Comments on: Sometimes you just have to stare be thankful someone can paint this stuff.

Sometimes you just have to stare be thankful someone can paint this stuff.

gagglezoomer — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:25:37 -0800

Kim Taylor's Online Art Gallery. The beautiful, mystical, and eerily fantastic artwork of Kim Taylor.

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:41:09 -0800

I totally want to play whatever game these are from. Quick, someone make a game around this art!

By: gagglezoomer

gagglezoomer — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 06:22:51 -0800

If I read your sarcasm correctly, I take it this art is from a computer game? Which one?

By: zia

zia — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 06:33:20 -0800

My thought was: I want to read the fantasy novel these are from...

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:05:08 -0800

I think what you should take from the comments is that this stuff looks like your basic Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel cover, or the opening animation to a new Final Fantasy game or maybe the cover to the 2007 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Which isn't to say it's bad, but just that it is incredibly genricized (I think I just made up that word).

By: jrb223

jrb223 — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:27:04 -0800

ooh great word, genricized.

By: rhymer

rhymer — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:42:12 -0800

I'm with spicynuts: this looks like total geek art.

By: rhymer

rhymer — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:42:51 -0800

But I won't hedge my bets: I do think it's quite bad.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:58:36 -0800

Well, I was saying 'it's not bad' based on the genre. I mean, as art, it's shite. But within the genre it's not bad.

By: gagglezoomer

gagglezoomer — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:01:57 -0800

Not meant for a museum sure, but sometimes I am a big fan of substance over form, know what I mean?

By: kozad

kozad — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:39:44 -0800

Fantasy art is a big turnoff for me, but this artist has quite a range...not bad.

By: sennoma

sennoma — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:54:13 -0800

I mean, as art, it's shite. Care to defend that? I think it's very pretty, and if the subject matter suffers from overexposure and cliche, well, not every piece can be a Guernica. The artist was born in South Africa and now lives in London; he is in his early twenties, works as a matte painter for The Moving Picture Company and goes by "sketchling" online. More information and images here, here and here.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:03:48 -0800

I'll defend it by saying the following: 1) Pretty does not good art make. Watercolors you can buy at Restoration Hardware are pretty too. So are the countless anonymous calendars full of flower and sunset and wildlife photography available at Wal Mart. Doesn't make them good art. 2) There is nothing in this work that transcends the genre of fantasy book covers or even makes it stand out from everyone else that does this kind of work. 3) There is nothing new said or represented in any of the work. 4) Perhaps I should have said as Art with a capital A it is shite. Certainly the guy can paint. But so can a lot of people. Anyway, I got more involved in this than I really cared to.

By: sennoma

sennoma — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:16:42 -0800

Spicynuts, I wasn't trying to pick a fight -- sorry if it came off like that. I just felt that "shite" was overly harsh. The guy has chops and is entertaining, and deserves more careful criticism than a one-word dismissal. I don't suppose Taylor would disagree with much of what you say -- I doubt his goals, at least with this work, involve "Art with a capital A". Or to put it another way, "art" is sufficiently broad an idea to have room for pretty genre pics as well as the challenging stuff.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:42:57 -0800

Yeah I mean this is clearly not anything anyone should be picking fights over, and I didn't take it that way. And actually, I used "shite" instead of "shit" to notch down the harshness. I may have liked it more if there were more of the traditional half naked warrior sluts that usually accompanies fantasy art. I kid.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:43:13 -0800

I like it.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:08:40 -0800

I like it too. I'd let him draw the cover on my sci-fi novel.