Brian Froud Books

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Brian Froud is an English illustrator that is fascinated with faeries. He had the pleasure of working with Jim Henson as a conceptual designer for The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, two movies that became cult classics.

Born in 1947 in Winchester, England, Froud graduated from Maidstone College of Art with a diploma in Graphic Design. He joined the Artist Partners Agency as a commercial illustrator soon after. But his interests were primarily rooted in fantasy and folklore, which is why he was always drawing images with a mythic element.

The practice eventually paid off. Froud developed a unique style that he used to create a detailed fantasy world filled with goblins, gnomes, and other fantastical creatures. He was still working in the commercial illustration field. But he always found the time to indulge his interests while working from his office cubical.

The illustrator was a valuable addition to Artist Partners. His contribution to ads, magazines, and the covers of children’s books turned Froud into an award-winning artist. His achievements did not end there.

After leaving Artist Partners, Froud partnered with Margaret Mahy. The illustrations he made for her novels attracted even more awards recognition for the artist. But Froud never forgot his love for the fantastical.

The illustrator’s interest in fairies was ignited in college. He started investigating the messages, meanings, and origins of popular folktales. Doing so deepened his appreciation for the genre. He remembers reading Arthur Rackham’s book on fairy tales and realizing that the author had accurately captured and manifested the magic that Froud had glimpsed in the real world.

The illustrator was certain that the world had more to offer than his eyes could see and that seemingly ordinary objects like trees had souls. At the time that Froud was honing his craft, he noticed that a lot of artists had attracted fame by attaching erudite explanations to the terrible pictures they had drawn. In doing so, these artists had elevated themselves over their art.

This annoyed Froud who believed that art should speak for itself, that it should tell its own stories. Later on, when he joined forces with Alan Lee to produce a book titled ‘Faeries’, Froud realized that faeries were his passion and that he wanted to spend his days pursuing the subject.

That is exactly what he did, going so far as to collaborate with Jim Henson on the filmmaker’s most renowned works. Henson approached Froud. He had an idea for a movie and once he saw one of Froud’s pictures on a book cover, he concluded that the illustrator had what it took to help him define his idea.

Henson went to Devon in England to see Froud. Not only was he impressed with Froud’s work but he also fell in love with Devon. He asked the illustrator to inject elements of the countryside into the work Froud would do for Henson.

Brian Froud Awards

The illustrator has received nominations for the British Fantasy Award, Locus Award, Balrog Award, Hugo Award, Chesley Award, BSFA Award, and World Fantasy Award. He won Hugo, Inkpot, and Chelsey Awards.

Brian Froud Books Into Movies

Froud worked with Jim Henson as a conceptual designer for ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘The Dark Crystal’. He also worked on the pilot of ‘The Storyteller’, Henson’s TV show, and ‘Little Nemo’, a Japanese animated movie from 1989. He contributed his talents to ‘Pete’s Dragon’, a Disney movie from 2016.

Best Brian Froud Books

Froud has a son called Toby who appeared in the movie ‘Labyrinth’. Froud’s best work includes:

Good Faeries Bad Faeries: The sequel to ‘Faeries’ continues Brian Froud’s tradition of exploring and dissecting the nature and appearance of pixies, gnomes, and all the other magical creatures in popular folklore. Froud also breaks from tradition and reveals the dark side of fantasy. While most faeries add goodness to the world, the likes of the Gloominous Doom and Morgana le Fay are out to cause havoc.

The World of The Dark Crystal: The Dark Crystal is a classic widely regarded as one of the best fantasy films of all time. Fans of the movie are just as obsessed with ‘The World of The Dark Crystal’, a book that, as the name suggests, pulls back the curtain to provide a plethora of background information about the movie.

The book includes illustrations and sketches from the movie as well as descriptions of props and some original concept designs that never saw the light of day.

When Does The Next Brian Froud book come out?

Brian Froud doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Creation Myths: The Complete Collection and was released on October, 1st 2019. It is the newest book in the The Dark Crystal Series.

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