Customer Reviews

The Art of Jeffrey Jones

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one terrific book! It was a great trip down memory lane for me: Jeffrey Jones did the fantastic covers for many of the swords-and-sorcery paperbacks I read while growing up. In addition to the artwork for stellar talents like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and Karl Edward Wagner, Jones' beautiful paintings also brought class to less distinguished (but still fun)books by authors like Lin Carter and Gardner F. Fox. The wonderful artwork for many, many of these books is included, as well as a ton of great illustrations based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan adventures. The cover illustration is one of the best (and most understated) pieces of vampire artwork I've ever seen. The paintings are enlivened by Jones' personal reflections on his career, and the book concludes with striking samples of Jones' non-commercial art. Jones' smoldering, doe-eyed brunettes are the stuff dreams are made of!

Dozens and dozens Jeffrey Jones' wonderful paintings are beautifully produced in this fine book. Unfortunately, there is very little in the area of his sketches, and almost nothing of his comic work.

It might be argued that Jones' most original creations were his *Idyll* and *I'm Age* strips for National Lampoon and Heavy Metal. Certainly his work with pen-and-ink is nothing short of extraordinary. (I work with pen-and-ink myself and am in awe of his modeling techniques.) This book gives us only one single page of Idyll and one single page of I'm Age.

Because of these disappointing omissions I am tempted to give this book only two or three stars, but I give four stars in the hope that the Idyll and I'm Age strips will be collected together at a later time. They are brilliant, and from an artistic standpoint they are at least as important as the paintings.

Questions have always circulated about Jeffrey Jones and his place in the history of 20th Century fantasy art: was he a monumental talent or just another Frazetta imitator? I think this book finally provides a definitive answer: he was both. THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES is a beautiful showcase that effectively traces Jones' transition from a Frazetta-wannabe in the 1960s to the truly gifted painter of the 1990s be became.
And I must disagree with Manfred's complaints and comparisons to previous Jones books: not only are Jones' earlier books long out of print, but THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES includes a great deal of work not included in any other collection (along with unpublished art credited as being painted in the '90s). While the text most certainly could have been expanded, I believe the editors have revealed more about Jones as an artist and person than any have previously and I came away with a better appreciation of this eccentric creator. A personal favorite.

This book covers Jones from some of his earliest projects to images painted fairly recently. It also sparsely includes his comic work, sketches in the interior covers, and autobiographical snippets originally posted on his website (which is now down until further notice). The cover is very misleading (those knowing Jones know what awaits in the pages, so I assume this is to garner a larger audience).

I consumed all that is Jeffrey Jones after learning about him in History of American Illustration. Jones is the ultimate example of "less is more", and brings an understanding of form and light to the art world that takes little work to appreciate.

When I picked up this book, I never expected this man's words to be as potent as his paintings, but they truly are. I don't know if Jones has written a book, but it's certainly in his league; his vivid descriptions of life growing up are enough for me that I've seen the locations when I close my eyes. Outside of biographical information, Jones has commentary on the ethics of commercial illustration, be it his origins as a Frazetta imitator to his leaving illustration altogether for Fine Art Painting. Reading that part was not fun for me, because it made me rethink my entire career/area of study. But I had to read it, and I'm glad I did.

I wish there was more examples of his comics, or at least more sketches. His website had a walkthrough of his creative process before it closed, but this book doesn't even scratch the surface of that. For what this book does have, it's beautiful, large, and easily one of my favourites in my collection. The price is very affordable. Anything less than $50 for this is a complete steal.

I have enjoyed this book for years, looking through it several times a month. Jeffrey Jones is one of the finest artists of our time. The published novel covers in the beginning sometimes had a Frazetta feel, but I understand that if a publisher gives you an assignment, one must do it in order to feed his/her family. I read in the book that Jones became a bit 'difficult' in the opinions of his editors as he did not wish to do exactly as they wanted, it was uninspiring and bored him. Still, many of the early novel covers are more than mere illustration art, the intellectual artist coming through and saying more than most. Either way, the public loves it. After doing novel cover paintings for a few years, Jones made a leap into fine art (one reason why I find his work more important than Frazetta, but you can't compare illustration to fine art and expressionism, which Fritz never did). Jones' fine art has such power and mood/atmosphere. I see that Jones admired Klimt, as evidenced in some of the paintings of females.
I hope the Fenner's do another Jones retrospective. I would like to see more 'Jones Touch', 'Idyl' and 'I'm Age', which further seperate Jones from other artists with the seemingly whimsical writing/poetry. This artwork as well as many novel covers and fine art is very difficult to find anywhere, so please publish more!!! !! !

I waited around to get this title. if you're thinking over it, just get it. Images of these paintings are well worth the money.

This is an incredible book. 160 pages of color plates. As an artist, I really appreciate the detailed close ups of some of the paintings, where you can see every brush stroke. The color quality of the plates is very high. Lots of fantasy female figurative paintings in this book. Jeffrey Jones has a real gift for light and shadow, color, and painting the human form. Many of the color plates are 8" x 11" or 9" x 12". and could actually be cut out and framed.

Buy the signed slipcase edition if you can - it is a beautiful book with gorgeous reproductions, and signed and in a slipcase. Rip Jeffrey Catherine Jones (Jones just had a sex change - no kidding!) who died in May 2011.