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Mirage
First published in 1997, Mirage took the fantasy world on a whirlwind tour, introducing us to paintings so bold, so provocative and superb that it became a major success. This astounding volume showcases alluring paintings of sensuous women and strong men, set against mythical, otherworldly backgrounds, and contains over 40 color and black and white illustrations, as well as 8 full pages of new, never before seen or published art work.
105 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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About the author
Boris Vallejo
167 books45 followersBoris Vallejo is a Peruvian-born American painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically Sword and sorcery gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 11, 2020
I really enjoy sometimes just sitting and looking at some good art while having my evening drink. Boris is one of the most amazing artist out there and can just draw you into his paintings. Great selection of his work. Very recommended
March 1, 2023
I find that looking through my Paper Tiger book collection is a rabbit hole I all too easily (and willingly I hasten to add) fall down - and here I go again.
So after recently acquiring Julia Bell's book I had to look up my Boris Vallejo entry too - after all they are often cited as being very similar to each other (and are in fact now married and co-share their website) but I wanted to see if I could tell the two apart.
Well apart from reacquainting myself with his work - and realising how many times I have seen these pieces reproduced I realised that there are similarities as well as subtle differences too - rather like the book Parallel Lines (another of my Paper Tiger books - oh dammit now I am going to have to find that one too).
So yes if you like your fantasy art with a lot of anatomically stylised physiques this is the book for you but on a series note - you just do no realise how influential he has been to the fantasy work until you start going through his catalogue.
So after recently acquiring Julia Bell's book I had to look up my Boris Vallejo entry too - after all they are often cited as being very similar to each other (and are in fact now married and co-share their website) but I wanted to see if I could tell the two apart.
Well apart from reacquainting myself with his work - and realising how many times I have seen these pieces reproduced I realised that there are similarities as well as subtle differences too - rather like the book Parallel Lines (another of my Paper Tiger books - oh dammit now I am going to have to find that one too).
So yes if you like your fantasy art with a lot of anatomically stylised physiques this is the book for you but on a series note - you just do no realise how influential he has been to the fantasy work until you start going through his catalogue.
September 22, 2012
Not a collection of book covers, but full-page color paintings, most of which are kind of soft-porny. Some interesting text by the artist about his work, and some less-than-inspiring poetry written by his wife to accompany all the boobalicious lamias and succubi.
March 4, 2012
Some rather stunning erotic fantasy images by this Peruvian-born artist, featuring nubile young ladies, some gents and a few snakes, dragons and the like.
There is a foreword by Doris (not to be confused with Boris) Vallejo that goes into some detail of how the artist creates his paintings but more interesting is the lengthy introduction by the artist himself.
He explains his way of working, how it would not suit everyone and a most salient point when he writes, 'Furthermore, if you avoid risks, if you stick to the beaten path, you never emerge from the crowd'.
He has certainly emerged from the crowd with this collection of artwork and he ends his introduction with, 'Still at the moment, I just enjoy what I see.' No surprise there when one views the artwork!
There is a foreword by Doris (not to be confused with Boris) Vallejo that goes into some detail of how the artist creates his paintings but more interesting is the lengthy introduction by the artist himself.
He explains his way of working, how it would not suit everyone and a most salient point when he writes, 'Furthermore, if you avoid risks, if you stick to the beaten path, you never emerge from the crowd'.
He has certainly emerged from the crowd with this collection of artwork and he ends his introduction with, 'Still at the moment, I just enjoy what I see.' No surprise there when one views the artwork!
November 24, 2019
I've been a fan of the artist Luis Royo for over 10 years, and sometime during that time I discovered Victoria Frances and fell in love with her work. So when my Dad found this book in a charity shop he picked it up for me.
At first glance I can see why - the art is fantastical and features strong women - very similar to the other artists I have mentioned. But Boris' work is as different to Royo's as they both are from Frances.
The foreword in my edition, written by Doris Vallejo, advises she acts as a model for Boris and this is obvious in his drawings. They seem drawn from a person whereas, at least to my mind, Royo's and Frances' work seems drawn from an idea of a person.
