For a long time I've been meaning to write a piece for blog or website about all the artists and illustrators who inspired me when I was a teenager. I still haven't got around to it (sorry Justin), but while I was noodling around on the internet the other day, looking for examples of my erstwhile heroes' work, I came across a new one; an illustrator called Paul Bonner. He clearly had much the same upbringing as me, being exposed at a similar age to Tolkein, Brian Froud and wet mountains in Cumberland. But he can draw and paint a great deal better than I ever could, and has forged these influences into a very vivid, cinematic style that is all his own. I'm not so taken with his sci-fi stuff, but the fantasy pictures, in which wonderfully grotesque and characterful creatures adventure through lovely nordic- looking hills and forests, is a treat. His work can be seen at his website, http://www.paulbonner.net/, and is also collected in a rather fine book called Out Of The Forest... This friendly minotaur appears on the cover.
(Image: Rackham Games)
