The Art of the Book

Russian books illustrator

If you ever had been in Russia you probably noticed that there are a lot of book sales in Russia. Before, in Soviet times, they had called Russians “The most reading nation of the world” for their passion to read.

Nowadays, people still fond of reading even under the pressure of dvd/internet entertainment pouring on the heads from everywhere - in good old Soviet times they had no of such available so reading was the only way out to get some fun.

The quality of reading material has changed also a lot. If before it was mainly classic literature or some modern novels carefully picked by Soviet censorship for not having something unwanted in them then today people more often read low-level detective stories or fantasy books which are being created at a great speed of thousands new titles every week.






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So all of those go in great competition for readers minds and attention. They sell hundreds of books in some totally weird places as just on the street or in the subway or just on a sidewalk. The brighter the cover the more chances that a passing by soul would spot some new shocking story of Cyber OMOH fighter stuck in 2020 with his new BHD-9000 gun and a mission to save the princess.

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Today we have some of such illustrations for those kind of books made by Russian illustrator Leo Hao. You have a lot of chances seeing his works at such book selling points in Russia.

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    5:28 am


    30 Responses to “The Art of the Book”

    1. Morghus says:

      He’s a fantastic artist. I wonder if I’ve seen his earlier stuff, since they reminded me of some books I’ve read.

    2. onitake says:

      way too much GAR here. where are the girls?

      still, some drawings are very nice.

    3. Darksoul says:

      Hey I find them pretty good and unlike the poster above me it feels nice to see one fantasy cover artist didn’t go into “manara” syndrome, a.k.a. “if I’m drawing a female she must show boobs and ass”.

    4. sputnik says:

      beep beep beep

    5. Fortunately, some books are still good enough and not correspond to any of these pictures.

    6. nw99 says:

      The first one looks of Daniel Craig checking his text message.

      I would be curious to see what the American Civil war book would have to say from a Russian view (not a whole lot)

    7. ___ says:

      Is that Carl Weather’s character from ‘Predator’ in the 6th image from top?

    8. Poor Leo Tolstoy is probably rolling over in his grave about now!

    9. timbrewolf says:

      Those aforementioned celebrity resemblances are intentional, I’m sure. 4th from the bottom is Jean Claude Van Damme with a bird of prey.

    10. Obviously copied from American action movies, with minor changes to scene, scenario and faces.

    11. Russ, Ian says:

      This guy is actually pretty popular. He does CD cover illustrations for some American, British, and Russian Rock bands. I recognize his work from Blind Guardian and Iced Earth albums.

    12. Ceiling_Cat says:

      He put a bayonet in front of a grenade launcher in that first picture… this does not seem very practical.

    13. Corran says:

      It`s not too bad still. There is guys who make covers even worse. They are just photoshopping it from different pictures and neve mind the mistakes, like to the left of hero`s tie is shirt, and to the right it`s bullet-proof vest!
      But on those pictures you see most popular fuckups like copiyng famous poses, costumes or things from films and pictures.

    14. Corran says:

      It`s not too bad still. There is guys who make covers even worse. They are just photoshopping it from different pictures and neve mind the mistakes, like to the left of hero`s tie is shirt, and to the right it`s bullet-proof vest!
      But on those pictures you see most popular things like copiyng famous poses, costumes or things from films and pictures.

    15. Audrey says:

      Great art! But why is there a scene from the American civil war? That’s strange.

    16. Awesome work RESPECT!

    17. This is really cool work, but don’t some of the faces look familiar? I spotted Daniel Craig (pic 1), Mark Williams (of UK ‘Fast Show’ fame - pic 3), Peter Sellers (pic 31) and Jena-Claude Van Damme (pic 43) !! How odd….

    18. oupire says:

      And an artwork from Heroes of Might and Magic V addon. Hmm, curiously, does he work for Nival?

    19. Gurtek says:

      very nice………….

    20. Frankie says:

      Really liked the twin towers and the eagle. Very patriotic.

    21. jojo says:

      I’m trying to figure out the logic of having an underslung grenade launcher and a bayonet. The grenade will hit the bayonet and blow the dude up.

    22. ooOoooo! Check out the rich dimension! Fantastic Art!

    23. Taupey says:

      I love his bold style! Great Artist! Amazing work!

    24. Hoff says:

      haha it’s daniel craig. and carl weathers 6th from top

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