illustration - johanna ost

Fantasy, if it's really convincing, can't become dated, for the simple
reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond
the reach of time.   - Walt Disney Company

The same is true of these illustrations...

View Johanna's gallery here.

illustration - yoskay yamamoto

These works by Yamamoto seem to be a study in the magnificence
of melancholia, scenes perfect for storytellers to grab and expand
upon because they're ideal representations of middle-moments -
moments ready for the questions what happened before and what 
happens after?  Of the countless characters up for stories, these
are some of them.

illustration - kaspian shore

These illustrations by Kaspian Shore look to me like a series of book
covers (think of The Vampire Diaries series).  Each is a different
character, or a few characters slowly changing in this mixed up
science fiction/fantasy world.  I'm intrigued - and provoked to try
and dream up who they might be..  Hope you are too.

Be moved.  Onward and upward.

happy fourth of july!

A little pic inspired by the day - how would you turn it into a moment
from a fantasy story, horror or science fiction?  Happy fourth!

illustration - jennifer healy

When I see Jennifer's work, I'm reminded of the art often
accompanying short fiction on tor.com.  These could easily be
paired with some serious fantasy and SF stories with striking
female protagonists or villains.  Her work certainly inspires
me to write those kind of stories...

illustration - erin kelso

Erin is a biologist who illustrates after hours.  The detail and composition of her
work is quite remarkable.  She knows how to use lines to cut through the artwork
and lead the eye to where the attention should be.  More than that, she has great
ideas on how her human creatures can interact with the animal ones.  Have a look.

Fantasy, if it's really convincing, can't become dated, for the simple reason that it
represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time.

- Walt Disney Company

illustration - whales

Any illustrator with a bent toward fantasy seems to have made, at some time or another, a whale-themed illustration, which is wonderful because they're all so beautiful.
Blue, killer, humpback, nar, here are a bunch to inspire.

If you had to write a story with a whale as a character, what would it be?

By Toshio Ebine

By Gianni de Conno

By The Little Fox

By Eric Fan

By Alice Ferrow

By Chris Buzelli

By Terry Fan

By Andrea Offermann

on writing (fantasy) - ursula leguin

In reinventing the world of intense, unreproduceable, local knowledge, 
seemingly by a denial or evasion of current reality, fantasists are perhaps 
trying to assert and explore a larger reality than we now allow ourselves. 
They are trying to restore the sense — to regain the knowledge — that 
there is somewhere else, anywhere else, where other people may live 
another kind of life. The literature of imagination, even when tragic, is 
reassuring, not necessarily in the sense of offering nostalgic comfort, but 
because it offers a world large enough to contain alternatives, and 
therefore offers hope. 

- Ursula LeGuin, The Critics, the Monsters, and the Fantasists

Read the whole essay here.