Stone Nexus A Genesis: The Dark Art Of Steve Stone (book review).
After seeing Steve Stone’s art in Illustrators #47, I did a little prowling on his website, where he has self-published limited editions, and ended up buying his collected set, knowing that if I review them here at SFC, you scamps are likely to get his remaining copies. The only issue was which to read first, as I found they were in reverse order on his site. I went for Stone Nexus: A Genesis: The Dark Art Of Steve Stone’ and got it right. Amongst the 80 pages of art, Stone gives his personal history to show what darkens his outlook with his art. He says he’s done thousands of covers over 30 years. As I haven’t seen those, I can only assume they were on books I wouldn’t normally buy or even see, presuming he’s done them for foreign markets.
He does seem a little confused by a key question asked as to what software he uses for his digital art. It’s Photoshop, by the way. I think it’s because of his limited colour palette, and he avoided looking plastic-like. There’s a somewhat fantasy orientation in his work, but his application of light sources makes the use of dimensionality eye-blowing and gives you budding artists out there something to aspire to. I hope some of his other books go into his techniques more, especially since he regards ‘paste & cut’ as his most useful computer terms.
Stone’s history seems orderly in some respects. Like all artists, he started young and was encouraged by his parents. His dad died from a heart attack when young; his mother later had a mental breakdown yet now has a blissful second marriage and children, so I wouldn’t regard his life as being totally dark. Maybe I was expecting Stone to be stuck in a dungeon or an asylum to shape his art, but really he’s just very good at fulfilling his contracted work, although he says he now must make more time to do his work from time to time. Art to die for.
GF Willmetts
April 2025
(pub: Stone Nexus Dark Arts, 2022. 96 page illustrated large softcover. Price: £19.99 (UK). If you buy his 4 book set together, £59.99 (UK))
check out website: https://stonenexusdarkart.com/products/stonenexus-a-genesis
