I have a signed Grey Sister hardback to give away!
For a chance to win it comment under this post naming one (or more) of your favourite fantasy artists or/and SFF book covers (you can even add links if you’d like). You can select one from below if you don’t have one, but I’m hoping to see new ones mentioned, too, rather than just repeating the ones I picked. There are so many talented artists out there, point us at the ones you like!
As always, this is an international giveaway, anyone can enter.
The giveaway closes on 18th March 2018. I will ask Mark to select a random winner the next day!
Below I listed just 8 of my own favourite fantasy artists:
Magali Villeneuve
Magali Villeneuve is hands down my top favourite fantasy artist and I’m finding it really hard not to fill this page with dozens of her artwork. I find her art absolutely amazing. If you haven’t heard of her definitely go and check out her website HERE.
Gandalf by Magali Villeneuve
Arwen Undomiel by Magali Villeneuve
Cersei Lannister by Magali Villeneuve
Jason Chan
We were incredibly lucky to have Jason Chan as cover artist for six of Mark’s books so far. Instead of displaying the Mark Lawrence cover art we all know and love I decided to list two other ones from him. Of course, he has plenty more HERE.
Cover art for “Lost Covenant” (author Ari Marmell) by Jason Chan
Cover art for “The Kneebone Boy” (author Ellen Potter) by Jason Chan
Aleksei Vinogradov
Aleksei Vinogradov is another exceptionally talented digital concept artist. If only I could get him paint all my favourite characters from Red Sister! Check out his work HERE!
Rey by Aleksei Vinogradov
“VS” by Aleksei Vinogradov
Kimberly Kincaid
I cannot not mention the wonderful Kimberly Kincaid. Not a fantasy artist, strictly speaking, although we can thank her for the Road Brothers cover art and she has produced several other fantasy-related work. If only she had not been taken from us so early 😦 You can still see her work on her Facebook page and can read her inspiring answers to my questions in this interview I did with her shortly before she passed away.
Kvothe by Kimberly Kincaid
Emmett Cullen (Twilight) by Kimberly Kincaid
Greg Rutkowski
Greg Rutkowski is another artist whose work I could fill pages and pages with here. It’s a real struggle to select only two. If you haven’t heard of him before, take a look at some of his artwork HERE.
“Dragon’s Breath” by Greg Rutkowski
“The Ring-bearer” by Greg Rutkowski
Tomasz Jedruszek
The artist whose artwork inspired Mark to write Red Sister. Do I need to say more? Actually I do. He is the cover artist for the UK versions of the Book of the Ancestor trilogy (Red Sister paperback, Grey and Holy Sister hardback and paperback). You can find more of his work HERE.
“Battle of Fair Isle” by Tomasz Jedruszek
.
Grasp of Fate by Tomasz Jedruszek
Conor Burke
I accidentally came across Conor Burke one day when I was messing around on the internet, looking for a previous Facebook post of mine about my own fictional character who is also called Conor. I loved his artwork instantly. Not to mention that after listing artists from France, USA, Russia, Poland finally I have a fellow Londoner to list! Although I believe he’s originally from Waterford, Ireland, which is apparently the country’s oldest city and was founded by Vikings. You can find more of his work HERE!
Viking Cataclysm by Conor Burke
Dark Souls 3 concept art by Conor Burke
Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
Last but not least. Bastien Lecouffe Deharme is the US Cover artist for the US editions of The Book of the Ancestor series and so his artwork features on the hardback I’m giving away here as the prize! I personally love this cover and it’s in a strong competition to become my favourite Mark Lawrence cover artwork along with the Prince of Fools UK cover and The Liar’s Key US cover by Jason Chan, which are my personal favourites. Which one(s) are yours?
Anyhow. Needless to say that Bastien Lecouffe Deharme is an incredible artist. Take a look at some of his other works HERE.
Avacyn by Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
“The Eyes of the Witch” by Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
All the above artists, and most likely the ones that will be mentioned in the comments can also be found on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Please consider following them in support for the amazing work they do.
