Hard Curves: The Fantasy Art Of Julie Bell - Book Review

This book is not a step by step guide on drawing and painting fantasy art although there are some unique insights into this brilliant fantasy artist, this book rather tells the story of some of her finest works from starting out to becoming one of the most renowned fantasy artists on the planet.

Married to Boris Vallejo,which they make quite an artistic team, often teaming up on huge painting projects, the book is comprised of 5 main sections, each showcasing Julies work inspired by the following themes:

1. Metallic images - It's that chrome thing that Vallejo must have gotten her into, painting metal is quite difficult however and they both pull it off quite well.

2. Sensuality - The art of painting characters that look real and look emotionally and physically sensual is what Julie does best.

3. Portraits - Portraits created from photos and the realism that can be created by doing this type of work.

4. Superheroes - A look at some of Julies superhero paintings and figure studies through comic book heroes.

5. Bodybuilding - Why bodybuilding inspired her to paint the fantasy art she is well known for.

I like this book, as it shows an artist who has gone from strength to strength and some of her earlier work against some of her recent work you can see how much she has improved under the guidance and support of her husband Boris, this is one book out of a handful that collects and showcases Julie Bells artwork and with a few nuggets that inspire anyone to create their own pieces of imaginative fantasy art.

As with many of these types of books, there isn't that much writing, letting the paintings speak for themselves, but what little wording there is, it's worth having books like this for the visual appeal alone, a sort of door into the mind of an artist.

Of course there are other books that Julie has released and they all are pretty much the same but with new paintings and examples, so I'm not complaining.