HarperCollins's Boris Vallejo/Julie Bell books
   Imaginistix - The Art Of Boris Vallejo And Julie Bell
   Dreamland
   Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell:   The Ultimate Illustrations
   Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell:   The Ultimate Collection
   The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo And Julie Bell
                                                                  (HarperCollins)

Imaginistix - The Art Of Boris Vallejo And Julie Bell (2007)(specific imprint-Collins Design) This is a thick, handsome volume, that's keeps it size just below the "too much" threshold. It's 192 pages, with a 168 of them displaying large 'well-presented' reproductions of the art. There are a couple of finished-looking sketches among all the paintings. The source of the work seems to be from any & all facets of their careers, including calendars, covers, advertisements and movie posters. Unfortunately, several of the presented works are book covers displayed in their published form, with all their typography rather than the original paintings. On the other hand, a number of the images are enlarged shots of some of the pieces' glorious details. There are more than 20 paintings here that the two artists worked on together and a bit more than a quarter of the book features Bell's solo work, leaving well over half for just Boris' output. After the introductions, the works are pulled into large chapters entitled Calendar, Advertising, Books and And Then. Each chapter is fronted with a large double-page spread of pieces that are presented in the chapter again, held to a single page. There are another eight double-page spreads, making for an even dozen in all, and they have all been well thought out, with only one of them failing to be acceptable while crossing the book's gutter. There is text covering the artists and the chapter groupings, as well as several photographs and some very rough sketches. The captions give only the title, artist and medium. There is a surprisingly large helping of futuristic art here with the attendant aliens, robots, spaceships and flying cities, but many, many other of the more expected subjects appear, Conan & Doc Savage, barbarians, sorceresses, natives, vampires, centaurs, mermaids, dragons, monsters along with castles & ruins. Most characters could not be said to be wearing much at all, but there are indeed several female nudes. My own personal criteria placed TWIN VISIONS just slightly above this one on The List, but amazingly, in all the great reproductions here, there is only one repeat (one of Julie Bell's works) from that other volume.

Dreamland (2014)(specific imprint-Harper Design) At the time of this writing, this is a brand-new book that is almost entirely material not collected in any of the previous books. It is a well laid out collection, with only three of the 15 double-page-spreads suffering from that presentation (many of them are the chapter intro-pages that are detail-extracts of pieces displayed within, usually held to one page . . .) . Out of the book's 192 pages, 163 of them feature the art, with the rest being text commentary (much of it by the artists themselves). The chapters are: Stepping Into The Unknown (Boris's Story), Finding My Destiny (Julie's Story), Inspirational People (Working With Models), Ask The Artists (Hints And Tips) and An Unusual Unity (Working Together). The reproduced works break down as 55 from Julie, 50 by Boris and another 30 created by both of them, with all of them captioned with the title & artist (and there is an index to them in the back). That individual captioning is run sideways on the edge of each page which I wasn't impressed with. As suggested above, there are no repeated works here if you do already have the higher recommended TWIN VISIONS, IMAGINISTIX or Boris's DREAMS. Fantastical paintings predominate, though you will find some commercial, futuristic or modern whimsical pieces scattered throughout. While there is plenty of flesh on display there is almost no explicit nudity to speak of.

Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell: The Ultimate Illustrations (2009)(specific imprint-Collins Design) A really nice display of drawings. Almost all are in the style of a figure, or a beastie, isolated in white negative space, giving them an unbordered freedom in their presentation. Even the one double-page spread is well done. The works are grouped in chapters entitled Women, Men, Beasts, Product Design and Composition. There's also an index to the works and a text introduction, as well as intros to each of the chapters. The book has 144 pages and 109 of them are devoted to a single large reproduction, each captioned with title, artist and origination date, accompanied by an anecdote. There is some male & female nudity and dragons, unicorns, minotaurs, werewolves, mermaids & centaurs abound. Boris's pieces outnumber Julie's two-to-one and they worked together on 13 of the pieces. The List has four other books by either, or both, higher up than this one and while they have do a drawing or two, this volume is almost entirely material not seen in them.

Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection (2005)(specific imprint-Collins Design) This is a book that's just as thick as it can be without growing past easy manageability. It's gathered as an overview of the entire careers of both the artists to date, aligning each of their 'stages' with those of the other, though they didn't do so in real time. The chapters are: Early Period, Middle Period, Late Period, Photographs And Sculptures, Publications and Index of Paintings. The text includes an introduction, as well as a number of testimonials by other respected artists. All the works are captioned with the title, artist and the origination year. 192 pages with 144 of them dedicated to large reproductions. 18 pages have a couple of smaller images each. 21 images are allowed to creep across the book's gutter and only a bit more than half of them are laid out so as to still work that way. Bell's artwork is featured about ten-percent more than Vallejo's, with two works being collaborations between them. Barbarians & savages, such as Conan and Tarzan appear here, among the wizards, sorceresses, mermaids, centaurs, vampires, samurai, unicorns, dragons and monsters. Ruins are featured, whether of ancient castles or futuristic cities. There is no shortage of nudes, of either gender. The List recommends five other Vallejo/Bell books before this one, TWIN VISIONS, IMAGINISTIX, Boris' DREAMS and also THE ULTIMATE ILLUSTRATIONS & TITANS/SUPERHEROES, and if you have all five of them, then THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, is going to have a lot of repeats, but let me say that you'll still get 33 new paintings by Julie Bell (and one better displayed) and 40 new paintings by Boris Vallejo (and five better displays), as well as a new combination effort by them. That's half of what's gathered together here.

The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo And Julie Bell (2006)(specific imprint-Collins Design) As you might imagine, there are a lot of women appearing in these paintings. 105 dedicated pages in a 128-page book. Vallejo and Bell split the book about two-thirds and one-third. The text is the quick introduction and commentary & anecdotes that accompany almost every piece's caption (captions are title, artist and original use & year). There are 20 of the paintings that are presented so large as to cross over the book's gutter and the book is thick enough to create the distortion at the split, but, surprisingly, half of the works are laid-out as to still be satisfying despite the problem. There are a number of quoted comments from the artists that fill the negative space created by these enlarged works. The eponymous women appear as warriors, barbarians, amazons, savages, archers, beast-riders, sorceresses, musicians, bikers, queens, goddesses, gypsies, starship captains, superheroes, vampires and mermaids. They are many times scantily clad and occasionally nude. The List recommends TWIN VISIONS, IMAGINISTIX, Boris' DREAMS, DREAMLAND, THE ULTIMATE ILLUSTRATIONS, TITANS and THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION before this one - If you should already have those seven volumes, you will find 24 new paintings from Julie Bell (along with three better displayed ones) and 33 from Boris Vallejo (along with nine better displayed ones). That makes the book half "yet uncollected" material.