Behind the Cover: Boris Vallejo

Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-born American painter. He emigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter and model.

Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. Some of his male figures were modeled by Vallejo himself, and many of his later female characters were modeled by his wife. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.


The Toast of the Town (1976)

( more pics )

Vallejo commenced painting at the age of thirteen and had his first illustration job at the age of sixteen. After emigrating to the United States in 1964, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan The Barbarian, Doc Savage and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles - including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards and sculpture. Along with Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books. Vallejo's work is often compared to the work of Frank Frazetta, not only because it is similar stylistically but also since Frazetta painted covers for paperbacks of some of the same characters.

Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil paint on board, and has previously used digital media to combine discrete images to form composite images. Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook. He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork "Boris and Julie" or "Julie and Boris".

Vallejo has created film posters for numerous fantasy and action productions, including Barbarella (1968), Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell.

Vallejo is married to fellow artist Julie Bell, whose artistic style is very similar to Vallejo's. He has two children from a previous marriage to artist and writer Doris Vallejo. His son, Dorian Vallejo, also has produced work in the fantasy genre but now works primarily as a portrait painter. His daughter, Maya Vallejo, is a professional photographer.

http://www.imaginistix.com/

Behind the Cover: Boris Vallejo

Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-born American painter. He emigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter and model.

Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. Some of his male figures were modeled by Vallejo himself, and many of his later female characters were modeled by his wife. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.


The Toast of the Town (1976)

( more pics )

Vallejo commenced painting at the age of thirteen and had his first illustration job at the age of sixteen. After emigrating to the United States in 1964, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan The Barbarian, Doc Savage and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles - including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards and sculpture. Along with Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books. Vallejo's work is often compared to the work of Frank Frazetta, not only because it is similar stylistically but also since Frazetta painted covers for paperbacks of some of the same characters.

Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil paint on board, and has previously used digital media to combine discrete images to form composite images. Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook. He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork "Boris and Julie" or "Julie and Boris".

Vallejo has created film posters for numerous fantasy and action productions, including Barbarella (1968), Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell.

Vallejo is married to fellow artist Julie Bell, whose artistic style is very similar to Vallejo's. He has two children from a previous marriage to artist and writer Doris Vallejo. His son, Dorian Vallejo, also has produced work in the fantasy genre but now works primarily as a portrait painter. His daughter, Maya Vallejo, is a professional photographer.

http://www.imaginistix.com/

E-male by Scott&Scott

E-male is a pure classic romance novel. It has not any pretence to be anything else if not a light romp. Kory Miles is a geeky guy working as waiter while he is trying to build a successful online dating website. He is so good in his work that the website is a endless source of good matching but there is a problem: no complicated algorithm calculates the best matching, it’s all in Kory’s mind and good sense. Problem is that e-male is also starting to “eat” its owner, Kory has not real private life and he is always worried that no one discovers who is really behind the website. So when he has the chance to sell the website to another company following it as a consultant, it’s a perfect solution.

Zac Djorvzac is the owner of a travel agency and he has three rules: No Drama, No Dancing, No Dating. For the owner of a gay travel agency this is like a contradiction in terms, since you can’t have a group of gay men together and not having at least one of the Ds above. When Kory enters Zac’s office with a business proposal Zac never sent to him, Zac thinks the man is another city boy interesting only in partying and “loving”. And it not helps to make him changing his idea that Kory has an impromptu sex session with him on the floor behind the desk.

From a start like this, you would expect for the book to be a sex scene after the other. And this is something that actually I have never found in a Scott&Scott’s novel. Yes, there is sex, and also good sex, but the most important thing is the romance. These partners in work and life write novels that proof to the everyday gay man that also him is allowed to have romance. Since he is also a man, the romance is maybe a bit easier and less flowerily, but it’s not less romantic. Kory believes in true love, it’s the basic rule of his online dating website, but he is also a man who walks around with a condom in the pocket, just in case. Zac is apparently a stoic man, but in the end, he has a behind the should past as party boy.

If the light story and the funny moments weren’t enough to make me like this novel, the multiple references to “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze as must to seen movie for every respectable gay man and teen girls won me over. The roles between Kory and Zac change abruptly and when they leave for a vacation together to Baytown Beach with Kory’s friends and Zac’s employees (like a school trip among different classes where the main purpose is to gossip and dating), Kory becomes the library/laptop mouse, who hardly leaves his room, and Zac is now the beach boy who knows all the better places and who tries to drag Kory’s out of his shell. The dance lessons in the water or balancing on a rock, remind me too much Dirty Dancing to not love the story.

As I said this is a light story. It’s also maybe a little unrealistic, I can’t really believe that a group of grown men can go back so much to their teen years to consider a beach ball contest the main event of their vacation, but still, the story was nice and romantic, pretty much like a young comedy movie, that type of story that you read to rest and relax.

Amazon: E-Male

Amazon Kindle: E-Male

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

E-male by Scott&Scott

E-male is a pure classic romance novel. It has not any pretence to be anything else if not a light romp. Kory Miles is a geeky guy working as waiter while he is trying to build a successful online dating website. He is so good in his work that the website is a endless source of good matching but there is a problem: no complicated algorithm calculates the best matching, it’s all in Kory’s mind and good sense. Problem is that e-male is also starting to “eat” its owner, Kory has not real private life and he is always worried that no one discovers who is really behind the website. So when he has the chance to sell the website to another company following it as a consultant, it’s a perfect solution.

Zac Djorvzac is the owner of a travel agency and he has three rules: No Drama, No Dancing, No Dating. For the owner of a gay travel agency this is like a contradiction in terms, since you can’t have a group of gay men together and not having at least one of the Ds above. When Kory enters Zac’s office with a business proposal Zac never sent to him, Zac thinks the man is another city boy interesting only in partying and “loving”. And it not helps to make him changing his idea that Kory has an impromptu sex session with him on the floor behind the desk.

From a start like this, you would expect for the book to be a sex scene after the other. And this is something that actually I have never found in a Scott&Scott’s novel. Yes, there is sex, and also good sex, but the most important thing is the romance. These partners in work and life write novels that proof to the everyday gay man that also him is allowed to have romance. Since he is also a man, the romance is maybe a bit easier and less flowerily, but it’s not less romantic. Kory believes in true love, it’s the basic rule of his online dating website, but he is also a man who walks around with a condom in the pocket, just in case. Zac is apparently a stoic man, but in the end, he has a behind the should past as party boy.

If the light story and the funny moments weren’t enough to make me like this novel, the multiple references to “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze as must to seen movie for every respectable gay man and teen girls won me over. The roles between Kory and Zac change abruptly and when they leave for a vacation together to Baytown Beach with Kory’s friends and Zac’s employees (like a school trip among different classes where the main purpose is to gossip and dating), Kory becomes the library/laptop mouse, who hardly leaves his room, and Zac is now the beach boy who knows all the better places and who tries to drag Kory’s out of his shell. The dance lessons in the water or balancing on a rock, remind me too much Dirty Dancing to not love the story.

As I said this is a light story. It’s also maybe a little unrealistic, I can’t really believe that a group of grown men can go back so much to their teen years to consider a beach ball contest the main event of their vacation, but still, the story was nice and romantic, pretty much like a young comedy movie, that type of story that you read to rest and relax.

Amazon: E-Male

Amazon Kindle: E-Male

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html