Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell. A gallery of their fantasy artworks

Julie posted this image on her Instagram page with these notes.
I recently did this drawing as a study for a future project that was going to be full-sized, full-colour paintings on a pair of library doors. Here's the story of the people depicted in the drawings:
My purpose with this diptych is to illustrate the passage and transformation of language and culture from the past to future generations.
On the right side is Gaagige Aanakwadikwe, whose English name is Winonah Ojanen. She is an astronomer and science teacher. I first came to know of her through Winona Nelson when she was working as an intern at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. She has made it her mission to teach her students how to talk about modern scientific matters using Ojibwe words. She is working with Gordon to create a connection between the Ojibwe language and storytelling with current astronomy concepts.`

Trading Card commissioned by Wildstorm Productions, 1994. Not a standard superhero portrait because it is an unusual character. The absence of action meant having to try and capture the nature of the detective with body language.

This painting is an illustration for the 2014 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of September.
Given the year it was painted, it's likely an alternative cover for the Album Exodus by Alex Moulton

Cover art for the book Galaxy Jane by Ron Goulart. Published by Berkley March 1st 1986.

posted on instagram 4th December 2020, with the comments dedicated to the spirit of all of the soaring guitars of Rock and Roll!

This painting is an illustration for the 2002 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of November.
The Portal:
Holding Earth in her hands, Fate released the last of our collective energy to open the portal needed to remove us once more from the needs of humanity.

Painting created for SkyBox Master Series?. Trading Cards. 1994. Explosive playing cards thrown with extreme accuracy are Gambit's trademark weapon. He started as a thief in New Orleans and was recruited nto the X-Men by Storm.

Explosive playing cards thrown with extreme accuracy are Gambit's trademark weapon. He started as a thief in New Orleans and was recruited nto the X-Men by Storm.

Card 10/18 of the JLA/Avengers Trading Card set. Nine of the cards combine to form a single painting by Jule Bell, the other nine combine to form a Boris Vallejo painting.
All the cards in the set were painted in 1995 but only two are dated.

This painting is an illustration for the 2008 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of March.
FROLIC
At first, they were simple amusements. Skull and Claw was a favorite.

An original painting featuring the Game Of Thrones character Daeneryrs, an alternative version was included in the 2020 Fantasy Calendar, under the title Trusted Companions.

Julie posted `I was honored to be one of several artists hired by HBO to create artwork to commemorate the final season of Game Of Thrones!`

An untitled painting that appeared on Julies Instgram page 15th September 2023, with these comments Recent commissioned painting! Thank you to the forest rangers at Garden of the Gods in Colorado who I consulted for their expertise on reference information!
The title Cougar is tempory until the correct name is known.

This painting is an illustration for the 2010 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of October.
ILLANDRA'S REJUVENATION
'If I restore your youth and beauty, you must henceforth be my slave,' said The Wanderer to Illandra. Without a moment's hesitation, she accepted.

Cover art for the book The Gates of Creation by Philip Jose Farmer, published by Ace Books/Science Fiction May 1977.

Cover art for the book Gateway by Frederic Pohl, published by Ballantine/Science Fiction 1978.

A 24x24 inches oil painting that appeared on Julie's Instagram page in April 2022.

An advertisement for the Book of the Month Club.

Gazing Pond was completed in 2016. It featured along with Champion in the July/August issue of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, it was awarded Finalist / Animal at the 12th Annual Art Renewal Center's International Salon 2016.

Gemini, the Twins. This painting was specially commissioned for the 1988 Fantasy Zodiac Calendar, and appears for the month of June

Cover art for the book Gen 13: Netherwar by Christopher Golden, Jeff Mariotte,. Published by Ace Books June 28th 1999.
In this story Las Vegas has become the gateway to hell in a very literal sense and the Gen team of superheroes has come to sort things out. It is far more obvious in the finished painting than in the drawing that this is Las Vegas rather than anywhere else.

Cover art for the book The General Zapped An Angel by Howard Fast, published by Ace Books/Science Fiction 1978, containing nine fantasy and science fiction stories.

