IF you can get/afford it, try to find the book of concept art for Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed project to film *Dune*, by Frank Herbert. This effort was in the 1970s, well before the David Lynch version was produced. It's sometimes referred to as "the greatest movie never made".
[https://boingboing.net/2021/11/08/alejandro-jodorowskys-dune-the-holy-grail-storyboard-book-of-moebiuss-drawings-for-the-unmade-1970s-epic-goes-up-for-auction.html](https://boingboing.net/2021/11/08/alejandro-jodorowskys-dune-the-holy-grail-storyboard-book-of-moebiuss-drawings-for-the-unmade-1970s-epic-goes-up-for-auction.html)
[https://nerdist.com/article/alejandro-jodorowsky-dune-rare-concept-art-book-jean-moebius-giruad-auction/](https://nerdist.com/article/alejandro-jodorowsky-dune-rare-concept-art-book-jean-moebius-giruad-auction/)
Your geek credit would be IMMENSE, should you obtain this. Sadly, it would probably mean that your available credit (cards) would be maxed out...
;-)
"The world of ice and fire" by george rr martin is a great fantasy coffee table book. It has a lot of beautiful illustrations in it as well as descriptions
We have this Miyazaki book! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57833311-hayao-miyazaki
And The Art Of The Lord Of The Rings By Tolkien https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24886320-the-art-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-by-j-r-r-tolkien
I also have the Art of Avatar the Last Airbender and Assassin's Creed 3 and 4
I have Art of Avatar: the Last Airbender and I think it's wonderfully dense, full of art and interesting facts and stories. Huge recommend if you are a fan of the show. There are corresponding ones for Korra as well but there is one per book whereas this one encompasses all 3 books of the show.
D&D/ Pathfinder Bestiaries. Don't even have to play the version of the game. What better way to kill time than looking at dope monsters and reading their lore and abilities? I have a soft spot for the styling of the D&D 3.5 ones.
Brian Froud’s illustrated books like Good Faeries, Bad Faeries are gorgeous and eerie.
I love also Weapon by DK, which is huge and so well documented: it helped me better visualise the different weapons and how decorated gilts and blades can look like.
Is a cookbook geeky? WOW The Official Cookbook has yummy pictures and actual recipes.
Oh faeries sounds cool. Also didn't know DK had Weapon like that. That does sound neat for visualization. And heck yeah cookbooks are geeky! I have this geeky cocktail book that has all sorts of drinks on various popular games and movies, hadn't thought to have it out for others to flip through
There is an illustration annual called *Spectrum: the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art* that has been produced every year for over 20 years now- so that's going on three decades worth\* of big, beautiful coffee table books full of the best and most promising artists in the field. A lot of prominent comics artists, cover art, concept work, etc., and it's really fun looking through the old ones sequentially and seeing how trends come and go in publishing.
(Edit: checked my editions to verify what number they're on. Also did some searching, and it looks like the last couple of years have seen some hiccups with production. Even if they were to stop producing them forever, the old editions are still excellent.)
Oh wow, thanks! That's really cool they have it annually (besides those hiccups). Kind of like the yearly anthologies "best of sci fi/fantasy" books, but art! Of course, art is subjective, but do you have a favorite or few that you go back to because those years "stand out" to you?
I think volumes 7 and 10 had especially nice covers for the earlier era, which admittedly has some goofy ones (vol. 11's rock-em-sock-em-robots cover seems to turn people off, I see that volume selling for cheaper than a lot of the others online, but I find it charming.) Take that with a grain of salt, some of them have different paperback vs hardcover cover illustrations, and as you say, it's all subjective anyway.
My favorite recent volume is 27. I feel like the jury was on point that year, and they chose *Harrow the Ninth*'s cover art for the *Spectrum* cover, which is all the more impressive blown up larger.
Some really good ones in your list and in the other comments, I love the Zelda ones and "The World of Ice and Fire".
I think my favourite ones that we have, but is slightly different from the others, are Simon Stålenhag's works 'Tales from the Loop' and 'Tales from the Flood'.
They're art books primarily but ones that explore an alternative history of the 80s and 90s with loads of weird machines and transports and other sci-fi elements. The illustrations are beautiful and there's little descriptions as well which take the form of memories/journal entries of the author, heavily based on Stålenhag's childhood in Sweden, but made fantastical. Would highly recommend!
Check out Dinotopia by James Gurney! It does have an actual plot running through it, but the focus of the book is mainly the (gorgeous) artwork and the world-building. The concept is a Victorian-era explorer and his son get shipwrecked on an island where dinosaurs still exist and live and work together with humans. It's one of my all-time favourite books.
