Best Fantasy Book Art (Roundup)
/Every year as I go through and evaluate our yearly stats, one Pinterest board reigns supreme.
Fantasy Art is a hot topic. Why? Because some of the most talented artists gravitate toward the genre, where they can play with magic, mythical creatures, and tell a story with a single painting.
I've been quite obsessed with the fantasy art genre since I was young, and so I thought what better way to end the year with a round up of some of the best fantasy art out there.
*Note to authors: the art on your book cover is extremely important. Many of the top fantasy artists create work that would look so lovely illustrating your novel or gracing its cover. Spend time hunting around and send out some queries to your favorite artists -- you might be surprised with how they respond!
Top Fantasy Art of 2017
Eiich Matsuba is an artist living in Tokyo, Japan. His works are gritty, fantastical, and gorgeous. Almost like a rougher version of Hayao Miyazaki. Though he works in dark colors, there remains something light about each work.
FireFly Galaxy
Nameless Driftage
Tomislav Jagnjic from Belgrade, Serbia, has an incredible style reminiscent of watercolor though he favors digital art. What's most notable about his work is his composition choices, for example, angled lines shot through with light and shadow create landscapes that are both majestic and mythical.
Brainstorm Challenge
Wolf Rider Speed Paint
Quentin Mabille of Paris, France jumps effortless from realism to illustration in works that could easily grace the tv screen for a new magical series. Even his simplest works include meticulous detail that adds to the overall pleasure of looking at his work.
Old Valley
Skull Cave
BANE from St Paul Minnesota is one of my all time favorite artists, and, incidentally, the artist who rendered Ella Bandita and created all of the covers for my novelettes. His work is powerful -- he managed to capture Ella Bandita's ugliness when other artists would make her too beautiful, and still imbued her with a sexiness and allure that helps her ensnare her victims.
Aditya Ikranegara is an Indonesian artist with an extraordinary style. He's one of those rare artists who are able to convey more through a lack of detail -- a sort of blurring of the works that creates raw emotion out of the sidelines.
Dark Phoenix
Pause
Ruiheng Liu from Wuhan, China is the last stop on the art list. He doesn't have a big spread of work on the internet, yet the one piece I discovered is one of my favorites. He's created a magician with a backstory that you can feel from the art itself.
Magician