Generation X includes Chamber, Husk, Jubilee, Monet, Penance, Skin and Synch. As with any rising generation they have clashes with their elders and are impatient to be able to do things their own way, but they are basically on the same side.

A concept design for an oil lamp with a sculpted genie coming out. It's a charming idea, but one that was never realized as a final production.

A variation of this painting was used for the 2013 Fantasy Calendar. The other version is censored for calendar purposes.

Trading Card Fleer Publishing Company 1996.
Ghost-Rider rides a flaming-wheeled motorbike his main weapon being an extending chain which he uses to chastise drug barons and assorted baddies that cross his path. Blackout is depicted as a half-demon, and is the second character to use the name within the fictional universe.

Trading Card Fleer Publishing Company 1996 Marvel Characters. Johnathon 'Johnny' Blaze a.k.a Ghost-Rider is an American motorcycle stunt performer. He made a deal with the Demon Mephisto to spare the life of his surrogate father Crash Simpson. Now with the power to control Hellfire and to inflict pain on those he deemed evil with his Penance Stare, Blaze seeks vengeance riding his Hell Cycle.

Trading Card Fleer Publishing Company 1996
Hank Pym was the original character named Giant-Man. He used that super hero identity after joining the Avengers with Wasp, Iron-Man, Thor and the Hulk. ... As Giant-Man, Pym fought villains like the Human Top and Egghead, and many years after, joined the Secret Avengers, the Avengers A.I. and the Avengers Academy.

This painting is an illustration for the 2006 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of June.
Re-Enchantment
Tamar and West saw each other as they were when they first met. She, willing to leave the very water that gave her life. He, abandoning his warlike ways, desperate to be near the one who meant all to him.

This painting is an illustration for the 2009 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of February.
THE EXCHANGE
he Axin Wanderer caught the rose that dropped from the hand of the sleeping priestess Natana, deftly replacing it with a glowing Power Stone.

Cover art for book The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett. Published by Ballantine 1979. The first of three novels in The Book of Skaith series.

Cover art for the Edgar Rice Burroughs book The Girl From Hollywood published by Ace books/Western.

Cover art for the book The Girl Who Owned A City by O.T. Nelson. Published by Lerner Publishing Group/Science fiction 1975. Boris used his own children Dorian and Maya to model for this painting.

This poster for Naked Warriors the video version of the 1974 film The Arena: The revolt of the gladiatrices, directed by Steve Carver.

This painting is an illustration for the 2021 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of June.
FEATHERED FANTASY
Surrounded by this plush, pink luxuty, how I long for the freedom of flight! Oil on panel 76.2 ? 101.6 cm

Limited Edition Artwork Poster Champions of Norrath published under licence from Sony Online Entertainment by Ubi Soft Entertainment. I presume the poster was box content included with the Playstation 2 game of the same name.

This painting is an illustration for the 2010 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of November.
GNARELL'S DREAMS
And when Gnarell dreams, he is young again, with magnificent wings, and his mistress is never far from his side.

Cover art for the book God of the Golden Fleece by Fred Saberhagen. Published by Tor Books August 2001.
We see Jason the Argonaut making off with the Golden Fleece, unaware yet that an angry giant has caught up with them. Boris posed for both Jason and the ogre. Stylistically Julie was aiming for a slightlyMaxfield Panish feel to the painting. She's a great admirer of his distinctive use of colour and dreamy backgrounds. so here was seeing how much she had learned from him.

This is an illustration for a series of Fantasy Collector's Knives, issued by Franklin Mint. The paintings were printed onto the cast-metal knives.

This is an illustration for a series of Fantasy Collector's Knives, issued by Franklin Mint. The paintings were printed onto the cast-metal knives.

A preliminary drawing for Mistress Of the Rain decorative knife issued by Franklin Mint.

This painting is an illustration for the 2009 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of December.
REBIRTH
urrendering her power, Natana offered the Cosmic Bow to the Ocean Goddess. The balance of Thay'mir would be once more, its harmonies restored, and the monstrous weapon would be taken to the bottom of the ocean's deepest chasm-never to be seen again.

