Paper Tiger Fantasy Art Gallery edited by Paul Barnett
01/06/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Paper Tiger. 144 page softcover. Price: £14.95 (UK), $21.95(US) and $33.95(Canada). ISBN: 1-85585-957-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.papertiger.co.uk
I only really read book release schedules
to help me to anticipate the distribution of workload. As our reviewers
read everything they’re sent we can end up being a little behind on
heavy months.
I remember this book was supposed to be released in
April and remembered we hadn’t received a copy. A quick email to
Paper Tiger and was told it was coming out in June (thanks Anne)
and I had a copy within the week. Just in time for this month’s
review column in fact. So here we are then in the present.
Unlike many of Paper Tiger’s books, this one is really
text intensive, featuring the first 25 artist interviews ran on
their website column, The Paper Snarl, from 1999-2000. Of the 25
artists, 11 have seen print by Paper Tiger.
I couldn’t help wondering if Paper Tiger commissioning
editor Paul Barnett isn’t sizing the others up as potential book
material? One only has to compare the art from those Paper Tiger
have published to those he hasn’t to realise this is an ideal sampler
to test the water.
The interviews follow a pretty much standard format
of how the artist starting painting (or in some cases, sculpturing),
any formal training, career and whether they were going to use computer
graphic software if they weren’t already.
Under normal circumstances, I would probably have
spread such a book over a couple weeks between everything else than
read in a couple doses.
Saying that, the repetition areas is reasonably disguised
to prevent boredom. It’s helped enormously that each artist has
different opinions and thoughts and weren’t afraid to express them.
The list is like a who’s who of SF artists: Tom Abba,
Brom, Jim Burns, Ciruelo Cabral, Judith Clute, Steve Crisp, Joe
de Vito, Vincent Di Fate, Bob Eggleton, Fangorn, Kelly Freas, Fred
Gambino, John Harris, Jael, Ron Miller, Chris Moore, Martina Pilcerova,
Marc Potts, Lisa Snellings, Nick Stathopoulos, Anne Sudworh, Ron
Tiner, Ron Walotsky and AB Word.
Many of whom, especially where their books are concerned,
I’ve covered in this column already. If I was out to pick the artists
yet to have books then Cabrel, Crisp, Fangorn, Pilcerovan and Stathopoulos
deserve such an honour. The others are mainly sculptors and in the
case of Tiner, have books out elsewhere.
The only two main criticisms I have are to do with
presentation than content. Having the artists listed spread from
front to back cover leaves open the possibility some people will
think the list doesn’t include their favourites on the front.
It would also have been nice to have included a small
photo of each artist to acquaint the reader with the people behind
their paintings and sculpture.
If you have a passion for Science Fiction artists,
then you’ll be buying this book to have a hardcopy version of said
interviews you’ve been reading on their website. As many of these
people attend SF conventions, this book will also serve as a guide
to their work.
More so, as at the back, there’s a complete list of
their websites and book releases making it an essential book to
own. So what are you waiting for??
GF Willmetts
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