So much of the fan art on deviantArt is based on comics and cartoons, but actually there's a huge amounts of wonderful deviations based on books out there. Yes, really there is. And it's not just swathes of pictures of Severus and Harry. Really.

So I thought I'd bring you a series of book-based fan art features, a few books each time. Go forth and celebrate the diversity and beauty of fan art!

In this first issue, I'm going to look at 3 books - Robin Hobb's fantasy novels, Jane Austen's classics, and Watership Down, a classic children's book.

Let's go!



- Sci-fi / Fantasy: Robin Hobb's Farseer / Liveship Traders / Tawny Man trilogies

The Fool. Where else could we start? One of the most enigmatic characters of any fantasy series, I think – and that reflects in the wide range of pictures of him we see here on deviantArt:

(by =greenfroggies ~Filoscuro ~elieri ~TakikoKyuuketsuki and =Elerrina respectively)



Then my favourite character, The Fitz, and of course, Nighteyes, always by his side:

(by ~TakikoKyuuketsuki ~arkoniel ~Strim and ~DragonBehin respectively)



Who could look at ~ChildOfPuck's picture of the tormented Liveship Paragon without feeling his pain?



And ~cm1greenbear's is the best picture of Malta Vestrit I've ever seen – somehow it shows both the childish Malta and the growing-up Malta:



To finish, please full view *Crooty's beautifully drawn almost child-like *quadriptych* of Nettle's skill dreams:





- Classics: Jane Austen

We start with Sense and Sensibility. Here's Marianne, drawn as Kate Winslet, by ~MissMellie. She says the picture isn't very good, I say it captures an Austenesque-mood perfectly.



And here's some great costume sketches from *Hillary-CW:



On to Pride and Prejudice. Mr Darcy. This is where half the female population swoons, though luckily not me or else we wouldn't get much further. Here are ~sive's atmospheric renditions:



And here is ~lorneniesart's beautiful watercolour containing the object of his affections:



And finally a wonderful – and rare – piece of digital art by ~adoration:





- Children's books: Watership Down by Richard Adams

If anyone is around the same age as me, and got taken to see the Watership Down animated film as a small child, these will just reach out to you at some unconscious level. They just brought back all the emotions I felt as a small kid seeing this film, learning for the first time (and it really was the first time!) that not everything has a happy ending, that bad things can, and do, happen.

First of all, I have to show you =AmandaRobbins amazing digital pictures, "Frith's Blessing" and "The Prince's Invitation":



They can only be followed by one of the most amazing pictures I've seen on deviantArt, a mix of fan art, knotwork and beautiful use of colour, "Bright Eyes" by *swandog:



I love ~ChibiMaryn's digital picture whose style is based on the dreamy-tribally-animated section at the start of the film:



Here is Frith and Inle by =kittehness:



And what better to conclude this article than the Black Rabbit, a beautiful and emotional picture by ~ZerikaZaheroux:





Well, hopefully you've all enjoyed the fan art for these three books – though I do admit to occasionally dipping into their movie adaptations.

Watch out for the next lot!