Illustrators Issue Two Update

 

We've just received our proof copies of llustrators issue 2 and I have to say it's looking for nice indeed. We've gone for a matte finish on the cover this time that really shows off the David Wright design to best effect.

 

 

 

The images above and below are from our feature on the wonderful art of Cecil Doughty who really had a feel for historical adventure, another highlight of issue two.

 

 

The copies of Illustrators 2 are currently on the high seas and the ship should dock the first week of January. All subscription copies will be mailed out within 48 hours of our receiving them.

All The Best

Dave

H. Rider Haggard Adventures

Here's a first look at one of the next books due from Book Palace Books, reprinting three classic British strips based on the works of H. Rider Haggard and drawn by Bill Baker, C. L. Doughty, Mike Hubbard and Jesus Blasco. Yes, four artists for three strips ... you don't get more value than that!

The strips included are King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and Montezuma's Daughter. The cover is by John Millar Watt from an illustration originally published in Look & Learn. The image is taken from the original artwork, which is absolutely stunning. The image was flipped when it appeared in print in Look & Learn issue 18 (19 May 1962) and was published facing a page of text about Haggard and a quote from the novel. The text of the feature is of interest as it may have been written by Mike Moorcock – after all these years even he can't be sure, but it is something he suspects he may have written.

We will have more news on the book, including a release schedule, shortly.

Pandarve: The Worlds of Don Lawrence

 

 

This stunning book was published as part of the 30th birthday celebrations for Storm, the comic strip. In 1976 Storm was seen for the very first time on the drawing board of Don Lawrence. The concept for the strip was the invention of Dutch comic creator Martin Lodewijk and Don Lawrence (artist for the popular Trigan series) was given the task of bringing Storm to life with his dramatic full colour artwork.

 

 

In the Chronicles of Pandarve the whole Storm universe was created and gave Lawrence the chance to display the qualities that made him one of the finest comic artists in the world. This book gives you the best images and artwork chosen from almost 600 pages drawn by Lawrence. All the art was taken from new digitised scans of the original paintings.

 

 

 

The English language edition of this book is available only from The Book Palace and is limited to just 250 copies worldwide. If you think you know Don Lawrence's work from the eternally popular Trigan Empire series in Look and Learn you owe it to yourself to check this out. Lawrence really let his imagination run riot with this series which is held in very high regard across Europe and especially in The Netherlands.There are very few copies left from the edition published in 2006 buy now or regret later!

 

 

Once you've set foot on Pandarve you'll naturally want to find out more about the adventures of Storm. Luckily for you we can help there too with the stories collected in 12 handsome volumes available here. If you buy the set you get 12 volumes for the price of 10. They are also available individually. Here's the great cover to volume 11 The Genesis Formula/ The Armageddon Traveller



 

Hope the Winter Chill isn't biting too hard. See you all back here soon.

Best Regards

Dave

The Toughest Man In The West

 

Or at the very least the toughest man in Bolton! It's been gratifying to read the plaudits that we have received concerning The Art of Denis McLoughlin. Credit where it's due, author David Ashford and editor Peter Richardson deserve the kudos. The book had some strong pre-publication support and has been selling very solidly for us. However with all eyes currently on the development of Heros the Spartan and the second issue of Illustrators Quarterly I didn't want this great book to get overlooked.

 

 

 

When I first saw those glorious crime noir images that feature in the book I was taken aback by how good they are. Just recently though I've been going back to my first introduction to Denis' oeuvre and that was his sterling work on his first love The Wild West and in particular his work on the Buffalo Bill annuals that I eagerly collected some years ago.

 

 

 

 

Here comes the Cavalry...

 

 

So I thought a few more images to help show more of the range of Denis' great work wouldn't go amiss.

 

 

 

With Christmas just around the corner, and given that you've all been working hard and deserve to give yourselves a bit of a treat, it's worth reminding you that the Deluxe limited edition  just 120 copies available worldwide signed by the author, plus numbered limited edition print and a 12-page facsimile edition Roy Carson comic; is available here.

 

Of course you'll be wanting to give a copy to those special people in your lives to show how much you care, in which case the handsome devil of a hardback that is the regular edition is also available.

 

 

 

That's all for now, but the more I look at this book the more I find to enjoy so expect more images soon.

Best Regards

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

Heros Galley Sails Closer...

Update upon update time,

In addition to Dave's update this is an update from your truly, Peter just to give you a bit more information on what is happening on the design and layout front with Heros.

As we have previously revealed, we took the decision to reproduce the Heros pages the same size as they first appeared in the Eagle comic some fifty years ago. This means that each spread will run over two pages, the binding on this book is such that each spread will open out without information getting lost in the gutter. So to maintain this feel and emphasize the panoramic feel of the book we have designed the whole book to reinforce this cinematic feel.

Here's some spreads to show you what we  mean and also give you a feel for how the book will look. Please note that there are some captions missing and some spreads might well change–but only in a minor way:

Heros Update

Not ONE but TWO exciting bits of information for you to digest and act upon.

