"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" par Chris ACHILLEOS. Editions Paper Tiger – Dragon's World, Surrey. 1979. Imprimé en Italie. Petit in-4, dos droit, couverture souple cartonnée illustrée en couleurs (état d'usage). 94 pages. Texte en anglais de Lee Anders, avec 83 reproductions photographiques, pleine page pour la plupart, d'illustrations de Chris Achilleos.

 

"Achilleos' fascination with popular heroic imagery dates from his childhood. He learned about Greek myth and legend from "Classic" comics while he lived in Cyprus, and moved on to the finely drawn and forceful strips in "Eagle" when he came to live in England. Frank Bellamy's outstanding "Eagle" centerspread, "Heroes the Spartan", was particularly influential on his growing interest in the possibilities of comic illustration… Chris Achilleos brings a meticulous technical skill to the illustration of tales of bloody heroism. In his polished artwork, cold metal gleams against and mingles with strange fetishist clothing. On his warriors and Amazons, armor merges into skin and fur; jeweled pendants drips from highly crafted gold and silver bracelets, while ornate swords are strapped and buckled onto body-molded carapaces. Achilleos' style is based on fastidious application. He works exclusively to commission, painting by daylight systematically and slowly, spending from one to four weeks on each picture. He draws from photographic and other visual source material, working the pictures up from pencil roughs and developing them in inks, watercolours and fabric dyes. To obtain the finish needed on his graphic work, he used an airbrush; but for his large heroic pictures he uses acrylics on canvas, a medium he much prefers…"

 

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