The Grey Sister book photo used in the blogpost was taken by Jaime Arkin.
So once again, to enter just comment below with your favourite fantasy artist(s) and/or SFF book cover art(s).
Give-away closes on 18th March 2018!
Please note: your email address will be required for the submission but will NOT appear on the website!
(Alternatively you can also log in with your WordPress/Facebook/Twitter account)
Wishing you the best of luck,
Agnes
that thorn guy 
John Anthony Di Giovanni (and even more when paired with Shawn King)
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I really like Connor burkes work from dark souls 👍but Magali Villeneuve is the one who takes top spot for me✅
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I stumbled on Fan Ming (the artist, not the revolutionary….I think…) and have loved their work ever since.
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Daniel Dos Santos, and Kazu Kibuishi
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One of my top by far is Raymond Swanland – http://raymondswanland.com/Images/MagicTheGathering%20Gallery/Kresh.jpg
I mostly know him from his Magic: the Gathering artworks, but he’s done several book and comic covers, as well as various other illustrations that crop up in places. He’s got such an identifiable style and I love the heavy contrasts of darkness and light that he uses.
Also gonna mention Paul Kidby, in honour of the date – http://www.paulkidby.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/massif-1400x890_c.jpg
Whilst Josh Kirby is iconically Discworld, Kidby actually brought the characters to life in such an effective way. It’s obvious from his art that he’s a huge fan of the works as well as an incredibly talented artist.
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Pen Astridge
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Not brown nosing here but Red Sister cover by Janson Chan. Before reading it was just a normal cover bit after finishing. . .I think it’s one of the damn coolest covers out there.
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* cover, but after finishing. . .
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Hi Gino,
pleased to hear you like the Red Sister cover art! The artist wasn’t Jason Chan however. It was Bastien Lecouffe Deharme for the US edition and Tomasz Jedruszek for the UK paperback.
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I love the cover of Rob J. Hayes’ “It Takes A Thief To Catch A Sunrise” https://www.facebook.com/TheHeresyWithin/photos/a.1326976520685333.1073741833.506878116028515/1326977054018613/?type=3
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Really love Robert Jordan’sThe Fires of Heaven e-book cover by Dan Dos Santos, as well as many other newer Wheel of Time covers. Not to bash the older book designs, but I used the ebook covers as laptop wallpapers for years!
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Richard Anderson.
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I always hoped to see my name across a Michael Whelan cover one day, so I’ve gotta go with him. So many great artists out there, though, including all of those above.
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For a recent favorite, I must cite the covers for The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft, designed by Ian Leino. The covers are striking and beautiful and would make beautiful wall art. *hint hint*
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I basically love every artwork and cover ever designed by Richard Anderson. He recently did the cover for Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames and I also love all the covers he did for Brian Staveley ! He has a somewhat rough and almost unfinished style that I just adore.
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I really love Marc Simonetti’s work.
http://art.marcsimonetti.com/projects
ASOIAF – http://art.marcsimonetti.com/grr-martin-a-song-of-ice-and-fire
Kvothe – goo.gl/e25PmV
Gardens of the Moon – https://i.redd.it/ohpqbo8bymd01.jpg
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My favorite is Dan dos Santos! 😀
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I’ve got to second Cindy S. I really liked the cover of Kings of the Wyld
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Brom. Besides being a talented artist he is also quite the writer! I would recommend Lost Gods for everyone who loves dark fantasy/horror and amazing artwork! https://www.bromart.com/
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Mark Simonetti. Some gorgeous art here: http://art.marcsimonetti.com/fantasy
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My favorite book cover is The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley, but I don’t know the artist off hand.
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Richard Anderson
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Boris Vallejo
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I have to go with Alan Lee and Geoff Taylor. Their respective work on Lord of the Rings and Midkemia always brings me back to my childhood.
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I dug the simplicity of Steve Leialoha’s illustrations on Peter & Max by Bill Willingham. A spinoff from a comic story so he brought some of that same imagery over. The cover of the book is alot more subtle in tone and reflection that alot of the pictures on google can’t convey.