A book cover for the book Gods of Fire and Thunder (first part of the Book of the Gods) series by Fred Saberhagen. Published by Ace Books/Science FictionAce Books/Science Fiction. August 2002

Cover art for the book Godsfire by Cynthia Felice, published by Pocket Books/Science Fiction 1978.

Cover art for the book Godsfire by Cynthia Felice, published by Pocket Books/Science Fiction 1978. This version shows the cat facing left, oppsite to the final cover art.

Preliminary over art for the book Godsfire by Cynthia Felice, published by Pocket Books/Science Fiction 1978. This version show the cat facing right as in the final cover art.

Julie, intoduces more exotic species into her paintings and drawings, and you can't get much more exotic than giraffes. Oil on panel 45.7 ? 91.4 cm

A watercolour preliminary/study for the painting A Golden Day For Ella. Watercolour
Posted on Instagram JUNE 2, 2018

This painting is an illustration for the 2009 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of April.
SEDUCTION
And now the great dragon Bandigor strained to resist Natana's battle captured hand-female womans, Yusia and her sister Kala. They would overpower him soon, and then he like them would be just another helpless pawn.

This painting is an illustration for the 2004 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of October.
The model for this painting was a friend of Julies, her unglamorous approach led to more approval and work from new art-directors.

A privately commissioned piece. The models are podcaster TimbalingLing (Jane) and British actor Darius Dar Khan (Tarzan).

Another of Julies paintings with her sister Kat modelling the female character. For the first time she experimented with metal-gold rather than chrome which softens the image and make the relationship between the girl and her serpent lover more plausible.

Julie did this drawing of the back view of her painting J-29 Golden Lover (1992) as a guide for for the sculptor working for Yamato Toys.

Wildlife and western art has become increasingly important to Julie. She has received many accolades for her paintings of horses, bison, foxes and of course wolves, often depicted them in a western landscape.

This painting appears on bookplates sold in bulk and marked (C)Boris Vallejo 1977. Text below the image says Golden Wings by Boris Vallejo, on the next line FROM THE BOOK OF with space to write the presentation. Boris Book 2 however, gives the date as 1978.

The cover for the 2007 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of January.
DEPARTURE
The floating city appeared in the Golden Worlds... To aid in her journey she brought the all-powerful Lance of Reality, whose light maintained peace.

The model for this painting is Lenda Murray winner of the Ms. Olympia competition in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995.

Painting created for SkyBox Master Series?. Creator's Edition Trading Cards. 1995. There is an interesting tension here between the languid sensuality of the pose and the metallic hardness of the figure.

One of a set of five paintings commissioned for the Secret Lair Summer Superdrop 2024 published as game cards for the Magic: The Gathering tabletop and digital collectable card game published by Secret Lair.

One of a set of three goofy watercolours. Julie posted `Goofing around with watercolour!`. Posted on Instagram 28th February 2020

One of a set of three goofy watercolours. Julie posted `Goofing around with watercolour!`

One of a set of three goofy watercolours. Julie posted `Goofing around with watercolour!`

An original drawing to illustrate the story of Medusa for the book Ladies: Retold Tales Of Goddesses And Heroines. The stories were written by Boris's first wife Doris.
A Gorgon is a creature from Greek mythology, famous among these being Medusa. Their faces were ugly and their hair was replaced by snakes.

Much of Boris and Julie's work could be considered classical figure drawing, if not for one otherworldly detail. In this case, it's a set of fantastical wings.

Cover art for the book Gracus The Centurion by Dael Forest. Slaves Of The Empire series book #4, published by Ballantine 1978.

Corporate and Advertising art for UK tv company Channel 4 promoting Graham Norton at the time, their top star.
What puzzles me is that he moved to the BBC in february of the year this was painted. So why are channel 4 promoting him?

A painting that has not appeared in any of Boris and Julies publications, but briefly appeared on an earlier version of their website in 2012.

Originally produced for the World Of Warcraft Trading Card Game: Heroes of Azeroth (Upper Deck Entertainment). This is card #017 in the Media Gallery subset.

Thank you to Bernard Rogers for this information who provides a better explanation on his Borisography website.

A portrait in graphite Julie did just for fun. Posted on Instagram 21st June 2019.

