This is the art book for Didier Cromwell, a French comic artist and illustrator. It's a 208-page hardcover with thick paper.
I don't really know anything about his work and I couldn't find out much information on him online, except for the comic books he created, one of which is Anita Bomba.
The illustrations featured are mainly personal stuff. There are sketches and lots of oil paintings. The subject matter is mainly characters but quite random with the more cowboys and girls, tribal indians among other characters. There's a strong sense of presence for all his characters.
The art looks great, in particular the paintings are really well done to capture the mood. The textures are nice and feel raw. The oil paintings certainly don't give hint that he's a comic artist but the sketches do. The colour palette is limited and used to great effect.
Overall, the book feels thick with paint and it's quite different visually from other art books.
It's acrylics, not oils. Anita Bomba is not "popular" but got his fans. Cromwell was part of a comics comics authors group called Asylum in the 80's (with Riff Rebs and some others) but they never get great public success. His firt serie, "Le bal de la sueur", was a strange SF serie (https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-2409-BD-Bal-de-la-sueur.html) republished by Soleil.
Cromwell himself is a very rock'n roll personnality -he plays and sing in a punk band - and do no produce a lot. I planned to make an interview of him on my blog but well, no time for the moment.
Thanks a lot. Your reviews are great! I discovered here this art book and seems to be great. I think i'll buy it.
I should appreciate your comment!