Brian Froud (born 1947) is a well known British Fantasy Art illustrator.
After the rise of Fantasy Art in the Seventies with notable figures like Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo, the cladistic tree of it grew and branched into subgenres, one such subgenre was Faerie Art. Brian Froud is Faerie Art.
Most people will recognize him for his work on the films Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, in which his Concept Art provided the foundation for the extensive Worldbuilding seen in those films. His son Toby appeared at age 2 in Labyrinth and would go on to become the design supervisor of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Froud's homepage can be found here.
Not to be confused with the Canadian voice actor of the same name.
Notable Projects:
- Faeries (1978): An art book co-produced by Froud and Alan Lee; probably Froud's best known work. Spawned an obscure 1981 animated TV special.
- The Dark Crystal:
- The Dark Crystal (1982): Froud worked on the concept art, designing the film's creatures and world in collaboration with Jim Henson.
- The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths (2012-2015): Served as consultant and drew the covers.
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019): Served as consultant. Unused designs of his were incorporated in the series.
- Labyrinth:
- Labyrinth (1986): Collaboration with Jim Henson once again.
- The Goblin Companion (1996): An art book with concept art from the movie, featuring humorous biographies of dozens of goblins and fleshing out the world of the Labyrinth. Illustrated by Froud and written by Labyrinth screenwriter Terry Jones.
- Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (1994): Another collaboration with Terry Jones.
- Pete's Dragon (2016): Worked on concept art for the film.
Tropes in his work:
- Darker and Edgier: Though still very whimsical.
- Double-Sided Book: One of his art books is Bad Fairies if you start from one end and Good Fairies if you start from the other. The critter in the middle could look like either, depending on which way up the picture is.
- The Fair Folk
- Our Fairies Are Different
- Ugly Cute: A lot of his faeries come off this way.
- Worldbuilding