Modern Masters Volume 11: Charles Vess

Modern Masters #11

by Charles Vess, Eric Nole-Weathington

Whether with his book illustrations, paintings or comic book stories, Vess' work has enchanted readers for years. The winner of two World Fantasy Awards and two Eisner Awards, Charles Vess has proven himself to be one of the greatest fantasy artists of our time. Chris Irving and Eric Nolen-Weathington are proud to present an in-depth look into Vess' career and creative process in this latest volume of the Modern Masters series. This 120-page book features a career-spanning interview with tons of art, including many rare and unpublished pieces, a large gallery and an 8-page color section on this true Modern Master

Genres: Nonfiction, Comics, Art

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2007

About the author

Charles was born in 1951 in Lynchburg, Virginia and has been drawing since he could hold a crayon. He drew his first full-length comic when he was 10 and called it "Atomic Man." Minimalist in nature, it required no drawing of hands, feet or heads ("they just glowed"). Since then, he has painstakingly drawn thousands of hands, feet, and heads in great detail. Charles graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and worked in commercial animation for Candy Apple Productions in Richmond, Va., before moving to New York City in 1976. It was there that he became a freelance illustrator, working for many publications including Heavy Metal, Klutz Press, and National Lampoon. His award-winning work has graced the pages of numerous comic book, publishers such as Marvel, DC, Darkhorse and Epic. He has been featured in several gallery and museum exhibitions across the nation, including the first major exhibition of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art (New Britain Museum of American Art, 1980) and "Dreamweavers" (William King Regional Arts Center, 1994-95). In 1991, Charles shared the prestigious World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story with Neil Gaiman for their collaboration on Sandman #19 (DC Comics) --- the first and only time a comic book has held this honor. In the summer of 1997, Charles won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Penciler/Inker for his work on The Book of Ballads and Sagas (which he self-publishes through his own Green Man Press) as well as Sandman #75. Soon after Charles finished the last of 175 paintings for Stardust, a novel written by Neil Gaiman, for which he was given the 1999 World Fantasy Award as Best Artist.

In 2002 Charles won a second Will Eisner award, this time as Best Painter for his work on Rose, a 130-page epic fantasy saga written by Cartoon Books' Jeff Smith. The year continued to be busy for Charles with the publication of Seven Wild Sisters (Subterranean Press) and The Green Man, Tales from the Mythic Forest (Viking), both utilizing cover art and interior b/w illustrations by the artist, and both making the 2003 American Library Association's list for Best Books for Young Adults! By the end of the year he had completed 28 paintings for his first children's picture book, A Circle of Cats, done in collaboration with writer Charles de Lint (Viking). This cover art won the Gold Award for Best Book Art in the 10th annual "Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art" even before it was officially published. A new edition of Peter Pan (Tor/Starscape) featuringa cover as well as over 30 b/w interior illustrations by Vess was released this past Fall. Another collaboration with de Lint, Medicine Road (Subterranean Press) and the YA anthology,The Faery Reel (Viking ) will be arriving this Spring and he is currently hard at work producing drawings for several new books, including, A Storm of Swords (MeishaMerlin), the 25th anniversary edition of Moonheart (Subterranean Press) and a graphic novel collection of his ballads material for Tor.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting questions asked, but mostly information I was aware of before reading this.
Most of the information given and images shown are easily accessible via Vess's published works or directly off the web. As a fan of Vess's art and owning most of what he has published, this was all somewhat familiar. Still, a nice compilation of information and art deserving of being read and looked at.

Also, knowing the low opinion Vess has for Marvel Comics, it was a little weird that an image of Spider-Man was chosen for the cover, my guess is that Mr. Vess had no say in the chosing of said image.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful overview of the work of one of my favourite artists.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice selection of this artist's work. great visuals and a nice read. Recommended

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent though slight book length interview with the illustrator Charles Vess. It was good but I just wanted more information,more details. I felt his early art was glossed over and his early stuff was interesting to me. Not bad, but like I said, it could have been better