Donato Giancola: "Best Professional Artist"

Donato Giancola is one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy artists who truly captures both genres in their true essences. If you haven't already heard he has been nominated as "Best Professional Artist" for the 2009 Hugo Award Nominations. Other nominees include Daniel Dos Santos, Bob Eggleton, John Picacio, Shaun Tan, and Stephan Martiniere (although Stephan pulled his nomination since he won last year). Definitely a great crowd to be a part of! Some of the artwork that made him eligible are (shown below): Imager and The Stars Down Under.

You may have seen Donato's artwork on many book covers, in numerous Lord of the Rings and Hobbit paintings (his true passion), Magic the Gathering (card game), or various other science fiction and fantasy related media. To show you Donato's range of artwork I have included Smaug & Knights of the Old Republic: Sith Lords.

You can view more of Donato's wonderful artowork at his website. All images in this post copyright Donato Giancola.

"Fool's Gold" by Larry Elmore

Larry Elmore just found and released to the public 50 lithograph prints of his "Fool's Gold" painting which was completed for a Dragon Magazine cover back in 1988. The lithograph was a huge success and has been sold out for years. Larry apparently came across these gems while hunting for luggage! The hidden treasures we sometimes find in our own spaces are amazing!

This lithograph is for the avid Snarfquest fan and will sell out fast! Snarfquest is a graphic novel that originally ran in Dragon Magazine from 1983-1989. Snarfquest: The Graphic Novel was published in 2000 as a 224 page collection. SnarfQuest currently appears in all-new full color stories as a bimonthly feature in the magazine Games Unplugged.

3 "New" Larry Elmore Prints Available!

Today Larry Elmore released three new prints: Into The Skie, Star Frontiers, and Evil Alliance. Into The Skie was completed in February 2009, Evil Alliance is unknown with no publish date, and Star Frontiers is from the classic TSR science fiction role playing game. Each will cost you between $25-$350 depending on the size, print type, and limited edition status. Look for my tribute to Larry Elmore in the upcoming weeks. He is one of my favorite fantasy artists and I absolutely love his artwork!

Below you can see each new piece of artwork:

Into The Skie

Evil Alliance

Star FrontiersAll images in this post copyright Larry Elmore.

Keith Parkinson - "Master of Fantasy Art"

I figured for my first blog post I would write a tribute to one of my favorite fantasy artists, Keith Parkinson. The man touched many lives and will be remembered in the hearts and minds of past and future generations.

From fantasy series such as Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms to authors such as Terry Goodkind and Margaret Weis; Keith Parkinson's book covers have captured the imaginations of millions and set new standards for the fantasy and science fiction genre.

Left you will see "North Watch". This was the first painting that introduced me to Keith Parkinson and I still adore it to this day. "North Watch" was the first painting I had to have in my dragon collection. It's really what invigorated my love for dragons. To this day I still do not have a print or giclee, and I just ran across the re-opened Keith Parkinson website and they are available! It's too bad I have no where to place such a fine piece of artwork.

Keith truly knew how to paint both in-depth landscapes and yet minimal landscapes at the same time. The original landscape and character painting Keith did for the MMORPG Everquest was the second painting I fell in love with. This one I do own but sadly it sits propped against a wall in its all too expensive frame and matting. There were 3 total in the Everquest series, one for each expansion up to that point ("Scars of Velious", "Planes of Power", and "Shadows of Luclin").

Left you will see "Druid Stone", one of Keith's paintings he did for the shear joy of painting...and it shows. This is an excellent testament to what a great artist can do with just a love for the genre. "He (Keith) wasn’t just a painter; he was a true artist, who found layers of depth in everything he did, who breathed life into canvas and emotions into paint." (R.A. Salvatore).

Here you will find Wizards of the Coasts' tribute to Keith Parkinson with quite a few farewell statements and sentiments about his artwork, the great person he was, and the great friendships and lasting impressions he made.

Thank you Donna, Mary, Nicolas and Zachary for sharing Keith with us. Your insight into our beloved fantasy worlds will never be forgotten Keith. You will be missed!
*All images in this post copyright Keith Parkinson.