The Dark Art Of Steve Stone: The Necropolis (book review).
‘The Dark Art Of Steve Stone: The Necropolis’ acknowledges it’s the third book, so at least I guessed the right order to read artist Steve Stone’s four books. Probably the most significant with this book are a few more double-page spreads but a lot of close-ups of particular pieces.
I’m still experimenting with digital art and its limitations, but a lot of it is actually in the detail. If you digitally paint but keep things essentially basic, then it can look, not so much crude, but lacking depth. There is a place for that in all types of art. When you do detail, even going to pixel depth, you might not think it can be seen by the viewer, but you would know if something is missing.
The eye can make much of a pixel of colour to represent something. In some respects, I wish Stone had talked more about how he makes his art compositions and the resolution he uses. If you work at a very high resolution, you need to ensure your computer has a big memory to cope with the size without crashing and save regularly, regardless of what software you are using.
Then, as you build up the detail of the painting and then go back to a normal size, you ensure the anti-aliasing; that is, the video card smooths out curves so it doesn’t look chunky and does much of the rest. You get the work he’s done. The close-ups tend to confirm this and at how much depth he was working. Making any picture look ‘realistic’ is down to seeing what you expect.
The cover painting showing the belt cartridges shows how the light reflects off them to give the necessary depth. Having something there you recognise, like the gun barrels as well, makes it easier to accept the more fantastic in the painting. It takes a certain level of mental psychology on the part of both the artist and the viewer to make the art acceptable. Clearly, Stone knows what he’s doing.
GF Willmetts
April 2025
(pub: Stone Nexus Dark Arts, 2023. 104 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/the-artbook-the-necropolis
