The Art of Ian Miller by Ian Miller and Tom Wyte

10/10

Where do I start with a book review of an artwork collection? I guess by explaining why I decided to pick this book up.

I have been a fan of Ian Miller’s work from a young age, I was introduced to his unique style in the pages of Games Workshop’s publications and the Fighting Fantasy books. I was therefore happy to see those classic works contained within the pages of this book. The image of the chaos god was to me the perfect depiction of chaos and captured my imagination at a young age. As you would expect, this collection of art is very close to my heart and mirrors my reading life and follows my experiences over the years within fantasy as a genre.

The book contains over three hundred pieces of artwork spanning the decades of Ian Miller’s work. Whilst thumbing through the pages of the book I also realised that Miller’s work is included in several books on my shelf, which shows how important he is an illustrator for sci-fi and fantasy. The amazingly intricate image of Smaug for example is on the cover of “There and Back Again” by Mark Atherton.

I am by no means an art critic so I am reviewing this from a fantasy fan’s perspective, because the amazing detail of the drawings and iconic images are essential for enthusiasts. In his own way Ian Miller’s drawings remind me of Escher but with their own dark and sometimes chaotic style. This is especially true in his ‘Castles and Kingdoms’ section.

The narration also provides a useful insight in to how the art was created, the inspiration for certain works and the techniques behind the work.

This is a glorious collection of Ian Miller’s work, the fantasy fan’s equivalent to a coffee table book you hope that your visitors will pick up to discover for themselves.