EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 13 © 2015 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

58 Jeff Miracola Peter Richardson disc vers how Boris Vallejo, anarts high school and a mum in a million helped launch one of the brightest stars in theworldof fantasy illustration RIGHT: 'Prowler Alien'. Painted in 2014 in acrylic on illustration board, this 12" x 16" image is the perfect embodiment of Jeff Miracola's love of the weird and unsettling. FACING PAGE: 'Mermaid'. This stunning oil on masonite painting won a place in the prestigious showcase, Spectrum 19, the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art . BELOW: 'Forsaken'. An oil on masonite painted in 2011 depicting one of Jeff's female warriors with her husky companion in tow. When Jeff Miracola discovered the work of Boris Vallejo, while scouring the shelves of his local library, his world changed. Growing up in a tough neighbourhood in Milwaukee and faced with the daunting prospect of having to commence his high schooling at an institution renowned for its levels of dropouts and delinquency, Vallejo was the first rung of an escape ladder that the young Miracola grasped at. He had always had a passion for drawing, but now he was gazing at men, women and beasts, beautifully proportioned and heroically posed in landscapes way beyond the wildest imaginings of