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Marc Simmoneti….
http://art.marcsimonetti.com/fantasy
Look it up and stare in awe
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You already know it’s King of Thorns I believe by Jason Chan!!! My all time favorite book cover. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zyR2
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Jason Chan was one of my favourite artists since I saw his art for Magic the Gathering! Deathpact Angel is still one of my faves.
It’s hard to pick a favourite so I also love Wes Burt, Jaime Jones, Titus Lunter, Karla Ortiz and Victor Adame’s work, all for different reasons. I highly recommend checking them all out.
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My favorite fantasy artists have to be Rebecca Guay and Terese Nielsen ( both of Magic the Gathering fame ). Amazing painters both of them!
As for favorite cover I’d have to go with Jason Chans’ work for The Broken Empire – Limited Edition.
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My favorite is a tie between Anne Stokes
http://www.annestokes.com/dragons.html
And Anna Ignatieva
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For me the three LoTR great ones:
John Howe
Ted Nasmith
Alan Lee
Of course there are more, but I love those three and the King of Thorns cover. It’s perfect
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Richard Anderson. Especially the covers of Brian Staveley’s The Last Mortal Bond and Skullsworn.
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Jason Chan.
All the Thorns covers but King of Thorns has to be my all time favourite book cover!
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Raymond Swanland, especially for his work on the subterranean press edition of The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
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Michael Whelan on A Memory of Light
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I’d have to split my vote between Connor Burke (no relation) and Tomasz (have been in love with his work for years). I also ADORE the art of ‘wolp’ (Wang Ling)
https://wlop.deviantart.com
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I really like the artwork of Kit Buss!!
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I’m going to go with the UK cover for Oathbringer.
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I have always LOVED the UK cover of Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie. I believe the cover art is by Dave Senior. It such a gorgeous book. I really need to look into getting a UK edition shipped to the states.
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I am a huge fan of Jason Chan.
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Magali Villeneuve
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The amount of awesome artists is sadly way too big for humans to comprehend, but if i’d have to
name just one: Jakub Rozalski, also known as a Mr. Werewolf. Independent concept artist,
storyteller & illustrator, creator of the 1920+ world.
https://jakubrozalski.artstation.com/
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The stormcaller cover always caught my eye. It is by Tom Lloyd but the cover is Larry rostant and it sold the book series to me before I ever picked up his first book
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Hands down John Howe’s art! http://www.tokkoro.com/picsup/2820603-j-r-r_-tolkien-the-lord-of-the-rings-owyn-nazgl-fantasy-art-john-howe___fantasy-wallpapers.jpg
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Michael Whelan
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/
Wendy Pini
And whoever does the Throne of Glass series, which I can’t find credited anywhere…
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I’ve always been fond of Darrell K. Sweet.
It was his covers for the Wheel of Time, the Saga of Recluse,
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.
He did fantastic covers for some of the most iconic fantasy and sci-fi books out there.
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Wylie Beckett, Greg Rutkowski, Marc Simonetti, Tod Lockwood, Tomislav Jagnjic, Anna Podedworna, Bartlomiej Gawel & I would also recommend checking out the #criticalrolefanart hashtag because you can find some incredibly talented artist that way.
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Sam Green’s cover Of Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer (UK version) is excellent!
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Stefan Stankovic with his cover of The Rage of Dragons. I only picked up the book because of the cover, and I’m yet to read it since.
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John Howe, all the Lord of the rings art and the majority of Robin Hobb’s books. Fools Fate is probably my favourite, he can draw dragons that I see in my deepest imagination.
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I am a huge fan of the art done by Cliff Nielsen https://www.facebook.com/cliffnielsenillustration/ .
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Always liked Darrell Sweet’s cover for Roadmarks and all his covers for the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
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Fav Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith- primarily for his correct representation of Mina’s Tirith (black great wall people!!)
Joe Abercrombie book covers are fantastic.