The work shown here feels real, in some cases you can see ribs and muscles and veins... Boris manages to give the effect of skin even in his pencil drawings - it seems natural and touchable and you can see why he talks so much about the use of light in his work.
The foreword also talks about the erotic, and how these drawings are a study of this. As such there are some drawings that are certainly risque but to me they don't come close to the more erotic drawings of Royo (though I also admit it has been a few years since I last looked at my book of his art). That's not to say that Vallejo isn't a fine artist, he clearly is, but he's just not 100% to my taste.
--
There were some drawings in particular I wanted to 'discuss' for various reasons, both positive and negative but I won't link to any of the drawings due to the NSFW nature of a lot of them. I've tried to describe them a little as well as saying what I liked/disliked about each of them.
- there's a pencil style drawing near the beginning of my volume, of a woman lying down, body arched, head thrown back, and supporting and over her is a snake with the face of a woman. It's the eyes of this snake that drew me in - they feel dead in comparison to the snake head they are emerging from, and from this they feel full of malice but the face they are in is stone-like - there's no expression there, it's an interesting juxtaposition and I really like it (odd given some comments below!)
- a painted picture, a demon embracing a naked woman, his claws drawing blood from her as she climbs the snakelike tail to embrace him back. The text accompanying this image is really emotive, the image of soaring above the world but reliant on another to support you - that if you let go you die is really clear and matches the picture so brilliantly. The woman is embracing this devil-like creature so she can experience flight - and taking with it the pain and the fear for that feeling of freedom. This is one of the more emotive images I thought, and certainly one of the best at exploring what is meant by 'erotic'
- a devil woman, perched on top of "her toad skinned Cerberus". So, at a glance the text here matches the image brilliantly but further viewing keeps drawing me to this woman's eyes. They're staring out of the picture, and they seem to be looking right at you no matter the angle you're viewing it from, and taken as a whole they seem to be malevolent. But the more I examine this picture the more empty those eyes are - they gain emotion only through the rest of the picture. It's ironic as the first line of the accompanying poem are "no eyes are completely empty, even her eyes, bright, and cold as brass rivets". These eyes are cold but to me it is because they are empty.
- the double page spread, women mounted on dragons - flames filling the sky. Beautiful and makes me think of the Valkyries.
- three women, appearing out of a flamey background, they're lamia but the snake aspect is not the key focus. Again these women are staring out of the page - with dead eyes. The faces are beautiful but the eyes lack any depth. The same can be said a few pages later, a woman in a black cloak in front of green angels (or men), standing to look like a tree clawing at the sky - a beautiful image, but with dead eyes staring at you.
- a red-headed woman rises from the ocean - below her, hands reaching out to grab her. This is a beautiful image made more so by the accompanying text. The story here is that drowned men decide to make a woman to join them, they make her from lava and sea foam, sunbeams and feathers, and in the end she ascends and leaves them behind - it's a strong image and this stuck with me a day after reading the book. The story kind of reminds me of The Little Mermaid and there's something else tugging at my memory as well. This is probably one of my favourite images (despite the fact that she also had dead eyes).
- a few pages on, we have two mer-people. From the context of the book and their upper bodies you'd think they were copulating but their tails seem to belay this - instead taking this image as a whole it looks like they are dancing under water - the male reaching for the surface whilst the female is tipped back to the oceans depths. The surroundings here are more detailed than in other images and perfectly expresses the ocean - the mer-people look utterly weightless and free.
At first glance I can see why - the art is fantastical and features strong women - very similar to the other artists I have mentioned. But Boris' work is as different to Royo's as they both are from Frances.
The foreword in my edition, written by Doris Vallejo, advises she acts as a model for Boris and this is obvious in his drawings. They seem drawn from a person whereas, at least to my mind, Royo's and Frances' work seems drawn from an idea of a person.
The work shown here feels real, in some cases you can see ribs and muscles and veins... Boris manages to give the effect of skin even in his pencil drawings - it seems natural and touchable and you can see why he talks so much about the use of light in his work.
