Dark Horse Enchants Collectors With Charles Vess ‘Fairy Princess’ Statue
One of America’s most prominent fantasy art talents has turned his hand to sculpture, and the results are stunning. Charles Vess, award winning illustrator and graphic novel creator, has ventured forth with a new creative facet to his bejeweled career- sculpting.
Vess has long exhibited a distinct style, notably in his collaborations with Neil Gaiman such as Sandman, for which they won the World Fantasy Award and the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award and Stardust, which is forthcoming as a major motion picture.
Dark Horse Comics has worked with Vess on fabricating an original sculpture, which is based upon his original artwork of a Fairy Princess. It is scheduled for July 2007 release, and will be offered as a limited edition, with each numbered statue accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity personally signed by Vess.
Asked to explain what led him to working in three dimensions, he explained “Over the years I’ve walked into shops with my wife and made complaining noises about the various sculptures that we saw. ‘If only the tail on that mermaid was longer.’ ‘That dragons neck needs to arch the other way.’ Finally, she stopped me with a terse comment, ‘Well then, you should sculpt your own.’ So here I am doing just that. I’ve a lot more sculptural ideas and I hope I get a chance to bring them to life for you.”
“We are very happy to be entrusted by Charles with this piece,” Dark Horse’s Product Development Vice President David Scroggy noted, “and it is interesting to see how his sometimes wispy and ‘looser’ line, which when combined with his tasteful and restrained approach to color, makes for a haunting and ethereal piece that should resonate strongly with lovers of the fantastic. ”
Charles Vess continues: “With the ‘Fairy Princess’ I wanted to imagine her small elfin figure astride a huge mount, galloping through dense greenwoods, over shallow streams, beams of moonlight dappling over the princess and all the fairies and sprites that tumble after her. I really had no wish to sculpt each and every detail of the scene but rather an impression of the moonlit rider and her companions that would bring a sense of movement and grace to the image.”
The figure will be offered as a full-size, pre-painted statue. It measures a big 13″ in length, and is approximately 10.5″ tall. It will come packaged in a full-color collector’s box, and will be individually numbered on the underside of the base. The accompanying numbered Certificate of Authenticity will feature Vess’ original concept drawing for the statue in addition to his signature.
Only 550 statues are slated to be produced for worldwide distribution. Suggested retail price is $195.00.
