Kingsgate: The Art of Keith Parkinson [Paperback]

Keith Parkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Keith Parkinson's work is immediately recognized as some of the finest in the field of fantasy art. A long-time collaborator to the work of author Terry Goodkind, Keith has been able to conjure images for such works as Elflord, Dark Island, Dragonring, Demon Hunter, and many more. Now a collected volume of Keith's works are available in a showcase worthy of his art. With a foreword and additional commentary by Terry Goodkind, Parkinson gives you a gloriously detailed view of his imagination, with superb reproduction and high-quality stock.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: SQP Inc. (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865620903
• ISBN-13: 978-0865620902
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,056,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, November 1, 2005

By 

Kort "Art, Music, Book & Movie Enthusiast" (Boca Raton, FL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kingsgate: The Art of Keith Parkinson (Paperback)

With this second collection of Keith's paintings, we finally have a book worthy of the art it contains. This all new material is a wonderful collection of paintings and renderings of fearsome dragons, hideous creatures, captivating women, and sword-wielding men of valor. Also included are cover paintings for bestselling books by Terry Goodkind and David Eddings, as well as computer game art for EverQuest and Diablo, never-before-seen sketches, colorful commentary by the artist, and a whole lot more. One of the "Fab Four" from the TSR glory years, his work never fails to kindle the imagination and whisk one away to the worlds he creates.

"Magnificent modern fantasy at its finest--sensual, richly colored, imaginative, powerful. He's on our 'A' list of contemporary fantasy painters; his previous book was a bestseller for us." - from the Bud Plant catalog

With the sad news of Keith's recent passing, this will likely be the last collection of new material, but what we have here, we can treasure forever. Rest In Peace Keith, and thank you for sharing your wonderful gift with us.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fine portfolio of fantasy art, March 18, 2009

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Kingsgate: The Art of Keith Parkinson (Paperback)

Length:: 0:21 Mins

Keith Parkinson is a fantasy genre illustrator using traditional medium. He has created countless illustrations for fantasy books, games and other commissions.

His costume design for characters looks natural and most importantly always believable for required fantasy setting. After looking at the costume language, I probably can't imagine the characters wearing anything else. It just feels right.

Majority of the paintings are on human characters, and the very few monsters illustrations look great too. There's a good physical form to all the characters he drawn.

For book covers printed on small novels, the amount of detail put into the paintings is amazing. I guess it's the level of detail that gives his illustrations that level of realism.

It is also interesting to observe the type of composition used in book covers. The characters and action are always stage inside the frame. Rarely are any characters cropped. It does feel strange if not told that most of them are covers.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE TRUE GREATS!, December 8, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kingsgate: The Art of Keith Parkinson (Paperback)

Along with Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, and Jeff Easley, Keith Parkingson completes the "Fab Four" of fantasy artists. To think that all four were on staff at TSR at one time is mind boggling. One can only imagine the creative competition that took place between these four supremely talented artists. Kingsgate from SQP features 128 pages of Parkinson's paintings in full, lush color and printed on heavy stock paper. Bestselling fantasy writer Terry Goodkind provides an introduction to the book. Goodkind is an unabashed fan of Parkinson's who has done the covers to several of his books. Goodkind provides commentary on each cover and offers his unique insight on how the covers were devised. I think my favorite cover that Keith did for the Sword of Truth series was for Naked Empire showing the statue of a powerful warrior, long forgotten in the remote wilderness.

Parksinon's book covers are often enough to sell a book and he's done numerous book, RPG, and computer game covers over the years including one of Polgara, the David Edding's sorceress with her dark hair and trademark white steak, holding an owl in the forest. His fantasy calendars are always in a league of their own. There's a certain magic and myth to his work that's often missing in many artist's work. They seem to tell a story all on their own. Parkinson relates how Blizzard wanted him to do the cover for Diablo II but he was already tied up with other projects. So enamored of his work were they that they basically told him to give them anything as soon as he could and Keith would deliver a stunning painting that would be uses in promotional posters for the game.

Dungeons & Dragons fans will be sure to recognize many paintings from some of their favorite game accessories over the years including his group of skeletal kings in "Gods of Lanhkmar" and the "Temple of Elemental Evil" One of my favorites was always one of the Ravenloft Death Knight, Lord Soth. It's simply a gorgeous book that comes with an index to the paintings. A fitting collection by one of the genre's best artists.

Reviewed by Tim Janson