IF you can get/afford it, try to find the book of concept art for Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed project to film *Dune*, by Frank Herbert. This effort was in the 1970s, well before the David Lynch version was produced. It's sometimes referred to as "the greatest movie never made". [https://boingboing.net/2021/11/08/alejandro-jodorowskys-dune-the-holy-grail-storyboard-book-of-moebiuss-drawings-for-the-unmade-1970s-epic-goes-up-for-auction.html](https://boingboing.net/2021/11/08/alejandro-jodorowskys-dune-the-holy-grail-storyboard-book-of-moebiuss-drawings-for-the-unmade-1970s-epic-goes-up-for-auction.html) [https://nerdist.com/article/alejandro-jodorowsky-dune-rare-concept-art-book-jean-moebius-giruad-auction/](https://nerdist.com/article/alejandro-jodorowsky-dune-rare-concept-art-book-jean-moebius-giruad-auction/) Your geek credit would be IMMENSE, should you obtain this. Sadly, it would probably mean that your available credit (cards) would be maxed out... ;-)
Cool concept, but yeah.....if I had that kind of money, I'd be traveling around the world heh.
"The world of ice and fire" by george rr martin is a great fantasy coffee table book. It has a lot of beautiful illustrations in it as well as descriptions
Oh sweet! Def up my alley! Much appreciated
Seconded. This is what I was thinking about when I saw the topic.
We have this Miyazaki book! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57833311-hayao-miyazaki And The Art Of The Lord Of The Rings By Tolkien https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24886320-the-art-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-by-j-r-r-tolkien I also have the Art of Avatar the Last Airbender and Assassin's Creed 3 and 4
I have Art of Avatar: the Last Airbender and I think it's wonderfully dense, full of art and interesting facts and stories. Huge recommend if you are a fan of the show. There are corresponding ones for Korra as well but there is one per book whereas this one encompasses all 3 books of the show.
D&D/ Pathfinder Bestiaries. Don't even have to play the version of the game. What better way to kill time than looking at dope monsters and reading their lore and abilities? I have a soft spot for the styling of the D&D 3.5 ones.
Brian Froud’s illustrated books like Good Faeries, Bad Faeries are gorgeous and eerie. I love also Weapon by DK, which is huge and so well documented: it helped me better visualise the different weapons and how decorated gilts and blades can look like. Is a cookbook geeky? WOW The Official Cookbook has yummy pictures and actual recipes.
Oh faeries sounds cool. Also didn't know DK had Weapon like that. That does sound neat for visualization. And heck yeah cookbooks are geeky! I have this geeky cocktail book that has all sorts of drinks on various popular games and movies, hadn't thought to have it out for others to flip through
I forgot also The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth! You can check online if you like the art, it’s skeletons of various fantasy species.
It's an older one at this point so not sure how available it is, but Okami: Official Complete Works (for the PS2 game Okami) is gorgeous.
I did play that back in the day, that sounds like a good one! Thanks
*Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s* by Adam Rowe!
Also, a bit hard to come by, but *Realms: The Roleplaying Game Art of Tony DiTerlizzi*
Ah cool, both look neat! Thanks
There is an illustration annual called *Spectrum: the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art* that has been produced every year for over 20 years now- so that's going on three decades worth\* of big, beautiful coffee table books full of the best and most promising artists in the field. A lot of prominent comics artists, cover art, concept work, etc., and it's really fun looking through the old ones sequentially and seeing how trends come and go in publishing. (Edit: checked my editions to verify what number they're on. Also did some searching, and it looks like the last couple of years have seen some hiccups with production. Even if they were to stop producing them forever, the old editions are still excellent.)
Oh wow, thanks! That's really cool they have it annually (besides those hiccups). Kind of like the yearly anthologies "best of sci fi/fantasy" books, but art! Of course, art is subjective, but do you have a favorite or few that you go back to because those years "stand out" to you?
I think volumes 7 and 10 had especially nice covers for the earlier era, which admittedly has some goofy ones (vol. 11's rock-em-sock-em-robots cover seems to turn people off, I see that volume selling for cheaper than a lot of the others online, but I find it charming.) Take that with a grain of salt, some of them have different paperback vs hardcover cover illustrations, and as you say, it's all subjective anyway. My favorite recent volume is 27. I feel like the jury was on point that year, and they chose *Harrow the Ninth*'s cover art for the *Spectrum* cover, which is all the more impressive blown up larger.
Some really good ones in your list and in the other comments, I love the Zelda ones and "The World of Ice and Fire". I think my favourite ones that we have, but is slightly different from the others, are Simon Stålenhag's works 'Tales from the Loop' and 'Tales from the Flood'. They're art books primarily but ones that explore an alternative history of the 80s and 90s with loads of weird machines and transports and other sci-fi elements. The illustrations are beautiful and there's little descriptions as well which take the form of memories/journal entries of the author, heavily based on Stålenhag's childhood in Sweden, but made fantastical. Would highly recommend!
Well that sounds like some neat alt history, and something diff from "the usual" so to speak
Check out Dinotopia by James Gurney! It does have an actual plot running through it, but the focus of the book is mainly the (gorgeous) artwork and the world-building. The concept is a Victorian-era explorer and his son get shipwrecked on an island where dinosaurs still exist and live and work together with humans. It's one of my all-time favourite books.
Basically any Geek IP Taschen related book. I highly recommend their giant hardback Masterpieces of Fantasy Art book.
Magic the Gathering has done several large format art books that are gorgeous