An article proposed by Thomtom
Illustrations and artists
Three series are currently published in this format:
I looked into the illustrators of these new editions to find out who had drawn what and to allow us to discover a little more about their other works.
The idea is not to pass judgment on the quality of their illustrations and their talent but to highlight illustrative work (and also editorial work, let's not forget) which reflects current graphic trends in gaming. -cultural and which speaks particularly to today's young generation.
Styles for today's readers
So, yes the style is very different from the illustrations of the V1s (which date from 40 years ago now), and each generation has its own graphic codes and which are all respectable, and the work of an illustrator (and their tools) has also evolved a lot in the meantime.
7 artists therefore illustrated the covers of the titles published in V5:
1-Robert Ball
For the reissue of the first titles in the Défis Fantastiques series, Gallimard reused the drawings that appeared on the new English editions and drawn by Robert Ball.
His work was therefore used for the covers of the following titles:
- Le Sorcier de la Montagne de Feu
- La Citadelle du Chaos
- La Forêt de la Malédiction
- La Cité des Voleurs
- Le Manoir de l’Enfer
- L’anneau des Serpents de Feu
- Le Fléau de Titan
Robert Ball also illustrated other covers for the English edition which have not been taken over by Gallimard, or for titles which have not yet been published in V5 at the moment:
- Le Labyrinthe de la Mort (not published)
- L’Ile du Roi-Lézard
- Rendez-vous avec la M.O.R.T.
https://robertmball.wordpress.com/
2- Paul Mafayon
From 2019, Gallimard decided to call on a French illustrator, Paul Mayafon, to illustrate the titles of the new Défis Fantastiques :
He will also illustrate the cover of the Collector's Edition of volume 1 of Loup Solitaire :
https://www.artstation.com/mafayon
3- Didier Nguyen
For the reissue of the Quête du Graal series, Gallimard called on various illustrators, notably Didier Nguyen for the launch of the series which will illustrate the first 3 volumes:
https://www.artstation.com/kyu/albums/4111145
4- Julian Nguyen
This designer will illustrate volume 4 of the Quête du Graal series:
5- Regis Torres
This designer will work on 2 series (Défis Fantastiques and volume 5 of Quête du Graal ):
- La Créature venue du Chaos
- La Nuit du Nécromancien
- Les Mystères de Salamonis : Edition Collector
- Au Royaume de l’Epouvante
https://www.artstation.com/regice_torres
6 - Ugo Chiola
For the reissue of the first volumes of Loup Solitaire , Gallimard calls on Ugo Chiola who will illustrate 3 of them:
https://www.artstation.com/ugochiola
7 - Djib
Since 2020, Djib has taken over from Ugo Chiola to produce the covers of Loup Solitaire and has ensured a certain graphic continuity with his predecessor.
Note that the covers of Gallimard's books only include a small part of the illustrations drawn by Djib, which are much larger in their full version:
- Les Maîtres des Ténèbres (version augmentée)
- Les Grottes de Kalte
- Le Gouffre Maudit
- Le Tyran du Désert
- La Pierre de la Sagesse
- La Forteresse Maudite
- Dans l’Enfer de la Jungle
- La Métropole de la Peur
- Au Bord de l'Abîme
https://www.artstation.com/djib
But what about the interior illustrations?
There are only 6 Défis Fantastiques in V5 that have different illustrations compared to V1 and all are by:
Vlado Krizan
- Le Sorcier de la Montagne de Feu
- La Citadelle du Chaos
- La Forêt de la Malédiction
- La Cité des Voleurs
- Le Manoir de l’Enfer
- Le Labyrinthe de la Mort
Also, volume 1 expanded edition of Loup Solitaire :
https://www.artstation.com/vladokrizan
For all other volumes published in V5, it is unchanged; even increased, because they provided illustrations which appeared in the original version and which had never seen the light of day in the French editions.
Translation by Google Translate