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The Art of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (author) and Paul Kidby (illustrator)

Every now and again a franchise will release a book about the franchise that is actually worth picking up. It doesn’t happen all too often, as for the most part they are simply money making schemes that pull together a large amount of irrelevance.

However, when you get a book like ‘The Art of Discworld’ with illustrations from Paul Kidby and annotations from the master himself, Terry Pratchett, you can be assured that you’ve got yourself a good bit of reading ahead of you.

In reality, the book is more a biography of Discworld than a book dedicated to art. Each page is festooned with Paul Kidby’s range of drawings, from pencil sketches to fully fledged coloured paintings. You get a much deeper look into the artist who is – to my mind sadly – limited to the front cover of the majority of Pratchett books (with exceptions like the Last Hero).

Getting to see characters like Vetinari, Vimes, Death and Susan in much greater detail and pose than before is a real joy. Some of the pieces make me want to open my wallet and spend copious amounts of money to have them hanging on my wall.

But there is more than just the usual suspects. Everyone from the villains of Pratchett’s books, members of the Guilds, Greebo and the Four Horsemen make their appearance in this book, all meticulously drawn, bringing to reality that which had been limited to the paper and our imaginations.

Alongside each page, however, are the aforementioned biographies. Pratchett lines the pages with his humorous wit and wisdom as he depicts for us his characters, how they came about, and how Kidby (and his predecessor Josh Kirby) brought them to colourful life.

From funny anecdotes explaining how a character came to be to praise for his artists, the book is much more than just a picture book to lay out on the coffee table (though this is a must in and of itself).

For any fan of Discworld, Terry Pratchett, or even those who appreciate the beautiful art that comes with fantasy novels, this book is a must!

Posted: October 11th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Terry Pratchett

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