The Art Of Anne Stokes: Mystical, Gothic & Fantasy by Anne Stokes & John Woodward (book review).
Another book where I was struck by the cover and a few sample pages is ‘The Art Of Anne Stokes: Mystical, Gothic & Fantasy’. Her husband, John Woodward, does the text but Ann Stokes provides the comments to her own artwork. It’s hardly surprising that the majority of the paintings here are devoted to dragons with some mermaids and a few unicorns thrown in, although not in the same paintings.
Stokes agrees she prefers to draw women than men so you’re less likely to see any the of the latter in here. Women also make a stronger contrast to her creatures.
I was rather amused that the one time she did a commercial print that wasn’t commissioned as part of her commercial work that it sold 20 times more than here other work at a convention but she had no idea why. I suspect her fans recognised something not see before and grabbed as quickly as possible.
Towards the end of this book, Stokes shows how she creates her pictures from a combination of sketches and models and works digitally. A lesson in detail although she admits doing all those scales takes a lot of time.
As so much of her work relies on doing what her clients ask, if I’m being objective, there isn’t much in the way of strong shadows being employed. Not that Stokes doesn’t do it but it becomes mostly a background element to highlight the foreground.
Even so, if you like the subject matter, then this is a book to pick up and dream about having a dragon curled up on your lap by the fire in these winter nights.
GF Willmetts
November 2020
(pub: Flame Tree Publishing, 2019. 128 page square hardback. Price: I pulled my copy for about £ 9.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78755-280-7)
check out website: www.flametreepublishing.com