Dave Senior
Didier Graffet/Bragelonne
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/firstlaw/images/0/02/The_Heroes_UK_hardcover.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110821154112
Winner:
But Benjamin Carré’s cover for The Lies Of Locke Lamora sold Scott Lynch’s book to me right there and then.
Beautiful.
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I like that Janny Wurts paints the covers for her own books.
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Alan Lee, Jason Chan and I particularly love Camila Vielmond’s fan art for Kvothe: https://vielmond.deviantart.com/art/Young-Kvothe-494904269.
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Alan Lee and John Howe, obviously.
Todd Lockwood and Steven Stone.
As well as, the book cover for Donaldson’s Seventh Decimate. Simply incredible art!
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I love Chris McGrath’s work
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I really like the covers of the Brent Weeks night angel trilogy and the Lightbringer series. I also like the covers of Peter V. Brett’s demon cycle series. I’m referring to the UK covers. It’s interesting to note (from my point of view) that the covers of the night angel trilogy and demon cycle series are photos of models that are then manipulated to give the final covers.
There’s something about that style that I like, especially when the models/photographer etc. capture the look of the character that I have imagined.
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+1 on Benjamin Carré’s cover for The Lies Of Locke Lamora 🙂
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My favourite book cover art has to be the simple yet beautiful books of John Gwynne, ‘The Faithful and the Fallen’ Series. All covers have just one weapon and a subtle backround of war…Fantastic!
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I love me a good Mark Lawrence book. Or Brandon Sanderson. Or John Gwynne. All great authors!
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The cover of Myrren’s Gift which was done by Les Peterson caught my eye and introduced me to a fascinating series and then had me picking up all the rest of Fiona McIntosh’s books.
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I really love that cover for Soldier’s Redemption by M. R. Anthony. I haven’t read it sadly, but I voted for that cover last year in the SPFBO cover contest.
I put a fair bit of effort into finding out who actually made the cover art, but to no avail.
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Frank Frazetta was the greatest cover artist, just see his Conan covers. For modern artists I love Alan Lee and Stephan Martiniere (who did one of my covers).
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BROM is fantastic, both as an artist and a writer. The child thief is great and so is his last book, Lost Gods. https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348764504l/299081.jpg https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a3f16b1edaed8ba03b28ab4/5a3f17990d9297d16897990d/5a41e4fbc830259b5dd4dc8d/1515525863066/Art-of-Brom-fantasy-cover-web.jpg?format=500w
Also DAVE McKEAN and all his Sandman covers. https://sites.create-cdn.net/siteimages/9/1/6/91688/302203.jpg
httpshttps://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51MTzWBhA1L._SX367_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SANDMAN-OVERTURE-McKean-Gaiman.jpg
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Wow wow wow Greg Rutkowski!
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Kings of the Wyld gets my vote as well.
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Greg Rutkowski.
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By far my favorite art is done by Michael Whelan for The Dark Tower, not only that covers but the illustrations in the books themselves are great and really add some depth to the story
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Greg Rutkowski’s “Dragons Breath” is my favorite.
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Every single one of of Victo Ngai’s covers are stunning.
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The cover of Scott Lynch’s ‘The Republic of Thieves’ is my favourite
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Anything by Magali Villeneuve is a winner in my book.
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Picking favourites of fantasy artists? That’s like choosing a favourite food…impossible! Jason Chan is definitely among my favourites. Also since I just finished rereading it, http://andreaspreis.com/ Andreas Preis here made the most amazing cover for the most amazing Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/books/the-gospel-of-loki/. Also Stephen Youll http://www.stephenyoull.com/stephenyoull.com/GALLERY/Pages/CREATURES.html, responsible for Dragons Most Glorious on the covers of Stephen Deas’ novels.
(I suppose it wouldn’t help my chances if I mentioned that my birthday is the day after tomorrow? No? No.)
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I have recently discovered Djamila Knopf. (@djamilaknopf) Her art style is somehow magical and full of warmth. Sadly she hasn’t got to draw a book cover yet.
