Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here

Look Here: Three more paperback covers with art by Jeffrey Jones

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Yes, more.

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]

I’ve looked at a lot of art by Jeffrey Jones over the years, and I have a pretty good memory for images, so I’m always surprised when I come across a Jones cover that I’ve never seen before. That’s the case with The Purple Pirate by Talbot Mundy, which just yesterday I stumbled upon among the used paperbacks at the local Value Village store. It’s unfortunate the book isn’t in better condition, but it was so cheap, and so rare, that I couldn’t pass it up in the hope of finding a better copy at some later date. There’s a sort-of Frazetta swipe on that cover, too; or maybe Frazetta sort-of swiped from Jones. (Anyone know which painting came first?) It’s the fallen soldier in the lower left of the painting. In my next post, I’ll provide a side-by-side comparison so you can see what I mean.

Keywords: The Big Ball of Wax, The Purple Pirate, The Stealer of Souls.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Frank Frazetta · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: Six Ace ERB covers with art by Frazetta

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What’s this? My fourth post today?

Yes… yes, it is…

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]

Seems the designers at Ace couldn’t decide whether Ace’s 1970s reprint series of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels looked better with the art wrapped around to decorate the spine (as pictured above) or with coloured type on a white background (not pictured). No doubt, there was a lot of annoying input from marketing about which design would be more attractive on the store shelves and ultimately produce better sales…

The more elaborate Carson of Venus design is the odd man out here, I know, but since it is the last Edgar Rice Burroughs paperback with cover art by Frazetta that I have on hand, I thought I might as well throw it in as a bonus!

Keywords: The Mad King, Pellucidar, The Oakdale Affair, The Land of Hidden Men, At the Earth’s Core, Carson of Venus.

Heads Up! · Look Here · Richard Corben

Heads Up: Another Corben art sale, 20 November 2010

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Next weekend, if you’ve got the bucks, and you’re quick on the draw, you could be the proud owner of the original art for a page like this:

richard-corben_rip-in-time-p57

According to a recent email announcement from Dona Corben, “Corben comic art pages will go on sale Saturday, November 20th, at Noon, Central time. The pages are up for ‘viewing only’ now. The prices will be posted when the sale goes live on Saturday, the 20th.” Included in the sale will be pages from Hellboy: Crooked Man, Rip in Time, and Swamp Thing #7 and #8.

That link again is http://www.corbencomicart.com/sales.html

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here

Look Here: Three fanzine covers, with art by Jeffrey Jones

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My apologies in advance to a certain frequent visitor to this blog who is tired of my ongoing series of posts featuring the art of Jeffrey Jones, but I rescued these zine cover scans from three auctions that ended yesterday, and just had to share them:

In a promotional clip for the forthcoming documentary, Better Things: Life + Choices of Jeffrey Jones, that used to be available for viewing on the documentary’s official Web site, Michael Kaluta talked about the galvanizing impact the painting that appeared on the cover for Trumpet #8 had on him and his friends, but it looks like a fairly routine student effort to me. I guess you had to be there…

Alex Toth · Illustration Art · Look Here · Original art vs. printed page

Look Here: Black Canary, original art vs. printed page, by Alex Toth

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I know you want it, but I don’t own the following page, so don’t bother asking me if it’s for sale; I also don’t know who does own it, so don’t bother asking me about that, either:

alex-toth_black-canary_originalalex-toth_black-canary_printed

Man, that page looks so much better in black and white than it does in colour! Toth drawing Black Canary was a match made in heaven.

Andrew Loomis · Art Instruction · Artistic Anatomy · Heads Up!

Heads Up: “Figure Drawing” by Andrew Loomis

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I don’t know whether to believe this or not — other Loomis reprints have been announced before and come to nothing — but an Amazon.ca search of drawing books to be published in 2011 brings up the following:

Figure Drawing [Hardcover]

Andrew Loomis (Author)

List Price: CDN$ 46.00
Price: CDN$ 28.84 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: CDN$ 17.16 (37%)

This title will be released on May 31, 2011.

# Hardcover: 208 pages
# Publisher: Titan Books (May 31 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0857680986
# ISBN-13: 978-0857680983

It’s strange to think that Loomis’s legendary art instruction books are all out of print in English. I read once that the lack of reprint editions had something to do with a certain lack of interest on the part of the copyright holders; however, if the copyright holders have had a change of heart, all I can say is, HALLELUJAH!

Of course, Loomis’s books are all available for download from various sites, but I say that a book in the hand is worth a dozen on the hard drive.

UPDATE:

Heads Up Follow-up: FIGURE DRAWING FOR ALL IT’S WORTH! — in which I confirm that the Titan Books reprint is really real.

Heads Up! · Homer and Jethro · Jack Davis

Heads Up: JACK DAVIS: DRAWING AMERICAN POP CULTURE — A CAREER RETROSPECTIVE

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If the online catalogue at Amazon.ca is to be believed, Fantagraphics plans to publish a coffee-table book devoted to the work of legendary cartoonist and workaholic, Jack Davis, in August of 2011. Here are the product details:

Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture: A Career Retrospective [Hardcover]

Jack Davis (Author)

# Hardcover: 192 pages
# Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (August 2011)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1606994476
# ISBN-13: 978-1606994474

I think the first time I ever saw a piece of art by Jack Davis was on the cover of Homer and Jethro’s great album of satirical songs, Life Can Be Miserable, produced by Chet Atkins, which my dad had in his record collection when I was a little kid. Here’s a scan of the copy of Life Can Be Miserable that I bought for my own record collection a few years ago:

homer-and-jethro_life-can-be-miserable

Now THAT, my friends, is a great album cover!

BONUS IMAGES:

Four more Jack Davis album covers, laboriously but lovingly scanned by me, the day after yesterday, from my very own record collection:

homer-and-jethro-at-the-convention

homer-and-jethro-go-west

homer-and-jethro-songs-my-mother-never-sang

homer-and-jethro-zany-songs-of-the-30s

I know what you’re thinking, and I wholeheartedly agree: those Homer and Jethro albums are in great condition!

BONUS LINK:

Four Color Shadows: Return of the Boise Kid – Jack Davis – 1959

Brecht Evens · Heads Up!

Heads Up: Two books by Brecht Evens

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Available this month from Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly:

Here’s the publisher’s description:

The Wrong Place
Brecht Evens

Rendered in vivid watercolor where parquet floors and patterned dresses morph together, Wrong Place revolves around oft-absent Robbie, a charismatic lothario of mysterious celebrity who has the run of a city as chaotic as it is resplendent. Robbie’s sexual energy captivates the attention of men and women alike; his literal and figurative brightness is a startling foil to the dreariness of his childhood friend, Francis. With a hand as sensitive as it is exuberant, Brecht Evens’s first English graphic novel captures the strange chemistry of social interaction as easily as he portrays the fragmented nature of identity. Wrong Place contrasts life as it is, angst-ridden and awkward, with life as it can be: spontaneous, uninhibited, and free.

Full Color, 184 pages, 6 7/8 by 8 1/2 inches
ISBN: 9781770460010
$24.95 US / $27.95 CDN

A short PDF preview of The Wrong Place can be downloaded via this page, but as someone who already owns the book, I have to say, the scans don’t really do justice to Evens’s sharply observed, lushly layered, boldly spontaneous sequential illustrations limned in coloured ink, gouache, and (in places) coloured pencil. Although I wasn’t anywhere near as convinced of irresistible charm of the elusive Dionysian antagonist, Robbie, as his various friends and acquaintances seemed to be, and felt the story was a bit slight overall — it takes about 25 minutes to read all 180 plus pages of it — I was entranced by Evens’s kaleidoscopic evocation of the complex social swirl of urban night life, and immediately flipped back through the book, after reaching the end, to re-examine various scenes. Yes, Evens’s artistic ambition sometimes leads him to force the symbolism of his characters and situations. At his best, however, Evens creates richly suggestive patterns through the organic development and juxtaposition of particular human interactions ranging from intimate moments of inadvertent or intentional self-revelation among acquaintances, friends, and lovers, to grand and colourful gestures calculated to wow crowds of strangers. Fool that I am, I will even go so far as to predict that, by this time next year, The Wrong Place will have been nominated for several major awards for graphic novels in English and will have won at least one or two. And to think that the lion’s share of the book was completed, near as I can figure, in the same year that Evens graduated as an illustrator from Sint-Lucas Visual Arts, Gent… well done, sir!

The Wrong Place is Brecht Evens’s first book published in English; the second will appear early next year from Top Shelf:

Here’s the publisher’s description:

Night Animals
by Brecht Evens

$7.95 (US) UPC 094922048837

Lush colors, wild imagination, and rich human themes collide in the Top Shelf debut of Belgian cartoonist Brecht Evens (The Wrong Place). Night Animals is a deluxe full-color comic book containing two wordless stories, each a feast for the mind as well as the eyes. Join an innocent young girl as she becomes a woman and learns where the wild things are, then follow a rabbit-suited man as his blind date becomes the epic journey of a lifetime. These gorgeous, bewitching tales are not to be missed! — A super-deluxe 48-Page FULL-COLOR Comic Book, 6.5″ x 9.5″

SHIPPING IN MARCH 2011!

Right after breakfast this morning, I emailed my preferred local comic shop to place my order.

BONUS LINKS:

Brechtnieuws — the art blog of Brecht Evens

Brecht Evens Portfolio, Info, News, etc. at Magnet Reps

Comics Comics: Brecht Evens by Frank Santoro — a new interview with Evens, in English, posted 20 November 2010.

Here’s the original pen-and-ink artwork, dated 2007, for the cover of Night Animals