Charles Vess: Drawing Down The Moon - The Art Of Charles Vess
(2009 - Dark Horse Books)

At over 200 pages, it's a bit thicker than desired, but it is a beautiful tome. 177 of those pages are great presentations of his work, with another handful of multi-image pages (though about twice that many present full pages of his sequential art - he is first and foremost a storyteller, after all). All but one of the nine double-page spreads work well, including both of the book's enchanting endpapers. His line-work is what dazzles, page after page, but his delicate use of color is also on display in a substantial number of the pieces. The images are captioned with title, medium and original date & appearance. Anecdotes abound, about the art & the inspirations behind them. One short section is devoted to the showing of the different phases of one piece with a bit of commentary. The chapters are: Portrait Of An Artist As A Young ..., Playing In Someone Else's Sandbox, Drawing Between The Lines, Ballads And Sagas, Odds And Ends, and Art And Process. The book is mostly the art of fantastic folklore and fairy tale, but you will also find depictions of Spiderman, Swamp Thing, Tarzan, The Spectre and Arzach.

Other Dark Horse monographs

Eric Joyner: Robots & Donuts - The Art Of Eric Joyner

Visions - The Art Of Arthur Suydam

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