Next “illustrators” Magazine Special spotlights British War Comics

By John Freeman on November 3, 2017

illustrators is the art quarterly from publishers The Book Palace devoted to the finest illustration art ever published from around the world. It also guides you through the stories behind the artists and their art, with features by the leading authorities on this important art form.

It’s an excellent magazine – and coming soon is “War is Hell“, the second illustrators Special, covering the history and artists of the D’ami (Italian) agency which supplied Italian artists to the publishers of British war comics from the 1950s to the 1980s. Artists featured will include Roy D’Amy, Giorgio De Gaspari, Alessandro Biffignandi, Gino D’Antonio, Renzo Calegari, Nino Caroselli, Pino Dell’Orco and Ferdinando Tacconi. You can pre-order it here

Meanwhile, Issue 20 of this regular title is a special edition focusing on The Russian Romantics: Franz Roubaud (whose work encompassed majestic landscapes, galloping horses and gaudily clad warriors), Ivan Bilibin (one of the greatest ever Russian illustrators), Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Victor Vasnetsov, Ivan Shiskin and Konstantin Flavitsky.

There’s also a feature on Joaquín Blázquez Garcés, plus regular features including The Bookshelf and Letters.

More like a book than a magazine, illustrators is the art quarterly devoted to the finest illustration art ever published. It guides you through the stories behind the artists and their art, with features written by some of the leading authorities on this important art form.

As well as building into an indispensable reference library, illustrators gives readers an insight into the creative process, from idea to sketch to painting, and from painting to the image seen by millions.

With superb reproduction and print quality, truly fabulous artwork abounds in every issue, much of the art taken from scans of the original work.

Authors: Diego Cordoba, Peter Richardson; edited by Diego Cordoba
Artists: Franz Roubaud, Ivan Bilibin, Konstantin Flavitsky, Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Victor Vasnetsov, Ivan Shiskin, Konstantin & Vladimir Makovsky, et al
Publisher: Book Palace Books
Number of pages: 96
Format: Flexi Cover; Full Colour illustrations
Size: 9″ x 11″ (216mm x 280mm)
ISBN: 9781907081422

• Order it here direct from The Book Palace | Take out an annual subscription

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.