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is normally a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved physicist was accidently exposed to gamma rays. Now when he becomes enraged, he transforms into The Hulk a green-skinned, hulking and muscular humanoid possessing a vast degree of physical strength. The two exist as independent dissociative personalities, and resent each other.

One of a series of artworks for featuring basketball stars. The campaing presented by Mountain Dew promoted the And1 Mixtape Tour of 2006. The image below shows the artwork presented as placemats.

This painting is an illustration for the 2023 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of February.

Created as an interior illustration for Boris' book Fantasy Art Techniques.

Trading Card Comic Images 1996.
The Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) is considered the arch-enemy of Spider-Man.

One piece of a series of collectable items labelled Star-Wars Saga Fast Food Premiums: 1980-1981 which were given away by the chain of fast food restaurants Burger Chef and Burger King. The collection included Star-Wars: The Empire Strikes Back posters by Boris and dr glasses decorated with Star-Wars characters.

Preliminary art for the painting Green Swamps of Dagobah

One of two 16x8 inch paintings Jule exhibited at the Small Works Holiday Show at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale!
NOTE: I have given the painting this title as the real title is unknown. Posted on Instagram 17th September 2019

Apparently this was painted to be auctioned off at the 2010 MicroVisions charity auction held by the Society of Illustrators. (information credited to 'Borisography)

This painting is an illustration for the 2008 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of June.
FREEDOM
Taking the form of a Firor, she traveled to the Northlands, where the philosopher-witch Noi was imprisoned in ice. Once Noi was freed, Ka'ouna asked for her help.

A wildlife drawing

This drawing featured in Boris and Julies book Sketchbook

This painting is an illustration for the 2008 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of November.
BETRAYAL
While she slept, one of the black-feathered dragon sorcerer's reduced her to mere human form.

This painting was designed for the Verkerke Reprodukties a Netherlands company who have produced many posters based on Boris and Julie paintings. On this commission they gave Boris free reign as to subject matter, ensured he would come up with something spectacular. Also used as a Calandar illustration.

Cover art for the book Gryphon's Eyrie by Andre Norton & Ann Carol Crispin, Book 8 of 9 in the Witch World Series. Published by Tor Books/Science Fiction 1984.

This painting an illustration for the 1993 Mythology Calendar, and appears for the month of December.

Cover art for the comic/magazine Avengelyne published by Maximum Press December 1995.
The model is the wife of a comic strip artist, both rather enjoyed having her portrayed here as the heroine Avengalyne. The church in the background is a real one in New York.

Cover art for the book The Guardian by Angus Wells. Published by Bantam Spectra Books October 1998. The first book jacket Boris had done in a while, so he enjoyed it.

This painting is an illustration for the 2000 Fantasy Calendar, and appears for the month of April.
Elgena, the sorceress who built the domed city of Becharr, knew it would not be long before its jeweled palaces were overrun by the barbarian hordes that plagued her world.

This painting is a variation of the painting Sanctuary. In this version to make it more suitable for family viewing the girls nudity is disguised by a cloth, it is published in the 2020 Fantasy Calendar, appearing for the month of February,
GUARDIANS AT REST.
In the safe embrace of my protectors, I can finally feel at peace.

This painting appears at first sight to be a colorised version of the 2022 drawing Golden Liom (Jad-bal-ja). Comparing the two closely reveals that Jane has lost her spear and Tarzan his knife.

Another fine drawing of Tarzan and Jane by Boris.

Interior illustration for the Vinetrope Adventures: Book One, Return of the Vinetropes. Written by Sherry L. Ross and illustrated throughout the book by Julie. Published by ACC Art Books Ltd.; Illustrated edition (15 Nov. 2017)

commissioned by Kendall Culbertson of Gunslinger Cigars, this painting (AKA Perdition), was specifically created as the cover for volume 8, issue 1 of Cigar Press, trade magazine. The issue contained an interview with Boris featuring six of his paintings including this one. (see 'Publications Gallery - Cigar Press').

This painting is an original illustration for the 1987 Fantasy Olympics Calendar, and appears for the month of November.

Cover art for the book Gypsy King by Charles Runyon. Published by Jove Books 1979.