Heaven’s Hell: the Art of Anthony Jones

Charac ter crea tion Now this is what we call deviant art… discover the twisted afterlife world of a master artist

Editor Anthony Jones Publisher Design Studio Press Price $25 Web www.designstudiopress.com Available Now

Backers of this Kickstarter project may just have expected a nice collection of their favourite artist’s work: but they’ve got much more than that. In this deliciously deviant volume, concept artist, illustrator and educator Anthony Jones unleashes his “demented visions of the afterlife” in a stunning series of mainly monochrome paintings.

Not quite telling a story, Heaven’s Hell nonetheless introduces a string of horrifying and melancholy characters that get right under your skin. Inspired by “extreme high concept fashion design, black-and-white photography and monsters”, they’re quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. And by giving them full space to breathe, it thrillingly conveys how much emotional power can be elicited by an artist willing to go with their gut instinct.

With the lion’s share of the first 77 pages handed to the art itself (while tossing out pithy backstories for each demonic personality), the remainder of this 130-page softback devotes itself to tutorials. These aren’t full walkthroughs, but they do offer a series of valuable insights into the Photoshop techniques Anthony used to create and finesse his provocative and unsettling creatures, right down to individual brush presets.

One of the sternlooking Sisters of Haliled, who Anthony Jones reveals as someone who finds pleasure in the demise of love.