Brian Froud worked on one of my favorite movies of all time: The Dark Crystal (1982). I've loved Jim Henson for as long as I can remember and loved the "grown-up" puppets of the movie.
Last year Sci-fi-o-Rama posted some scans from the book "The World of the Dark Crystal" a 2003 compendium of conceptual art, design and illustration produced for Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy movie masterpiece “The Dark Crystal”.
Top: A conceptual sketch of an ‘Ur-Ru’. The Ur-Ru are the ying to the Skeksis yang, Ur-Ru represent light and good, the Skeksis dark and evil. Each Ur-Ru is inextricably linked to it’s Skeksis counterpart, both share a divided soul and are part of the higher being known as the ‘urSkeks’. This omnipotent super-race was violently spilt apart in an attempt to harvested the full power of the planets three suns known as “The Grand Conjuction”
2nd Top: A conceptual sketch of a ‘Skeksis’. For me creature and costume design doesn’t get much better than Skeksis – it’s not that the regal/Afghan hound looking Ur-Ru aren’t beautifully designed too (they are!) – there’s something memorably horrific about the Skekis, their shrill voices and bloated, twisted bodies wrapped inside fantastically elaborate but rotting clothing!
3rd Top: A perfect example of the fallen decadence – “skekEkt the Ornamentalist who made clothes above all for himself, rich fabrics that dripped jewels, the death of a 100 birds for 1 cloak. He first discovered the art of anointing the skin with a paste of clotted blood and diamond powder, to restore the sparkle of youth.”
4th Top: Another superior sketch, check the ruff, ruched sleeves and carefully balanced Tri-Spectacle action! “skekOk the Scroll-Keeper kept the record of the Skeksis; he was the smallest finest-featured, least honest of them all. He wrote and and rewrote his accounts, and kept changing them one or another of his shifting allies, The truth was soon lost.”
5th Top: A close up detail sketch of Skeksis head. A fair visual description would be to say the Skeksis are a kind of avian reptile, perhaps like an Archaeopteryx but also taking the most heavy visual cue from the Vulture .
Here's the press release
The Dark Crystal is a 1982 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Although marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking. The primary concept artist was the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive faerie and dwarf designs. Froud also collaborated with Henson and Oz for their next project, the 1986 film Labyrinth, which was notably more light-hearted than The Dark Crystal. The film stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell and Billie Whitelaw. - WikipediaOne of the conceptual designers was a fantasy artist called Brian Froud. Anyway, there's an exhibition of his work coming in December. From "The World of Froud" with paintings, concepts and puppets from the minds and hearts of Brian, Wendy & Toby Froud.
Last year Sci-fi-o-Rama posted some scans from the book "The World of the Dark Crystal" a 2003 compendium of conceptual art, design and illustration produced for Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy movie masterpiece “The Dark Crystal”.
Top: A conceptual sketch of an ‘Ur-Ru’. The Ur-Ru are the ying to the Skeksis yang, Ur-Ru represent light and good, the Skeksis dark and evil. Each Ur-Ru is inextricably linked to it’s Skeksis counterpart, both share a divided soul and are part of the higher being known as the ‘urSkeks’. This omnipotent super-race was violently spilt apart in an attempt to harvested the full power of the planets three suns known as “The Grand Conjuction”
2nd Top: A conceptual sketch of a ‘Skeksis’. For me creature and costume design doesn’t get much better than Skeksis – it’s not that the regal/Afghan hound looking Ur-Ru aren’t beautifully designed too (they are!) – there’s something memorably horrific about the Skekis, their shrill voices and bloated, twisted bodies wrapped inside fantastically elaborate but rotting clothing!
3rd Top: A perfect example of the fallen decadence – “skekEkt the Ornamentalist who made clothes above all for himself, rich fabrics that dripped jewels, the death of a 100 birds for 1 cloak. He first discovered the art of anointing the skin with a paste of clotted blood and diamond powder, to restore the sparkle of youth.”
4th Top: Another superior sketch, check the ruff, ruched sleeves and carefully balanced Tri-Spectacle action! “skekOk the Scroll-Keeper kept the record of the Skeksis; he was the smallest finest-featured, least honest of them all. He wrote and and rewrote his accounts, and kept changing them one or another of his shifting allies, The truth was soon lost.”
5th Top: A close up detail sketch of Skeksis head. A fair visual description would be to say the Skeksis are a kind of avian reptile, perhaps like an Archaeopteryx but also taking the most heavy visual cue from the Vulture .
Here's the press release
This December, Animazing Gallery will be presenting the first U.S. exhibition of Brian Froud's paintings and drawings, including original artworks from his published, international best-selling books and all of his concept drawings from Jim Henson's film Labyrinth. The exhibition will be open to the public daily. Animazing Gallery is located at 54 Greene Street (at Broome) in SoHo. For more information: 212-226-7374 or visit www.animazing.comVia io9
Brian Froud is regarded as the pre-eminent fairy artist of today and has redefined the image of Faeries in the 21st century. Froud is part of a long lineage of faerie painters and illustrators including Arthur Rackham, Richard Dadd, Walter Crane and Edmund Dulac and his work has hung alongside these exceptional artists - the greats of the genre - in museum exhibitions throughout the U.K. Froud's imagery; sensual, humorous and at times frightening, has rescued fairies from the Victorian nursery, to which they were relegated for so many years, and returned them to the dark, elusive and mysterious world of Faerie where they belong.
In November, 1998, Sotheby's "Realm of the Mind: Fantasy Art and Illustration" featured the work of such artists as; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Bell Scott, Richard Doyle, John Anster Fitzgerald, Walter Crane, Simeon Solomon and George Cruikshank. Brian Froud's painting from Good Faeries/Bad Faeries was chosen for the auction catalogue cover.
With over 30 books in publication and over 8 million books sold to date, Brian Froud's best sellers include Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (Hugo and Chesley Awards), Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (Hugo Award), the Faeries' Oracle and Lady Cottington's Fairy Album. His international best-selling book, Faeries with fantasy and Tolkien illustrator Alan Lee, published in 1978 and reissued in 2002 and again in 2010, is considered a modern classic and has sold more than 3 million copies.
Brian Froud has influenced a whole new generation of magical painters, book illustrators and filmmakers. Froud's landmark work with Jim Henson as conceptual designer on feature films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1987), set new standards for design, puppeteering and animatronics in film and are, today, considered landmarks in the evolution of modern day special effects. Both films have achieved an international cult following.
The Animazing Gallery, NY exhibition entitled, BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE, will be comprised of original paintings of creatures from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, concept drawings from Jim Henson's Labyrinth and original material from the published Faerie books: How to See Faeries, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book and Good Faeries/Bad Faeries.
BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE will be in collaboration with a site-specific installation by Wendy Froud and their son, Toby Froud; both renowned doll and puppet-makers. Toby was the baby "Toby" in Labyrinth and is presently a puppet fabricator and sculptor at Laika Entertainment, the celebrated studio specializing in stop motion/animation film and television.
Wendy is the fabricator of "Yoda" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. She sculpted and fabricated "Kira" & "Jen" from The Dark Crystal as well as some of the Pod People, and sculpted and fabricated some of the goblins in Labyrinth. For this inaugural exhibition, Wendy Froud has recreated the Gelfling, Kira from The Dark Crystal. Kira stands 33" tall, and was sculpted using original hair and beading from original The Dark Crystal production.
