Archetype: The Art of Timothy Bradstreet

by Tim Bradstreet

Desperado is proud to present a retrospective volume devoted to the entire career of one of today's most popular artists, Tim Bradstreet. This book offers readers and fans a chance to witness his immense and phenomenal career from the early days to the present, offering glimpses of previously never-before-seen material from his files and sketchbooks, his enormously popular comic work, art from his career in movie design and posters, his gaming illustrations, as well as beautifully reproduced images of his personal favorites with insights into his life and creative process.

Genres: Art

312 pages, Hardcover

First published July 9, 2008

About the author

Timothy "Tim" Bradstreet is an American artist and illustrator, best known for his work on comic books, book covers, movie posters, roleplaying games and trading cards.

He entered the industry in 1990. Among his most popular works is his 7-year run on the Hellblazer series.

Reviews

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Archetype is a thick hardcover art book that doesn't disappoint, all 312 pages of it. This is the second collection of his artwork, the first art book was called Maximum Black (amazon.com). Desperado has done a terrific job publishing the book. It's well bind, with the art brilliantly reproduced on low gloss high quality art paper.

The book collects over two decades of work, from Shadowrun, Vampire: The Masquerade, The Punisher, Hellblazer, Criminal Macabre, rejected illustrations, freelance commissions to unpublished personal projects like "Red Sky Diary". There are just too many to name. Each piece is captioned by Tim Bradstreet himself talking about the background. That's plenty of good read in addition to his illustrating career which is included right at the start.

The technical drawing ability showcased is amazing. His portfolio is impressive. The photo-realistic portraits, subtle lighting, and fine use of black just makes every illustration screaming for attention. For me, it's mostly the photo-realistic figure drawings that really blew my mind.

I'm sure he used reference, for the book also included several reference photos. But some (a few of my friends actually) might take issue with this method of creating art, which traces over and applies their own style.

If you can accept this kind of art creation, then this art book is well worth the money and I highly recommend it.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute must for any Bradstreet fan. Much biographical info, where he talks about his influences, how he got into the business and where his big breaks were. He talks about how he practices his art and how he works in the business. Lots of color throughout.