Book Review | Aphos, from Éditions Caurette

Andrew Mar’s Dream Creatures

I don’t know about you, but on my side, I have always loved mythology and all the fantastic and imaginary creatures that could be found there.

I used to read these stories for hours, imagining what these animals might look like, having seen some of them in movies or video games. Many are the Fantasy universes that rocked me thus during my childhood, discovering magic, dragons, and other creatures of the imagination.

As part of our wonderful partnership with Éditions Caurette (more details in this article), we were able to receive a copy of the magnificent artbook Aphos, featuring drawings from the creative mind of Andrew Mar. He is one of those artists who can help us see what these fantastic animals and universes could look like. Having worked for Wizard of the Coast, Bethesda, Capcom, Kingdom Death, WhiteMoon Dreams and many others, he offers us here an exceptional dive into his creative universe.

Originally published via Kickstarter by Spiridon Giannakis, when you go through the book and Andrew’s few words, you quickly understand that you are addicted to drawing, in all its forms. In particular, he started with Chinese calligraphy at a very young age and you can clearly feel the contribution of this technique in his style today. Even if in his professional life he tends to move towards digital media, Andrew Mar continues to maintain his technique and his relationship to ink with different challenges, including the Inktober.

It is with this ink that Andrew Mar fills this artbook with dozens of creations, each one more magnificent than the next, perfectly reflecting his universe. We are facing one of the creatures from a fantasy world a little darker than what we are perhaps used to, and it is so much the better. The fine line of the artist highlights all the details of each of these characters and we often think that each page could be a much larger illustration and framed in an exhibition. Aphos is divided into four different areas:

Celestial – The domain of angels, elegance and power, which serve to protect their boundaries.

Terrestrial – The deadly lands of the warring kingdoms, and those caught between them in the forest and the sky.

Infernal – A dark world of demons, succubae, dragons and beasts, all fighting to survive and sometimes even to live.

Pelagial – The abyss of those who seek only the company so little found in the void.

Aphos is a rare book, which is at the crossroads of a fantastic bestiary and a narrative book without text, so much so that one has the impression of understanding the story behind all these creatures. It is a book in which one can get lost for a few minutes or for hours, always discovering new details, making new encounters again and again.

For me, it’s a great favorite, and you can get it right away on the online store of the Éditions Caurette Liberdistri.com.

Moreover, within the framework of our partnership, you will just have to enter the code GEEKART during your purchase to benefit from 0,01€ shipping costs. An absolutely unique fantasy world awaits you!