Trolls: Paintings and Portraits Hardcover – Illustrated, September 1, 2012

Not since his conceptual design work with Jim Henson on the classic films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth has New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Brian Froud created a faerie world with such imagination, dimension, depth, and detail as in Trolls. Trolls features new and classic work by both Brian and Wendy Froud woven together with artifacts and symbols of the natural world to create a fascinating revelation about the world of trolls. The book explores trolls and troll culture, revealing their philosophies, their home life, and their world attitudes through their tales, mythology, and archaeology. Froud writes in his introduction, “Who sleeps under the silent hill and what huddles in the dank darkness under the bridge? In short, what sort of invisible spirits inhabit our visible world and what do they look like? My paintings of trolls answer some of these questions. . . . The last conversation Jim Henson and I had before his death was about collaborating on another film. It was to be about trolls. This book is, in essence, the film we never got to make.” The artwork here features Froud’s sketches and full-color paintings of trolls in their native habitats. It also seamlessly blends in Wendy Froud’s astonishing three-dimensional figures to tell stories within stories. Together they tell the story of a troll child who is on a quest to gather tales “for the asking, the giving, and the keeping.” Along the way, you will be told the tales of “The Troll Bride,” “The Tale of Feathers: The Bad Troll,” and “The Tale of Stone: The Pride of Anhold Honeybag.” Trolls affirms that trolls are real, that they have lived and are living now. The texture of the world and the deeply immersive, cinematic images will appeal to the legions of fantasy—and Froud—fans. This book is not only a celebration of fantastical art but also a celebration of the power of stories. Read more