The Art of Ian Miller – A Review

Ian Miller is a British fantasy illustrator and writer  known for his quirky etched gothic style and macabre sensibility. He worked as an illustrator of fantasy art since the mid-1970s.

Ian Miller helped define the visual style of many early Games Workshop publications, including the Realm of Chaos supplement and the first edition of Warhammer 40.000, but also drew cards for Magic the Gathering, created covers for books by Tolkien and Lovecraft, and more.

Now there is a new art book chronicling his work – The Art of Ian Miller. The guys from Titan Books were kind enough to let me have a look at this fantastic book. If you enjoy the gothic and weird art of early-days Games Workshop, this is definitely worth a look.

Featuring over 300 pieces of artwork spanning decades of Ian’s work, this collection is a treat for all lovers of great fantasy art – from Lovecraft novel covers to Tolkien bestiaries to Warhammer 40,000 concept art, through a veritable trove of gothic humour, fantasy battles, dragons, beasts and a world of nightmarish visions.

---

#1 – The Art of Ian Miller – The Book

First the book itself. The Art of Ian Miller is a hardcover book with 160 pages dedicated to … well … the Art of Ian Miller. As any art book should, it is a larger format than most regular books, providing generous space for the artwork itself.

There is really nothing to say, other than that the production value of this book is plain perfect. It’s suitably heavy. The pages are thick and high quality. Aside from the art itself, everything has a white, very minimalist design to really make the artwork stand out.

Most importantly, for an art book, the binding allows you to put it flat on the table and page through the art at your leisure.

The Art of Ian Miller costs £24.99 RRP (less than a Codex these days…).

---

#2 – Ian Miller & Warhammer 40.000

The art in the book is divided by topics or themes: “Dragons” or “Men, Monsters, & Machines”, each with a short introduction full of  insights into Ian Miller’s inspirations. In addition, many of the illustrations also come with a short commentary.

The pictures above are some of the work Ian Miller did for Games Workshop.

Admittedly, there is not a a lot of Games Workshop art in this book. However, the commentaries were great and, I though, added a lot to the book.

Whether it is illustrations of a fish with an oxygen tank (above) used by Greenpeace in the 80s, his approach to drawing the Arkham (the city by H.P. Lovecraft, not the comic-book one), working on graphic novels or illustrating the famous works of J. R. R. Tolkien, I really enjoyed getting the “behind-the-scenes” on the various images.

---

#3 – Verdict?

I am not the greatest  of art book aficionados out there, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

• First, because a lot of it is positively twisted. It is also often highly detailed, drawn with lots of details. Twisted landscapes, demonic visages, fantasy realms. Lots of great images to get into the mood for gaming.

• Second,  the succinct commentary really added a lot to it. It might just be me, but I struggle to “get” art just by looking at art. I appreciate the illustrations a lot more when I have a story to connect with the different art works. This book certainly provided that.

As noted, if you consider buying this book only for the Warhammer 40K art, I would probably advise against it. However, if you are generally a fan of the old school Rogue Trader / Realm of Chaos-style of art, than The Art of Ian Miller is a fantastic book to get, to put on your coffee table and, unlike many art books, spend a lot of time reading for the stories behind the art.

Z.