The Universe of Dragons
Galerie Daniel Maghen is a fantasy-themed art gallery in Paris, France. In addition to selling fantastic artwork, they produce exquisite books (with my new favorite, Jean Baptiste-Monge). They’ve also done some collections with American artists like The Universe of Dragons (you’ll never guess what that book is about).
When they contacted me to do a piece for their collection, I was absolutely excited, but pressed for time. So I opted to (digitally) blow the dust off of an old favorite of mine “A Golden Afternoon” done in 1997 for Dragon magazine.
This was quite an ambitious piece for me at that time. I conjured up an image from Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon as the basis for the image. I remember I was looking at a lot of Maxfield Parrish and Scott Gustafson then, and I think their influence can be seen in the handling of the background and environment. Of course, I am nowhere near the painter these masters are, but I was happy with the final painting nonetheless – I felt I had grown a bit after completing it.
One thing I never was truly happy about, though, was the boy. At that point in my career, I had hardly rendered a child in any of my work. As time went on, I was able to understand a little more about the anatomy and structure of little ones. And so, I was able to create a new head for this reprint. Now I am reeeaaallllly happy.
There is a great gaggle of contributors in this collection (the second volume, I might add) like Tom Kidd, Todd Lockwood, Paul Bonner and William Stout (to name some favs). If you are interested, it looks like you can order the book directly from the gallery or through Amazon France…Stuart Ng may even have it. Also, check out Volume 1, its got some nice images in it as well.
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Are there English translations of Monge’s works? I adore his books about faerie but I can only find them in French which I regrettably am not very sharp on!
Finding you’re rare Posts in my Feedreader is like a glas of clear spring water, while all I get to drink dunring the week is coke and coffee.
Thanks, 10.000 Thanks!
You need to drink more water Ben! (me too)
hey tony!
i stumbled upon your blog and it got me thinking about an awesome piece of art that i
found on your website LONG AGO(8+ years ago) and had as a desktop background for ~3 years.
i really wanted to see the picture again since i hadn’t seen it in such a long time.
I’ve looked through every diterlizzi gallery on the web and alot of planescape books in the quest of finding it and, unfortunately, I’ve not found it.
iirc the picture was frontal of a pale dude holding a sword perpendicular to his body(parallel to the floor) shoulder height.
and he had a lot of gadgets and stuff in his belt(scissors and a compass?). i think he wore a cloak and maybe he was levitating?(cant remember)
i realize I’ve just described a very generic piece of fantasy art, but i really liked that piece and would like to see it again.
I’m not asking you to scan it or anything, assuming you know which picture I’m talking about, just give me some hint or tip on where i could find it (or in what book).
either way, could you please reply so i know you read this?
thanks alot!
Hey Magnus,
I wonder if you are talking about the promo piece I did for White Wolf’s CHANGELING card game, ARCADIA?
Check out this link:
http://www.geocities.com/roseandcompass/kithain/tapestry/arcadia.jpg
If it is, I can prolly dig up a better scan for you…
Thanks for being a fan all these years.
I really love the art of J.B.Monge.
yes, thanks!
love your work.
hey tony that very nice for you ! it’s a great french book from our country ! the first book was very beautifull with awesome pictures of dragons and i thinks the second will be very good too. I very happy to see you in french books. It always a pleasure to see your work ! Welcome in france !!
Congratulations! That’s always been one of my favorites.