to really capture the ageless quality of the Aes Sedai in Moiraine’s face. Smooth as porcelain and very beautiful. It’s not the way that I have imagined the character to look, but somehow it still seems right.

Anyhow, kudos to Pyji for this awesome work, which I just wanted to share with everyone. If you like it, go check out her gallery on deviantArt. She’s got a really awesome portrait of the Joker too (a la The Dark Knight). Oh, and keep an eye out for another post about Wheel of Time art, where I am hoping to collect some of the best art that I can find from or relating to the series. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line!

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I have a lot of fantasy novels. In fact, I have an entire 6 foot bookshelf crammed full of them. I’ve never really bothered to count them, but I have them stacked two deep on some shelves and it absolutely sucks when I have to move them.

Still, it is one of my favorite places in the house. There are so many great stories there, and great memories. Some of those books I’ve had since the eigth grade, when my lifelong love affair with fantasy really began. Many of them also feature some really cool cover illustrations, which I will sometimes just go and look at, either for inspiration or for the sheer pleasure of the artwork.

Looking through them the other day, I thought that it would make a great blog post to feature some of my favorite works. At first, I was just going to post them all, but soon I found myself writing a little blurb about each cover. Because some of the covers were created by the same illustrators, I have also grouped them together under different artist headings.

So here they are: 12 awesome fantasy covers straight from my bookshelf. Enjoy!

Darrell K. Sweet

If you’re into fantasy at all, or even if you’ve walked past the fantasy section in your local book store, chances are you’ve at least caught a glimpse of Darrell K. Sweet‘s work. He is, I think, most famous for providing the cover art for Robert Jordan’s ridiculously huge Wheel of Time series. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of most of the images, but this one really strikes a chord with me. I also think it’s Sweet’s best rendering of Rand al’Thor.

My favorite Wheel of Time cover

Todd Lockwood

Todd Lockwood is a master of his art. He is undoubtedly one of my favorite artists in the genre, and it’s amazing how many of my books have his art on the cover. I include two of his covers here. The first is from the Annotated Chronicles, a collection of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – the foundational trilogy that established the DragonLance franchise and one of my favorite series.

Lockwood is a master at painting dragons

The other book is The Kingless Land, which I found in a used bookstore and, honestly, bought purely because of the cover. It actually wasn’t my favorite book to be sure, but the cover art remains one of my favorite images of heroic fantasy, so I absolutely had to include it here!

One of my favorite pieces of fantasy art...ever

Jean Pierre Targete

I don’t know much about Jean Pierre Targete, other than the fact that is work is eerily beautiful. I first saw this work in Fantasy Art Now, and incredible collection of works from many of the industry’s most talented emerging artsts. When I later saw this The Fair Folk on sale at Chapters, I decided to pick it up. I haven’t got around to reading any of the stories yet, but I sometimes take the book of the shelf just to look at the cover art.

Eerie and beautiful

Michael Whelan

Michael Whelan is a prolific illustrator, whose work has graced the covers of some of the biggest names in the fantasy genre, including Ann McCaffery, Piers Anthony and Tad Williams. His incredible artwork for the cover of To Green Angel Tower is, for me, one of the most iconic works modern fantasy. It’s also probably one of my favorite books in modern fantasy, so the two certainly go well together.

An icon of modern fantasy

Sorcery Rising is an interesting one. I’ve never been able to figure out exactly what it is about this cover that draws me in. There’s nothing particularly exciting, but I’ve always just really liked this work, which is vastly more complex than I think it initially appears.

Simply captivating

Stephen Youll

Stephen Youll is another prolific artist, whose art has also graced the covers of some of fantasy’s most popular works, including what might very well be the single greatest fantasy novel of the 1990s – George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. I really love this image, which I can only assume is Jon Snow and his direwolf, Ghost. There is another edition of this book which features the illustration across the entire cover, but I had a difficult time finding a decent image of it, so this one will just have to do.

Now, if you will excuse a bit of a digression, let me say that of the 12 books listed here, this hands down, the best. If you are a fan of modern fantasy, do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book. My only warning is that there is some bad language, and some overly intimate scenes which I just gloss over. Still, it’s an incredible book and the ending will blow your mind.

Just wish the illustration was bigger

Now back to the task at hand. I certainly don’t want to pigeonhole Mr. Youll as an artist who only paints wintery scenes, but here we have another one of my favorite book covers. I think it has to do with the snowy owl, which just adds a real sense of mystery to the illustration. There is also something about the design of this cover which really reminds me of some of the old Lord of the Rings covers. One problem I do have with this cover, though, is the simple fact that, based on the illustration, you would never know that one of the main themes of this book is the protagonist’s struggle against the demon/dragon that posseses him!

The owl's cool, but where's the dragon?

Steve Stone

More than any of the artists listed here, Steve Stone clearly works digitally. There is a definite feeling of photo manipulation mixed with digital painting in his work, and the cover for Shadowfall is an excellent example. I couldn’t say for sure, but it certainly looks like the woman (actually a goddess) looks like she could have been created from a photograph. Regardless, there is an incredibly sinister feel to this cover.

A truly sinister image

Keith Parkinson

The loss of Keith Parkinson, at the age of 47, represented a terrible loss for the fantasy art community. Keith, who is probably my favorite fantasy artist, has created cover illustrations for many of the most popular fantasy books. His work graces the covers of such writers as Terry Goodkind, David Eddings and Terry Brooks. His work also graced many of the game boxes for the once-popular online roleplaying game, Everquest.

Keith's first Sword of Truth cover

The Tangle Box is probably has my favorite cover from The Magic Kingdom of Landover series, followed closely by Witch’s Brew. The illustration is clearly Parkinson’s, featuring the smooth polished that he achieved so brilliantly with his oils.

Another great Parkinson piece

Luis Royo

There is no doubt that Luis Royo is an extremely talented artist. I only wish that the vast majority of his did not focus on scantily clad women. Call me a prude, but that’s just not the kind of fantasy I’m into. Regardless, I do like painting style, and his cover for Sara Douglas’ The Wayfarer Redemption captured my imagination and convinced me to pick the book up.

I really like the look and feel of this cover

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