What do you think?
Rate this book
Infernum: The Art of Jason Engle
“Fresh, imaginative, and haunting, Jason’s ethereal visions are a unique pleasure to behold.”— Brom
A fabulous and evocative collection of images from an emerging young creator of fantasy art who’s making a big name for himself. Not only does Jason Engle’s website, jaestudio.com, receive more than 2 million hits per month, but Engle can count major figures from the world of science fiction illustration as fans—including Brom, Todd Lockwood, and Matt Stawicki. Engle’s work, an unusual mix of traditional media and modern digital paint techniques, has won critical acclaim in online galleries, including top honors at DigitalArt.org and the Editor’s Choice Award at Epilogue.net. The selections here all feature his signature use of color, his graceful and ethereal figures, and powerful, otherworldly atmosphere.
A fabulous and evocative collection of images from an emerging young creator of fantasy art who’s making a big name for himself. Not only does Jason Engle’s website, jaestudio.com, receive more than 2 million hits per month, but Engle can count major figures from the world of science fiction illustration as fans—including Brom, Todd Lockwood, and Matt Stawicki. Engle’s work, an unusual mix of traditional media and modern digital paint techniques, has won critical acclaim in online galleries, including top honors at DigitalArt.org and the Editor’s Choice Award at Epilogue.net. The selections here all feature his signature use of color, his graceful and ethereal figures, and powerful, otherworldly atmosphere.
- GenresArt
128 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 27, 2024
I will admit that this was a spur of the moment addition to my Paper Tiger book collection and although the hardbacked version with slipcase is an impressive imprint (this was printed towards the end of the life of the publishing house - it had already been bought out and was now in the process of being absorbed in to the parent publisher) I will admit that the artist is one who I did not immediately connection with
I think in part this is due to the unfamiliarity of the art presented - it would seem that Jason Engle has done a lot of work for the gaming industry as it would appear a lot of the art credits point towards card games.
So yes not one of my stand out favourites but I cannot dismiss the creativity and talent of the artist
I think in part this is due to the unfamiliarity of the art presented - it would seem that Jason Engle has done a lot of work for the gaming industry as it would appear a lot of the art credits point towards card games.
So yes not one of my stand out favourites but I cannot dismiss the creativity and talent of the artist
January 11, 2021
His artwork is style over substance. He kinda mentions it a couple times; talking about Jaime Lannister "One of the more interesting characters in the story, his personality and motivations were never one-sided or unbelievable, as most antagonists in fantasy literature tend to be.", saying how he really loves Dragonlance and that they inspired him, mentioning in another caption how "...I followed the style guide far too closely, in my opinion." "...I try to find and select the good and bad points, the identifying and signature elements and then use them in a way that allows for artistic licence, and a little creativity that gives the image a unique personality. But the card was later used as a marketing image for the game, so sometimes, representing the material as closely as possible can be a good thing."
It's not that the work looks unfinished, it's just generic and a little lacklustre imo. I feel like the advantage that artwork like this has is detail, the ability to capture all the little things about a character than either are impossible to do in film or have to be set aside for some reason or other - Tyrion's appearance in Game of Thrones is a little gruesome as described by Martin; he almost makes him sound pig-like, and that's before he takes an axe to the face (and survives dw whoever is living under a fkn rock and hasn't either read or watched). Detail is what makes artwork stand on it's own in a book like this. All the times, representing the material as closely as possible can be a good thing.
The ones for Legend of the Five Rings are better, where he was pressured(?) to stick to the style guide.
It's not that the work looks unfinished, it's just generic and a little lacklustre imo. I feel like the advantage that artwork like this has is detail, the ability to capture all the little things about a character than either are impossible to do in film or have to be set aside for some reason or other - Tyrion's appearance in Game of Thrones is a little gruesome as described by Martin; he almost makes him sound pig-like, and that's before he takes an axe to the face (and survives dw whoever is living under a fkn rock and hasn't either read or watched). Detail is what makes artwork stand on it's own in a book like this. All the times, representing the material as closely as possible can be a good thing.
The ones for Legend of the Five Rings are better, where he was pressured(?) to stick to the style guide.
October 24, 2011
Infernum is a 128-page hard-bound, full color collection of Jason Engle's artwork. Jason Engle is a relative newcomer to the fantasy art scene but he is an artist that has hit the ground running and very quickly established a distinctly recognizable style and a solid name for himself.
Engle's art has graced the covers and pages of books by companies such as Bastion Press, Malhavoc Press, Hero Games, AEG, Mystic Eye Games, Fantasy Flight Games and both Dungeon and Dragon Magazines. Featured on novels, game books, supplements and collectible cards most gamers will not have to reach very far into their collections to find a piece of Engle's artwork.
As a collection of art, Infernum is well organized with chapters devoted to books, card games, magazines and miscellaneous sources. It is interspersed with text written by Engle that discuss select pieces in a couple of paragraphs and explain his humble beginnings in the industry as well as his techniques and methods and his sources of inspiration. The actual art is predominantly fantasy, although a smattering of sci-fi pieces are also included.
Engle's artwork is hand drawn and digitally colored and reworked to produce pieces that strike me with their fantastic use of light that seems to almost shine from behind the page. Action is almost always included, and as a long time gamer there were few pieces that I found that didn't leave me imagining characters or encounters based entirely upon the image.
Infernum is incredibly well supported by Engle's website which features many - if not most - of the art included in the book on the site and many more with infrequent updates to the site expanding the offering of art evermore. The website is well-organized in a similar fashion to the book and is friendly to those of us with slow connections. Thumbnails on each of the main gallery pages lead to full screen versions of the image.
Some of my favorite pieces included the 'Beneath the Ice' illustration which depicts an undersea scene with an alien-looking aquatic humanoid swimming against the backdrop of an underwater cliff with sunlight beaming down from far above and a school of fish passing through the background.
Another stunning piece is 'Dreamfall' which I would happily hang on my living room wall. It depicts a wistful looking woman wielding a katana balancing across a series of stepping-stones against the backdrop of a huge lake. The scene evokes memories of movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon given her sense of motion and style of dress.
'Drider' is beautifully grotesque, 'City of Twilight' features a fearsome bloody handed assassin against a grim and gritty urban skyline, and 'Bloodsword' is a silent, sorrowful and deliberately motionless scene depicting a spent battlefield.
Further support for the book is provided by the website for the serious art fan, with a great many of the featured pieces (and more) being available for sale as separate poster-sized prints.
Obviously a book devoted purely to art is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, if you expect crunchy game content or fiction this simply isn't that type of product.
Restricted by the page count, many of the pictures are not full page - a great deal are though - but there are more than a few half-page illustrations that share their page with unused white space. Given this fact, I would have liked to see many more of these images in their full glory.
Infernum is a beautiful book that should excite any fantasy gamer or art fan. It deserves a proud place on anyone's coffee table.
Final Grade: A+
Engle's art has graced the covers and pages of books by companies such as Bastion Press, Malhavoc Press, Hero Games, AEG, Mystic Eye Games, Fantasy Flight Games and both Dungeon and Dragon Magazines. Featured on novels, game books, supplements and collectible cards most gamers will not have to reach very far into their collections to find a piece of Engle's artwork.
As a collection of art, Infernum is well organized with chapters devoted to books, card games, magazines and miscellaneous sources. It is interspersed with text written by Engle that discuss select pieces in a couple of paragraphs and explain his humble beginnings in the industry as well as his techniques and methods and his sources of inspiration. The actual art is predominantly fantasy, although a smattering of sci-fi pieces are also included.
Engle's artwork is hand drawn and digitally colored and reworked to produce pieces that strike me with their fantastic use of light that seems to almost shine from behind the page. Action is almost always included, and as a long time gamer there were few pieces that I found that didn't leave me imagining characters or encounters based entirely upon the image.
Infernum is incredibly well supported by Engle's website which features many - if not most - of the art included in the book on the site and many more with infrequent updates to the site expanding the offering of art evermore. The website is well-organized in a similar fashion to the book and is friendly to those of us with slow connections. Thumbnails on each of the main gallery pages lead to full screen versions of the image.
Some of my favorite pieces included the 'Beneath the Ice' illustration which depicts an undersea scene with an alien-looking aquatic humanoid swimming against the backdrop of an underwater cliff with sunlight beaming down from far above and a school of fish passing through the background.
Another stunning piece is 'Dreamfall' which I would happily hang on my living room wall. It depicts a wistful looking woman wielding a katana balancing across a series of stepping-stones against the backdrop of a huge lake. The scene evokes memories of movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon given her sense of motion and style of dress.
'Drider' is beautifully grotesque, 'City of Twilight' features a fearsome bloody handed assassin against a grim and gritty urban skyline, and 'Bloodsword' is a silent, sorrowful and deliberately motionless scene depicting a spent battlefield.
Further support for the book is provided by the website for the serious art fan, with a great many of the featured pieces (and more) being available for sale as separate poster-sized prints.
Obviously a book devoted purely to art is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, if you expect crunchy game content or fiction this simply isn't that type of product.
Restricted by the page count, many of the pictures are not full page - a great deal are though - but there are more than a few half-page illustrations that share their page with unused white space. Given this fact, I would have liked to see many more of these images in their full glory.
Infernum is a beautiful book that should excite any fantasy gamer or art fan. It deserves a proud place on anyone's coffee table.
Final Grade: A+
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews