Illustrators #39 (magazine review).

The 39^th edition of ‘Illustrators’ begins with a massive 40 page look at the work of American artist Gary Gianni (1954- ) from his love of comicbooks and getting to work in them to the early characters like Solomon Kane, Doc Savage and the Shadow. Although I think his paint choices are somewhat muted, this also makes him easily identifiable. His pencil/ink work is somewhat like woodcuttings and makes for a useful texture line and also fits a similar mood for period pieces.

Much of his work is obviously for the American market so we probably haven’t seen so much of it over here in the UK but I suspect after you read here, you’ll be seeking some of it out, especially as he’s done work on the ‘Game Of Thrones’ calendars and samples are included here. There, I thought that might get some of your attentions.

There’s also been a change in format this time. Diego Cordoba usually does all the articles and interviews since he became the ‘Illustrators’ editor. This time we have American artist/writer Paul Kirchner (1952- ) doing his own extended piece about his long career, followed by a graphic story version of it. Much to the distain of his late father, he did exotic covers for ‘Screw’ magazine, created the Dope Rider, although how a skeleton can smoke beats me, and for ‘Heavy Metal’ initially, the very surreal ‘The Bus’ series. The biggest insight here is how his art was used in advertising campaigns as well, meaning artists can get work in any field if they persist.

Now The Book Palace have just released the ‘A To Z Of British Newspaper Strips’ and its writer, Paul Hudson, covers the ‘Flook’ newspaper artist Wally ‘Trog’ Fawkes (1934- ). I only have brief memories of ‘Flook’ at the Mirror, after his ‘Daily Mail’ tenure but the history given here shows how it developed into a political satire.

As always, ‘Illustrators’ gives you lots of insight and especially artists you might not regularly encounter and this issue is not exception.

GF Willmetts

November 2022

(pub: The Book Palace, 2022. 98 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £22.00 (UK), $21.99 (US) via Bud Plant. ISBN: 978-1-913548-26-1. ISSN: 2052-6520)

check out websites: www.bookpalace.com and www.illustratorsquarterly.com