![]() ![]() Too often in the fantasy art genre women are depicted are either victims or trophies, so it’s gratifying to see the Hildebrandt’s flipping that cliché around. Not only is it a wonderfully dramatic image, with some stunning colour and shadow work, but its depiction of a strong female character is to be applauded. My favourite of this bunch is Zyra (#45), one of the illustrations from their novel Ursharak. Their cover to The Sword of Shannara (#36) showcases their mastery of light and shadow, while The Joust (#35) and Tandy (#41) show how they could adapt their style to fit different subject matters. The four reprinted from the Hildebrandt’s Tolkien calendars – Lothlorien (card #31), Gandalf visits Bilbo (#38), the front cover to the 1978 Calendar (#39) and Saruman at Orthanc (#43) - show both their clear grasp of the subject matter, and why the Brothers’ calendars were so wildly popular. There’s some good illustrations in this third batch of cards. Several hard-to-find foil chase cards were also inserted randomly into packs, as were 500 cards personally autographed by the twins. Each card featured a full colour painting on one side and a short caption by the Brothers on the other. The Brothers Hildebrandt Collector Cards comprised of 90 full-colour cards measuring 2½ x 3½ inches that shipped in blind packs of ten cards per pack. The retail display box for the trading card collection They eventually reunited to work on the Marvel Masterpieces 1994 Edition trading card collection. In 1981 the Brothers released one more calendar, an original one based on the theme of Atlantis, before going their separate ways: Tim concentrated on advertising work while Greg continued working as a book illustrator. Two more hugely successful Tolkien calendars followed in 19 before the brothers bowed out of the world of Middle-Earth to concentrate on their own project, the fantasy novel Urshurak (published in 1979). The Brothers Hildebrandt’s only novel, Urshurak. In 1977 they cemented their reputation by providing both the cover and interior illustrations to Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara - the biggest selling fantasy novel of the 1970’s - and for painting one of the original posters for Star Wars, which in turn became one of the best-selling posters of all time. The calendar became the best selling calendar of all time, and propelled Greg and Tim to the top tier of fantasy art. ![]() Their big break came in 1975 when they were commissioned by Ballantine Books to provide paintings for the 1976 J.R.R Tolkien Calendar. After leaving school they found modest success as documentary film makers before turning to book cover illustration in the early 1970’s. The Brothers Hildebrandt were twins Greg and Tim, born in Detroit in 1939. Here are cards #31-45 from the collection. The Brothers Hildebrandt Collector Cards was a set of 90 trading cards released by Comic Images in 1994 featuring the work of renowned fantasy illustrators Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |