Digital Art for the 21st Century is a collection of work from a variety of artists all exploring the boundaries of digital art. The artists exhibit a wide range of styles and influences from classical countryside scenes to imaginative fantasy images. The artists have come to explore the world of digital art via a variety of different routes.

All the styles will not necessarily appeal to all readers but there is bound to be something here for any reader.

Marcel Barthel has produced a series of traditional fantasy/science fiction images: spaceships and imaginative buildings. The work has a clarity that gives the images a feeling of reality. The level of detail and the use of light and colour add to the overall impression.

Adam Benton presents a collection of vivid pictures that range from those based on Star Wars to graphics created for the advertising industry. Although a number of his pictures portray imaginative worlds and scenes some have a realism that forces you to look twice before you realise that they are not photographs.

Bernard Dumaine's style is very different to those preceding him. Turning the pages you are presented with a series of metamorphic, strangely organic pictures that are reminiscent of twisted roots of molten candle-wax. As you look into each image there are areas of realism that contrast strikingly with the sinuous textures.

With Matt Hansel it is time to change again. The range of styles is what strikes you first of all. The various pictures go from classic science-fiction imagery (robots, spaceships and strange mechanical backgrounds) to the kind of images you expect from digital art – a series of unrelated sections layered using some sort of computer graphics software to create the final work.

David Ho's work exhibits yet another new style. His pictures are moody, the use of sepia tones giving the images an ethereal feeling. More so than the previous artists, Ho's pictures have a kind of texture, a true sensation of having actually been painted – only using a mouse rather than a paintbrush. Most of the scenes portrayed are dark and vaguely disturbing causing you to look further and further into the picture.

Michael Komark gives us classic fantasy art. Dragons battle leviathans. A hero rides an enormous bird above a golden castle; a full-breasted woman stands majestically over the body of a slain monster. This is the stuff of Dungeons and Dragons, Elric and Conan.

Vod Land's exhibits a series of strange pictures that seem to become more and more disturbing as you progress through the pages. In the majority of the images eyes seem to demand attention. Even within some of the more abstract pictures the eyes dominate.

James Lee has provided a series of superb science-fiction images. The majority portray elements of a story about Claude, a mouse, and his adventures as he travels with his young female companion. The pictures are detailed and you find yourself looking for the mouse in every one.

Elizabeth Leggett's pictures immediately reminded me of the greetings cards you sometimes find in New Age gift shops. Beautiful, flawless women surrounded by leaves and swirls. Although the overall context may change from picture to picture in the majority of cases the main aspect of the image is a woman's face.

Duncan Long has used the freedom of digital art to combine the real and the fantastic. A photograph of a sunlit lake combines seamlessly with a skeleton on a push-bike and a robot stands against a cloudy sky. You cannot deny the skill and artistic ability behind the images.

Ron Miller exhibits very different styles in his pictures. Some are exquisitely crafted landscapes that could be mistaken for a photograph but others are, once again, the kind of pictures you expect from the world of digital art. Photographs of naked women are superimposed over pictures of birds and leaves giving a final result rather reminiscent of a collage.

Socar Myles' work takes us back to fantasy. Sepia tinted pictures that have a delicacy and level of detail that make for a series of enchanting scenes. Beautiful, wistful women stare out from the pages.

Tina Oloyede has an apparent love affair with the fractal. It is stunning how the simple fractal can be portrayed in so many different ways; a writhing tendril of smoke; feathers; shells. All resulting in delicate, fragile images that grab the eye and refuse to let go.

John Picacio is a little different to most artists in this book in that the majority of his work is done in the traditional way using photographs, hand drawings and paint, with the computer technology being used to allow the bringing together of the elements into his final collages. It is testament to his skill with paint brush and mouse that, even when he has told you (in the introductory section) what the original subjects of the photos were, you can find no real evidence of them in the finished article.

Kees Roobol has used the flexibility of digital art in two different styles. One is the creation of classic, beautiful landscapes and buildings and the other is the inclusion of a naked female form in an otherwise normal landscape.

Chuck Siebuhr exhibits a series of stunning images. Framed in black the pictures are glorious fantasy scenes in rich autumn colours, reminding me of the kind of covers you find on dark fantasy novels. The use of colour and texture has given the images a richness that you don't often find in digital art.

Andy Simmons's collection are all landscapes. The first few pictures are beautiful delicate pictures that have the detail and texture of watercolours. The use of light gives them an almost dream-like quality. As you turn the next page the landscapes become those of science fiction and fantasy worlds.

Audre Vysniauskas' work is vivid and compelling. The colours leap out at you from the page, vivid gold and neon-pink. The detail is superb. The further you look into each picture the more you see. In particular, in the image "Minster Hill" it is easy to miss the presence of figures at the foot of the tree unless you look very closely.

Thomas Weiss is a more traditional fantasy artist. His work includes warriors, amazons and fantastic landscapes where dragons roam and spaceships clash. The quality of the pictures is unmistakable and would easily find a home on the cover of a paperback book.

Christina Yoder has provided a collection of truly unusual images. Ranging from a Metropolis-inspired robot to Chinese dragons and a coat of arms no two pictures are alike.

Marcin Zemczak loves the female form. Whether is naked, except for a dramatic tattoo, or clad in steel under-garments all the bodies are realistic and beautifully created. So realistic you could be forgiven for believing them to be staged photographs rather than glorious unique art works.

When I first received this collection I was a little nervous. I honestly didn't know what to expect. Previously the majority of the digital art I had experienced was of the "collage-style" where the artist takes totally unrelated photographs and images and then uses the computer to electronically glue them together to form a jarring image. Renderosity is so much more than that. Within this book you can experience the whole gamut of possibility in digital art. Some of the images are clearly digital but others could easily be mistaken for more classical art. What is very clear is that you should never underestimate the range of techniques available to the digital artist.

If anyone thinks that digital artists are not "proper" artists they should look at this collection. I challenge anyone not to find at least one picture that appeals.

Stunning!

Synopsis
Digital art is coming of age, and nowhere is this more evident than at Renderosity.com, by far the biggest online community in this field. Now, Audre, former editor-in-chief of Renderosity's quarterly magazine and prominent digital artist, and John Grant, editor and author of numerous fantasy art books and winner of the Hugo, World Fantasy and Chesley Awards, have joined forces to make a selection of the finest contributors to the website. In the 21 generously illustrated portfolios collected here, readers will see the stunning variety of the very best of digital art.