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I love Frank Frazetta’s work – for me he’s the level you need to get to to be considered great. There are others though – Donato Giancola for one – this take on Red Sonja is great – gritty real feel to it http://www.donatoart.com/gallery/redsonja.html
Also Raymond Swanland – otherworldly look – http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration03.html
And Lucio Parrillo’s stuff is cool too – http://www.lucioparrillo.com/
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Piotr Dura. Doesn’t do covers as far as I know, but great sci-fi/fantasy artist.
https://piotrdura.deviantart.com/art/Houses-of-the-holy-Southern-Empire-688817358
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(It seems my post didn’t go through? Maybe when I tried to include the link…)
I’m a big fan of non-specific art on book covers, and one of my favourite artists is Jackie Morris, who has designed the covers of Robin Hobb’s books latest editions. They’re worthy of a museum!
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There are a few covers that I’ve been big fans of when I’ve received the book. I like the design of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books, with the cluttered map tables full of detail and texture.
I also really liked the cover of Throne of Glass (Sarah J Maas) and Joe Abercrombie’s Half the World, just because they look visually impressive and really heightened my anticipation of reading the book.
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Jabari Weathers, Frank Frazetti, Shawn King.
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My favorite it Dave McKean.
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I love Daniel Dos Santos’ works, they are so beautiful
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I’m going to go a bit older here and say Laurence Schwinger’s cover of Pawn of Prophecy, one of my all-time favorite books.
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Alan Lee hands down. It is obvious why they used him as a lead designer on the Rings films. His attention to detail and ability to translate the written word into beautiful art is stunning
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I really like Abigail Larson and Arantza Sestayo (for the Grimthorn and Black covers).
Lynn 😀
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I like Laura Brett – first cover of The Blade Itself, from Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy
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http://aidanmoher.com/blog/2012/09/art/cover-art/cover-art-for-the-dark-defiles-by-richard-morgan/
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I’m partial to Michael whelans work on the dark tower series. Specifically the last book where Roland is holding the rose.
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I will go with the following authors :
Brandon sanderson with Elantris
Brian Staveley with The last mortal bond (had to pick one of the series)
John Gwynne with Ruin.
Covers?
Complete Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson
Adult covers of Harry Potter (UK edition, Bloomsbury), J k. Rowling
Asoiaf covers with white background (UK again. Harper voyager), some guy called G.r r. Martin
The moontide quartet by David Hair.
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While not strictly a book cover artist, I really like Jakub Różalski’s artwork in general. It has a feel of gritty fantasy.
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One of my current favorites is Richard Anderson who has done the covers for Kings Of The Wyld as well as the upcoming Bloody Rose and the covers for the Unhewn Throne series among others. His website is flaptrapsart.com and he is @flaptrapsart on Twitter.
And I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t enticingly the legend that is Larry Elmore.
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I really did like the oathbringer cover on brandon sanderssons book
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Michael Whelan of Stormlight Archive fame!
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I loved the Elise Kova’s Loom Saga covers by (artist’s site for anyone interested http://nickgrey.com/index.html) and Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.
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One of my favourite fantasy artists goes by the name of Wojtek Fus, who created art for several video games, including “The Witcher 3” and “Horizon: Zero Dawn”. Here some examples:
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Frank Frazetta. So many iconic works that to me epitomised fantasy art. So much so ‘we’ copied on to fuel tanks, cut-offs, walls in the 6th form block…… RIP.
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The Cover of Prince of Thorns. This cover made me pick up my first fantasy novel and I havent stopped picking up new ones since.
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I love Shawn Kings covers. The colors always amaze me and the designs…. Wow!
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Chanh Quach Did some wonderful cast art for Robert Jackson Bennett’s Divine Cities.
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Magali Villeneuve – incredible
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Marc Simmoneti
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Gustave Doré
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I’m going to have to go with Frank Frazetta. His paintings for covers of the old conan books defined what dark fantasy looked like to so many people and have been imitated and parodied countless times.
https://www.frazettagirls.com/products/conan-the-barbarian-print
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