The foreword also talks about the erotic, and how these drawings are a study of this. As such there are some drawings that are certainly risque but to me they don't come close to the more erotic drawings of Royo (though I also admit it has been a few years since I last looked at my book of his art). That's not to say that Vallejo isn't a fine artist, he clearly is, but he's just not 100% to my taste.
--
There were some drawings in particular I wanted to 'discuss' for various reasons, both positive and negative but I won't link to any of the drawings due to the NSFW nature of a lot of them. I've tried to describe them a little as well as saying what I liked/disliked about each of them.
- there's a pencil style drawing near the beginning of my volume, of a woman lying down, body arched, head thrown back, and supporting and over her is a snake with the face of a woman. It's the eyes of this snake that drew me in - they feel dead in comparison to the snake head they are emerging from, and from this they feel full of malice but the face they are in is stone-like - there's no expression there, it's an interesting juxtaposition and I really like it (odd given some comments below!)
- a painted picture, a demon embracing a naked woman, his claws drawing blood from her as she climbs the snakelike tail to embrace him back. The text accompanying this image is really emotive, the image of soaring above the world but reliant on another to support you - that if you let go you die is really clear and matches the picture so brilliantly. The woman is embracing this devil-like creature so she can experience flight - and taking with it the pain and the fear for that feeling of freedom. This is one of the more emotive images I thought, and certainly one of the best at exploring what is meant by 'erotic'
- a devil woman, perched on top of "her toad skinned Cerberus". So, at a glance the text here matches the image brilliantly but further viewing keeps drawing me to this woman's eyes. They're staring out of the picture, and they seem to be looking right at you no matter the angle you're viewing it from, and taken as a whole they seem to be malevolent. But the more I examine this picture the more empty those eyes are - they gain emotion only through the rest of the picture. It's ironic as the first line of the accompanying poem are "no eyes are completely empty, even her eyes, bright, and cold as brass rivets". These eyes are cold but to me it is because they are empty.
- the double page spread, women mounted on dragons - flames filling the sky. Beautiful and makes me think of the Valkyries.
- three women, appearing out of a flamey background, they're lamia but the snake aspect is not the key focus. Again these women are staring out of the page - with dead eyes. The faces are beautiful but the eyes lack any depth. The same can be said a few pages later, a woman in a black cloak in front of green angels (or men), standing to look like a tree clawing at the sky - a beautiful image, but with dead eyes staring at you.
- a red-headed woman rises from the ocean - below her, hands reaching out to grab her. This is a beautiful image made more so by the accompanying text. The story here is that drowned men decide to make a woman to join them, they make her from lava and sea foam, sunbeams and feathers, and in the end she ascends and leaves them behind - it's a strong image and this stuck with me a day after reading the book. The story kind of reminds me of The Little Mermaid and there's something else tugging at my memory as well. This is probably one of my favourite images (despite the fact that she also had dead eyes).
- a few pages on, we have two mer-people. From the context of the book and their upper bodies you'd think they were copulating but their tails seem to belay this - instead taking this image as a whole it looks like they are dancing under water - the male reaching for the surface whilst the female is tipped back to the oceans depths. The surroundings here are more detailed than in other images and perfectly expresses the ocean - the mer-people look utterly weightless and free.
February 12, 2016
Updated edition.
January 12, 2019
Bellissimo libro, molte figure anche in atteggiamento erotico, con ambientazione per lo più fantasy.
March 8, 2010
This book is another fine example of his amazing talent! This man’s artwork is unbelievable! He is one of my favorite fantasy artists and I never grow tired of his work. Although a lot of the artwork is from the early 80’s through the 90’s it does not disappoint none the less. Most of the work in this book is very sensual and provocative, but tastefully done.
January 4, 2009
I have an earlier edition of this, from 1982. I'm not even sure it's the same book. Mine is published by Ballantine and includes poetry by Doris Vallejo. I think the poetry compliments the imagery very well.
November 30, 2007
I have the 1982 edition. Different cover. This will stay on my shelf always. Boris is an astounding artist.
November 16, 2009
A collection of artwork, many that have been used as covers for science fiction and fantasy books.
July 10, 2012
Beautiful Artwork as always!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews