Concept Art Spotlight: Bastien Lecouffe Deharme

There are very few character artists with a vision as distinct as Bastien Lecouffe Deharme.  Once you've seen one of his pieces, the rest of his work becomes immediately distinguishable. His portfolio is full of hazy reds, soft golds, and a surprisingly vivid palette for an artist who specializes in such gothic themes. Deharme has an eye for the erotically nightmarish (nightmarishly erotic?). His characters are often nude and seductively posed though frequently decked out in chains, wires, cables, wax and other weirdness. It's a bizarre yet undeniably beautiful aesthetic.

Though it's tempting to characterize Deharme's work as cyberpunk, there's a heavy dose of fantasy to keep things difficult to categorize (swords, candles, horns, armor, etc.) One is sometimes reminded of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, which blends both futuristic and medieval technology so well. One also detects a hint of Dune, for which Deharme has done book covers.

Deharme currently works as a freelancer who has supplied work for both the Legend of the Cryptids series and Magic the Gathering. His book covers are fantastic and he has completed jackets for such legends as Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Check out a few of his pieces below as well as his personal website roman-noir.com

Concept Art Spotlight: Tianhua Xu

For the past decade an increasing amount of concept art has been produced in China. Greater access to design software coupled with studios expanding their search for talent has produced a wave of superb new artists and illustrators melding cultural visions of what fantasy can look like. One of these artists is Tianhua Xu. The head of Chekyen Studios, Xu has been making a splash on artstation, cgworld, and cghub (RIP) over the past several years with his gorgeously lush and detailed renderings of characters and fantasyscapes. What makes Tianhua's work so interesting is the way he effortlessly blends U.S. and Chinese fantasy tropes to create a world all his own. Here are some of his most inspiring pieces.

Find more of Tianhua Xu's work at https://tianhuaxu.artstation.com/