Firstly we're very pleased to be able to announce that we are now accepting pre-orders for the eagerly expected Frank Bellamy's Heros the Spartan The Complete Adventures

 

You can pre-order the book now from this exciting page

 

If you chose to pay by Paypal then you are reserving a copy and you've budgeted for it at a time convenient for you. Alternately if you pay by credit card you have the satisfaction of knowing your copy is reserved but that we won't charge your card until we have the book in stock from the printers and we're ready to ship. The book is set to retail at just £95. We wanted to keep the price below three figures while still offering our usual high production values. We're working on a shipping price for customers outside the UK and it will be finalised once we have an exact weight. This will be another large book but we only charge the cost price of airmail postage to keep it honest for our loyal customers.

 

And what about the second piece of news? Those of you who collect our super limited editions will be pleased to know that once again we will be offering a deluxe leather bound edition with extra features. Most of this is still under wraps at the moment but I can tell you that this edition will comprise of just 120 copies worldwide making it an instant collectible.  Be warned that these leather editions will not hang around long! We will have the price and the pre-order available in the next few days. Watch the skies or preferably subscribe to our email newsletter for the latest updates.

 

Please remember that for both the regular and the leather editions if you pre-order you are guaranteed to be able to purchase at the stated pre-order price, regardless of what happens to the strength of GP Pound Sterling, the cost of paper, printing et cetera in the next couple of months.

 

Bellamy captures a wonderful facial expression in this Heros panel

Remember Heros isn't our only book featuring Frank Bellamy's glorious artwork; see here for details.

 

 

That's all for now, just remember not to put any books on the bonfire come November 5th, that's the Fireman's job.

Best Regards

Dave

 

One For Your Book Shelves

Or perhaps your coffee table would be a better place

 

As you may know at Book Palace Books we aim not only to bring you some of the finest illustration books under our own imprint but to promote other publishers who we believe are doing sterling service to the great cause. The Art of Bob Peak is a classic case in point.

 

Here's a blurb from the publisher of this fine book:

 

"For the first time, a comprehensive oversize 380 page coffee table book on the Life and Art of Bob Peak. The book includes over 600 images of works spanning a forty year career with many never before seen illustrations along with his many iconic illustrations for the Movies, Major Periodicals, National Ad Campaigns, Time Magazine Covers, Fashion Advertising, Sports Advertising and more.

Bob Peak came on the New York Advertising Art Scene in the early 1950’s. He went on to become one of the most prolific illustrators of the 21st century. His artistic vision represented a bridge between the era of Norman Rockwell and Coby Whitmore, with its emphasis on technique, to more direct ways of making pictures, greater use of line, and a more startling, bolder palette. In 1961 he was named “Artist of the Year” by the Artist Guild of New York. In 1977 he was inducted into the prestigious New York Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. In 1992 after over 100 Movie Campaigns including his iconic images for such films as, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Star Trek, and Apocalypse Now, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hollywood Reporters for his contribution to the film industry."

As soon as we heard about this book we realised that we needed to stock copies. This is the sort of book we are proud to have in our Recommended Books section on Book Palace Books as we believe it furthers illustration as an area for serious critical appraisal and more importantly is just damn fine. Bob Peak was one of the finest commercial illustrators to work in the USA in the latter half of the 20th Century and this glorious profusely illustrated coffee table sized book does his work justice.

 

My Fair Lady Movie Poster

 

 

Camelot Movie Poster

You can order copies of the book here it comes in its own protective card case and is superbly designed. Just the thing to leaf through on those long chill nights ahead.

 

 



Off To The Races

Following on from Peter's recent post I'm happy to report that this week Illustrators issue Two is on it's way to our printers.

 

The cover feature is A Brush with Fitzrovia The Elegant Art of David Wright. You can subscribe to Illustrators  here (scroll down the page to get to #2).

 

In other news work continues apace with Frank Bellamy's Heros The Spartan and while that book is a little way off I was reminded recently of one of my favourite Bellamy illustrations featured in our Frank Bellamy's Story of World War One book.

 

 

 

I can't really imagine the horror that a tank attack would have for a WWI era infantry soldier stuck in a trench but Bellamy certainly gives us a flavour of it here. The wonderful limited edition hardcover, with bonus print limited to 175 copies is available here and the trade edition here

Back with more soon.

Best

Dave

Coming Your Way in Illustrators 2

Having been fully occupied with helping launch our very first issue of illustrators, I thought it might be opportune, whilst gathering breath to show you a bit more of what is heading your way over the next twelve months.

The good news is that the response has been even better than our most optimistic projections, although as a team we have all been pretty cautious in our expectations. Launching a new publication is fraught with difficulty and even keeping our origination costs as low as possible, the financial gamble involved is still considerable. So, caution has been our watchword.

However, I am pleased to say that issue 1 has been selling very well and recent publicity on Leif Peng's excellent Today's Inspiration blog has garnered a lot of response as well as a distribution deal for the US and Canada with Bud Plant.

So as issue 2 is currently being PDF'd ready to send to our printer, let's have a look at some of the spreads and features from issue 2, which has a major feature on Carol Day artist David Wright as well as a fascinating look at the life and work of historical illustrator Cecil Doughty written by David Ashford and an equally revealing look at the exquisite wild-life artistry of Raymond Sheppard written by Norman Boyd. The issue is rounded up with a look over the shoulder of John Watkiss as he works up a typically virtuosic concept painting for the US hit TV show The Walking Dead as well as some mouthwatering examples of the work of the Italian illustrator Renato Fratini with an accompanying text penned for us with characteristic passion and insight by David Roach.

As a final flourish the Gallery section presents two truly stunning Giorgio De Gaspari original covers from the early years of War Picture Library.

More to follow: